NAC389.434. Foreign language: Instruction through third grade.

A course in a foreign language offered as an elective course in a public elementary school through the third grade must, in addition to the requirements set forth in NAC 389.432 and subject to the experience of the pupils with the foreign language in kindergarten through the second grade, include instruction designed to teach the pupil by the completion of the third grade to:

     1. Engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions in the foreign language by:

     (a) Counting and performing simple arithmetic problems.

     (b) Participating in brief guided conversations.

     (c) Making simple requests.

     (d) Asking and answering simple questions.

     (e) Expressing the pupil’s state of being and feelings.

     (f) Using simple commands.

     2. Understand and interpret written and spoken material in the foreign language on a variety of topics by:

     (a) Comprehending brief written and oral directions, commands and information.

     (b) Reading familiar words.

     (c) Reading numbers, dates, words related to the family and weather, and other thematic vocabulary.

     (d) Recognizing a sound with its corresponding letter or symbol.

     3. Present information, concepts and ideas to an audience in the foreign language by performing skits, puppet shows or dialogues with limited vocabulary.

     4. Understand the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied by exploring the verbal and nonverbal communication of the culture, including, without limitation, gestures, body language, dance, art and music.

     5. Understand the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied by:

     (a) Exploring the products of the culture studied.

     (b) Understanding the relationship between those products and the environment in which they are produced.

     6. Understand other disciplines through the foreign language by practicing familiar concepts in the foreign language, including, without limitation, numbers, colors, animals, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, the calendar, weather, money and mathematics.

     7. Understand the nature of language through comparisons of the foreign language with the pupil’s language by comparing cognates, word families and language patterns.

     8. Understand the concept of culture through comparisons of the culture studied and the pupil’s culture by:

     (a) Exploring and recognizing the contributions of the culture studied to the American culture, including, without limitation, music, food, art, toys and folk tales.

     (b) Demonstrating an awareness of ways of expressing respect and communicating differences in status in the pupil’s language and the foreign language.

     9. Use the foreign language in and outside of school by participating in performances at school or in the community in the foreign language or relating to the culture studied.

     10. Develop an interest in continuing the study of the foreign language for personal enjoyment and enrichment by:

     (a) Playing sports or games from the culture studied that are appropriate for the pupil’s age.

     (b) Listening to music, singing songs or playing musical instruments from the culture studied.

     (c) Planning real or imaginary travel to a country in which the foreign language is spoken.

     (Added to NAC by Bd. of Education by R065-97, eff. 12-10-97; A by R164-99, 2-16-2000)—(Substituted in revision for NAC 389.291)