Foreign Language
Department Chair: Heidi Graves

The study of foreign language develops proficiencies, knowledge, and attitudes that cannot be acquired through the study of other subjects. Such proficiencies, knowledge and attitudes are essential to understanding the political motivations of other nations and are crucial to appreciating and accepting cultural and individual diversity within the United States.

To attain these proficiencies, knowledge, and attitudes, students should be encouraged to begin foreign language study early in their academic careers. Their foreign language education should continue throughout their entire educational career, with the district making every effort to provide each semester enough teachers credentialed in the target language to accommodate all of the students who enroll for study in that language.

If a student completes the first year of foreign language study in the district, the district should make every effort to offer at least the second year of that language. Also, students receive the best preparation if first and second year classes are separate, not combined with other levels.

GOALS:

• To attain proficiency in four basic communications skills--listening, speaking, reading, and writing--in the language studied.
  
• To use the language studied in the manner of native speakers, that is, with accompanying gestures, intonations, pronunciation, etc.
  
• To gain insight into an appreciation of the culture and values of the peoples who speak the language studied and thereby gain tolerance and acceptance of human diversity.
  
• To gain a much greater awareness of language in general and thus a greater skill in using the student's own language with precision and effectiveness.
  
• To enhance the student's English vocabulary and sensitivity to fine distinctions among words.
  
• To enable students to pursue foreign language study throughout their high school careers in a well-articulated, sequential program which will enhance their personal and vocational lives.

OBJECTIVES:

Objective I: The Four Basic Communication Skills

1.1 Listening--Students will improve listening comprehension by listening to records, tapes, teacher's lectures, radio programs, songs, etc, in the target language.

1.2 Speaking--Students will improve speaking skills by answering unrehearsed questions, presenting skits, participating in telephone conversations, and holding classroom discussions in the language studied.

1.3 Reading--Students will read for comprehension assigned dialogues and stories, newspapers, signs, ads, etc., all in the target foreign language.

1.4 Writing--Students will improve writing skills by writing simple sentences, paragraphs, short compositions, and reports.

Objective II: Use of the language in the manner of the native speakers.

Students will learn to communicate more like a native speaker by:

2.1 presenting skits, participating in situational dialogues, and dramatizing short stories.

2.2 modeling native speakers in the classroom or elsewhere.

2.3 doing interpretive reading and reciting poetry.

2.4 acting out social greetings in the classroom.

2.5 learning non-verbal communicating skills.

Objective III: Insight and Appreciation of Target Culture

Students will gain increased insight and appreciation of target culture by:

3.1 seeing movies, filmstrips, and slides.

3.2 participating in classroom discussions.

3.3 reading stories and discussing their content.

3.4 comparing our society with the society of the language studied.

3.5 sharing their traveling experiences.

3.6 sharing in the traveling experiences of the teacher.

Objective IV: Language Awareness

Students will increase their awareness of language by:

4.1 comparing the English grammar with the grammar of the target language.

4.2 contrasting idiomatic expressions in both languages.

4.3 doing continuous practice in precise or free translation.

4.4 participating in etymological discussions.

Objective V: English Enhancement

Students will enhance their mastery of English by:

5.1 studying word derivations.

5.2 participating in discussions of etymological.

5.3 correcting translations of business letters, documents, questionnaires, etc.

Objective VI: Foreign Language Enhancement

Students will gain an appreciation of target language and its culture by:

6.1 participating in entertaining and enriching cultural experiences, such as cooking, foreign films, field trips, visits to foreign lands, etc.

6.2 learning the vocational value of learning a foreign language.

6.3 learning foreign language expressions to be used in actual employment situations.

6.4 becoming familiar with the foreign language program and being encouraged to strive for competency and fluency while continuing with the foreign language during their high school years.

6.5 learning the uniqueness and the pleasure of being bilingual and bi-cultural in today's cosmopolitan and shrinking world.

SCOPE

The Foreign Language courses will systematically develop the four basic communication skills--listening, speaking, reading, and writing--in the language taught. The courses also develop the student's understanding of the cultures of the countries that speak these languages.

Sequence

Each language offers a four-year program of college preparatory language classes. In addition, Spanish-dominant (LEP/NEP) students, are offered one non-college prep course (Spanish 101) and one college prep course (Spanish 102). English-dominant students who have naturally acquired an oral command of Spanish, are offered Spanish NS 1, 2, & 3. There is also a one year, non-college prep course (Spanish 9), which can be taken by students who are not willing or not able to take as rigorous a course as Spanish 1, but who would like to develop some basic conversational skills for the practical use of the language.

After a level 3 course, students in all languages have a choice of either a level 4 or a level 4 Advanced Placement course. After Spanish 4AP a Spanish 5AP (literature) course may also be taken.

Because of the sequential nature of foreign language courses, a student should not be allowed to take a course if he/she has not successfully completed the prior course. All courses offered by the department are designed to fulfill state graduation requirements for foreign language.