As a teacher of Core French the standards appear to relate to the level skills that the student as they function within the language. A worldwide set of standards already exists that is based on the CEFR. The idea is to have students move from a rudimentary level of function to a level where they can really express their opinions, including the ability to debate and support their thinking. When leaving French 12, I hope that students will be able to express their opinions with an understanding of others perspectives, an appreciation of culture and an ability to support those understandings with reputable sources. What is interesting to me is that as I came to post this reply, I found a very similar response submitted by a 5th grade teacher. This affirms my understanding that content is almost secondary to higher order thinking skills.