Since 1996, when the Standards for Foreign Language Learning first appeared, foreign language teachers have worked to revise their teaching goals and objectives so that students might have a broader range of meaningful and authentic experiences. As a result, both curriculum and assessment have been refocused, away from learning about language and toward learning to use language in culturally appropriate ways. Learning scenarios are a direct reflection of this change in focus. These extended thematic units offer challenging, creative, and individualized opportunities for students to learn the foreign language and then demonstrate what they have learned.