Major Concepts/Content: The foreign language III course is designed to continue the teaching of interest, sensitivity, and appreciation for the host nation or target language culture. Students continue learning to value the broadened career opportunities open to those who have knowledge of a second language and culture. In foreign language III, students review and reinforce grammatical principles learned in foreign language II. Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and critical thinking skills become more spontaneous, and fluency in all skills is emphasized. The art of translating, interpreting, and analyzing information and concepts is stressed. Students are encouraged to think in the target language. 

Major Instructional Activities: Instructional activities for levels I and II provided emphasis on listening comprehension and speaking skills. In level Ill emphasis will be placed on reading skills. Students will be encouraged to increase their vocabularies in order to develop increased reading skills and to be able to analyze written information and concepts. Experience in reading will be broadened so that students will be able to read a variety of materials such as essays, short stories, newspapers, and magazine articles in the target language. Activities for cultural awareness will be reinforced. 

Major Evaluative Techniques: Students are required to pass tests included with the program text. Teacher-made tests will also be utilized. Dictations will be used frequently. Translations of topics using familiar vocabulary will be encouraged. Daily class participation, exercises in workbooks, and homework will be considered of vital importance in the total evaluation of students. 

Essential Objectives: Upon completion of the foreign language III course, students should be able to:

Listening:

• Discriminate among all the sounds of the language at a conversational tempo.
• Demonstrate comprehension of short conversations and narrative passages based on familiar situations.
• Demonstrate comprehension of the general sense of an unfamiliar context.
• Demonstrate comprehension of narrations of increasing length and structural complexity.

Speaking: Produce with increasing accuracy all sounds of the language.

• Achieve mastery of structure and vocabulary in recombination.
• Formulate answers to questions based on reading selections as well as personal experiences
• Participate in short conversations based on familiar situations.
• Relate orally information gathered from in-class materials as well as out-of-class experiences,

Reading:

• Read aloud with accuracy of intonation, rhythm, stress, linking, and pitch.
• Read material containing recombination of vocabulary and grammatical structures previously learned.
• Demonstrate an understanding of syntactical patterns that signal meaning.
• Use contextual clues to derive meaning. 
• Identify previously learned vocabulary in a new context. .
• Recognize synonyms, antonyms, cognates, and word families in context.
• Recognize stems, prefixes, and suffixes of words in a passage.

Writing:

• Show mastery of the graphic symbols of the spoken word.
• Write variations of patterns previously learned.
• Select vocabulary suitable for the subject matter and for the intended reader.
• State one's own thoughts or express opinions on a specific topic.

Culture:

• Describe traditions typical of the target culture and other cultures.
• Compile information about the way of life in the target culture. 
• Demonstrate the behavior expected in specified situations in the target culture.
• Show ways in which one can grow as a result of interaction in a foreign language. 
• Describe how learning another language will increase career opportunities. 
• Demonstrate responsibility for successful international encounters.

Last Revised: February 6, 2006