STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY
STANDARD COURSE OF STUDYMIDDLE SCHOOL GRADES 6-8
Adolescents' Characteristics
Young adolescents undergo tremendous physical, social, emotional, and intellectual changes which impact heavily on their learning. They want to know that they have a say in the organization of their life at home and at school. In their struggle for autonomy, they want independence from adults while looking for approval from their peers. They see themselves as active contributors and want privileges, but are unsure about responsibilities. Their self-concept is shaky, are vulnerable to criticism, and have a definite sense of fairness. Their formal thinking fluctuates from concrete to abstract. At the same time, they are interested in the new and bored with the old.
Instructional Strategies
Young adolescents must be exposed to relevant experiences which allow them to adapt to all these changes. They need to be involved in positive and meaningful interactions with their peers, and, at the same time, they need opportunities to develop a positive selfconcept.
Group and pair work are especially successful with middle school adolescents, as long as the group and pair work are centered on welldefined tasks which are broken down into manageable parts, since students this age often feel overwhelmed by long range assignments. In the classroom, young adolescents need assistance with organization and responsibility to help them move toward independence.
At this level, students can work well from patterns and facts, but they have difficulty making applications. They have little tolerance for ambiguity. For this reason, they need explicit practice with a model. Since they have little patience for anything which is different, teachers will want to stress similarities rather than differences especially when dealing with culture.
Textbook
There are many instructional resources available at the middle school level. The textbook is one of the possible resources; however, the use of a textbook should not restrict access to other materials such as magazines (paper and on-line), videos, CD-ROMs, cassettes (audio and video), realia, and the Internet.
Grammar
Because of its abstract nature, grammar is selected according to the communicative functions to be mastered and is taught contextually.
Middle School Program
The middle school program conforms to concepts students have mastered and to experiences they have both in and out of school. There are three sets of objectives corresponding to the three program options available at the middle school level:
- 6-8 program for the students in a beginning sequence,
- 6-8 program for students in a continuing sequence, and
- 6-8 program for students in an exploratory program.
Beginning Sequence
At the beginning level, students start their study of the second language. The focus of the program is on the development of proficiency. To be effective the program provides sequential instruction to ensure the development of the necessary language skills.
In a beginning sequence, focus is placed on the development of the listening and speaking skills first. Reading and writing are integrated later on.
Students use basic language to interact with their peers about familiar topics. They are able to understand contextualized directions, commands, key words and phrases, and they can make inferences from the materials they hear or read. They rely heavily on visual cues and/or props. They are involved in short presentations including poems, songs, and other internalized materials.
They gain some insights into other cultures as well as their own. They are able to apply learning strategies and processes from other disciplines and they can develop their own strategies to help them learn better. Their experience with the language is not limited to the classroom. They are encouraged to take their language outside of the classroom by accessing the Internet, participating in e-mail or regular correspondence, and interacting with their community.
Continuing Sequence
At the continuing level, students expand on the language skills previously acquired through study at the elementary and or middle school level. Reading and writing continue to be natural extensions of the listening and speaking skills.
Their study includes broader areas of knowledge and interest to reflect their age group and language level.
Students communicate orally and in writing with their peers and others using more complex language. They are able to understand main ideas and some supporting details without relying as heavily on visual cues or props. They can tell or retell a story. They can present skits, songs, poetry, and personalized statements to a variety of audiences.
They continue to familiarize themselves with other cultures by participating in activities characteristic of young adolescents in the target cultures. They explore viewpoints and attitudes behind traditions, celebrations, people's attitudes and by doing so they reflect on their own culture and language. They continue to look for connections between the target language and other disciplines and they apply strategies learned in various contents. To make language relevant, they access technology and other media and they apply their language outside of the classroom.
Articulation
There needs to be on-going contacts with high school teachers to establish a common core of knowledge and skills expected of all students who place into high school level II. Smooth articulation from the middle school to the high school level ensures that students have the opportunity to continue building on what they have learned.
Exploratory Program
The Exploratory Program described in this document is for one language. This program can be repeated by individual students in different languages at the same or at different grade levels.
This is a non-sequential program which does not lead to the development of communicative proficiency. The stated goals and objectives apply to students at 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in a daily program meeting 6-9 weeks; however, modifications need to be made if the program meets for longer or shorter periods of time.
The emphasis of this program is on:
- Communication through learned words and phrases dealing with familiar topics.
- Pre-reading/writing activities through oral language.
- Connections to the grade level curriculum.
- Awareness of other cultures.
- Comparison of culture and language to the students' own culture and language.
- Awareness of the importance of learning another language and culture.
Classroom instruction may be conducted in the target language or in English.
Exploratory programs traditionally begin in the sixth grade with students enrolled in foreign language study for a 9 week span usually scheduled on the exploratory wheel. In the schools these programs are usually followed by:
- a beginning sequential program in the seventh grade. Goals for the beginning sequential program are found under Grade 7 - Beginning Sequence.
- another level of exploration. Goals for the exploratory program at the sixth, seventh, and the eighth grade are the same and can be found in the Exploratory section. IB Program
In addition to the above programs, some school systems are implementing an International Baccalaureate (IB) program at the middle school level. Middle school IB programs are designed to feed into the high school IB program with its own curriculum. Some modifications to the Standard Course of Study may be needed to meet the requirements of the IB program.
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