Pacing Guides: Elementary and Secondary, K-12 Introduction
The world language Pacing Guides provide teachers, administrators, parents, and students an overview of the main curriculum objectives by each marking period. In world languages, K through 12, the format is the same for easy-friendly use.
Teachers of each grade level: elementary and secondary, middle, and high school, have created the Pacing Guides which identify the key objectives/functions or what students will be able to do in the four skills developed through their study: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
The profession at the national, state, and local levels frame these in what are called, "Can Do" statements. Therefore, these main functions start with what students should be able to do by the end of each marking period. For example, I can ask and respond to someone describing my immediate family members. These functions are the main learning outcomes for that marking period, not everything students will learn.
The "can do" statements are practical and meaningful forms of communication, our most important curriculum goal as identified in our national, state, and PWCS curriculum.
Pacing Guides at the elementary exist for each grade level, kindergarten through grade 5 and are the same for French and Spanish.
Pacing Guides at the secondary or middle and high school levels are the same for all language-specific courses that start with the formal study of each of the nine different languages such as: Arabic, ASL, French, German, Italian, Korean, Latin, Russian and Spanish and Spanish for Fluent Speakers courses levels 1 through 3 or 4. These course sequences may start in middle school and are high school credit-bearing courses, and therefore, follow the same curriculum at both levels. However, not all these languages start the formal sequence in middle school; all middle schools do offer Spanish and most offer French. Parents need to check with their middle school for the world language course offerings and sequence.
Pacing Guides exist for specific middle school program-type courses not offered in high school also such as non-high school credit courses: Introduction to World Languages and Introduction to Spanish for Fluent Speakers. Special Pacing Guides also exist for middle school-specific courses such as: French and Spanish 1A and 1B, a level 1 course, offered over two years only in middle school.
In summary, Pacing Guides provide a quick reference and overview of the main objectives' students will learn in a course in one year and in each marking period. The next pages will provide all Pacing Guides for World Languages for all levels elementary, middle, and high school.