Globalized World Language Standards

The following World (Foreign) Language standards come from the Tennessee Department
of Education website, but originally come from ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages).
http://tennessee.gov/education/ci/foreign_lang/
http://www.actfl.org/publications/all/national-standards-foreign-language-education
ACTFLs statement of philosophy on their website says:
Language and communication are at the heart of the human experience. The United States must educate
students who are linguistically and culturally equipped to communicate successfully in a pluralistic
American society and abroad. This imperative envisions a future in which ALL students will develop and
maintain proficiency in English and at least one other language, modern or classical. Children who come
to school from non-English backgrounds should also have opportunities to develop further proficiencies
in their first language.

Standard 1.1
1. In the target language (Spanish), students are able to engage in conversations, provide and
obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions. (TN Modern Foreign
Language Standards, Year 1 also from ACTFL)

2. To integrate global education into this standard of communication, I could set students up with
ePals in another country to give them the opportunity to practice their budding language skills
with native speakers of Spanish, making the language learning more relevant and giving them a
deeper sense of engagement in their own learning.

3. Global competencies I would be targeting by connecting my students with ePals would be
Investigating the World (Educating for Global Competence, p. 72), and communicating
ideas (EfGC, p. 74). Some specific lesson plan modifications would be to 1) give students ideas
for basic topics of introductory discussion to use with their ePals, 2) have them to do research to
determine the best ways to ask and talk about these topics in Spanish, 3) try their language out
with their ePals, and 4) write/present a reflection on how the conversations went.

4. Informal outcome assessment students could copy/paste the body of their email
conversations into a document for me to review, and then write a reflection or give a presentation
about how their conversations went - what was successful, what miscommunications (if any)
occurred, and what they could do better next time.

Standard 2.2
1. Students are able to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products
and perspectives of the culture studied and begin to experience songs, stories, games, traditional
celebrations, art, literature, film, and other products of the cultures being studied. (TN Modern
Foreign Language Standards, Year 1 also from ACTFL)

2. This standard is already very globalized, but in order to make sure that it is truly developing
students global competencies, I plan to have students independently investigate the music, art,
literature, etc. of another country and the perspectives behind these cultural products in order to
create comparison charts, blogs, presentation videos to share their findings with the rest of the
class.

3. This globalized lesson would be targeting the competencies of Investigating the World, with
students researching the arts and literature of another country; Recognizing Perspectives, with
students researching the perspectives/history behind the arts or literature; and Communicating
Ideas, with students presenting their ideas to their classmates. If students feel inclined, they may
choose to Take Action as well and conduct a project that will lead to supporting the arts of the
cultures of Latin America that are gradually disappearing due to globalization (e.g. the Guaran
en Argentina/Paraguay/Brasil).

4. Informal outcome assessment the presentation (be it through a comparison chart, power
point, blog, or videolog) would be assessed for each global competency.


Standard 3.2
1. Students are able to acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only
available through the foreign language and its cultures, identify idiomatic expressions in both
languages; recognize the difference in time and person as related to verb forms; use new
information and perspectives to expand their personal knowledge. (TN Modern Foreign
Language Standards, Year 1 also from ACTFL)

2. I would like to globalize this standard by having students research common idiomatic phrases
in Spanish, the history and/or cultural perspectives behind the idiomatic phrases, and
compare/contrast what they find with common American idiomatic phrases and the
history/cultural perspectives behind them.

3. In this globalized standard, students would be learning the global competencies of
Investigating the World (researching phrases from Spanish-speaking countries), Recognizing
Perspectives (learning the meaning of the perspectives behind the phrases), and Communicate
Ideas (sharing knowledge with classmates through presentations through blogs, videologs,
posters, power points). Specific lesson plan modifications I could make would be to have
students choose one country in the Spanish-speaking world to research in terms of 5 or so
(clean!) idiomatic phrases and present to the class what they mean in that country. They could
use websites like the ones below and/or communicate with their ePals to investigate these
phrases.
http://www.121spanish.com/
http://www.languagerealm.com/spanish/spanishidioms.php

4. For an informal outcome assessment, I would have students present their research to the class
and compare the phrases they learned to other Spanish-speaking countries phrases and to idioms
that we have in American English. Students could create different types of presentations to teach
their classmates the phrases they have learned, such as blogs, videos, posters, podcasts, etc.
Standard 4.2
1. Students are able to recognize that cultures use different patterns of interaction and can apply
this knowledge to their own culture, demonstrate awareness of body language and gestures in
both cultures; compare simple patterns of behavior; and identify different cultures belief/value
systems. (TN Modern Foreign Language Standards, Year 1 also from ACTFL)

2. To integrate global education into this standard, I could give students several driving questions
such as What beliefs and values do many Spanish-speakers (or a specific nationality) have?
How are Americans (or other students nationalities) similar and/or different? then have
students research the beliefs and values of a country and create comparison charts

3. Students could be connected with students in the target culture through an ePal exchange and
given specific questions to ask their ePal about beliefs and values. Specific topics they could
discuss are families, work, religion/spirituality, government/politics, and friendship/relationships.
They could also work on creating their own questions to ask their ePals about beliefs and values,
depending on how their conversations go. The global competencies involved in this lesson would
be Investigate the World, Recognize Perspectives, and Communicate Ideas. If students
find some significant differences between their beliefs/values and the target cultures, we could
also incorporate a Take Action piece to help educate our school community about the cultures
studied and promote peaceful intercultural understanding and cooperation.

4. An informal outcome assessment of this globalized lesson would be the presentations students
gave about the cultures they studied and the similarities/differences they encountered. These
presentations could be given in the form of oral presentations with printed visuals for the
audience (power points and/or handouts), videologs, blogs, or podcasts.


Standard 5.2
1. Students are able to show evidence of becoming lifelong learners by using the language for
personal enjoyment and enrichment, understand the main ideas of beginning level videos,
television commercials, etc.; and write simple letters or emails in the target language to the
teacher and/or classmates. (TN Modern Foreign Language Standards, Year 1 also from
ACTFL)

2. To globalize this standard, I want to have students watch a variety of Spanish-language
commercials, movie ads, etc. from different countries and compare them to commercials, movie
ads in English, as well as continue to communicate with their ePals for fun on a regular basis
outside of the classroom and assigned activities.

3. Specific lesson plan modifications would be to use websites such as Zambombazo
http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/category/cine/ to help students learn how to compare
movie trailers in Spanish-speaking countries and the ones we see here in the U.S. I have used this
kind of activity in my Spanish II Honors class before, and students loved hearing Spanish spoken
over the trailers they usually hear in English and being able to make comparisons between the
two. Students could also research and find Spanish language TV ads, etc. on their own. They
could use this type of activity to communicate with their ePals about the differences in movies
and television in their respective countries and really have fun with language learning. The
global competencies we would be addressing with this lesson would be Investigate the World,
Recognize Perspectives, and Communicate Ideas.

4. As an informal outcome assessment, I would have students create comparison charts to show
the similarities and differences between the commercials/trailers/videos they watched and the
ones we see on TV in the U.S. I could also have them write reflections about their ePal
conversations to share with their classmates.