Holli Guzy
“Knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom”
Many classrooms focus on the how (grammar) and what (vocabulary). The
Standards help us to focus on the why, whom, and when among other things.
5 “C”s
Example of students in a Spanish classroom
National
Standard
C ommunication
Students exchange details about their family’s holiday traditions
C ultures
Students learn about the origin of a piñata and why it is still used
today in many cultures.
C onnections
Students debate what can be done about the drug problem in
Mexico. “Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other
disciplines through the foreign language”
C omparisons
Students compare El Día de los Muertos and Halloween.
C ommunities
Students interview ESL students
3 Modes of Communication
Interpersonal
Interpretive
Presentational
Students ask about each
other’s weekends orally or
written
A student reads Don Quixote
or completes a listening
activity
A student gives a presentation
about their trip to Mexico
Perspectives (why)
3 Ps of culture
Practices
(how)
Products
(what)
*Important because students should understand the relationship between
the what, how, and why of a culture.
Holli Guzy