Program Core Principles
The Wilton Public Schools adhere to the following core principles for world language instruction:
- Instruction is mostly in the world language and provides near immersion-like experiences.
- Instruction gives students an opportunity to achieve a high level of proficiency.
- Instruction starts early.
- Instruction supports literacy and other core subjects.
- Instruction is culture-based.
Principle 1: Instruction must be in the world language, providing immersion-like learning experiences. Students learn a second language through communication and use the second language for communication.
From the first day of language learning, students need to be immersed in the language. Teachers should begin with the assumption that students will not understand what they hear, read, or view, then make the language understandable by filling the content, activities, and comprehension checks with meaning. As students move from highly scaffolded activities using the language to increasingly independent application of the language, they develop strategies to understand and to be understood. This rich language-learning environment, with ongoing attention to helping students make meaning, builds their language proficiency.
Principle 2: Instruction needs to lead to movement upward on the scale of proficiency.
This means that the curriculum is not based on teaching all the grammar rules until students are “ready” to speak, nor is it based on students learning vocabulary in isolation. The language teacher helps students use the skills they already control at a given level to practice the skills they will need to control at the next level. This commitment to developing language proficiency leads to real evidence of what students can do in the language.
Principle 3: Instruction should support literacy and tap into the rich content from other subject areas.
Students need to talk, read, and write about something—to make connections. All subjects are perfect for “mining” content and topics for discussion, extending understanding, and making comparisons beyond the textbook. World language standards also align perfectly with the four strands of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy, emphasizing the purpose of communication behind each of the skills: interpersonal communication (listening and speaking), interpretive communication (listening and reading), and presentational communication (speaking and writing).
Principle 4: Through world language instruction, students should experience language, culture, and content first-hand; students should be learning about themselves and their world by examining another culture and its language.
Rather than focusing on abstract data and facts unrelated to their lives, students need to use language to explore the similarities and differences of languages, practices, products, and perspectives other than their own.
Principle 5: Effective world-language instruction provides students with the skills and knowledge to communicate in the real world.
Learning a language is about communication. Given a meaningful context, students will seek out ways to learn more in order to communicate their thoughts and ideas. If world language classrooms are engaging and applicable to the lives of students outside of the classroom, students will be far more willing to invest time and energy into learning a new language.
Principle 6: World Language programs should start in elementary school and continue uninterrupted through high school.
There is a direct correlation between the amount of time devoted to language study and the language proficiency students attain. Students should begin to learn a second language in elementary school, and should be expected to master that language. A longer sequence of instruction can lead to attainment of higher proficiency levels for more students, and support the awareness of, and respect for, cultural diversity. This expands opportunities to communicate with others, to work in an increasingly competitive worldwide economy, and to understand perspectives and diversity of cultures.
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