Crecia C. Swaim
The New Haven Foreign Language Program endorses the "5 Cs" of the Major Goals in the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning. They are:
Communication
(to communicate in languages other than English),
Cultures
(to gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures),
Connections
(to connect with other disciplines and acquire information),
Comparisons
(to develop insight into the nature of language and Culture), and
Communities
(to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world).
The discussions and guiding questions of this unit revolve strongly around 3 of the 5 C's, Cultures, Connections (among disciplines), and Comparisons (between cultures). We will discuss Communication as we listen to the different accents and ways of speaking we will hear in the films, as well as when we discuss the methods of teaching communication Dr. Itard does and does not attempt with Victor in
L'Enfant Sauvage
; most conspicuously absent is the use of the sign language that all the deaf students in the facility where he predominantly lived were using. If scheduling allows, I would like to incorporate Communities into this unit by having students perform selected scenes to fifth grade students, followed by a discussion of what seems to be happening, based on tone of voice, body language, and cognate recognition.