What is Spanish about?
In conversation with
Florence Lyons
Maria Lamberto Calvo
Transcript below:
I think the main change is going to be like there's more student agency. Like the students are going to be able to choose what to do and how to do it and we're just kind of integrating all those digital technologies that they are so happy with, and so it's going to be a little bit more real.
Every student is going to see themselves in the assessment.
Yeah that is the aim of what we were working towards and that will be, especially the Māori/Pasifika, but not only just Māori, Pasifika, and European, like every single culture that lives in New Zealand will be able to identify or to be able to recognise themselves in the task.
If I were looking at the assessments now I would be excited because it gives a lot of choice to students, but I also think it gives a lot of those choices to teachers.
I believe that the biggest changes are in the principle of mātauranga Māori and Mana Ōrite.
I believe that it's reflecting more the culture of New Zealand, the culture of our students, and that no matter who you are the Standard reflects the students.
Yeah the mātauranga Māori I think like for Spanish, because there is so many crossovers between Māori culture and the Spanish culture, you know in regards to the house, to the whānau, how important it is and it's everything around you, that is easy to reflect.
But I think one of the things that we have been doing is just really focusing in our own culture and the mātauranga Māori it's coming across stronger now.
And that, it's been a big shift.
In my class I used to compare, I think I still compare a lot, a pōwhiri to a [Coutume] in New Caledonia. So this was done in the teaching, but now it allows us to go to show it in the assessment, but before it was almost split.
Then now, because we have created the assessment through a mātauranga Māori lens, the teaching and the assessment are more intertwined.
Yeah. I enjoyed the fact that there was a lot of us coming from very, very different backgrounds, and experiences. And moving away from, you know, in my school we're six-seven teachers who are amazing, but just coming back to that big group that you can build ideas from and yeah just really always coming from the perspective of what's going to be good for the students.
Even though there was a lot of disagreement, you always remember that everyone was coming from a good place. They were always thinking not about themselves or their own particular school, what's going to be good for the students.
And I was very happy as well to see that every corner of New Zealand was represented. I was scared first that there will be people from the big cities only, and that the rural New Zealand will be forgotten. But I was very happy to see that there was a wide range of expertise in the room.
I really hope that the teachers are going to be as excited as I am. And I would like that it moves from a teacher-centred assessment to a student-centred assessment and that the teachers trust their students and that they enjoy the journey together.
Instead of seeing the assessment as a milestone I would like that the assessment becomes part of the learning. So I think the biggest advice will be have an open mind, you know, just give it a go.
Like there is so many things that you can do. You can even involve students in how we're going to do this assessment, you know.
We were talking in one of the interactions that it could be a text interaction. Because that's the way our students interact now. Give it a go and if it doesn't work it's still going to be part of your learning.
Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.
This subject is about developing the ability to communicate in Spanish with others.
Students will acquire the capacity to convey their ideas in new and dynamic ways and discover the rich history, customs, and cultures of the communities in which Spanish is spoken.
Through this subject, students will also understand that each language has its own ways of expressing meaning, and that each has intrinsic value and special significance and mana for its users.
Languages are inextricably linked to the social and cultural contexts in which they are used. Languages and cultures play a key role in developing national, group, and personal identities. As students acquire the skills of communicative competence, they simultaneously reflect on their own personal identity and explore their own culture from a new perspective.
Big Ideas and Significant Learning
This section outlines the meaning of, and connection between, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning, which together form the Learning Matrix. It then explains each Big Idea for Spanish.
The Learning Languages Learning Area curriculum, including its Whakataukī, inform this subject's Significant Learning – learning that is critical for students to know, understand, and do in a subject by the end of each Curriculum Level. This covers knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes. It also includes level-appropriate contexts students should encounter in their education. The Learning Area's Whakataukī is:
Ko tōu reo, ko tōku reo, te tuakiri tangata. Tīhei uriuri, tīhei nakonako.Your voice and my voice are expressions of identity. May our descendants live on and our hopes be fulfilled.
