Narragansett High School

World Language Department Members

Jennifer Biafore, Department Chair | French & Spanish
Valentina Colins | French & Spanish
Marysol Knipper | Spanish
Sandra Rebello | Spanish

World Language Courses:

Year 1 French*/ Year 1 Spanish* 
Year 2* French*/ Year 2 Spanish*
Year 3 French**/ Year 3 Spanish** 
Year 4 French**/ Year 4 Spanish**
AP French Language and Culture
AP Spanish Language and Culture
AP Spanish Literature and Culture
*Years 1 & 2 are required for graduation (beginning with class of 2028 per RIDE)
** Years 3 & 4 are honors credit

Guiding Principles

We are members of The American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and follow the standards, guidelines and recommendations of that organization.

Standards
Proficiency Guidelines for language learning
In the first and second year courses, we primarily utilize the techniques and strategies that promote language acquisition.

In ACTFL's framework, language acquisition refers to the process of developing the ability to use a language effectively in real-world situations, encompassing both receptive (listening and reading) and productive (speaking and writing) skills. It emphasizes the functional ability to communicate rather than just knowledge of grammatical rules. ACTFL's Proficiency Guidelines describe what individuals can do with language, focusing on functions, contexts, text types, and accuracy. 

Comprehensible Input (CI) is the main concept/theory by which we are teaching language acquisition.  

In years 3 and 4, more grammatical structures are explicitly taught, but with an emphasis on using these structures in contextualized situations.  Year 4 course content is based on the AP themes and evaluations.

STAMP Proficiency Assessment & the Seal of Biliteracy

All students enrolled in a language course will be required to complete the STAMP proficiency test at the end of the school year.  This assessment will be administered in class and is free to students.  The purpose of this assessment is to monitor progress in a student's proficiency level.  This is a holistic assessment that evaluates a learner's ability to perform communicative tasks, rather than focusing on specific curriculum-based knowledge. 

This assessment is also a means of obtaining the Seal of Biliteracy.  Senior students are tested in March to enable them to retake one of the four skills areas in order to obtain the seal prior to graduation.  

Any student with language skills from outside school (heritage speakers, etc.), regardless of it being a language offering at Narragansett High School, is eligible to take the STAMP assessment at school in order to obtain the Seal of Biliteracy