SPANISH 4

Mrs. Arzeno – 2003-2004

Philosophy & goals:

Continue to develop and practice the skills needed to improve your level of proficiency in Spanish.

The objective is to help the students move from simple sentence structures to communication tasks (written and oral) that require the application and practice of the next level of complexity in Spanish. In other words, to move beyond simple expression to output that requires a richer variety of language structures.

General course format and methods:

The students will practice creating sentences that are not solely based on memorized material. There will be a conscious effort to transfer learned material to new situations and contexts. The course will emphasize accuracy in basic structures and encourage risk taking. The students will learn to work with a variety of tenses, expressing opinions, details, descriptions and narrations that will extend from sentences to paragraphs.

There will be many opportunities to use the language creatively as well as sufficient feedback from which to build a language base closer to the norm.

This will be the year to put together all the material the students have learned so far. Instead of adding new grammar rules, the core material will be reviewed, expanded and practiced.

Written and oral work will include diagnostic feedback that will help learners improve their linguistic accuracy

New vocabulary however, will be incorporated into all lessons and students will be constantly encouraged to express themselves with more sophisticated and less basic elements.

As always, the study of different cultural elements of the Spanish-speaking world will be incorporated at various points during the year.

Activities to foster the development of these skills will include some or all of the following:

- listening activities in class

- workbook activities and review

- reading exercises: comprehension and discussion

- pair and group dialogue exercises

- activities designed to foster an appreciation of the Spanish-speaking cultures

Materials:

1. Conexiones – Comunicación y cultura. Zayas-Bazán, Bacon & García.

2. Conexiones Workbook.

3. Spanish-English/English-Spanish dictionary.

 

 

 

 

 

Grading:

Each students is evaluated on the achievement level attained in all four skills necessary for proficiency in Spanish: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Tests (evaluation of all 4 skills) - 50%

Quizzes - 25%

Oral presentations, essays, special projects - 15%

Homework, effort & class participation - 10%

 

Daily class routine and homework policies:

Students are expected to come to class with the necessary materials for the lesson including assigned homework.

Do NOT use class time to finish homework, print the homework or email the homework to the teacher.

Homework is generally assigned at the end of each class for the next lesson. If there are longer-term assignments that require more than the daily review, such as essays, special projects or longer reading exercises, these will be posted long before they are due.

Quizzes are often announced the day before you are scheduled to take them. Typically, these will be based on the new vocabulary or grammar topic being reviewed in each chapter.

You will soon learn to expect a chapter test and/or a project as we approach the end of each chapter. These exercises will be more comprehensive and will often include an evaluation of all four language skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking).

It is the student’s responsibility to reschedule any missed work. If you are going to miss class due to a school-sponsored event, you must hand in your work before leaving school, on the day it is due. If a quiz or a test is scheduled for that day, you need to arrange to take it before your absence

 

v1 Class attendance, timely arrivals, handing in of required work, and participation and effort are all very important. A positive attitude can work wonders!

v2 Courtesy and respect towards every member of this class is assumed at all times.

v3 Eating food or candy, and drinking sodas or juices are all prohibited at all times. This is a classroom, not a student lounge.

v1 It is my hope that each one of you will find opportunities to succeed in this class. It is extremely important that you stay on top of the material as it only becomes increasingly harder as the year progresses. There is too much material to cover before a big test, let alone before an exam.

v2 I look forward to working with each and every one of you. I will be willing to make myself available for extra help any time you need it. Please feel free to come and talk to me about any concerns you may have.

v3 Learning a foreign language requires time, effort and patience!

 

 

 

 

Please read the following statement carefully:

Foreign Language Department Policy on Academic Integrity

Trust being the cornerstone of the Brunswick community, the FL Department would like to reiterate certain aspects and definitions of the school’s policy on Academic Integrity.

· "Dishonesty is the willful perversion of the truth with the intent to deceive." It is assumed that all dealings between teachers and students will be direct and truthful.

· "Cheating is the willful giving or receiving of any unfair advantage on any academic exercise." All work, whether done in or out of the language classroom, must be completely original. This includes all homework (graded or ungraded), projects, tests and quizzes. Seeking the aid of translation software, online translation services or any other translation assistance, will be considered cheating. Make-up tests must be taken within two days of the student’s return, and without prior knowledge of specific

examination material derived from communicating with other students in the class.

· "Plagiarism is the submission of work as one’s own, any part of which is written and created by another, copied or paraphrased from any source without proper citation, and/or based upon an idea unique to another source without proper acknowledgement." This includes the assistance of native speakers, encyclopedias, online resources, etc., without previous permission from the teacher and proper citation.

 

Important note about obtaining outside help for graded projects:

- All too often, students turn to other students, tutors, native Spanish speakers or other outside sources to have their work reviewed and polished.

- DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS.

- Your teacher will very soon know full well what each one of you is capable of doing, and too many students have been caught who have handed in work claiming the work to be entirely the result of their own original efforts.

- Consequences have resulted in being called before the Disciplinary Committee and a note has been placed permanently in the student’s file.

- If you do utilize outside help, then it is imperative that you tell me when you hand in the assignment: points will be deducted but at least you will not be accused of cheating or plagiarizing.

- You will be given a higher grade if you simply put in your very best effort and make the attempts to improve on your earlier skills to the best of your own, individual ability.