Foreign Language

We believe that learning other languages is an important way of expanding one’s horizons in ways of thinking and communicating with others.  To learn about a country’s language is also to learn about its culture, and to perceive reality from another’s perspective.  Among the families at The Studio School, dozens of languages are spoken.  Throughout the school year, exposure to other languages becomes an organic part of the process, which ultimately leads to a more formal learning approach for our older students. 

At first, we incorporate all the languages that children naturally bring from home, beginning in our Early Childhood program.  Children are guided to sing songs, listen to stories and poems, make conversation, and build vocabulary in the languages of their classmates.  These activities create more than just a learning experience for students; they help them, from their earliest years, to bond with one another, sharing knowledge and different perspectives.  

Our Elementary students have scheduled Spanish classes that progress sequentially. They begin with stories and songs, move on to conversation, and advance to a more formal study of language (its vocabulary, syntax, and idioms) when students are ready.  Studio’s Middle School students receive formal instruction in Spanish and Latin, with careful attention to these languages in their grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and idiomatic expressions. Conversation, skits, and the sharing of humorous writing round out the program, involving the students in creative and original responses to the material they are learning.