Language Programs for Kids in Tucson, Arizona

International School Of Tucson:
International School of Tucson provides :

Full-Language Immersion Programs (French, German, Spanish lessons)

Language Curriculum
The International School of Tucson (IST) divides its curriculum into Contents and Skills. We believe that language is a set of communicative Skills, and as a result have relatively few Content areas in our Language curriculum. Contents come from the other Subject Areas; they essentially provide the vehicles for the acquisition, development and practice of the Language's communicative Skills.

These communicative Skills are :
Oral Communication - Listening
Oral Communication - Speaking
Written Communication - Reading
Written Communication - Writing
Visual Communication - Viewing
Written Communication - Presenting

The IST Curriculum has three linguistic mileposts. The first is that the student will have reached linguistic equivalency by the time of entry into Junior School in the school's target languages, particularly in Oral Communication. Currently these are French, Spanish and English with German, Chinese (Mandarin) and Arabic planned.

The second is that the student will have reached age-appropriate native-level competence by the time of entry into Middle School in the school's target languages, particularly in Written Communication, and a high level of oral competence in a third language.

The third is that the student will be able to follow a programme of university study in both target languages by the time of graduation from High School, which pre-supposes a high level of cultural awareness of the worlds represented by the two languages, and thus the focus in the High School is on literary study. The student should also have sufficient competence in a third language as to be able to live and work in the places where that language is spoken.

Pre-School (ages 3 – 5)
The IST Pre-School Language programme is full immersion, with an emphasis on Oral Communication and in particular on speaking. Students spend the entire day throughout the three-year programme immersed in the target language, and activities are designed so that students can quickly become comfortable and can begin using their new language themselves authentically. The only exception to this might be where a specialist teacher, visitor or administrator does not speak the target language and in this case, English will be used. For structural reasons, IST includes the Kindergarten class (“P5”) in its Pre-School section.

Junior School (ages 6 – 11)
The IST Junior School Language programme is two-way immersion, and the emphasis moves to Written Communication and in particular on writing. Students spend half of each day throughout the five-year programme immersed in English, and the other half in their non-English Language A. At lunchtime, they physically change classrooms, teachers, books, materials and activities so that the two Sessions (AM and PM) are effectively full-immersion in their respective languages. From Junior Four, students learn a "second language" (Language B) which for most will in fact be a third.