Teaching Objectives

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Novice

Grammar (Spanish)

  • ser & estar
  • tener
  • hay
  • negative words and expressions
  • grammatical gender
  • plural
  • possessive adjectives
  • interrogative words & question formation

Grammar (French)

  • être
  • avoir
  • il y'a
  • negative words and expressions
  • grammatical gender
  • plural
  • possessive adjectives
  • interrogative words & question formation

Speaking

  • Hellos and goodbyes
  • Courtesy language
  • Exchanging personal information
  • Use memorized phrases to order something in a restaurant
  • Count from 0-100
  • Home: rooms, basic parts of house, furniture, types of homes
  • Name concrete objects, such as food items.
  • Name people, such as men and women, boys, girls, and babies and family members.
  • Name the countries and nationalities of North America and the Spanish/French speaking world
  • Identify basic colors
  • Very basic descriptions of objects and people

Understanding

  • Names of common objects
  • Names of common food and drink items
  • Words for common actions
  • Common greetings and farewell expressions
  • Basic warnings and commands, such as Stop!, Watch out!, and Be careful!
  • The most basic words describing size, color, or age
  • Simple questions and statements that use words from the categories above

Reading

  • The letters of the alphabet
  • Menus
  • Timetables
  • Maps
  • Road signs
  • Signs above shops

Writing

  • Information for hotel registration forms
  • Information for travel documents
  • Simple fixed expressions
  • Words or sentences you have learned
  • Dates and numbers




Intermediate

Grammar (Spanish)

  • present tense regular verbs
  • present tense irregular and stem-changing verbs
  • present continuous tense
  • reflexive verbs
  • telling time
  • prepositions
  • adverbs of frequency

Grammar (French)

  • present tense regular verbs
  • present tense irregular verbs
  • être en train de + infinitive
  • reflexive verbs
  • telling time
  • prepositions
  • adverbs of frequency

Speaking

  • Introduce yourself, giving your name and basic personal information
  • Give directions on how to get from one place to another
  • Describe your health problems to a doctor or nurse
  • Tell about your family, giving names and simple information about them such as their occupations or what they look like
  • Arrange to meet someone at a particular time and place and date in the near future
  • Describe typical routine activities, such as what you usually do on the weekend
  • Request items, discuss prices, and handle currency in a situation involving a purchase
  • Ask questions about menu items, order food, and ask for and pay a bill at a restaurant
  • Describe in detail a particular place, such as a school, park, or store
  • Talk about things you like to do, such as leisure activities, favorite hobbies or pastimes
  • Talk about things you expect to do in the future, such as a planned trip or activity

Understanding

  • Basic directions on how to get somewhere
  • Greetings and other very commonly occurring social routines
  • Questions about your personal background, family, and why you are in the country
  • Questions about your personal interests and activities, such as hobbies, sports, and subjects you know a lot about
  • Short, routine telephone conversations, well enough to be able to take a simple message for someone
  • Bits and pieces of radio or television announcements and news reports dealing with familiar topics or events
  • A description of a place or a person
  • Locations and times, if making arrangements to meet somebody later
  • Prices and amounts of money you need to pay in a shop, store, or market
  • Questions the shopkeeper might ask you about what exactly you want
  • Familiar words in conversations between mother-tongue speakers (If the topic is familiar, you might get the main ideas, but might not understand all they are saying )
  • Enough to carry on short conversations on concrete topics with friendly mother-tongue speakers used to dealing with foreigners, if they make an effort to help you to understand

Reading

  • Simple, connected texts about predictable subjects
  • Public service messages or instructions
  • Short, straightforward descriptions of persons, places, and things written for a wide audience
  • Newspaper headlines
  • Basic written directions
  • Questions about your personal background, your family, and why you are here in the country
  • Written descriptions of what a place or a person looks like

Writing

  • Short, simple personal letters about your personal preferences, daily routine or everyday events
  • Telephone messages
  • Postcards
  • Short synopses
  • Class or lecture notes on familiar topics
  • Simple descriptions
  • Simple paraphrases of things you hear or read
  • Short essays about your life, work, or experience




Advanced

Grammar (Spanish)

  • acabar + infinitive
  • pensar + infinitive
  • ir + infinitive
  • imperfect tense
  • preterit tense
  • future tense
  • conditional mood
  • imperative mood
  • adverbs of sequence and order
  • comparatives and superlatives
  • the passive voice

Grammar (French)

  • venir + infinitive
  • aller + infinitive
  • imperfect tense
  • passé composé
  • future tense
  • conditional mood
  • imperative mood
  • adverbs of sequence and order
  • comparatives and superlatives
  • the passive voice

