Tagged 5C's, grades 5-8, middle school, Standards for Foreign
Language Learning in the 21st Century Dr. David McAlpine
University of Arkansas at Little Rock The students in my Methods
of Teaching Second Language class don’t believe me when I tell
them that my best Spanish teaching experience in forty years was
in a middle school classroom! It’s true! Those of you just
beginning your career in a middle school will soon learn this,
and those of you who are middle school “lifers” already know
that these youngsters in grades 5-8 respond to content that is
connected to their everyday lives and to instruction that
actively involves them in the learning process. Your middle
school Spanish students may show higher competencies in the
three modes of communication than many of their high school
counterparts because of their openness to learning new concepts,
their curiosity about themselves and others, and their unabashed
willingness to be a part of real-life situations. How can the
Standards for Foreign Language Learn