The foreign language taught at Woodlawn is French. We include French in our curriculum because the French language has maintained a well-deserved place of importance for a number of reasons:

1. French is spoken by almost 400 million people worldwide, which is reason enough to learn the language. But it's even more compelling when you realize that about half of the population in the Western Hemisphere speaks French, making it the primary language for as many people as English in this region of the world.
3. In the U.S., more and more, opportunities are increasing for those who are fluent in both French and English due to the explosion in the French-speaking population. This means that the ability to speak both French and English will continue to become more and more valuable to people who live in the U.S. with each passing year.
4. In addition to in the U.S., French is also gaining importance in Europe, where it is quickly becoming the foreign language of choice after English.
5. By learning French fluently you can often understand enough Italian and Spanish to get by in communicating with people who speak those languages.
6. French is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the world. Aside from English, the other 2 languages ahead of it are generally not widely spoken in either Europe or the Western Hemisphere.