"School of Excellence"
Fort Hamilton High School
Kaye Houlihan, PRINCIPAL
8301 SHORE ROAD, BROOKLYN, NY 11209Phone: 718-748-1537
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FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT
Dorish Muñoz-Fuentes, Assistant Principal-Supervision
Ext. 157
In order to be prepared for the challenges of the twenty-first century, all students should plan to take and pass a minimum of three years of a second language. Languages offered include Arabic Native Language Arts, Chinese, Chinese Native Language Arts, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Heritage Spanish and Spanish Native Language Arts. Students may participate in the St. John’s University High School Extension Program. This program provides an opportunity for advanced students to take college credit courses in Chinese and Spanish while still in high school. Heritage (American-born) Spanish speakers are interviewed and recommended for a Spanish Heritage Speakers track class. Students must pass the Third Year Regents Comprehensive Exam or its equivalent in order to achieve an Advanced Regents Endorsed Diploma. This will also give them CPI credit for language study in colleges in the City University of New York (CUNY) system, and it also meets the requirements of most colleges in the State University (SUNY) system. In addition, a fourth and fifth year of second language study may give them college credit or exempt a student from second language requirements on the college level. Several colleges also look more favorably on students who have completed extensive second language study in high school.
ELL students (students whose native language is not English) must meet the same graduation requirements as students who were born in the United States and attended school here from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. These requirements include passing the ELA examination. ELL students who score at or below a state designated level of proficiency on the Language Assessment Battery-Revised (LAB-R), which is used for initial identification, or the annual New York State English as a Second Language Achievement test (NYSESLAT), which is used to determine continued entitlement, are entitled to Bilingual/ESL services. Parents may exercise their parental option to withdraw their children from a bilingual program by completing a Continued Entitlement/Withdrawal Form or a Parental Assurance Survey/Program Selection Form.
Students are encouraged to continue with native or foreign language study. At a minimum, students must receive English as a Second Language instruction.