New Brunswick Public Schools

All students can learn to speak a second language. The study of World Languages provides students with the ability to communicate in another language and exposes them to new experiences which will make them more culturally aware. Learning a World Language is a natural and enjoyable process and studies have shown that learning a World Language promotes cognitive flexibility. 

 

New Brunswick Public Schools follow the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standard 7.1 to promote language acquisition and aims to develop globally competent students who exhibit the following skills as delineated in the ACTFL World Readiness Standards for Learning Languages:

• Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to share information, opinions, and feelings with others.
• Connect with other disciplines to acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations.
• Develop insight into the relationship between language and culture in order to interact with others using cultural competence and understanding.
• Compare and contrast the nature of their language and culture to the nature of the language and culture that they are studying.
• Communicate using cultural competence and understanding in multilingual situations and in multilingual communities locally and globally.

 

7.1 World Languages All students will be able to use a world language in addition to English to engage in meaningful conversation, to understand and interpret spoken and written language, and to present information, concepts, and ideas, while also gaining an understanding of the perspectives of other cultures. Through language study, they will make connections with other content areas, compare the language and culture studied with their own, and participate in home and global communities.

Standards-based world languages education and the New Jersey standards reflect the themes in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (1999), known as "The Five Cs." These standards describe the "what" (content) of world languages learning and form the core of standards- based instruction in the world languages classroom.

The communication standard stresses the use of language for communication in "real life" situations. It emphasizes "what students can do with language" rather than "what they know about language." Students are asked to communicate in oral and written form, interpret oral and written messages, show cultural understanding when they communicate and present oral and written information to various audiences for a variety of purposes.

Cultural understanding is an important part of world languages education. Experiencing other cultures develops a better understanding and appreciation of the relationship between languages and other cultures, as well as the student's native culture. Students become better able to understand other people's points of view, ways of life, and contributions to the world.

World languages instruction must be connected with other subject areas. Content from other subject areas is integrated with world language instruction through lessons that are developed around common themes.

 

Students are encouraged to compare and contrast languages and cultures. They discover patterns, make predictions, and analyze similarities and differences across languages and cultures. Students often come to understand their native language and culture better through such comparisons.

Communities Extending learning experiences from the world language classroom to the home and multilingual and multicultural community emphasizes living in a global society. Activities may include: field trips, use of e-mail and the World Wide Web, clubs, exchange programs and cultural activities, school-to-work opportunities, and opportunities to hear speakers of other languages in the school and classroom

 

Students are instructed in the Spanish language in Grades K -5 once a week by highly qualified, certified World Language teachers.

Students are instructed in the Spanish language in Grades 6-8 by highly qualified, certified World Language teachers. Students follow an A/B schedule and Spanish placement tests are given at the end of the school year to determine placement levels (levels IA, IB, 2A, 2B) for the next school year.

Students in grades 9-12 are instructed by highly qualified, certified World Language teachers. Students are offered the following World Language courses and can proceed to the next level based on successful completion of the course and/or teacher recommendations and placement tests.