Foreign Language Standards and Benchmarks

Foreign Language Standards and Benchmarks

March 18, 2004

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Communicate in a Non-English Language. / All Levels:
Understand and engage in conversation.
Respond to and ask questions.
Derive meaning from oral, visual and written stimuli and respond appropriately.
Participate in familiar survival situations and interactions.
Express thoughts, ideas, and preferences in oral and written form. / Play games that generate questions and responses, i.e., Jeopardy, Hangman, Concentration, etc.
Respond to visual cues such as pictures, drawings, etc.
Create classroom simulations, i.e., post office, restaurant, customs, market, etc.
Prepare and perform dramatizations and skits.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 1: All students will identify and use a non-English language appropriately to perform a variety of tasks, in a variety of contexts, and utilizing a variety of content.

The following linguistic structures will be incorporated in sample activities:

Level I - Fundamental grammar skills: use of verbs in the present tense, subject pronouns agreement of adjectives, appropriate vocabulary

Level II - Functional grammar skills: use of verbs in past tense (preterite and imperfect), direct and indirect object pronouns

Level III - Functional grammar skills: use of verbs in perfect, future and conditional tenses, relative pronouns,

Level IV - Functional grammar skills: use of verbs in the subjunctive

Standard 2: All students will use a variety of strategies to communicate in non-English language.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Develop communication strategies / All levels:
Understand, interpret, and produce appropriate gestures, facial expressions, and body language.
Ask for clarification and repetition
Use cognates and circumlocution to express needs, thoughts, ideas and preferences.
Guess intelligently
Apply prior knowledge
Make some inferences and predictions.
Derive meaning from visuals and contexts. / Create reenactments, i.e., dialogues, charades.
Use Total Physical Response (TPR).
Create and refer to coping cards and posters in the classroom.
Build vocabulary with various activities, i.e., Bingo & other word games.
Use context clues.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 3: All students will process and produce written discourse effectively in a non-English language.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Develop written discourse skills / All levels
Produce written discourse
Use oral language to generate written language.
Meet writing/recording needs.
Express personal information, ideas, thoughts, preferences, and opinions. / Correspond with pen pals.
Create lists, short messages, postcards and journals, notes, invitations, advertisements, etc.
Write longer selections, i.e., short stories, essays, descriptions, cultural topics, etc.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 4: All students will use a non-English language as a means of expression and inquiry.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities / Suggested Assessment
Express and Inquire / All levels:
Understand and respond to questions and commands.
Interact in social situations.
Interact in oral communicative tasks.
Request clarification when needed. / Play games that generate questions and responses, i.e., Jeopardy, Hangman, Concentration, etc.
Respond to visual cues such as pictures, drawings, etc.
Create classroom simulations, i.e., post office, restaurant, customs, market, etc.
Prepare and perform dramatizations and skits
Create and refer to coping cards and posters in the classroom.
Label classroom objects.

Standard 5: All students will extract meaning and knowledge from authentic non-English language texts, media presentation and oral communication.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Construct Meaning / All levels:
Participate in routine social situations of other cultures.
Recognize representations of other cultures.
Recognize similarities and differences between cultures. / Respond appropriately to social greetings, i.e., correct use of formal & informal address, handshaking, kissing, etc.
Use realia, video, pictures, authentic texts, media, etc.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 6: All students will connect a non-English language and culture through texts, writing, discussion, and projects.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Link Languages and Culture / All levels:
Recognize and demonstrate an understanding of how language reflects culture.
Recognize similarities between one’s own language and culture and other languages and cultures.
Compare and contrast interactions of cultures.
Apply knowledge of cultures to authentic texts. / Practice appropriate linguistic structures to express a variety of cultural and social situations, i.e. Latin American vs. Peninsular usage (Spanish), Continental vs. Creole usage (French).
Celebrate cultural traditions, i.e., birthdays, Saint Days, major holidays, etc.
Learn and use typical idioms and sayings.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 7: All students will use a non-English language to acquire knowledge and connect to other disciplines.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Acquire Knowledge / All levels:
Use the non-English language to obtain and reinforce knowledge of other disciplines.
Use knowledge acquired through other languages and cultures to expand one’s own personal knowledge and experience.
Recognize perspectives of other cultures. / Convert currency, measurements, temperature, etc.
Learn and use geographical terms in the non-English language.
Read current events articles in the non-English language.
Read and compare varying perspectives of current events.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 8: All students will define and characterize the global community.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Explore Global Community / All levels:
Utilize technology to communicate information across cultures.
Relate knowledge of languages to professions within the world community.
Develop awareness of social,
political, and economic issues. / Exchange e-mail and digital images with students in other countries.
Explore career opportunities that require non-English languages.
Use current events articles in the non-English language.
Invite guest speakers.
Prepare typical cuisine.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 9: All students will identify diverse languages and cultures throughout the world.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Appreciate Diversity / All levels:
Identify contributions of cultures to the arts, music, humanities, social sciences, history, sciences, and mathematics.
Understand relationship between geography and culture.
Recognize and respect the role of other cultures in the United States and throughout the world. / Research a topic and make a presentation.
Listen to various music styles and genres.
Read literature.
Study various genres and periods of art.
Study the various dialects of the non-English language and the geographical regions where they are spoken.
Study the contributions of other cultures to the United States.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Standard 10: All students will recognize learning a new language as a lifelong process.

Benchmarks / Performance Indicators / Sample Activities
Recognize language as a lifelong process / All levels:
Demonstrate growth and interest in the language studied.
Demonstrate awareness of the process of language acquisition. / Explore post-secondary study of the non-English language.
Invite exchange students.
Explore the exigencies of becoming fluent in a non-English language.
Assessment: On-demand assessment, performance assessment with rubric, comprehensive written and oral examinations.