ghs foreign language program

Glastonbury High School Foreign Language Program

Rita Oleksak, Director

Program Highlights

Grades 1-12 – Intended for all studentsRussian in grades 7-12Digital language labs in middle schools and high schoolFocus on development of speaking skills, use of real-life reading and listening materials, including use of the Internet and international satellite TV broadcasts

Program Highlights (continued)

Reinforcement of CAPT Reading, Response to Literature, and Interdisciplinary WritingPreparation for GHS graduation expectations in speaking, culture, history, and languageInterdisciplinary teaching in special education and history/social studies

Program Highlights (continued)

Travel and exchanges abroadAdvanced Placement and University of Connecticut Cooperative credit at the sixth-year level in French, Russian, and Spanish, and at the fourth year in Latin

Program Offerings

****Beginning Spanish

************Spanish

****Beginning French

******Russian

*Mandarin Chinese

****Latin

****Japanese (from K at Magnet School)

*******French

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Program Offerings: Smith Middle School

Courses for students in the long foreign language sequence:

French 1 & 2Russian 1 & 2Spanish 1 & 2Japanese (tutorial)ESOL

Program Offerings at GHS

Courses for students in the long foreign language sequence:

French 3, levels 1 (301) & 2 (331)Russian 3, level 1 (311)Spanish 3, levels 1 (321) & 2 (351)


Courses for students new to a foreign language:

French I-IVLatin I-IV (AP)Mandarin Chinese IRussian 1-2Spanish I-IV, 1-2English as a Foreign Language


By teacher recommendation:French IILatin I, level 1Spanish II or IIISpanish 1 or 2Spanish for Spanish Speakers

Foreign Language Proficiency

Understandable to native speaker not used to dealing with foreigners; sometimes miscommunicates

Concrete topics such as own background, family, interests, work, travel, and current events

Able to fully participate in casual conversations, express facts, give instructions, describe, report, and provide narration about current, past, and future activities

2 (advanced)

Errors never interfere with understanding and rarely disturb the native speaker. Only sporadic errors in basic structure

Practical, social, professional and abstract topics, particular interests, and special fields of competence

Can converse in formal and informal situations, resolve problems, deal with unfamiliar topics, provide explanations, describe in detail, offer supported opinions, and hypothesize

3 (superior)

Nearly equivalent to an ENS. Speech is extensive, precise, appropriate to every occasion with only occasional errors

All topics normally pertinent to professional needs

Able to tailor language to fit audience, counsel, persuade, negotiate, represent a point of view and interpret for dignitaries

4 (superior)

Performance equivalent to an ENS

All subjectsFunctions equivalent to an educated native speaker (ENS)

5 (superior)

Accuracy (acceptability, quality and accuracy of message conveyed)

Context (topics, subject areas, activities and jobs addressed)

Function (tasks accomplished, attitude expressed, tone conveyed)

Oral Proficiency Level


UnintelligibleNoneNo functional ability0**novice level not discussed

Intelligible to a native speaker used to dealing with foreigners

Everyday survival topics and courtesy requirements

Can create with the language, ask and answer questions, participate in short conversations

1 (intermediate)

Accuracy (acceptability, quality and accuracy of message conveyed)

Context (topics, subject areas, activities and jobs addressed)

Function (tasks accomplished, attitudes expressed, tone conveyed)

Oral Proficiency Level


Expected levels of speaking proficiency in languages taught at the Foreign Service Institute:

Group I: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish

Length of Training Aptitude for Language LearningMinimum Average Superior

8 weeks (240 hours) 1 1/1+ 1+16 weeks (480 hours) 1+ 2 2+24 weeks (720 hours) 2 2+ 3

Foreign Language ProficiencyGroup II: Bulgarian, Dari, Farsi, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Urdu


16 weeks (480 hours) 1 1/2+ 1+/224 weeks (720 hours) 1+ 2 2+/344 weeks (1320 hours) 2/2+ 2+/3 3/3+

Foreign Language ProficiencyGroup III: Amharic, Bengali, Burmese, Czech, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Khmer, Lao, Nepali, Pilipino, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Sinhala, Thai, Tamil, Turkish, Vietnamese


16 weeks (480 hours) 0+ 1 1/1+24 weeks (720 hours) 1+ 2 2/2+44 weeks (1320 hours) 2 2+ 3

Foreign Language ProficiencyGroup IV: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean


16 weeks (480 hours) 0+ 1 124 weeks (720 hours) 1 1+ 1+44 weeks (1320 hours) 1+ 2 2+80-92 weeks 2+ 3 3+(2400-2760 hours)

ghs foreign language program

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