World Languages
The Department Chair is Mr. David Hatori.
Welcome to the World Languages Department. We look forward to having your student in one of the many languages that we offer here at VHS. We offer Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish and courses range from level one to levels 4 AP, and 5 AP. We also offer IB courses in SL (Standard Level) and HL (Higher Level). We also offer level 2 and 3 Honors courses in Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish. Students who are native speakers of Spanish can also strengthen their skills by taking our Spanish for Native Speakers classes levels 1 and 2.
Students are encouraged to take a language and continue into the higher levels (3 and up) in preparation for the AP test in Level 4 AP and the IBSL or IBHL tests in the respective languages.
Fluency and expression are goals for all languages and therefore, classes will be conducted mostly in the target language beginning with level 1. English language support is given at levels 1 and 2 and the target language is used exclusively in levels 3, 4 AP, and 5 AP, and IBSL and IBHL. It is expected that honors students speak in the target language for most of Level 2 Honors and exclusively in Level 3. Class participation in the target language is a required component of the student's grade and experience. Class participation comprises 10% of the overall grade in all languages.
For more information on individual classes, please choose from one of the following links on the side of this page to visit each teacher's web page. Please be patient as some of the pages are currently under construction.
We are looking forward to sharing world languages with you!