STARTALK Online Curriculum Development Guides & Templates
The online curriculum development guides provide enhanced explanations for each section of the student and teacher curriculum templates. These guides may be useful to program directors and instructors as they develop their standards-based, thematically designed curriculum. Those involved with teacher programs may find elements of the student guide useful as they work with teacher trainees on elements of effective teaching.
In addition to the written information found in the Student Guide, some slides feature a narration that emphasizes the key points of an individual slide. Other slides suggest ACTFL/Annenberg video clips that provide an opportunity to see strategies in action. The ACTFL/Annenberg clips are used in order to have a visual component that provides subtitles in English.
Online Curriculum Guide for Student Programs
Each section of the student guide corresponds to particular sections of the Student Curriculum Template. The student guide is divided into three sections: thematic planning, assessment, and instructional strategies.
Thematic Planning
The section on thematic planning provides guidance on how to select a theme and appropriate subthemes. Information is then shared on the national standards and each of the Five C’s is briefly explained. Examples are then provided showing the relationship between standards and expected outcomes and the connections between expected outcomes and specific knowledge and skills. The section concludes with reflection questions on the standards-based, thematic planning process.
Assessment
This section looks at assessment in each of the three communicative modes and suggests several tasks that provide meaningful evidence of learning. There is also a short quiz that allows viewers to check their understanding of the modes of communication. Integrated Performance Assessment is explained and an example is provided. The section ends with reflection questions asking viewers to consider the connections between their proposed assessments and their unit goals.
Instructional Strategies
This section discusses each of the instructional strategies addressed in the template:
- Using target language and providing comprehensible input for instruction
- Facilitating a learner-centered classroom
- Meaningful interaction in the target language
- Integrating culture, content, and language
- Differentiation of instruction based on student needs
Each strategy is explained briefly and an ACTFL/Annenberg video that illustrates the strategy and reflection questions is provided. This section also defines authentic materials and suggests types of materials that might be used.
The Online Curriculum Development Guide is meant to expand on the information found in the templates or in the template samples. Your team leader can assist you further in the preparation of your template. You can either download the entire Online Curriculum Development Guide, or choose to download each of the three sections of the guide as needed.
This PDF resource is designed to be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Viewing this in a Web browser or other software that can open PDF files may not fully utilize all of the features of this presentation. If you are not currently using the latest version of Adobe Reader, you may download it for free from Adobe.
Curriculum Template for Student Programs
Sample Curricula and Other Materials
You may find it helpful to review some sample curricula developed by previous STARTALK programs. You should keep in mind that the STARTALK templates have been enhanced so you will not see complete alignment with the templates you are using to design your curriculum.
- 2010 Sample Curricula and Other Materials
- 2009 Sample Curricula and Other Materials
- Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century
- Plan for Development of Student Program Instructors
Online Curriculum Guide for Teacher Programs
The Online Curriculum Guide for Teacher Programs has also been designed to help program directors plan the program and prepare the template. The guide correlates to sections on the template, providing additional information that may be helpful when preparing the template.
