|
Spanish I Syllabus Contact: omurphy@innovationcharter.org Señor Murphy Extra Help Hours: Tuesday 3:00-4:00
Course Overview This course is designed to be a basic introduction to the Spanish language. Students will be exposed to the language in a balanced and systematic fashion. Although the emphasis of the course will be on developing the basic conversational skills of speaking and listening, students will also begin to read and write basic phrases. The course will progress from the simplest and most common vocabulary and grammatical structures and progress toward the slightly more complex. Throughout the course the visual and performing arts will be integrated so as to enrich students’ abilities to express themselves in ways that go beyond the spoken and written word. The goal of the course is to provide a foundation for future study in Spanish and to prove to students that even seemingly impossible tasks, such as learning a second language, are within their grasp when approached with the essential elements of perseverance, playfulness, and fearlessness.
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 cannot be made up or revised. Projects During the first semester of the course projects will be more simplistic due to the obvious shortcomings of the students’ Spanish language abilities. Students will begin to use Spanish in their school work through several class projects. These include, but are not limited to, those listed below.
• the creation of a family tree, or Arbol de la familia, clearly laid out with all of ones relations, and their Spanish title. The Arbol will contain ones immediate family, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, grandparents, and more. • a memory board game consisting of sets of cards with drawings and written explanations of the image. These cards will function as flashcards that strnenghten students’ vocabulary. • a birthday piñata that represents the student in some way. The piñata will be created as a work of art and students will present their piñatas to the class. • a Dia de los muertos alter with pictures, flowers, and other offerings. • a student run café that will operate for a brief time, complete with Spanish menu and wait staff. • Students will memorize and perform a Spanish song for the class. They will be given written lyrics in Spanish, as well as a literal word for word English translation to help with comprehension. The focus of this song is to refine students’ pronunciation. • Students will also write, memorize, and perform their own Spanish screenplay. |
Spanish 1 |