Student Standards

Since I work with all levels of ESL students, my choice of standards for them is taken from the National TESOL standards:
"Goal 3, Standard 3 -To use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways: Students will use appropriate learning strategies to extend their sociolinguistic and sociocultural competence."
This includes using technology, of course, which expands the potential for learning tremendously. My concerns ( and those of my colleagues ) are for students to reach proficiency and to score well on the standardized tests they are required to take at school. This places demands on them to master all the aspects of language that come naturally to a native speaker of English. ELL's need intense, explicit instruction of things like idioms because they have not been exposed to all of these non-literal forms of expression.