Foreign Language

Asheville teaches French, Spanish, and Chinese as communication systems in which students are trained to see recurring patterns.

With the Romance languages, the department has adopted an interactive textbook-video series as the foundation of its curriculum. This series is based on an ongoing story line that integrates grammar with conversation and text to teach not only comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing, but also an understanding of the native culture as well.

Asheville enrolls numerous international students, all of whom are fluent in English, and they serve as practical examples of the value of speaking more than one language.

French I-VI

Spanish I-VI (Regular, Honors and AP)

The listening-speaking progression in Spanish is established through classroom conversation and the use of a variety of audio and visual materials, with emphasis placed on recognizing and learning recurring patterns within the language. Students in Spanish I-III utilize the textbook series, Invitaciones I, Invitaciones II, and Ventanas (Vista Higher Learning), to develop skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Spanish IV students study the textbooks Album (Houghton Mifflin) and Fuentes (Harcourt). Through the numerous audio exercises, students are exposed to a variety of accents from the many Spanish speaking countries. In upper level courses, students work on developing the fluency in Spanish needed to succeed on the AP Spanish Language and Spanish Literature examinations.

French I-V (Regular, Honors and AP)

The French program is in the final year of phasing in the Vis-àvis textbook so that it will be used in Levels I through III. The curriculum gives students a firm basis in grammar, vocabulary, culture, and communication with the aid of appropriate ancillary materials, including a workbook, a video component, and an audio program. In addition, many authentic materials are folded into the curriculum at every level via outside sources such as the Internet, children's books, music, and literature. At levels IV and V, the main focus becomes refining written and spoken communication. These classes forgo a textbook in favor of using authentic materials and resources to study the modern life, culture, history, art, and literature of the francophone world. In AP French, there is an obvious focus on preparing the students for the test. At all levels, the students are constantly exposed to authentic French in a fun, interactive setting that utilizes the most up-to-date methods via Smartboard technology, blogs, streaming Internet content, podcasts, and music.

Chinese I-IV

Chinese I-IV

Classes in Chinese introduce students to the skills necessary to speak and write Mandarin Chinese, while emphasizing sentence-building exercises and the reading and writing of Chinese characters. Students develop basic language skills through the use of classroom conversation and internet-based audio programs. Classes will incorporate Pinyin romanization and Chinese characters in teaching students to listen, speak, read and write the language. Using proper pronunciation and accurate tones when speaking the language will be emphasized. The grammar component of the course focuses on sentence patterns and word order. Culture is presented through readings in English and through hands-on experiences with calligraphy and traditional tea services.