Language Expectations
The expectations for students learning Spanish as a second language who complete the K-6 sequence are to attain the Novice-Mid to Novice-High level as described in the Proficiency Guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). At a Novice-Mid to Novice-High level, the students are able to engage in simple conversations, speak and write short sentences, and read and understand brief text.
Language Expectations from a 4th Grade student in a FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary School) program:
I will be able to:
- Ask a few memorized questions.
- Follow routine classroom directions by my teacher.
- Recognize familiar keywords or phrases when I listen to my teacher read short stories.
- Recognize a few keywords or phrases in written passages with familiar vocabulary.
- Read aloud simple words and sentences that use familiar vocabulary.
- Retell a simple story.
- Recite common sequences such as the alphabet, numbers, days of the weeks and months of the year.
- Sing songs and recite rhymes with my classmates to learn and practice vocabulary.
- Demonstrate knowledge of cultural traditions and geography of Spanish-speaking countries.
Passport to Spanish Curriculum:
Students will participate in an original FLES curriculum that supports the core content at each grade level and is aligned with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and National Foreign Language Standards. Instruction is proficiency-oriented with teachers placing greater emphasis on meaningful communication than grammatical structure. Teachers and students use the target language as much as possible - often 90 percent of the time - so that students will first understand and then produce in the language. The curriculum has a spiral design enabling greater detail, rigor and breadth to be added each subsequent school year.
Foreign Language Standards:
All elementary Spanish classes are based upon the five C’s of language learning and the Modes of Communication. The five C’s are:
- Communication
- Cultures
- Comparisons
- Connections
- Communities
- Presentational
- Interpretive
- Interpersonal