All students who are not beginners in their chosen language(s) take placement exams and have conversations with language faculty before they are assigned to a class. The faculty then makes a recommendation for the students’ class placement, ensuring that students are appropriately challenged and progressing. In consultation with the teacher and family, students may choose to advance themselves beyond their placement.

The Gregory School creates classes to meet the language needs of our students each year. For example, fifth grade students who come to TGS as heritage or immersion speakers will test at a high level, but placement in an AP class of Upper School students is not appropriate socially or in content. Instead, our faculty creates an advanced course for Middle School students. Similarly, when students complete all AP options before graduating, our faculty devises collegiate-level  courses such as “Conversations in Literature and Film.”

With language class sizes averaging nine students, students get plenty of opportunity to speak and practice. Teachers work closely with students, focusing on communication skills with a strong emphasis on grammar. This gives TGS students confidence to speak. The smaller class sizes, and the fact that students may have the same teacher and classmates for several years, also offers a welcoming, familiar setting that allows students to take risks and have fun.

TGS families and students speak a huge range of languages at home. While we offer four languages in the course catalog, our students and faculty are always excited to celebrate others. For example, students, parents, and faculty members have shared other languages, including Japanese, Hebrew, German, Italian, and Arabic with students through Friday Explorations and as guest speakers; clubs such as the French Club and International Club help bring other cultures and languages to life on campus, and we recognize languages through special events such as Chinese New Year and Rome Days.

Many Gregory School students take two languages at the same time, and we’ve had several students take three languages all the way through the AP level. Often our students take so many language classes here and develop such a facility that it becomes relatively easy for them to double major or minor in a language once in college. This in turn provides an advantage in the job market.

TGS language students travel! Whether it’s going on an international spring break trip to France or Spain or a morning field trip to a South Tucson bakery or local Peruvian restaurant, TGS language teachers help students fully experience and practice languages and cultures. The small number of students per class combined with our 75-minute academic blocks make it fairly simple to bring an entire class to a restaurant to order and converse in Spanish or to bring speakers of the language from the Tucson community into the classroom to have individual conversations with students.