World Languages

A cornerstone of our commitment to pluriculturalism is teaching languages beyond French and English. Our approach is centered on engaged learning, high evaluation standards, and a focus on culture.

Beyond Bilingualism

Our engaged learning commitment includes hiring faculty native to the language being taught. As in all things here at the Lycée, we set the highest standards because we know our students will achieve them. Our Secondary students follow the EU standards of language learning in their assessments. (Spanish tests are from the Instituto Cervantes Diploma of Spanish and German tests are from the Goethe-Institut, for instance.)

And we view the focus on culture as particularly important, and offer a variety of immersive, cross cultural exchanges programs with leading schools and universities across the globe. These programs are increasingly taking a service-learning approach that teaches the students to apply their linguistic and cultural understanding in the service of others.

Taking advantage of our location here in New York City, we also include many “close to home” immersive experiences throughout the school year with trips to Chinatown, cultural centers, and various ethnic enclaves.

Language & Cultural Exchanges

List of 6 items.

French

Renowned for its academic excellence, we have a formal, six-week partnership exchange program with Louis Le Grand high school for select 10th grade students. Its Latin Quarter location places our students, quite literally, at the Center of the Enlightenment.
Arabic

The Lycée offers Secondary students Modern Standard Arabic, also known as Modern Written Arabic or Literary Arabic (العربية الفصحى). This is the standard for written Arabic across the Arab world, used by the press, in literature, in correspondence, and for signage. The Lycée also offers beginning and intermediate-level Arabic as part of our after-school program in the Primary School.
German

Berlin’s Neues Gymnasium Glienicke regularly hosts our students, who are eligible to start taking German in sixth grade. We host their students for two weeks, adding to the Lycée’s rich pluricultural landscape.
Mandarin

Our popular two-week exchange program with the high school of Shanghai’s Fudan University has our students living with host families and taking classes every day. (We welcome their students for two weeks, too.)
Italian

Sixth graders may start taking Italian. Our Italian instructor is a pioneer in using iPads and other advanced learning tools to help students attain mastery and fluency.
Spanish

Spanish instruction begins in sixth grade. Each year, our eighth graders have an opportunity to visit Salamanca, Spain. Our ninth and tenth graders can choose to be part of an exchange program with the Escuela del Magisterio in Mendoza, Argentina.