Overview

Learning other languages and understanding other cultures is a 21st Century skill that is vital to success in the global environment. Language education and cultural awareness not only contributes to students' career and college readiness; it also helps develop the individual as they take on a new and more invigorating view of the world.

At the Middle School level, incoming 6th grade students select a World Language that will be a part of their daily schedule. Typically, students will begin at the Introductory level and move onto Developing level in 7th grade and Transitional level in 8th grade(some exceptions may apply).  South Middle School offers French, Italian, and Spanish; and Thomas Middle School offers French, German, and Spanish.  

The videos below feature District 25 students explaining why learning a language is important to them, how they selected a language, and other fun facts about learning a new language! 

South Middle School: 

Thomas Middle School: 

Standards 

The American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) explains how students advance toward greater proficiency. The District 25 World Language teachers use the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages to develop high quality and authentic curriculum for the various proficiency levels.  The national standards focus on five goals known as The Five C's: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities.  

Other standards that impact foreign language curriculum design are:

The Illinois Learning Standards for Foreign Languages

State Goal 28: Communication

State Goal 29: Culture and Geography

StatenGoal 30: Connections and Applications

Common Core (ELA) Standards: 

Alignment of the National Standards for Learning Languages with the Common Core State Standards

Instruction

Curriculum: The curriculum for each year of study is divided into four thematic units.  Each unit is guided by essential questions allowing students to self assess using "can-do" statements. Students are exposed to authentic materials throughout the unit and have a variety of learning experiences.  Students are assessed throughout the unit on their ability to use the language and each unit culminates in a series of perfomance tasks designed to show what students know and can do with the language.

Modes of Communication: Learning a language involves communicating through listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  The modes of communication explain how the individual skills are used, each mode is descibed here: Modes of Communication