The SOLs and ACTFL's 5 C's
Foreign Languages are not assessed with a SOL exam; never the less, the SOLs shape every aspect of classroom instruction. You can find specific standards for your student's level of French here. In a nutshell, teachers are charged with producing Communicative Competence:
“The student will demonstrate skills necessary to initiate, sustain, and close oral and written exchanges in French, applying familiar vocabulary and
structures to new situations.” (Board of Education Commonwealth of Virginia, 2007).
This means the ability to actually speak and use the target language in real-world activities. Studying the many cultures and countries of the Francophone world also allows students to examine their own values and heritages, another characteristic of authentic learning activities and not incidentally, the SOL standard of Cultures and Comparisons.
The SOLs themselves reflect the 5 C's as established by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL): Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. A discussion of these, and how they relate to 21st Century Skills, can be found here.
“The student will demonstrate skills necessary to initiate, sustain, and close oral and written exchanges in French, applying familiar vocabulary and
structures to new situations.” (Board of Education Commonwealth of Virginia, 2007).
This means the ability to actually speak and use the target language in real-world activities. Studying the many cultures and countries of the Francophone world also allows students to examine their own values and heritages, another characteristic of authentic learning activities and not incidentally, the SOL standard of Cultures and Comparisons.
The SOLs themselves reflect the 5 C's as established by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL): Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. A discussion of these, and how they relate to 21st Century Skills, can be found here.