Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera

I am writing you with regards to our DELE campaign in Washington State. I knew from Eva González that you were invited to the XI Seminar for Administrators of Programs for International Educational Cooperation and attended the Cervantes Institute presentation on the correlation document aligning the Alberta Program of Studies with the CEFR, the DELE exams and Spanish Reference Level Descriptors delivered by my colleague Carlos Soler.

As he probably mentioned, the DELE is growing at an increasingly fast pace and has gained great notoriety as a international recognition and it is considered the most prestigious Spanish language certification in the world. One of the most recent examples of this global achievement is the decision by the Lycées Francais in Canada to adopt the DELE exam as a Second Language official certification.

At a state level, this academic year, I have been piloting our DELE Level B2 in Newport High School with 11th and 12th graders as part of the Bellevue Public Schools District project to implement the DIPLOMA DELE B2 as a requirement for the 12th graders. The objective of this integration is giving the students who participate in the Spanish Immersion program not only the possibility to earn college credit (in collaboration with the University of Washington) but a Diploma considered as a “linguistic passport” to universities worldwide, professional opportunities and cultural experiences in the Spanish-speaking world.

In order to reinforce the value of this test not only on an international scale but also in WA state, we are working with the Spanish and Portuguese Department in the University of Washington to recognize the DELE Diplomas as a valid proof of Spanish proficiency to earn credits at a similar level as the AP exam or the IB curriculum.

I would greatly appreciate your help or advice in this matter if you have recommendations to better meet this goal.

In addition, I would also appreciate if you could share the enclosed information with contacts and schools who might be interested.


Thank you in advance and my best regards,

************************************************** *******************
Carmen Flores Pla
Instituto Cervantes Seattle
Division of Spanish and Portuguese
University of Washington, Padelford B-209
Seattle, WA 98195-4360
Phone: (206) 616 8464
Fax: (206) 685 7054
E-mail: aula.seattle@cervantes.es
Web: http://www.seattle.cervantes.es/