Our FLES Program.
The Spanish and French FLES (Foreign Language Elementary School) program is an asset to our district. It builds beginning proficiency and provides an excellent foundation for later language learning by activating the thinking processes involved in second language acquisition and engaging students in meaningful experiences using a foreign language for genuine communication.
Why is FLES Important?
- Learning a new language gets our students to use their brains in a new way, which positively impacts all the other thinking and learning they do.
- It enhances their first language literacy.
- It prepares them to excel in secondary language classes and attain proficiency as they advance through middle and high school.
- It opens their eyes to the outside world and teaches them that they are a part of a global community.
- It inspires them to reach across cultural and national boundaries and to connect to others through communication.
Thematic Units.
Our FLES curriculum breaks the year into five thematic units. By organizing our content by experiential theme, rather than grammatical concept, we maximize our students' engagement with and retention of the language. Students are more likely to retain language if they use it for a real-life purpose, rather than an academic exercise. Our thematic units are therefore written to foster effective and meaningful communication.
Performance Tasks.
Each thematic unit builds toward a performance task which incorporates the skills mastered throughout the unit. The performance task is an experience in which students must communicate for a purpose. For example, 5th grade students participate in a restaurant scenario, ordering a meal and conversing with their companions. Here, students must use the language they've gained throughout the unit to communicate with one another in a real-life situation. This type of assessment truly engages the student and fully demonstrates his/her ability to communicate effectively in the target language.
The Three Modes of Communication.
Each performance task falls into one of three modes of communication.
- Interpretive (Listening and Reading) - Students receive and make meaning from the language.
- Presentational (Speaking and Writing) - Students use the language to communicate information to an audience.
- Interpersonal - Students use the language to converse with and respond to others.