World Languages' Mission and Vision

 Mission: The World Language Department is dedicated to promoting linguistic and cultural literacy while cultivating a lifelong appreciation and enthusiasm for languages and the cultures they reflect.

Vision:  The Palmer High School World Language Department envisions a world in which our students are linguistically and culturally competent in a variety of situations, in order to meet the needs of an ever-changing global society.

World Languages' Philosophy

 As members of Palmer High School’s World Languages Department, we have identified the following topics as vital components of second language acquisition. While our individual classroom practices may differ to best serve our students, we agree that they are the foundation of our work and drive our practices.

Attendance/Participation - In World Language classes, students attend daily (on time), come prepared, and actively participate in their language opportunity, collaborating with their teachers.

Relevance – World Languages at PHS are taught in a meaningful and engaging way for every student and every learning style, using different strategies to achieve success.  The curriculum is relevant in that students can relate to it in real life experiences in a global context.

Homework – Practice is important for successful language learning; therefore, assignments will be relevant and meaningful and students should take advantage of the opportunity.

Types of Learners – As World Language Teachers at PHS, we address multiple learning styles and cognitive abilities through a variety of strategies and differentiated instruction.

Feedback – We provide students with level-appropriate individual and whole class feedback in order to continuously improve students’ communicative skills and are available to help students who struggle to become successful learners. We use DP/MYP and/or target skill rubrics for consistent and targeted feedback in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Leveling/Course Placement – Language learning is facilitated by enrollment in the most appropriate level of language course. Every student should be evaluated at the end of the school year or at the beginning of the following year to properly support the student in the level of their language ability.

4 Skills – In the World Language Department, we believe that if teachers provide quality and meaningful instruction in listening, reading, writing and speaking while including cultural experiences, the student will be able to demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking to show the comprehension of the content covered in class.

Language Acquisition – In the World Language Department, we believe that being multilingual plays an important role in our global society and that the teacher provides students the opportunity to not only learn the language but also gain an appreciation for other cultures around the world. We encourage students to be open-minded and willing to learn.

Environment/Ambiance – We believe that interactions among people need to be respectful, supportive, nurturing, trustworthy, and safe.

Input/Output – We believe in a research-based approach to teaching second language acquisition. Per ACTFL recommendations, ideally 90% of classroom instruction would be conducted in the target language.  The target language should be comprehensible and will ultimately result in improvement of proficiency in all four skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.