The subject's Big Ideas and Significant Learning are collated into a Learning Matrix for Curriculum Levels 6, 7, and 8. Teachers can use the Learning Matrix as a tool to construct learning programmes that cover all the ‘not to be missed’ learning in a subject. There is no prescribed order to the Learning Matrix within each level. A programme of learning might begin with a context that is relevant to the local area of the school or an idea that students are particularly interested in. This context or topic must relate to at least one Big Idea and may also link to other Big Ideas.
There are five Big Ideas in Spanish. The nature of this subject as a discipline means aspects of Significant Learning often cross over multiple Big Ideas, and vice versa.
Learning an additional language allows students to engage in effective communication within and across cultures. They expand their own world and open up new possibilities for personal development and learning and employment pathways.
The ability to communicate in an additional language is a rewarding experience. It makes it possible for students to establish relationships and make connections with people from other cultures within and outside of Aotearoa New Zealand. It enables them to read, understand, and produce Spanish in order to participate in, and reflect on, other societies, and to travel, study, and work in language communities here and in other countries.
Proficiency in communication to meet a range of needs is the main goal of all language learning. While this draws from knowledge of the linguistic building blocks of a language, the primary focus is on communication, rather than on linguistic accuracy.
Ultimately, communication in an additional language is the future-focused prerequisite for intercultural understanding and global citizenship.
Languages create and represent meaning by employing unique systems of linguistic building blocks – be they oral features, vocabulary, grammar, or syntax – that give rise to endless possibilities for expression and exchange. They are also repositories of the historical and cultural aspects of the language.
Students who learn Spanish get to explore its unique linguistic workings by comparing and contrasting it with their own language. They learn how speakers adjust their language when negotiating meaning in different contexts and for different purposes, and how different types of text are organised. This helps them, over time, to communicate with greater clarity, creativity, and confidence.
Learners of Spanish will explore both the ways in which it is similar to English, given their shared histories and interconnecting influences, as well as the clear points of divergence. The importance and range of changes in verb form to reflect variation in subject, tense, and mood is one such example. Understanding the concept of gender as it applies to nouns and their related articles and modifiers is another important aspect of European languages. Spanish is structured around other specific sets of interlocking elements and learners will build an increasingly sophisticated understanding of how these elements work together as they develop their linguistic proficiency.
Language and culture continuously evolve together, influencing one another in the process. Language encodes culture and provides the means through which culture is shared and passed from one generation to the next – contributing to a sense of personal, community, and national identity.
Learning an additional language gives students the richest possible access to another culture because it enables them to communicate with the people that live it and allows them to explore the authentic spoken and written expressions of it. In that way, they gain an understanding of that culture which provides a strong foundation for intercultural respect and acceptance as well as an appreciation for the diversity that all cultures encompass.
Equally, students gain an insight into how their own 'cultural lens' shapes their perceptions and ways of doing things. This helps to deconstruct cultural stereotypes. It moves language learners away from automatically defaulting to a particular culture, honouring tangata whenua and the multicultural nature of modern Aotearoa New Zealand. It allows them to appreciate the rich knowledge each individual brings to the learning environment.
"Another language opens up a whole new window on the world. It might be small and difficult to see through at first, but it gives you a different perspective, and it might make you realise that your first window could do with a bit of polishing and even enlarging."
(Hone Tuwhare, Die deutsche Sprache und ich, NZCTE, Goethe-Institut, circa 1997)
As the quote above indicates, language and thought are intricately intertwined and impact one another. Our language(s) can direct our thoughts and influence our perspectives without us always being aware of it. Therefore, engaging with another language gives us new metacognitive tools to think about languages as systems.
Learning an additional language allows students to compare and contrast their own language(s) and thinking with those of other cultures, gaining a deeper insight into how languages convey ideas. This equips them with the tools necessary to navigate between them.
Furthermore, the ability to critically examine diverse cultural and personal points of view, which is facilitated by developing proficiency in another language, is an invaluable skill in our increasingly diverse and globally connected world.
Acquiring an additional language is a process that requires regular commitment, practice, and repetition. It fosters perseverance and allows students to take ownership of their own learning.
