PWCS values the language and cultural diversity represented in our students, staff, and parents and aims to foster continued growth in this area for all learners.
The formal study of world languages in our programs in preschool or kindergarten through grade 12 ensure that all students learn the value of being bilingual and multilingual in a world where there are over 6,000 known languages spoken. PWCS currently offers nine languages for study: American Sign Language (ASL), Arabic, French, German, Italian, Korean, Russian, and Spanish, along with Spanish for Fluent Speakers courses. Language offerings will vary in each school depending on enrollment, student interest, and funding.
Learning another language formally also provides students with their own personal experience in "walking in the shoes" of their peers and adults who have to learn English as another language and hopefully make them more empathetic and supportive of those who experience that reality in our schools and community.
We hope that all PWCS students become good, positive, and caring ambassadors of all people in the world.
Please note that language offerings may slightly change each year depending on enrollment, student interest, and funding; however, the basic PWCS world programs remain consistent and world-class in every school.
The PWCS world language curriculum K-12 is aligned to the Virginia World Language Standards of Learning and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages' national standards called the World-Readiness Standards.
The Virginia Department of Education does not have a state world language exam and has no plans to create one. Local school divisions are recommended to create local common benchmark assessments and to use external nationally endorsed assessments such as the AAPPL (ACTFL Assessment of Performance towards Proficiency), STAMP (Standards-based Measurement of Proficiency), AP (Advanced Placement), IB (International Baccalaureate), Cambridge, and others for progress monitoring.
Curriculum creation and revision are ongoing processes in PWCS to improve the documents by ensuring that the most current resources and best practices are embedded and that as many teachers as possible participate in this opportunity for professional growth. This work is led by committees of world language teachers and content area experts. Attention is focused on ensuring alignment with the most current state Standards of Learning, high-quality instructional materials, and current research and best instructional practices in language acquisition.
Curriculum units are for the use of teachers only, as they include assessment items and lesson planning tools. However, the pacing guides, upon which the curriculum units are based, show a year-at-a-glance and what students will be able to do in the world language, provide a user-friendly format for all languages and levels 1-3, and identify/list the main content within each of the four marking periods.