Spanish 1

Important Policies:

Homework:  Because we are doing a lot of oral work in class, students should expect to have homework a few nights a week.  

Late work:  Work submitted 1 day late: max grade of a 90.  Work submitted 2 days late: max grade of a 70.  Late work accepted past two days in on-level classes is at the teacher’s discretion, depending on extenuating circumstances.

Oral Participation:  Students will receive points when they speak in Spanish during assigned discussions or on-task interactions.  Their goal is to get 5 points every week.  I will take a participation grade every 4 weeks.  (I want to encourage them to be fearless and try!  I’m not looking for perfection.)

Grading:  The following percentages will be used to determine grades:

Minor grades--(50%) (include classwork/homework, participation, quizzes/mini projects)

Major Grades--50% (include oral and written tests as well as major projects)

If students fail a test, they may retake it, but the first test will be averaged with the second test to get one grade up to a 70; I want to encourage them to study well the first time.

Materials needed:

• A folder with pockets and a notebook (composition or spiral)

• Headphones to be kept in students' backpacks and to be used on days we use chromebooks for listening activities.

• A big bag of candy (no chocolate or nuts) to be used on game days as prizes.

Supplemental Apps and Websites:

Sometimes students have had Spanish in elementary school and, therefore, would like to go beyond what we're doing in class.  Here are some additional school-appropriate resources, some of which are free:

Duolingo:  Students can download it on their phone, so it's easy and convenient, and it's free.  It will give a 'test' when your student first joins to determine what level to begin with.  It offers good pronunciation, lots of vocabulary, and fun challenges.  

Lingopie.com:  There's a 7 day free trial period; then it's about $75 per year.  Students can watch kids' tv shows from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries.  Students can adjust the speed to slow down the videos and make them easier to understand; they can also select subtitles in English and/or Spanish.  Students will need guidance in navigating to the "Kids" section of the website; there they can find cartoons, cooking shows, nature shows, etc.  

Listen to children's books on YouTube with side by side English and Spanish.  You can find these by searching the following channel: "readitagain bilingual;" these stories are free.

Watch favorite movies with Spanish audio and English subtitles.  If you are using a DVD, you can find these under "set up," though not all DVDs have Spanish audio.  When watching on a streaming platform, you can use most remotes to set up the subtitles and audio.

Conjuguemos.com:  We already use this for our class, but students can navigate on the site to learn additional vocabulary.

Finally, there are Spanish-learning programs online which connect students with native speakers over Zoom, but these cost $20-$80 monthly, depending on how frequently students join a discussion.  I have not joined this kind of class myself, so I cannot attest to how the programs filter for age appropriateness.  If you would like to explore this option, some of the companies to look into are Memrise Live, Busuu, FluentU, and Babbel.