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Foreign Language Curriculum Frameworks

Appendix E: Stage 1 Learning Standard
Components and Topics

Stage 1

Sample Expected Outcomes

Students are expected to reach Stage 1 at the end of...

• grade 4 in a PreK-4 sequence
• grade 8 in a 6-8 sequence
• grade 10 in a 8-10 sequence
• after two years in high school program

Communication Strand: Learning Standard Components

Using selected words, phrases, and expressions with no major repeated patterns of error, students will

• Greet and respond to greetings*
• Introduce and respond to introductions*
• Ask and answer questions*
• Make and respond to requests
• Exchange information and knowledge
• Express opinions and ideas
• Express needs and emotions
• Follow directions*
• Understand some ideas and familiar details*
• Obtain information and knowledge*
• Read and interpret signs, simple stories, poems and informational texts*
• Describe people, places, and things*
• Write lists and short notes
• Begin to present information in a brief report*

*applies to classical language learning

Topics

Cultures Strand: Learning Standard Components

Using selected words, phrases, and expressions with no major repeated patterns of error in the target language, and English when necessary, students will

• Use appropriate words, phrases, expressions, and gestures in interactions such as greetings, farewells, school routines, and other daily activities*
• Interact appropriately in group cultural activities such as games, storytelling, celebrations, and dramatizations*
• Identify distinctive cultural aspects of the target culture presented in stories, dramas, films, and photographs*
• Identify distinctive cultural products from the target culture such as toys, clothes, foods, currencies, games, traditional crafts, and musical instruments*
• Identify distinctive contributions made by people in the target culture*
• Demonstrate knowledge of artistic expression in the target culture by identifying, learning, and perfoming songs, dances, or memorizing poems; by identifying and making examples of crafts or visual arts using traditional techniques such as brush painting, paper folding, or mosaics*
• Demonstrate knowledge of the target culture's geography by identifying features such as rivers, mountains, cities, and climate by name on maps*

*applies to classical language learning

Comparisons Strand: Learning Standard Components

Using selected words, phrases, and expressions with no major repeated patterns of error in the target language, and English when necessary, students will

• Ask and answer questions regarding similar/different phonetic/writing systems used in the target language*
• Give examples of ways in which the target language differs from/is similar to English*
• Give examples of borrowed and loan words*
• Identify linguistic characteristics of the target language and compare and contrast them with English linguistic characteristics*
• Ask and answer questions regarding different forms of communication in the target culture and their own such as signs, symbols, displays, and inscriptions*
• Describe the patterns of behavior of the target culture such as celebrations and compare/contrast them with those of their own culture*
• Describe some cultural beliefs and perspectives relating to family, school, and play in both target culture and their own*
• Identify and discuss cultural characteristics of the target culture and compare and contrast to cultural characteristics of their own culture*

*applies to classical language learning

Connections Strand: Learning Standard Components

Using selected words, phrases, and expressions with no major repeated patterns of error, students will

• Obtain information and knowledge related to other disciplines from sources in the target language*
  Examples of this include:
  • obtaining geographical information from printed maps and travel guides or Internet resources in the target language and using this information to achieve the learning standards from the Geography Strand of the History and Social Science Framework
  • reading age-appropriate authentic fiction and nonfiction from the target culture and analyzing it using the learning standards from the Literature Strand of the English Language Arts Framework
  • collecting data and graphing results in the target language and in order to achieve the learning standards of the Patterns, Functions, and Relations Strand of the Mathematics Framework

*applies to classical language learning

Communities Strand: Learning Standard Components

Using selected words, phrases, and expressions with no major repeated patterns of error, students will

• Apply knowledge of the target language and culture beyond the classroom setting*
  Examples of this include:
  • conversing with speakers of the target language; or
  • reading and writing e-mail or letters; or
  • making and exchanging drawings or photographs, and discussing them orally or in letters and e-mail with students in another community in Massachusetts, the United States, or another country

*applies to classical language learning

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