What is the National Portuguese Examination? By Débora Ferreira, NPE Director

The NPE follows the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and Benchmarks. The National Portuguese Examination (NPE) is an online test that engages students in listening, reading, and writing. It is intended for high school students of Portuguese.   The NPE is intended as a motivational, extra-curricular activity and contest for students of members of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and its chapters. The NPE is not designed for any other purpose and should not be used for assessment, placement, or proficiency testing. The NPE follows the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and Benchmarks.

Where are they coming from? NH: 7 MA:215 IL:1 IN:4 NJ:83 RI: 55 OH: 7 NPE 2015 NC:1 NPE Students: Where are they coming from? AL:19 TX:1 FL:9 NPE 2016

Registrations 2012-2016 level 4: 2014: paper 2015: - 2016: online

NPE Exams taken, per year, per level, 2014-2016

NPE 2017: Format: Percentages Awards ceremony more students rewarded Achievement: Vocabulary Grammar Performance: Listening comprehension Reading comprehension Format: more students rewarded Percentages Certificates Teacher excellence Honorable Participation Gold, silver, bronze Medals available for purchase (pending) Awards ceremony NPE 2017:

Levels and categories: Students compete among same level and category – that is, a Level 3 bilingual student won’t be compared with a Level 1 regular student. Level 3 bilingual students are compared with other Level 3 bilingual students.

LEVELS: Levels ACTFL Benchmarks 1 Novice 2 Intermediate low 3 Intermediate mid 4 Intermediate mid, high 5 Not offered yet Spiraling: new levels may also return to previous levels, reinforcing and advancing them. Sentences Paragraphs Words,lists 1 2 3 4 5 Self, personal needs and wants, Immediate context: school, family, friends Society, values, work, technology, opinions, probabilities, uncertain scenarios

Bilingual Lives between languages: Family speaks the language, maybe was in an immersion program for many years and became bilingual, etc. Outside experience Previous experience puts student at an advantage: maybe lived abroad, maybe had additional schooling in foreign language, etc. Regular Learned language in classroom CATEGORIES: Properly identifying your students’ categories is crucial so a regular student will not be compared with a bilingual. Therefore, each level will still be split into categories: So, your student Mary may be Level 1, Regular, but Anna may be Level 1 Outside experience. Level 1 Regular Outside experience Bilingual Students compete among same level and category – that is, a Level 3 bilingual student won’t be compared with a Level 1 regular student. Level 3 bilingual students are compared with other Level 3 bilingual students.

Examination Format: Parallel to NSE Uses Quia (online testing tool) Verb conjugation per 2016 NPE Survey Topics according to textbooks, ACTFL standards (from self, daily life to hypothesizing, special fields of interest)

Quia (online testing system) allows: Achievement (40min) Vocabulary Grammar Proficiency Listening Reading Quia (online testing system) allows: Multiple Choice Pop-up Fill-in (verb conjugation) Multiple Correct True/False Matching Ordering

Sample questions from 2016 NPE: Different levels: Vocabulary; Reading comprehension

I hope you’ll join us for the 2017 NPE! Register at http://www.aatsp.org/npe See also: Frequently asked questions Teachers become AATSP members $5