In recent months, CHS administration has constructed a plan to revise the current offered courses for the foreign language department.  Currently, Spanish I, II, III, IV and V as well as French I, II, III and IV are offered to all CHS students.  However, as planned, CHS will not offer French courses beginning in the 2016-2017 school year.    This change was prompted by the planned retirement of current French teacher, Elisabeth Boghosian.  For students already enrolled in French courses, they will be able to finish out the foreign language requirement of two years. Students who would like to continue their French studies after the two required years of the language must seek out classes that are offered by other educational institutions.  CHS administration is in the process of deciding which language to add to the curriculum in place of French.

“We are looking into different languages and which ones will be best received, and as of now, we think Mandarin Chinese will be a good option,” said guidance counselor Linda Hull.

As they review their options for the new curriculum, the administration is taking into consideration the current economic conditions.  They believe that having Spanish as a part of the curriculum will continue to benefit students because of the wide range of geographic locations the language is still spoken.  As for French, the locations that the language is dominant are mostly France and Canada.  They believe that Mandarin Chinese has become a more useful and necessary part of the world today.

“From what I have heard and seen, Chinese is definitely going to be a big part of the future,” said junior Kayla Bakhshi.  “I think that offering this course to our students is going to be really beneficial for their futures.”

This is not the first time that the administration has offered Mandarin courses to CHS students.  In the past, some students were interested in the course, but not enough students were signed up to make a full class.  Administration believes that with only one other option than Mandarin, more students will be inclined to take the course and the class will be very well received by future students.  Freshmen students entering the 2014-2015 school year are being advised that the French language option will be discontinued and that they will have to seek classes outside of CHS to learn the language.  Administration will review the options in upcoming months and will make a final decision about the future of the foreign language department most likely in the next school year.