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Checkpoint B corresponds to the courses offered in Levels II and III. Each checkpoint incorporates all the topics and situations from Checkpoint A, but Checkpoint B becomes more demanding in terms of student performance and level of proficiency.
 

At the end of Checkpoint B, the student is able to:

• manage him/herself in familiar situations, both in terms of listening and speaking
• use complex sentences and appropriate vocabulary in familiar situations
• express ideas in present, past and future in both oral and written modes
• read and interpret a variety of materials, including authentic documents such as pamphlets, short stories, historical and technical excerpts
• decipher appropriate responses for cloze passages which contain increasingly sophisticated vocabulary and cognates
• write simple notes, letters and compositions, using functional vocabulary and structures with minimal grammatical and syntactic errors
• acquire an understanding of the target culture as a system of evolving values and recognize authentic patterns of behavior

• Students can comprehend short conversations on simple topics in everyday situations such as those with peers, familiar adults and providers of public services either in face-to-face interactions or on the telephone.
• Students can understand the main ideas and some discrete information given in person, on television, on radio (such as bulletins/announcements) on topics which are within their personal area of interest or which are of interest to the general public in the target culture.
• Students can understand frequently used tense forms and word-order patterns in simple sentences, even if limited vocabulary range necessitates repetitions and/or circumlocutions for understanding.
• Students can sustain comprehension through contextual inferences in short communications on familiar topics with native speakers who are aware of the non-native status of the listener, as well as through reliance upon non-verbal cues (gestures), repetition and rephrasing.
• Students can grasp both the general and the detailed understanding of short, discrete expressions, but have only general understanding of longer conversations and messages within familiar communicative situations.

Students will be able to:

• follow conversations and understand messages that concern school, family interests, community, personal and others' needs as well issues relating to everyday life and to the society at large.
• determine the main ideas and significant details of communications on current events that are of personal interest to the students and have an impact on the societies of the target cultures.

• Students can use repetition and circumlocution as well as gestures and other non-verbal cues to sustain conversation, particularly in spontaneous speech.

• use the more common verb tenses (present, past, future), but still make some errors in formation and selection when creating simple and complex sentences.
• use word order accurately in simple sentences, but still make errors in more complex patterns, such as in informal conversations/discussions with and presentations to groups of peers and familiar adults.
• express details and nuances by using appropriate modifiers to describe actions, people, objects, places and events of personal and general interest, relying heavily on formulaic utterances but occasionally exhibiting spontaneity in their interactions, particularly when the topic is familiar.
• employ basic cohesive features such as pronouns and verb inflections selectively.
• create and sustain extended communication that is largely a series of short, discrete utterances such as in informal everyday conversations with peers and familiar adults.
• articulate comprehensibly but have difficulty in producing certain sounds in certain positions or combinations, with speech usually appearing labored and often necessitating repetition to be understood by the general public.
• initiate and sustain coherent structures in short and familiar communicative situations such as face-to-face or telephone conversations, with native speakers or groups of familiar peers and adults, selecting vocabulary appropriate to a range of topics of personal and general interest.
• meet their personal needs when communicating with native speakers on a variety of topics within the students' area of personal interest and knowledge or of general interest to their contemporaries in the target culture, including everyday life, needs and issues related to school, family and the community.
• express views about radio and television programs as well as newspaper and magazine articles for the general public.
• discuss songs, stories and selected excerpts from literature that emanate from the target culture.

• Students can read and understand simple narrative and descriptive authentic materials and edited texts within a familiar context using cognates and contextual and visual cues to derive meaning from texts that contain unfamiliar words, expressions and structures.

• grasp specific comprehension of selected passages in familiar sentence patterns.
• follow essential points as well as some details of expository writing when dealing with areas of special interest.
• comprehend simple written materials after an initial independent reading, but may require time and assistance
• guess at the meaning from context when dealing with longer more complex written material
• obtain information provided to the general public from ads and announcements or information such as that found on forms, signs, billboards, posters, labels, programs, timetables, maps, plans, menus, simple business correspondence, pamphlets, feature articles or editorials in newspapers or magazines and other publications.
• determine the main idea and some specific information such as facts, opinions, feelings and attitudes in correspondence (personal letters and notes) from acquaintances and friends (peers and adults) on topics of personal interest or of interest to the general public in their own or in the target culture, including everyday family, school and community needs and interests.
• decipher the general meaning from literary excerpts in prose and poetry of the target culture.
• discover subtleties and nuances of meaning through the use of learned vocabulary and structures, simple and complex sentences in past, present and future time frames.

• Students can write short notes, uncomplicated personal and business letters, brief journals and short reports using elementary vocabulary and commonly encountered structures expressing present and, to an increasing extent, past and future ideas comprehensibly. Students can write brief analyses of more complex content when given the opportunity for organization and advance preparation. Errors may occur when expressing more complex thoughts.

Students will be able to:

• begin to develop sequential relationships, making writing comprehensible to native speakers used to dealing with foreigners.
• fill out forms for the use of common public services.
• write brief reports or narratives describing simple situations and sequences of events
• express opinions in writing about programs presented on radio and television as well as articles appearing in the newspapers or magazines.
• write informal/personal notes and letters for communications in everyday life situations, such as those to acquaintances and friends (peers and adults).
• write formal letters to agencies, institutions and businesses on topics of personal needs or interest.
• offer critiques or reactions in writing on selected stories or songs from the target culture.
• convey their own opinions on a variety of topics that are within their areas of personal interest or experience, using learned and practiced vocabulary and complex sentence structures.
• write independently and with some degree of spontaneity on familiar topics pertaining to school and family needs and issues related to everyday life at home and in the community.
• expand and express ideas, moving from paragraphs to short essays.

• On the basis of previous experience with the target language culture, students are able to distinguish some culturally authentic patterns of behavior from idiosyncratic behaviors, recognizing that different cultures view situations from varying perspectives and evolve different patterns of interaction. But students may still show misunderstandings in applying this knowledge, and miscommunication may occur with native speakers not accustomed to foreigners.

Students will be able to:

• show understanding of cultures as systems of values that evolve with time, and show understanding of how certain values are associated with certain behavior patterns in their own culture as well as in the target language culture.
• demonstrate a knowledge of the similarities and differences between their own culture and the target language culture.
• identify and describe some cultural beliefs and attitudes of people in both their own and the target language culture pertaining to family, school, work and play.
• recognize, discuss and compare geographical and historical facts using maps and other realia for the various cultures of the target language.