This webpage provides an overview of what your child will learn about Foreign Language in high school, as directed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The Foreign Language ACTFL standards focus on key concepts in communication, culture, connection, comparison, and communities.
When your child arrives at high school, they will learn the essential skills needed to communicate in languages other than English, gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures, connect with other disciplines and acquire information, develop insight into the nature of language and culture, and participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.
Examples of Your Child’s Work at School:
- Engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
- Understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.
- Present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied.
- Reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.
- Acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.
- Demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.
- Use the language both within and beyond the school setting.
- Show evidence of becoming life‐long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.