Speaking

  • Describe a sequence of events that happened in the past
  • Describe things that used to happen in the past, such as things you used to do when you were younger, or people and places you used to know or visit
  • Compare and contrast two objects, customs or places
  • Talk about your future plans or goals
  • Explain a simple process you know how to do, such as making a cake or repairing a tire
  • Give instructions about what you would like someone to do, explaining the steps involved in carrying out an activity, such as when telling a housekeeper how you would like her to wash the clothes
  • Give a brief, organized, factual summary of what happened in an event you attended
  • Give advice to someone faced with making a decision, giving reasons for your advice
  • Lodge a complaint, giving the reasons and details of why you are dissatisfied
  • Express personal apologies clearly and appropriately to someone you have offended
  • State the advantages and disadvantages of a situation or a decision
  • Tell someone what you would do in a hypothetical situation, such as if you suddenly received a lot of money
  • Answer the telephone at home or at work
  • Describe your job and the organization you work for
  • Direct people to the right building or office
  • Handle simple job-related inquiries

Understanding

  • An account of an event that happened in the past
  • Events someone expects will happen in the future
  • A description of a simple process
  • A brief summary of facts about a subject
  • Oral instructions on how to do something
  • Advice
  • The advantages and disadvantages of a course of action
  • A description of a place you have never visited
  • Someone comparing or contrasting two objects or places
  • Familiar topics beyond your immediate situation
  • Most news broadcasts and factual reports on television and radio
  • Information someone asks you in an interview
  • Short lectures on familiar topics

Reading

  • Short stories
  • News items
  • Encyclopedia entries
  • Short biographies
  • Personal correspondence
  • Routine business letters
  • Simple technical information for the general reader

Writing

  • Routine social correspondence
  • A discourse of at least several paragraphs on familiar topics
  • Stories or anecdotes about things that have happened to you
  • Straightforward, informal business correspondence
  • Concrete facts about special interests or fields of competence
  • Lecture notes
  • Cohesive summaries and resumes of things you have read or heard
  • Descriptions of persons, places, and activities




Superior

Grammar (Spanish & French)

  • subjunctive in all tenses and moods

Speaking

  • Persuade people to do something they do not want to do or to stop doing something you do not like
  • Describe a complex object, such as a car or bicycle or computer in detail, using the correct vocabulary
  • Present arguments on both sides of a familiar issue or topic and evaluate the merits of the arguments
  • Discuss a professional topic at length
  • Explain in detail a non-routine, complex process, such as how to do grammatical analysis or how to perform an operation
  • Present a talk at a professional meeting
  • Tell someone in detail the possible consequences of a certain situation, for example, if the price of coffee were to rise suddenly
  • Express what you think might happen if something unexpected occurs
  • Propose a course of action and defend your proposal in such a way that people might be persuaded to accept your idea
  • State a personal point of view on a subject, including controversial issues, explaining why you hold your beliefs
  • Handle formal business situations
  • Talk to dignitaries or influential people
  • Discuss issues in the news

Understanding

  • Unspoken emotional nuances of speakers in most communication situations
  • A detailed description of a complex object or procedure
  • A discussion of an abstract professional topic
  • Hypotheses about what might happen in a certain situation
  • Debates on both sides of an issue
  • Personal points of view on a controversial subject
  • Reasons someone gives for acting in a certain way
  • Unspoken messages, when people hedge, evade an answer, or try to get out of a commitment
  • Speeches or academic lectures
  • The dialogue in films
  • Media coverage

Reading

  • Expository prose on a wide range of subjects, including unfamiliar material
  • Newspaper editorials
  • Personal and business correspondence
  • Technical reports
  • Political commentaries
  • Official documents
  • Academic texts
  • Professional papers
  • Literary texts

Writing

  • All types of social and business correspondence
  • Memos
  • Short research papers
  • Statements of your position in areas of special interest or in your professional field
  • Essays




Distinguished

Grammar (Spanish and French)

  • Develop an understanding of, and sensitivity to, language register. This refers to 'levels' of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. It includes literary, technical, colloquial/neutral, informal and vulgar levels. It influences grammar, vocabulary and even tone.

Speaking

  • Do informal interpreting
  • Take part in mediating or negotiating between two parties
  • Discuss in detail highly abstract or unfamiliar topics
  • Tailor the style and content of your presentation on the spur of the moment to an audience different from the one you had expected

Understanding

  • Fine points of the issues debated at meetings of local government agencies, such as city councils or town councils
  • Plots of dramatic presentations and the artistic merits of the script and the presentation
  • Dialogues in films, including slang
  • Editorials on the radio or television
  • Different points of view expressed at symposia
  • Points of view in academic debates
  • Public policy statements
  • Literary readings
  • Most jokes and puns
  • General conversations you overhear between mother-tongue speakers

Reading

  • Sophisticated editorials
  • Specialized journal articles
  • Novels
  • Plays
  • Poems

Writing

  • Letters to the editor
  • Articles for professional journals
  • Short stories
  • Poetry
  • Plays
  • Lyrics to music