1. 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.

2. 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
Self, personal needs and wants,
Immediate context: school, family, friends
Society, values,
work, technology,
opinions, probabilities, uncertain scenarios

3. 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.