District of Columbia:

The District of Columbia Modern World Languages Standards, as outlined in the document in the link below, represent the collaborative effort and dedication of many District of Columbia Public School teachers and charter school teachers, university professors, administrators, and members of the educational community. The Standards are aligned with the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Standards for Foreign Language in the 21st Century, and reflect the realities and needs of DC’s community of public school learners.

The national World-Readiness Standards target five goal areas, the “Five Cs” of Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. These goal areas are complemented by Can-Do Statements that articulate learner progress with interpretive, interpersonal, presentational, and intercultural communication.

FL4K:

Is designed to align with the NCSSFL-ACTFL guidelines for world language instruction. FL4K provides opportunities to compare, connect, and communicate through cultural contexts using authentic resources and offers ideas for teachers and students on how to interact with local and international communities.

FL4K fosters an acquisition process with proficiency targets that lead to a student feeling comfortable and confident with the target language, with the goal of reaching a Novice-High or higher level of proficiency. Provides an engaging and fun language acquisition and intercultural awareness program possible for today’s student so that they can communicate naturally and spontaneously, including Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational skillbuilding with a complete video program interwoven with an intercultural curriculum, reading program, hands-on activities, online practice questions, and games specifically designed to build oral proficiency

District of Columbia: Communication

Standard 1.1:

Students engage in conversation, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions. Students will use the language and cultural knowledge to interpret, analyze, and demonstrate understanding of authentic speech, texts, media, or signed language on topics relevant to their lives and broader communities.

Standard 1.2:

Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.

FL4K:

Students will reach an intermediate-low proficiency level in Interpretive, Interpersonal and Presentational modes by the end of the program units and be able to:

• Identify main ideas, supporting details and various elements such as point of view, intended audience, and purpose from the authentic cultural themes and topics within the nine levels that include 11 Hispanic countries.

• Comprehend and react to content presented through multiple media sources.

• Identify cultural perspectives represented in the source material.

• Learners will express needs and wants via the multi-media and multi-leveled formats in FL4K that include polling, written/oral feedback for opinions/preferences and differentiated student abilities.

• Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions

• Dialogues allow for learner practice in formats used on national tests such as AP, Avant STAMP and ACTFL AAPPL.

• Learners converse with others from the target culture in familiar situations at school, work, or play, and show interest in cultural and linguistic similarities and differences.

• Learners converse comfortably with others from the target culture in familiar, and some unfamiliar situations, with responsiveness to cultural and linguistic attributes.

• Learners will present (writing and speaking) information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers. Learners will be able to present about people, activities, events, and experiences.

• Learners will present songs, short skits, or dramatic readings using the authentic resources, dialogues, songs, and art included in FL4K.

• FL4K provides teachers with a resource of teacher strategies and activities to engage students.

District of Columbia: Cultures

Standard 2.1:

Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.

Standard 2.2:

Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture.

FL4K:

• Students seek opportunities and interact with people who speak other languages and who have different cultural practices and perspectives.

• Students use and improve their linguistic and cultural skills to investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between cultural products and perspectives.

• Students use the language to interact with members of their local and global community in linguistically and culturally responsive ways

• Students use culturally appropriate behaviors as they interact with members of their local and global communities

• FL4K brings students experience with products of the target cultures such as stories, poetry, music, paintings, dance, drama, etc., and explains the origin and importance of these products in today’s culture.

District of Columbia: Connections

Standard 3.1:

Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the target language.

Standard 3.2:

Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the target language and its cultures

FL4K:

• Provides opportunities for collaboration, promoting leadership, critical thinking and problem solving, decision-making, developing technology and media literacy skills, encouraging accountability and responsibility, and developing interculturality and global citizenship.

• The FL4K culture component is relevant and provides high interest topics that allow students to make comparisons between cultures. Students become aware of global concerns with examples of climate change, lack of resources, changes in habitats and well-being of citizens across the globe.

• Aligns with ACTFL 21st Century World Readiness Standards.

District of Columbia: Comparisons

Standard 4.1:

Students demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.

Standard 4.2:

Students demonstrate an understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the language studied and their own

FL4K:

• Presents products, practices, and perspectives of 11 Hispanic cultures with opportunities for investigation and interaction. The program includes cultural comparisons, reflection questions, polls, and opportunities for critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making regarding the following topics: geography and climate, citizens, languages, sites of interest, transportation, animals, food, lodging, nature, adventures, contemporary topics, and the arts.

• Students use and improve their language skills and cultural knowledge to examine, compare, and draw conclusions about local and global issues and events.

• Students use and improve their language skills and cultural knowledge as they examine and integrate diverse perspectives and worldviews.

• Students use and improve their language skills and cultural knowledge as they interact and exchange ideas across boundaries of language, culture, and identity

• Students use and improve their language skills and cultural knowledge as they engage with others to improve conditions toward sustainable development and collective well-being

District of Columbia: Communities

Standard 5.1:

Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting. Standard

Standard 5.2:

Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

• Students use the language to interact with members of their local and global community in linguistically and culturally responsive ways

• Engage in activities and/or events within and outside the local community that expand students’ interests, career goals, and cultural enrichment for life-long learning.

• Use a variety of world language sources in and outside the community for entertainment or personal growth

FL4K:

• Provides templates that can be customized to suit the community of learners. Teachers have the flexibility in using the ready-made resources by FL4K or customizing them to the community needs. The cultural component of the program is widely diverse in gender, ethnicity and race so students can see themselves represented.

• Students seek opportunities and interact with people who speak other languages and who have different cultural practices and perspectives. They communicate orally and in writing with members of the culture studied on topics of personal and community interest.

• Students use and improve their linguistic and cultural skills to investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between cultural products and perspectives.

• Students use culturally appropriate behaviors as they interact with members of their local and global communities

• FL4K brings students experience with products of the target cultures such as stories, poetry, music, paintings, dance, drama, etc., and explains the origin and importance of these products in today’s culture.

• Activities are differentiated to meet the learner’s proficiency level.

• Games and hands-on activities engage students within the classroom, school or community and allow for collaboration or competition.

District of Columbia:

The District of Columbia standards include proficiency benchmarks for interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication from the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements (NCSSFL-ACTFL, 2017) (National Council of State Supervisors for Languages and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages). The NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements performance indicators are used.

FL4K:

Offers Can-Do Statements with built-in recording features for students to provide evidence of what they can do as they progress on a continuum of proficiency according to skill in an interwoven language and culture program with a multi-level intercultural curriculum for differentiation including heritage speakers

FL4K is aligned to the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements performance indicators.

District of Columbia:

Standards lead to the Seal of Biliteracy Achievement.

FL4K:

Mirrors the format for the national tests used for the Seal of Biliteracy to provide a comfort level from the lowest level to the intermediate level. The objective for learning is to scaffold language in context as students achieve higher proficiency levels in each mode. Feedback to students is personalized. Student content can easily be differentiated for learner needs.