The Department of World Languages

World Languages + STEM = A 21st Century Learner!

Mr. John O'Farrell, Asst. Superintendent for Secondary Education

World Language

631 592-3020

Click here to view the HS World Language Course Offerings for 2013-14

Middle School Course Offering will be posted shortly, please check back

Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year!

Vision Statement

We believe that All students should learn or maintain at least one language in addition to English. We will continue to provide students with a well-articulated sequenced program that develops increasing levels of proficiency at each level of instruction. Furthermore, we will continually reflect and fine-tune the curriculum based on New York State and National Standards. Teachers who are well qualified in language proficiency, cultural knowledge, and teaching skills will be provided with the technological tools to further excite and maintain our learners.

 The Half Hollow Hills Department of World Languages boasts outstanding programs starting in grade six in:

Chinese (Mandarin), French, Italian and Spanish

Our 5th Grade World Languages Club allows all elementary 5th grade students the opportunity to take a four week exposure class on any one of the above languages before making their official selection for formal study beginning in grade six. These courses are held after school at our elementary schools.

Middle School: The regular foreign language sequence continues in grade seven. Students receive one unit of credit upon successful completion of Checkpoint A in grade eight after taking and passing the locally developed Checkpoint A assessment in world languages.

High School: The regular foreign language sequence continues in grade nine. Students receive three units of credit upon the successful completion of Checkpoint B in grade ten after taking the locally developed Checkpoint B assessment in world languages. Students who are enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses must take the AP exams in French, Italian or Spanish.  

Foundations in Spanish: This course, beginning in grade six, was created for students with special needs. Students will receive the one unit of credit needed for graduation. The Foundations in Spanish sequence culminates in grade nine. It is our commitment and belief that all students should be offered the opportunity to learn another language.

Independent Study Program: The ability to offer instruction in less commonly taught languages reflects the District’s commitment to prepare our students to enter the global community. High School students are able to participate in our after school in:

 American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), German, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, and Russian.

To learn more, please click on the button to the left "Independent Study Program"

Why have we achieved so much?

The superior performance of our middle school and high school students on state examinations as well as national contests is due to the motivated student body and the very competent and professional foreign language staff who are constantly learning and perfecting new techniques in foreign language education and the ongoing monitoring and revision of curriculum. Half Hollow Hills is proud that the Department of World Languages retains and excites their learners; World Language enrollment data from HS East and HS West in ASL, Chinese, French, Italian, and Spanish suggests that the Department of World Languages has one of the highest retention rates on Long Island with regards to foreign language study.

Freshmen - 99%      Sophomores - 93%       Juniors - 80%      Seniors - 59%

Total HS enrollment: 3,284 students

We could have placed a great deal of text in the section below to describe how and why we achieve so much, but we wanted to allow you the opportunity to connect the dots. View the Department of World Languages' Word Cloud below. Each word tells a story as to why we continue to excite and retain our students within our programs!

For Local and National Student Achievement Awards and Departmental News: Click the button to the left "Department News" to learn about the outstanding achievements by our students.

NYS Regulations Regarding Foreign Language Instruction

Important: NYSED eliminated the 8th grade Second Language Proficiency Exams and the 10th grade Regents Exams for World Languages due to budget cuts. Though the State will no longer create these assessments, it did mandate that local school districts create their own and use them to grant high school credit. These assessments can also be used for the different types of diplomas that are awarded to NYS students. Though the NYSED will no longer provide these assessments, the mandates and graduation requirements are still in place for World Language study.

To read the NYS Languages Other Than English Question & Answer (LOTE Q&A) document, please click here or view the document below.

Overseas Travel Programs: Please click the button to the left "Overseas Trips" to learn more about this exciting opportunity that we are providing for our students.

We have a great deal more to do!