World Language Newsletter
December 2015
Welcome Bienvenidos Biennvenue Willkommen
World Language Mission Statement
The mission of the world language program is to provide students with the tools and opportunities to effectively communicate in a global community and to promote cultural awareness across all borders.
What are the World-Readiness and Proficiency Standards for Language Learners
The World-Readiness Standards speak to what is called the 5 C's (Communication, Communities, Cultures, Comparisons, and Connections). These five areas stress the application of learning a language beyond a instructional setting. The goal is to prepare learners to apply the skills and understandings measured by the Standards (a brief summary of these is explained below) to bring a global competence to their future careers and experiences.
The ACTFL (American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines are a description of what individuals can do with language in terms of speaking, writing, listening, and reading in real-world situations in a spontaneous and non-rehearsed context. For each skill, these guidelines identify five major levels of proficiency: Distinguished, Superior, Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice. The major levels Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice are subdivided into High, Mid, and Low sub levels. The levels of the ACTFL Guidelines describe the continuum of proficiency from that of the highly articulate, well-educated language user to a level of little or no functional ability.
These Guidelines present the levels of proficiency as ranges, and describe what an individual can and cannot do with language at each level, regardless of where, when, or how the language was acquired. Together these levels form a hierarchy in which each level subsumes all lower levels. The Guidelines are not based on any particular theory, pedagogical method, or educational curriculum. They neither describe how an individual learns a language nor prescribe how an individual should learn a language, and they should not be used for such purposes. They are an instrument for the evaluation of functional language ability.
- See more at: http://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012#sthash.zUzLNOKA.dpufor http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/World-ReadinessStandardsforLearningLanguages.pdf
World Language Teachers
Teacher Contact Information
- Jill Hanson-Follingstad (French 1 & 4CIS) jhanson@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Meghan Johnson (French 2 & 3)mjohnson@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
German Teachers
- Mary Fred Bausman-Watkins (German 1 & 2)mbausmanwatkins@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Rebecca Bilbro (German 1 & 2)rbilbro@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Jon Ingalsbe (German 2 &3) jingalsbe@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Birgit Pope (German 1 & 4S2S)bpope@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
Spanish Teachers
- Jana Hidalgo (Spanish 3, 4CE & 4)jhidalgo@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Kate Dunklee (Spanish 2, 3 & Medical Spanish)kdunklee@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Maria Lecceardone-Brown (Spanish 4 & 5CE)mlecceardone@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Betty Martin (Spanish 2)bmartin@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Amber Sevald (Spanish 1 & 3)asevald@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Amy Steen (Spanish 1 & 3)asteen@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
- Courtney Torrent (Spanish 2)ctorrent@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
French Students of the Month
German Students of the Month
Kasin Liv Kasin is a wonderful example of a good German 2 student. He comes to class ready to learn, and he always participates in class. He is creative and a hard worker, and he helps make the stories we tell in class more interesting. Keep up the great work, Kasin! Sehr gut gemacht!
Spanish Students of the Month
Lydia Block is an exemplary student in Spanish 4 . She always works hard and strives to do well, but more importantly, she is determined to thoroughly understand the material. She does an outstanding job in class and outside of it to use the language and improve her abilities. She is a stellar student. ¡Felicitaciones!
Department News and Happenings
French Department News
German Department News
What's Going on in German Class
German 1 has been learning the story “The Princess and the Frog” in German. Many of the students would be able to tell the whole story in German, so you should ask them to do that for you. Even if you can’t understand the language, it is a great accomplishment for the students to be able to do that after such a short time learning a new language. There has been a lot of frog and princess action going on in the classroom and for the most part, students are enjoying the fun.
German 2 has started their first reader of the year. It is called “Petra reist nach Kalifornien” (“Petra travels to California”). Because the main character is from Germany's largest island, Rügen, students have been learning about it.
German 4 has started reading a new book and is working hard to expand their vocabulary. We also took the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to bake Pfannkuchen. Students enjoyed doing that when they were in German 1 and asked to do it again in German 4.
Spanish Department News
Spanish Trip 2017
1. Mexico: http://www.isemn.org/assets/documents/itineraries/2016-Mexico/ise-mexico-lindo-y-querido-2016.pdf
2. Peru: http://www.isemn.org/assets/documents/itineraries/2016-Peru/ise-aventuras-andinas-peru-2016.pdf
Spanish 5 visits La Ola del Lago Spanish Immersion School in Prior Lake
Spanish 5 students visit La Ola del Lago Spanish Immersion School in Prior Lake
This November, students from Spanish 5 spent time preparing mini-lessons to teach the immersion students in kindergarten and first grade at La Ola del Lago Spanish immersion school. They read the book, “Caperucita roja” (Little Red Riding Hood), created games, songs and arts and crafts to help them connect with the elementary students. It was an excellent opportunity for the Spanish 5 kids to use their language in a real-world setting and the everyone absolutely loved being taught by the “big kids” from the high school. This was such a fantastic opportunity for all. This was the first of four visits that we will make this year. It is a rewarding opportunity for all involved!
United States is Second Largest Spanish-Speaking Country
Among the sources cited in the report i the U.S. Census Office which estimates that the United States will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the largest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.
The report, El español, una lenga viva (Spanish, a living language) estimates that there are 559 million Spanish speakers worldwide, a figure that includes 470 million native speakers and those with some command of the language. The report is available online in Spanish at tinyurl.com/u-s-spanish-speaking
Taken from The Language Educator, Oct/Nov 2015 issue
Maria Lecceardone-Brown
Email: mlecceardone@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
Twitter: @mlecceardone