LinguaFranca

= 欢迎! Bienvenue! Benvenuto! ¡Bienvenido! ...a welcome message =

Lori Langer de Ramírez, Ed.D.
Chair, ESL and World Language Department Welcome to the archives of our quarterly newsletter, //Lingua Franca//. The title seems to fit perfectly with the goals of our department. What follows is the dictionary definition of the term (plus some annotations from me!). See if you agree that it describes us well… **//'lingua franca//: n.** [li[ng]-gw&-'fra[ng]-k&] 1. a common language consisting of **Italian** mixed with **French**, **Spanish**, Greek, and Arabic that was formerly spoken in Mediterranean ports //Herricks language teachers share the joys of speaking, listening, reading, and writing English, French, Italian and Spanish.// 2. any of various languages used as common or commercial tongues among peoples of **diverse speech** //We boast over 40 languages spoken in our district.// 3. something resembling a **common language** //To communicate, to share ideas and dreams,// //we need a common tongue. How wonderful for our students to be able to share their thoughts in several languages!// We hope that this newsletter will excite you about what your children are learning in their language classes. We also hope that you will feel welcome to visit our classes, join our trips and participate in our World Language Month events in March. Together with your support, Herricks students will never be at a loss for words in any language! __**Note:**__ To access an archived newsletter, use the navigation bar at left.

** Merriam Webster Online Collegiate Dictionary: [|www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm] **