Megan

I found the **Spanish II syllabus from 2005-2006** and some GREAT things came out of it...

out of the **82** concepts in the course **46** are taught in **8th grade** Spanish and only **36** are new material!!!!!

Some things I found out about the final from 2005 until now:


 * from the 20058th grade final**:
 * __//7/19//__ concepts are review for our 7th grade review material (in 2009-2010 when there was more time for FLES - 10/19 concepts were review. we were able to review gustar verbs, boot changing verbs)
 * when FLES met more often 7th grade was taught and 8th grade reviewed //__12/19__// concepts (sports and boot changing verbs)
 * //__7/19__// are concepts taught in 8th grade
 * current 8th grade final 2011 compared to 2005 final:**
 * 16 new concepts were added:
 * direct object pronouns
 * indirect object pronouns
 * irregular preterit tense (poder, poner, tener, etc)
 * present progressive
 * "go" verbs
 * reflexive verbs (past and present)
 * ser - past tense
 * decir - past and present

These are some of the points that I found from the articles I was asked to look at as well as from the book "Languages and Children - Making the Match": and //some of my thoughts on each//

CAL (from Wiki #9 and 10)

// I highlighted a few sections on the rest of the article but I can't copy and paste the PDF text, so Lisa will bring that as well as the highlighted items from the book...which made SO many good points in just the first few pages. //
 * language instruction prepare global citizens (//which I think is somewhere in our mission statement or something)//
 * The findings indicate a serious siconnect between the national call to educate world citizens with high-levels laguage skills and the current state of foreign language instruction in schools across the country. //(which I think supports the fact that cutting down on the FLES porgram is NOT the way to go if we want to "keep up")//
 * //1997-2008// instruction decreased from 31% to 25% of all elementary schools....tends to be less in lower socioeconomic status (//I don't think that this region would like to be in that "category" - kind of making a match to CMT scores and overall resources of the school)//
 * Language focus programs, which emphasize listening, speaking, reading, writing and culture were offered at 39% of public elementary schools
 * NCLB's focus on math and reading instruction had drawn resources away from foreign languages beacuse they are not included in the law's accountability measures (//possible reason for cutting down our program???)//

July 5th //La importancia del español//. //por Alejo Fernández Pérez// si quieren uds. leer mas: www.arbil.org/(73)alej.htm USA Today...afirma que, si se quiere progresar en EEUU, hay que hablar espanol. Sn temor a simplificar, es indiscutible que la importancia de espanol en este pais es econmica.

another article by him:

http://www.hum.aau.dk/~proj-forsk/SyD7/SyD7_cancino.pdf

Hispanics will become in little time the nation's largest minority and unlike other minorities in this country (who) remain far from its origins, customs and language...preserve ties with the South. In this sense it is an important expansion of communication.