Standard 7.1 Communication

All students will be able to communicate in at least one world language in addition to English. They will use language to: engage in conversation, understanding and interpret spoken and written language, present information, concepts and ideas while making connections with other disciplines, and compare the language/culture studied with their own.

Big Idea: Communication is the ability to understand and be understood in real world contexts.

7.1 A. Interpretive Mode

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

- How do I develop communicative competence?
- How do I know that I am getting better in using language in real-world situations?
- What strategies do I need to communicate in linguistically and culturally appropriate ways?
- When does accuracy matter?
- How does the content of the world languages classroom help me understand who I am and the world in which I live?
- How does content help me respond to important questions that extend my learning beyond the classroom?
- Why do people from different cultures sometimes say, write and do things differently from the way I do them?

- Successful communication is knowing how, when and why to convey a message to different audiences.
- Language learning involves acquiring strategies to fill communication gaps.
- The content of the world languages classroom encompasses the entire learning experience.
- Learning a different language/culture leads to greater understanding of one’s own and other languages/cultures and why people think and act in different ways.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Comments and Examples

2.         Compare and contrast the use of verbal and non-verbal etiquette in the target culture with their own culture in the use of gestures, intonation, and other visual and auditory clues.

●        Eye contact and interpersonal social distance

●        Table manners and telephone practices

3.         Discuss people, places, objects, and daily activities based on oral or written descriptions.

●        Grade level appropriate social studies topics (e.g., famous historical and contemporary personalities from the target culture; regions, cities, historical and cultural sites in the target country; events from U.S. history and target culture history from a specific era)

4.         Comprehend conversations and written information on a variety of topics.

●        Academic and social interests

●        Current or past issues and events at home or in the target country

5.         Apply knowledge and skills gained in other core content areas to the learning of the target language.

●        Grade level appropriate social studies topics (e.g., converting maps into appropriate graphics to display geographical information about the target culture country)

●        Grade level appropriate health topics (e.g., comparing and contrasting health concerns that occur during adolescence in the target culture with their own culture)

●        Grade level appropriate mathematics concepts (e.g., selecting and using appropriate units of metric measurement to solve real-life problems)

●        Grade level appropriate science concepts (e.g., evaluating authentic weather reports from different regions of the target country to predict weather conditions)

7.         Compare and contrast unique linguistic elements in English and the target language.

●        Grade level appropriate language arts literacy topics/concepts (e.g., time and tense relationships; commonly used words and phrases; idiomatic expressions)

7.1 B. Interpersonal Mode

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

- How do I develop communicative competence?
- How do I know that I am getting better in using language in real-world situations?
- What strategies do I need to communicate in linguistically and culturally appropriate ways?
- When does accuracy matter?
- How does the content of the world languages classroom help me understand who I am and the world in which I live?
- How does content help me respond to important questions that extend my learning beyond the classroom?
- Why do people from different cultures sometimes say, write and do things differently from the way I do them?

- Successful communication is knowing how, when and why to convey a message to different audiences.
- Language learning involves acquiring strategies to fill communication gaps.
- The content of the world languages classroom encompasses the entire learning experience.
- Learning a different language/culture leads to greater understanding of one’s own and other languages/cultures and why people think and act in different ways.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Comments and Examples

1.         Give and follow a series of oral and written directions, commands, and requests for participating in age-appropriate classroom and cultural activities.

3.         Ask and respond to factual and interpretive questions of a personal nature or on school-related topics.

●        Reactions to an incident occurring in school or an event taking place in the school, community, or world

●        Grade level appropriate science topics (e.g., characteristics and shared characteristics of major categories of organisms)

●        Grade level appropriate social studies concepts (e.g., the role of the target culture country in colonization and exploration of the Americas or in the American Revolution)

4.         Engage in short conversations about personal experiences or events, and/or topics studied in other core content areas.

●        Grade level social studies topics (e.g., family celebrations and coming of age customs)

6.         Identify professions and careers that require proficiency in a language other than English

●        Career preparation skills needed to engage in these professions

7.1 C. Presentational Mode

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

- How do I develop communicative competence?
- How do I know that I am getting better in using language in real-world situations?
- What strategies do I need to communicate in linguistically and culturally appropriate ways?
- When does accuracy matter?
- How does the content of the world languages classroom help me understand who I am and the world in which I live?
- How does content help me respond to important questions that extend my learning beyond the classroom?
- Why do people from different cultures sometimes say, write and do things differently from the way I do them?

- Successful communication is knowing how, when and why to convey a message to different audiences.
- Language learning involves acquiring strategies to fill communication gaps.
- The content of the world languages classroom encompasses the entire learning experience.
- Learning a different language/culture leads to greater understanding of one’s own and other languages/cultures and why people think and act in different ways.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Comments and Examples

1.         Present student-created and/or authentic short plays, skits, poems, songs, stories or reports.

    ●       Grade level appropriate visual and performing arts, language arts and career education (e.g., staging a dramatic presentation of a significant aspect of the life of an important person in the target culture; doing an oral presentation on a famous person, place, or event from target culture supported by research obtained in the target language; creating a visual representation of region or country supported by technological resources and other media)

2.         Use language creatively in writing to response to a variety of oral or visual prompts.

●        Grade level appropriate language arts literacy topics and career education skills (e.g., writing short, well-organized essays on personal and school-related topics; writing letters in response to ads in local or target language newspapers)

3.         Engage in a variety of oral and written tasks using age-appropriate culturally authentic selections.

●        Grade level appropriate language arts literacy topics (e.g., summary of the plot and characters; dramatization of principal scenes in the text; role-playing a film critic to express opinions about the text)

4.         Describe orally, in writing, or through simulation, similarities and differences among products and practices found in the target culture with their own.

●        Grade level appropriate language arts literacy and social studies topics (e.g., origin and development of a product or practice; physical characteristics of the product; use of the product within the culture; role-playing cultural practices)