Foreign Language Course of Study

Philosophy

The Olentangy Local School District is committed to providing leadership and support services to staff that will facilitate maximum learning for every student. In the pursuit of that commitment, our goal is to continuously improve in foreign language as noted in the Continuous Improvement Plan adopted by the Olentangy Local School District Board of Education on June 27, 2000.

Based on the National Standards for Foreign Language, the five goals of foreign language instruction are:

• Expanding their communicative abilities
• Offering them the opportunity to gain knowledge of the other cultures and national groups that speak their heritage language
• Using their home language in an academic context to access new information and knowledge
• Bringing to the level of awareness the views and perspectives of the two worlds with which they interact on a daily basis
• Expanding their ability to participate both in the U.S. and abroad as members of a language competent society

Mapping

Curriculum at Olentangy is developed through a technique called mapping. This three-step process included any teacher or administrator that would like to participate, the board of education and a representative community committee. The maps are aligned and clearly articulate high expectations for our students. Simply, the maps describe exactly what Olentangy students should know and do in a particular subject at each grade level. The maps are concise (one page per grade level or subject) and easy for any stakeholder to read. The maps are designed this way to allow for greater depth of teaching and student understanding. The maps are the adopted curriculum for the district and guide classroom instruction.