Eighth Grade Foreign Language Content Standards
Students learn to effectively communicate in the foreign language on a variety of topics. The initial emphasis is on speaking and listening with follow-up development of reading and writing.
Students develop a knowledge of the culture, geography, and history of the countries where the foreign language is spoken.
Students reinforce their understanding of the language and culture through a “Cultural Participation and Research” project which is completed outside of class.
Students learn grammatical concepts to increase understanding of the structure and nature of language.
Students perform brief skits and work in small groups to gain ease in communication.
Using the foreign language, second year students are expected to continue use of language acquired at the first level while learning to:
- Express wishes and dreams
- Make plans for future activities with friends
- Identify and describe clothing
- Talk about actions and events in the present, past and future
- Give and follow commands and give and follow directions
- Identify means of transportation
- Discuss sports using specific vocabulary
- Recognize numbers and count to 1,000,000
- Know the names of specific shops and stores (bakery, florist, butcher, etc.)
- Ask for prices, express quantity and make purchases
- Make comparisons
- Explain fundamental medical conditions and ailments
- Talk about and describe daily routine
- Express feelings and emotions
- Understand a basic recipe
Second year foreign language students will build upon knowledge of grammatical concepts acquired during the first level of study by learning:
- The verb “to go” + infinitive to express future
- The expression “to feel like” to express wishes
- Present tense of additional irregular verbs (to be able, to want, to think, to do) and certain stem-changing verbs
- Affirmative and negative commands in familiar and formal
- Demonstrative adjectives
- Demonstrative pronouns
- Relative pronouns
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
There are 5 goals which have been identified as standards in foreign language learning. These goals are commonly referred to as the “5 C’s.” The 5 goals are:
- Communication
- Cultures
- Connections
- Comparisons
- and Communities
In addition, there are 4 skills in foreign language acquisition. The 4 skills are:
- Listening
- Speaking
- Reading
- Writing
With these in mind, a curriculum has been developed to maximize the benefit to students who are beginning to learn a second language.