STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY

SECOND LANGUAGES :: 1999 :: ORGANIZING OF THE CURRICULUM

ORGANIZATION OF THE CURRICULUM

Overview	Students across North Carolina begin the study of another language at different grade levels anywhere along the K-12 continuum. Therefore, the Second Language Standard Course of Study is designed to address multiple entry points. It recognizes that all students start acquiring a second language in the same way, although they may participate in different learning activities which are appropriate to their ages, interests, and experiences.
Goals	The curriculum is organized around 7 goals which are the same for all students K-12. They define the major purposes and program outcomes for a foreign language education. They are: COMPETENCY GOAL 1: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCY GOAL 2: INTERPRETIVE COMMUNICATION COMPETENCY GOAL 3: PRESENTATIONAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCY GOAL 4: CULTURES COMPETENCY GOAL 5: COMPARISONS COMPETENCY GOAL 6: CONNECTIONS COMPETENCY GOAL 7: COMMUNITIES The goals are not listed in order of importance; all are interconnected and dependent on one another.
Objectives	For each goal, there are objectives which are specific to each grade and/or course. The purpose of these objectives is to define what students are expected to know and be able to do to achieve the stated goal. The objectives must coincide with the stages of language development and with the cognitive level of the student.
Elementary	Objectives at K-5 are stated grade by grade but repeated within grade ranges K-2 and 3-5. Students may begin second language study at anytime K-5. Moreover, there is great variation in the amount of instructional time, in both numbers of days per week and number of minutes per session. Teachers need to modify the stated objectives to match the amount of time a student receives second language instruction.
Middle Grades Beginning and Continuing	For grades 6-8, there are two sets of objectives which are stated grade by grade but often repeated at grades 6,7, and 8. One set of objectives is for the beginning sequence and is designed for students starting second language instruction at the middle grades. The second set is for the continuing sequence and addresses the needs of students who began second language study in the elementary grades. However, middle grades teachers will have to examine carefully the prior instructional experiences of their students in order to choose the appropriate instructional objectives for their program. Students who studied a second language for only a year or two prior to middle school, who had minimal instruction (once a week or less), and who stopped language study for a year or more generally would be unable to meet the continuing objectives.
Middle Grades Exploratory	A separate set of objectives are included for middle grades exploratory programs which are typically 6-9 weeks in duration and which focus on an introduction to the study of one language, usually Spanish or French. Because instructional time is minimal, students are not expected to move toward the development of communicative proficiency and will be able to address some of the objectives only in English.
High School	The High School objectives have been developed generically for four courses-- Level I, Level II, Level III, and Level IV. These objectives reflect the sequential nature of language development, the progressive acquisition of cultural knowledge, and the increasing ability to apply language and culture in an authentic setting. Students who come to high school with previous language experience should be assessed to determine the level at which to begin their high school instruction.
Grade Focus and Course Description	For each grade and/or level a focus section outlining the main emphases for that specific grade level is included. For high school courses (levels I-IV) the information in the focus section is a brief description of the course.

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