In reviewing the California State Framework and CSET Overview, I realize that there are several differences in what the teacher is supposed to know and be able to do (CSET Overview) and what students are supposed to know and be able to do when graduating from a level of French. For example, the CSET requires that teachers have command of linguistic terms, such as morphology, productive rule, synchronic/diachronic, lexical, umlaut, etymologies, allophones, etc., yet it is never required in the State Framework for foreign language teachers to actually teach these terms to our students, nor do students need command of these terms to progress into college-level foreign language classes.
In my personal teaching experience, I have definitely done my best to align my pedagogy to the Framework Standards. The rubrics I design for projects always encompass a standard related to content, structure, communication, settings, and culture. Each lesson I design is tied to at least two or more of the California Language Standards and the State Framework, and most of the textbooks I have used are closely aligned with the standards in terms of content and structure. Still, I continually tell myself that the textbook should be a reference, not the main lesson. I must always pull outside texts, strategies, and resources to make the subject matter accessible to ALL of my students.
In reviewing my content gaps, I will look at Stages I and II of the Language Learning Continuum in the California State Framework, as most of my students of the French Language fall into these two levels of the language learning continuum. While I feel confident that my students have been exposed to and have used vocabulary in context in the "Content" domain of the Framework, I feel that their skills (and thus my skills in teaching) are lacking in the "Text type" domain of the State Framework. Stage I students should "understand short texts enhanced by visual clues when reading," and Stage II students should "understand important ideas and some details in highly contextualized authentic texts when reading." I find that many of my students struggle with comprehension of main ideas when given a short piece to read, and I feel uncomfortable giving my French 2 and 3 students short stories or short abridged novels, mainly because I am unfamiliar with good short stories and literary works by native French writers.
To bridge this gap, I must explicitly search for and find short texts that fall into this category of "highly contextualized authentic texts" and become familiar with them so that I can develop guiding questions and strategies for scaffolding my learners of the target language in deciphering the main ideas. When I shared my anxiety with teaching French literature to my French 3 and 4 students, Yadira suggested that I use abridged novels and alternate showing a clip from the film and having students read the selection corresponding to the film clip. This could be a non-threatening way of teaching literature, so that students who "don't have a clue" about what is going on after reading the text may still stay afloat and participate in the lesson. Teaching literature is not easy in one's first language, let alone their second language!
Below, please find links related to the Content Standards and State Framework that inform my teaching lessons daily:
www.clta.net/standards/standards.pdf
www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/foreignlangfrmwrk.pdf
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