MA State Seal of Biliteracy candidates from Nashoba Tech were featured on a DESE panel about the Seal of Biliteracy and Multilingualism in February 2024. Pictured left to right: Lorenna Teixeira ( ‘24 - Dental Assisting, Portuguese), Maria Resende (‘26 - Marketing, Portuguese and Spanish) and Lorrainy Rodrigues (‘26 - Engineering Technology, Portuguese and Spanish).

Nashoba Tech offers beginner (novice) and intermediate Spanish courses.  True beginners should sign up for Spanish 1 while students who took Spanish or another romance language (French, Italian or Latin, for example) should start with Spanish 2.  Students who speak another Romance language at home, like Portuguese or French, should also begin in Spanish 2.  Spanish is not a graduation requirement but all students are strongly suggested to take a Spanish course, especially their freshman or sophomore year, to have more continuity with their middle school studies.  Students who would like to apply to 4-year colleges are especially encouraged to study Spanish for at least 2 years.

Novice level students can communicate short messages on highly predictable, everyday topics that affect them directly. They do so primarily through the use of isolated words and phrases that have been encountered, memorized, and recalled. 

Students at the intermediate level are distinguished primarily by their ability to create with the language when talking about familiar topics related to their daily life. They are able to recombine learned material in order to express personal meaning. Intermediate level students can ask simple questions and can handle a straightforward survival situation. They produce sentence-level language, ranging from discrete sentences to strings of sentences, typically in present time. Intermediate-level students are understood by interlocutors who are accustomed to dealing with non-native learners of the language. Most students at Nashoba Tech reach the intermediate level after 2 years of study, if they also took Spanish in middle school or are already multilingual.  

Spanish 1, 2 and 3 are offered.  They meet for 45 minutes during the Academic Week and are 5 credits.

Students at Nashoba Tech have diverse skills and talents and for many, that includes the career readiness skill of multilingualism. Nashoba Tech is proud to certify all qualifying students with the appropriate Seal of Biliteracy.

Many universities give course credit for Seal of Biliteracy recipients. This list includes UMass Amherst, Bentley University, and Salem State University as well as all community colleges, including Middlesex Community College.

There are also digital badges available to put on your social media profiles, CTE360, the Common App and more. This allows employers and recruiters to see your career-ready skill of multilingualism.

Nashoba Tech values the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students and encourages life-long learning of languages and cultures here at our school, at home, and in the community.

Please contact Ms. Amy St. Arnaud at astarnaud@nashobatech.net if you have any questions. She is the Seal of Bilteracy coordinator and Spanish teacher.

To register for a test, please complete this form. Here is more information to help you prepare for your language proficiency test (AAPPL Test Prep). Accommodations and modifications are available to students with disabilities.

Why Certify your Language Skills

• Pay Benefits

• Aligning your salary with your language skills

• How to negotiate your salary if you are bilingual

Kira Taylor, class of 2027, is a student in the Electrical Technology Program and wrote about how her career goals connect with learning Spanish and earning the Seal of Biliteracy. With this essay, she won the High School Division of the MAFLA Personal Statement Contest of 2025.

Sarah Fleming, class of 2027 and a student in the Early Education and Care Program also contributed a beautiful poem about the importance of learning languages.

In an increasingly globalized world, the ability to communicate across languages is a critical skill for success in both college and careers.   We have embraced this reality by implementing language credentialing through programs like the Seal of Biliteracy. As a Seal of Biliteracy Coordinator and Spanish teacher, Amy St. Arnaud works to ensure students have access to meaningful language credentialing opportunities that support their academic and professional goals.

Language as an Asset to Credential