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The main purpose of learning a foreign language is communication.
As our world becomes a smaller place, with newer and more far-reaching
communications, interaction with other countries and/or with peoples of
different cultures here at home becomes more probable and immediate. Foreign
language is an essential part of our students' education and all students
should learn at least one language in addition to English to prepare them
for life in the 21st century.
The goal of the Foreign Language program at Shrewsbury High School is
communicative proficiency for all of our students. Within the last decade,
traditional approaches to teaching language have yielded to new, performance-based
approaches that have a common focus on the student's ability to use the
language beyond the classroom in real-life situations. Proficient students
emerge from foreign language programs, able, to a measurable degree, to
communicate in the language as it is written and spoken by native speakers.
Students will have a functional ability to understand, read, write, and
speak the language. Emphasis is placed on what the student can do with
the language, independent of how the language was learned, what methods
were involved or what materials were used.
Because language and culture are so inextricably bound together, students
who are exposed to foreign languages develop a respect for and a tolerance
of cultural differences, and, in doing so, develop a better understanding
of their own culture. Everyone can learn a second language, but it is
a life-long process, and, study should begin as early as possible and
continue throughout post- secondary education and beyond.
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