Department Goals

Department goalsThe OGHS World Language Department provides students of French, Spanish and Vietnamese the opportunity to develop language and cultural competency in the target language. The goal of studying a world language at OGHS is to prepare students to understand and to interact with people from diverse cultures. At OGHS world language classes are conducted primarily in the target language. Even in the first year of the language, teachers will model the target language and students will have ample opportunities to use the target language as the major means of communication.

Developing cultural competency is crucial to linguistic proficiency. All language students become culturally competent by being exposed to the target language in a natural, culturally appropriate, and real-life context. Cultural readings and interactions with native speakers provide authentic opportunities for students to understand the target culture. French, Spanish, and Vietnamese students become proficient in the target language through receptive tasks like listening and reading, and through expressive or productive tasks, like writing and speaking. Our proficiency goals are consistent with the standards set forth in the California Foreign Languages Curriculum Framework and the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).