Language Courses

Communication matters

Language study prepares students for a global future

One Schoolhouse language courses hone all four language competencies—reading, writing, listening and speaking—through research-based exercises, projects, and traditional assessments. One Schoolhouse offers complete Chinese, French, Latin and Spanish course sequences. In the 2020-2021 school year, we started a sequence of American Sign Language courses.

The teacher-student relationship is at the center of our pedagogy, and our courses align with the most current research on effective second-language acquisition in online programs. Scroll to the bottom of this page to learn more about our approach to teaching languages online. Course titles align with college leveling practices.  

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2022-2023 Courses

American Sign Language

• American Sign Language – Beginning I
  
• American Sign Language – Beginning II
  
• American Sign Language – Intermediate I

Chinese

• Chinese – Beginning I
  
• Chinese – Beginning II
  
• Chinese – Intermediate I
  
• Chinese – Intermediate II
  
• Chinese – Advanced I
  
• Chinese – Advanced II
  
• AP® Chinese Language and Culture​
  
• ​AP® Chinese Language and Culture – Heritage Speakers

French

• French – Beginning I
  
• French – Beginning II
  
• French – Intermediate I
  
• French – Intermediate II
  
• French – Advanced I
  
• French – Advanced II
  
• AP® French Language and Culture

Latin

• Latin – Beginning I
  
• Latin – Beginning II
  
• Latin – Intermediate I
  
• Latin – Intermediate II
  
• Latin – Advanced
  
• AP® Latin​

Spanish

• ​Spanish - Beginning I
  
• Spanish - Beginning II
  
• Spanish - Intermediate I
  
• Spanish - Intermediate II
  
• Spanish – Advanced
  
• AP® Spanish Language and Culture
  
• AP® Spanish Literature and Culture​

More on the One Schoolhouse Language Learning Pedagogy

One Schoolhouse designs competency-based courses with the student-teacher relationship as the cornerstone of our personalized pedagogy. While students excelled in our language AP courses, for many years we did not offer full sequence language courses because there was little research to support the efficacy of online language learning at the early levels. 

​The research shows that fewer than 1% of Americans are proficient in the language they studied in traditional classrooms. We did not want this outcome for One Schoolhouse students, so our goal is to inspire deep learning as we strive to ensure that the online learning experience increases the effectiveness of second language acquisition. In recent years, we have honed our approaches to delivering the four language competencies – reading, writing, listening, and speaking – in the online space, and have therefore endeavored to build out our Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish sequences. 

The limitations of other online language programs are mitigated by the centrality of the student-teacher relationship, including interactive sessions where students speak, listen, and translate with their peers and teacher, at One Schoolhouse. J.C. Narcy-Combes’s research on second language learning online shows that, “meaningful interaction will trigger learning processes,” which we know to be true anecdotally, and that, with intentional design, students can be taught to learn language effectively online. Carrier et. al. have more recently shown that educational technologies and online learning are rapidly transforming second language acquisition, and that intentional practice can create a highly effective digital experience. 

​​Because One Schoolhouse students have pathway options where they can practice in the target language at their own pace, get feedback from their teacher, interact with peers from around the country, and demonstrate their mastery through both traditional assessments and creative projects, students have the full complement of research-based learning activities in their online courses that you would expect to find in any independent school language program. Additionally, our language teachers have advanced degrees from American universities, are trained in both their language and the best pedagogical practices for delivering language online, teach in independent schools around the US, and many are AP readers. ​