Students develop their reading and writing skills first. Reading and writing are integrated later on. Students learn about other cultures, and use basic language to talk to other students. At the continuing level, students expand on the language skills they learned in elementary and middle school. Reading and writing are natural extensions of students' listening and speaking skills.
Students communicate with each other by speaking and writing using more complex language.
They present skits, songs, poetry and personalized statements to a variety of audiences. Students continue to familiarize themselves with other cultures by participating in activities characteristic of young adolescents in those cultures. In the exploratory program, the emphasis is on communication through learned words and phrases, pre-reading and writing activities, connections to other subjects, awareness of other cultures, and awareness of the importance of learning another language or culture. Students are taught in a foreign language or in English for nine weeks. Engage in conversation and exchange information and opinions by speaking and writing in the target language.