Spanish III Syllabus                                               Contact:omurphy@innovationcharter.org

Señor Murphy                                                             Extra Help Hours: Tuesday 3:00-4:00   

 

Course Overview

This course reviews and reinforces much of the Spanish grammar that students will have learned in the past.  The goal is for students to be able to participate in Spanish conversations that go beyond the superficial and to begin to grapple with complex and controversial issues.  This leap will require students to engage in a level of Spanish that uses more complex grammatical structures with more fluent regularity, and utilize a wider breadth of vocabulary. This course places emphasis on the cultural diversity that exists in Spanish speaking Latin America.  The units are divided geographically between Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, the Andean nations, the Southern Cone, and the USA.  In each unit we will examine the history, geography, food, music, and culture that make these respective regions unique.  Current events and issues facing these countries will form the basis of much student work. 

 

Assessment Strands:

 

Students will be assessed with regards to four different strands of language, Conversation, Interpretation, and Presentation, and Work Habits. 

 

Conversation: Conversation assessments ask students to use Spanish to communicate as effectively and extensively as possible. In spoken and written conversation assessments, students are assessed on the length and complexity of what they communicate, not on the correctness of their Spanish.  Spoken assessments will consist of students speaking with the teacher.  Written conversation assessments will consist of a series of back and forth emails between teacher and student.  Conversation assessments will be held quarterly.

 

Interpretation:  Interpretation assessments ask students to understand authentic spoken and written Spanish. Unlike conversational assessments, which are in real time, interpretation assessments allow students time to re-read and re-listen.  Interpretation assessments consist of readings or audio recordings, followed by a series of questions prompting student response.

 

Presentation: Presentation assessments ask students to work to write and speak Spanish with a high degree of correctness. On these assessments, students have time to prepare and to revise in order to bring their Spanish to a high level of correctness. Students are also expected to be able to communicate at greater length and with greater complexity in presentation assessments than they could in spontaneous conversation.  Presentation assessments can be written works, or a class presentation, a visual or performing piece of art, or a combination thereof

 

Work Habits:  This strand assess the effort students put forth in the class.  Work Habits are a combination of class participation and homework completion.  The homework policy is explained below.   

 

Homework
Because we have precious little class time, and that class time is best spent practicing conversational skills that cannot be worked on alone, students will be expected to do a great deal of vocabulary and grammar review, as well as reading and writing practice, at home. Homework in Spanish will be assigned most nights and is expected to be completed regularly. Homework will be handed into a homework folder kept in the classroom. Students will receive one homework grade per week, assessing all homework completed for that week (timeliness, quality, comprehension of material).  Students who have missed assignments or receive low marks have one week to make up or revise their homework; after that, homework can not be made up or revised.

 

Projects

Projects will form a large part of the grades given for the Presentation and Work Habits strands.  At least on major project will be completed for each geographical unit.  Projects include, but are not limited to, those listed below:

 

· Students will create a mural inspired by the work of Mexican master Diego Rivera.  The mural will be made in consultation with the art department and will contain many of the same elements of Rivera’s work, but will also be a reflection of the student zeitgeist.   

· Students will create a self portrait based upon the portraits of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, expressing their own emotional state with visual imagery.   Students will also write a piece explaining why their chose to depict themselves in a particular fashion.

· Students will contribute an interactive piece to a Caribbean Culture Day held in November.   The piece could include food, music, dance, song, art, or other student generated project ideas.

· Students will be expected to write a research paper on nation state, and/or an indigenous group for both the Central American and Andean Nations Units, with a focus on current events.