UPPER MERION WORLD LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

CURRICULUM STUDYMONDAY AUGUST 10, 2015

Presented by Ed Weiss

Today’s Agenda

• The language of WL curriculum• Trends in WL teaching • Overview of a WL program• Integrating authentic materials• Connecting with students• Hands on time• Your vision of your curriculum

A new vocabulary – by the #!

• Five Cs• Six themes

– Essential questions• Three Modes of Communication

– Four skills?• Six primary learning objectives• Three aspects of culture

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The course is designed around an overarching premise:

When communicating, AP® world language students demonstrate an understanding of the culture(s), incorporate interdisciplinary topics (Connections), make comparisons between the native language and the target language and between cultures (Comparisons), and use the target language in real-life settings (Communities).

The 5 Cs

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The Six Course Themes

Global Challenges

Science and Technology

Contemporary Life

Personal and Public

Identities

Families and Communities

Beauty and Aesthetics

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► Each theme includes a number of recommended contexts to serve as ways to explore the themes

► Teachers are encouraged to engage students in the various themes by considering historical, contemporary, and future perspectives as appropriate.

► Teachers should assume complete flexibility in resource selection and instructional exploration of the six themes.

► The recommended contexts are not intended as prescriptive or required, but rather they serve as suggestions for addressing the themes.

Recommended Contexts (sub-themes)

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► Recommended Contexts:► Diversity Issues / La tolérance► Economic Issues / L’économie► Environmental Issues /

L’environnement► Health Issues / La santé► Human Rights / Les droits de

l’être humain► Nutrition and Food Safety /

L’alimentation► Peace and War / La paix et la

guerre► What are possible solutions to

those challenges?

Themes, Recommended Contexts, and Overarching Essential Questions

Theme: Global Challenges / Les défis mondiaux

► Overarching Essential Questions:

► What environmental, political, and social issues pose challenges to societies . throughout the world?

► What are the origins of those issues?

► What are possible solutions to those challenges?

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One way to design instruction with the themes is to identify overarching essential questions

Essential Questions…►can guide investigations, learning activities, and performance assessments►are designed to spark curiosity and engage students in real-life, problem-solving tasks; they are open-ended questions that do not have one correct answer►allow students to investigate and express different views on real world issues, make connections to other disciplines, and compare aspects of the target culture(s) to their own►lend themselves well to interdisciplinary inquiry, asking students to apply skills and perspectives across content areas

Essential Questions

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► Interpersonal Communication► Active negotiation of meaning among individuals through

conversation (face-to-face or telephonic), or through reading and writing (e.g., exchange of personal letters, notes, or emails or participation in written online discussions)

► Interpretive Communication► No active negotiation of meaning with another individual,

although there is an active negotiation of meaning construction; includes the cultural interpretation of text, movies, radio, television, and speeches

► Presentational Communication► Creation of spoken or written communication prepared for an

audience and rehearsed, revised, or edited before presentation; one-way communication that requires interpretation by others without negotiation of meaning

The Three Modes of Communication

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► Spoken Interpersonal Communication► Written Interpersonal Communication► Audio, Visual, and Audiovisual Interpretive

Communication► Written and Print Interpretive Communication► Spoken Presentational Communication► Written Presentational Communication

The Six Learning Objectives (JOBS)

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Culture:The Three AspectsProducts, Practices & Perspectives

Cultural Products Products that are tangible (e.g., tools, books, music) and intangible (e.g., laws, conventions, institutions)

Practices Patterns of social interactions

Perspectives Values, attitudes, and assumptions that underlie both practices and products

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Trends in WL instruction and curriculum design

► Themed units across the curriculum► Articulated curriculum► Instruction based on authentic resources► Extending the WL experience beyond the

classroom► Variety of assessment► Balance of modes of communication

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►Handout on Vertical design-down model

Overview of a WL program

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► Can do statements

► Go to Ed’s site to the curriculum page for this document

ACTFL “CAN DO” STATEMENTS

Una carta a Dios

Gregorio López y Fuentes

1940

Summary of the story

Timing is Everything!

Grammatically

Newsworthy

Holiday

Setting the Stage

Essential Questions

Possible Questions

What images come to mind when I say Mexico?

What do you think life is like in a farming village of Mexico?

Do you think your life is different for your great grandpar-ents’

life? Explain the differences?

What was the last letter … not e-mail… you wrote?To whom did you write? Why did you write?

Pre-Reading Activities

Write a letter to Santa Claus

Write a letter to Los Reyes Magos

Share with classLaugh and enjoy!

Collect and put aside

Vocabulary…Empty List

Write the story… based on the words of the list

Read and Discuss

Create questions for comprehen-sion

(Formative assessment)

Create questions for discussion(Summative assessment)

Connect to Essential questions(Interpretive mode)

Stop!

Lencho’s second letter….

You write it!

Comparison

Students’ letters to Lencho’s letter

Writing Assignment Interpretive Mode

Is Lencho a good man or a bad man… or is he like most of us… a combina-

tion of good and bad qualities?

The writing AssignmentUna Carta A Dios

Muchas veces cuando leemos una novela o un cuento, el personaje principal tiene características buenas o malas... o este personaje es una combinación de lo bueno y lo malo. En el cuento <<Una Carta a Dios>>¿es Lencho, en su opinión, una buena o una mala persona o es él una combinación de lo bueno y lo malo.

En una composición bien desarrollada y con prueba del texto del cuento, expliquen Uds. por qué es bueno o malo Lencho.

¡OJO! Una composición bien desarrollada es una que tiene una introducción, tres argumentos (por mínimo) y una conclusión. Una composición bien desarrollada también tiene una extensión mínima de unas doscientas palabras.

Graphic Organizer

Missing : The organizer