Language learning also builds resilience because students continually negotiate situations with emerging communicative competence and take the risk of being misunderstood. This encourages them to reframe 'mistakes' as rich opportunities for learning and development. It will give them the confidence to seek out opportunities to use Spanish outside of the classroom where language learning truly flourishes.
Students are made aware of the processes of language acquisition and gain some insight into the most helpful strategies for progression. This can include pattern recognition, trial and error, techniques to memorise vocabulary, and effective use of tools like dictionaries, verb conjugators, and digital translators. Students are encouraged to find modes of learning that work best for them and to begin thinking like a linguist.
Key Competencies in Spanish
Learning an additional language is inherently about developing and fine-tuning linguistic skills and extending the ability to relate to and interact appropriately with others in more than one cultural setting. The language learning process itself requires students to manage self, participate, and contribute. The new ways of thinking about the world they will be exposed to will encourage them to think about their place in it and how they can use those skills to participate in and contribute to their communities and the wider world around them.
Thinking
Students of Spanish will:
- deduce rules, recognise patterns, and use their problem-solving abilities to make meaning with an imperfect set of linguistic skills
- evaluate and choose from a range of vocabulary, structures, and communicative strategies to engage with different audiences, sometimes having to think on their feet to improvise and adapt for different contexts and purposes
- explore and reflect on the many ways language, culture, and thinking influence each other
- compare their own language(s), culture(s), and ways of thinking to those of Spanish language and culture and critically reflect on their assumptions and identities in a way that fosters intercultural understanding and global citizenship.
Using language, symbols and texts
This competency being at the core of language learning, students of Spanish will:
- develop increased proficiency in using language, symbols, and texts effectively to communicate information, opinions and ideas, not just in the additional language they are learning, but also in their own language(s)
- recognise how choices of language, symbols, or text work together and affect people’s understanding of and responses to communications and how they work together differently in different languages
- think about the type of language which is appropriate to use in a range of different contexts and formats and for different purposes and audiences
- expand their ability to express themselves in increasingly independent and imaginative ways and improvise and adapt in a range of communicative situations.
Relating to others
As communication and understanding are prerequisites of relating to others and the very essence of what language learning is about, students of Spanish will:
- hone their listening skills, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas
- explore how language, culture, and identity are interrelated and thereby develop the ability to relate to people, both from other cultures but also their own, with more empathy and insight
- develop an appreciation of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives in the wider world and in a multicultural Aotearoa New Zealand
- experience how a curious, open-minded, and respectful engagement with the values and identities of others can lead to valuable insights into their own identity and offer opportunities for self-development.
Managing self
Because learning an additional language requires ongoing and regular commitment, students of Spanish will:
- be encouraged to take ownership of their own learning process and find ways of learning and practising that work for them
- use their understanding of how language acquisition works, for example, lots of input, lots of output, making mistakes as part of the process, and so on, to actively engage in the practice necessary to make steady progress
- build on their own strengths and address their own identified learning needs, setting and meeting their own learning goals
- be involved in reporting processes
- participate actively and responsibly in group activities.
Participating and contributing
Students of Spanish will:
- be encouraged to take risks, learn from mistakes, and take responsibility for initiating and maintaining communication; through this they will gain confidence to participate and contribute in and outside of the classroom with the skills they have
- mature as local and global citizens by getting to know the world views and needs of other people
- recognise the interconnected nature of societies and communities in the world and Aotearoa New Zealand and be encouraged to think of their place in and responsibility to it.
This section of The New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.
Introduction to Sample Course Outlines
Sample Course Outlines are being produced to help teachers and schools understand the new NCEA Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards. An example of how a year-long Spanish course could be constructed using the new Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards is provided here. This is indicative only and does not mandate any particular context or approach.
More detailed sample Teaching and Learning Programmes will be developed during piloting.
Assessment Matrix
Conditions of Assessment for internally assessed standards
This section provides guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Standards. Guidance is provided on:
- appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
- ensuring that evidence is authentic
- any other relevant advice specific to an Achievement Standard.
NB: Information on additional generic guidance on assessment practice in schools is published on the NZQA website. It would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.
