Foundations in Language is a 6th grade course designed to give students a strong understanding of the mechanics of language, with an eye towards the foreign language study that will follow. Students will understand how language works through an exploration of words and their origins, grammar, sounds, and writing systems. Students will investigate the development of writing and different writing systems. Students will discover the etymologies of English words and learn how other languages, including French, Latin, and Spanish influenced the development of English. Students will undertake a survey of English grammar: exploring parts of speech, clauses, and sentences. Finally, students will be able to contrast human language with computational language systems.