Mission, Vision, Competencies, Standards, and Benchmarks

At close of Language Acquisition Level III, when entry is at grade 9 into Spanish I, students
will demonstrate all previous benchmarks from Levels I and II and in addition the student will:
Communication
‣ Exchange information about personal events and memorable experiences orally and
in writing referring to present, past and future events.
‣ Acquire goods or information through interaction and negotiation.
‣ Ask for and give instructions to perform a specific task.
‣ Express preferences concerning leisure activities and current events.
‣ Initiate, sustain, and close a conversation on a variety of topics.
‣ Respond, both orally and in writing, to a variety of situations by creatively combining
and recomb ining vocabulary and structures to supply facts and opinions.
‣ Understand the main ideas and significant details of live and recorded discussions,
narratives, and presentations.
‣ Read and respond to Biblical passages in Spanish.
Hispanic culture
‣ Know basic cultural beliefs and perspectives of the Hispanic culture.
‣ Compare cultural and religious beliefs of student’s own culture and Hispanic culture.
‣ Identify and discuss patterns of behavior typical of the student’s Hispanic peer group.
‣ Understand the main ideas and significant details in authentic written materials
such as newspapers, magazines, advertisements, and age-appropriate literary
texts.
‣ Derive new information and knowledge from authentic texts by reading and listening.
Connections
‣ Compare various linguistic elements of the Spanish language to one’s own.
‣ Begin to see similarities between the Hispanic culture and one’s own.
‣ Comprehend main ideas in age-appropriate, developmentally appropriate short
conversations or narratives including stories based on familiar and Christian themes.
Comparisons
‣ Report differences and similarities between the sound and writing systems of one’s
own language and the Spanish language.
‣ Gain knowledge about the Hispanic culture from a variety of print and electronic
resources.
‣ Recognize that idiomatic expressions reflect the Hispanic culture and that phrases
have a meaning larger than individual word equivalencies.
‣ Begin to use various media from the Hispanic culture for information and
entertainment that is age appropriate.
‣ Use media and the library as sources of demonstrations for Spanish language and
Hispanic culture.
Communities
‣ Ask and respond to simple questions about such topics as family, school events,
secular and religious practices in person or in writing, using letters, e-mail, or
audio/video tapes.
‣ Read simple materials and/or use media from the Spanish language and Hispanic
culture for inspiration and enjoyment, such as the Spanish Bible.
‣ Attend or view via media, cultural events and social activities.
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