The school's Assessment Policy and Conditions of Assessment must be consistent with the Assessment Rules for Schools With Consent to Assess. These rules will be updated during the NCEA review. This link includes guidance for managing internal moderation and the collection of evidence.
For all Achievement Standards
Internal assessment provides considerable flexibility in the collection of evidence. Evidence can be collected in different ways to suit a range of teaching and learning styles, and a range of contexts. Care needs to be taken to offer students opportunities to present their best evidence against the Standard(s) that are free from unnecessary constraints.
It is recommended that the design of assessment reflects and reinforces the ways students have been learning. Collection of evidence for the internally assessed Standards could include, but is not restricted to, an extended task, an investigation, digital evidence (such as recorded interviews, blogs, photographs, or film), or a portfolio of evidence.
It is also recommended that the collection of evidence for internally assessed Standards should not use the same method that is used for any external Standards in a course, particularly if that method is using a time-bound written examination. This could unfairly disadvantage students who do not perform well under these conditions.
A separate assessment event is not needed for each Standard. Often assessment can be integrated into one activity that collects evidence towards two or three different Standards from a programme of learning. Evidence can also be collected over time from a range of linked activities (for example, in a portfolio). This approach can also ease the assessment workload for both students and teachers.
Effective assessment should suit the nature of the learning being assessed, provide opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students, and be valid and fair.
Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence. This needs to be in line with school policy. For example: an investigation carried out over several sessions could include teacher observations or the use of milestones such as a meeting with the student, a journal, or photographic entries recording progress etc.
The evidence for this Achievement Standard will be a minimum of two student-generated pieces. One piece must be a spoken interaction, the second piece may be spoken or written. Teachers who have students who require special dispensation from the requirement for a compulsory spoken interaction may contact NZQA for permission to do so.
The overall individual contribution of each student to the interactions must be:
- 2-3 minutes for spoken evidence only
or
- approximately 1.5 minutes spoken and 150 words written evidence.
The inclusion of written evidence will be trialled with only the European and Pacific languages during the pilot year (due to the immediacy of the required interaction and the fact that the writing systems involved are the same as for English.) This decision will be reviewed at the end of the pilot once we have sufficient evidence to judge the feasibility and credibility of the innovation.
The interactions must take place in real time and show that the student can respond immediately using Spanish, whether in spoken or written form.
- Any spoken language submitted as evidence must be video recorded. The student must be easily identifiable and clearly audible in the video recording.
- Any written interaction submitted as evidence must be witnessed by a teacher as it happens. Students should then submit a hard or digital copy of the interaction.
Students may not:
- script or rehearse the assessment interactions
- copy/paste materials into any written evidence
- use any notes, resources, or dictionaries during their interactions
- use the predictive text function on any device during written interactions
- discuss the same topic more than once across their evidence.
Assessment Activities which allow the presentation of entirely rote-learned exchanges or scripted role plays would not meet the requirements of the Achievement Standard.
If working in a group of more than two people, it is essential that each learner ensures they contribute enough appropriate language to meet the Standard.
Teachers should ensure the outcome is appropriate for Level 6 of the New Zealand Curriculum.
The evidence for this Achievement Standard will be one student-generated piece on an everyday topic which may be presented in spoken or written Spanish, or a mixture of the two.
The total amount of evidence should be:
- about 300 written words, or
- approximately 1.5 minutes of spoken evidence, or
- an equivalent combination of both.
Students should:
- produce work that is their own
- record their evidence for authenticity purposes.
In the preparation of the assessment activity, students may use:
- reference materials such as class notes
- textbooks
- dictionaries.
Students should not:
- copy whole sentences or passages from any source without significant modification
- use online or digital translators of any kind
- have anyone else point out errors, edit, or correct their work before handing it in for assessment
- be assessed on the technical quality of their presentation or design; only the quality of the language will be assessed.
Students may submit evidence which involves one or more other people, but students are assessed individually.
Evidence may be presented by the student in a range of forms, for example:
- a game or quiz
- an infographic
- a slideshow (with or without voiceover)
- a digital or paper-based scrapbook
- a video recording.
Teachers should ensure the outcome is appropriate for Level 6 of the New Zealand Curriculum.