The Telesis Language Program

When we start our children out on the road to language learning at an early age, it is a fun journey--easy, natural, and non-threatening. Starting early also makes it easier for our children to continue their language learning at the Junior Academy and Academy levels.

The Telesis Language Program is unique in Lake Havasu City. Students at Telesis have the opportunity to study language for twelve years. Developmental Kindergarten, Early Elementary, and Elementary students have Spanish once a week for thirty minutes while Intermediate students have Spanish once a week for forty-five minutes. Throughout the program, we continually make adjustments and review material already covered so that students who are new to our program are not at a disadvantage while students who have been with us multiple years will still have some challenges.

Junior Academy students have two years of Spanish as a regular course, a required elective. With seven years of lower-level Spanish under their belts, Junior Academy students have the opportunity to build on that foundation in order to truly learn and use a language--not just to study it. (However, students who have not had that foundation will not be penalized since JA Spanish starts with the basics.) In addition, since learning a language involves much more than just learning words, all Telesis Spanish classes, but especially Junior Academy classes, are also learning about aspects of Hispanic culture: about countries, living conditions, customs, artists, writers, music, and foods, for example.

Finally, Academy students may continue with Spanish or go on to study any of twenty-six other languages to meet the Telesis two-year language requirement for graduation. Academy students have such a wide choice because they have the unique opportunity to study language through the teacher-supervised Rosetta Stone on-line program.

Telesis students, therefore, have many opportunities to learn language. Nevertheless, to receive the most benefit from the language classes, it is up to each individual student to seize the opportunity to learn well the new vocabulary and the intricacies of a foreign grammar and to seek out opportunities to communicate in the language.