Syllabus ~Spanish 2, 2021-2022
Instructor: Anna Bekerman
abekerman@flagarts.com
Office: Room 15
Below are the broad guidelines and tentative plans for the course. I retain the right to alter this information throughout the duration of the course.
Course description
The goal of this class is to help you continue developing your skills in all four language areas: listening, speaking, reading and writing, and to deepen your understanding of the perspectives and practices of different Spanish-speaking cultures. In class, we will focus on practicing Spanish in real-world situations as we cover the foundations of Spanish grammar, syntax (sentence structure), and morphology (word formation).
Character goals
We will spend as much time as possible in class practicing new language, but you must take personal responsibility to practice new words and sentence structures. Students are expected to be on time, participate, and help others in the classroom. Students are also expected to respect the deadlines for homework and assignments.
Course materials
The course webpage will contain the following: brief description of what is covered every day, notes and homework due that day, quiz and project due dates, extra material for practice (when applicable). It is YOUR responsibility to look at this webpage, especially when you are absent.
All assignments should be turned in through Google Classroom unless otherwise indicated on the website.
Supplies needed
Pencils, a notebook, a three-ring binder.
Assignment categories and grade distribution
For late work and retake policies, please see each of the assignment descriptions below.
Classwork, homework and quizzes (40%): This category includes graded work done in class, notebook checks, quizzes, and homework. Quizzes will be announced at least 2 class periods ahead of time. Homework will be due at the beginning of the class period unless otherwise stated. I will NOT accept late assignments/retakes from this category.
Participation (10%): We will be practicing Spanish in class and you will be graded daily on participation. Here are the values on which I will base that grade:
0: Unexcused absence or significant tardy, or disruptive or off task, or largely idle or rude to others
1: Participates in small or large group settings only when reminded or is impatient with others, may not always try to communicate in Spanish
2: Makes positive and relevant contributions in small and large group settings, is courteous and helpful to others, and always makes their best effort to communicate in Spanish
Formal Projects (30%): This category includes writing and oral projects, as well as the final portfolio submission. Throughout the course, there will be various projects that serve to assess your understanding of the material we have learned, and to provide evidence of your ability to complete a given real-world writing or spoken task in Spanish. At the end of the course, you will select various samples of your work to create a portfolio demonstrating your learning in the class.
For writing tasks and the final portfolio, you will be allowed to revise your projects up to a week after the assignment is handed back to you. For example, if you turn in the project on a Thursday and I give it back to you the next Tuesday with feedback, you are allowed to revise your project up to the end of school on the following Tuesday.
Students can earn 100% for a retake on formal written assessments. If you retake the assignment and get a lower grade, your grade will be the average of the two grades you obtained.
If you turn in your project late, you will lose points (as defined in the grading rubric). If you turn in your project more than a week late, you will receive a zero.
If you turn in your project late, you will NOT be allowed to revise it.
Students are encouraged to revise their formal projects because they strongly impact their course grade.
For oral/recorded presentations, students will be given support in planning their presentations, and will be given a rubric on how each presentation will be graded.
Exam (20%): There will be an exam at the end of the semester to assess your understanding of the material covered in the course. There are no retakes allowed on exams.
Conduct
In addition to abiding by the rules in the student handbook, please no cell phones in class.
When going to the bathroom, you will be asked to leave your cell phone in a basket in the classroom as your bathroom pass.
The academic dishonesty policy prohibits plagiarism and cheating of any kind. In a foreign language class this includes the use of computer translators. If you submit work done by a translator or plagiarized from the Internet, the consequences are as follows according to the student handbook:
1st offense: Earn a zero on the assignment
2nd offense: Potential loss of credit for the course
Absences
If you are absent and a homework assignment or project was due that day, your homework or project will be due the A day you are back. If you were absent for a quiz, you will take the quiz on the A day you are back (during class or at lunch) or we will make an appointment for you to take it at another time. If you’ve missed a quiz, you have one week to make it up after the rest of the class has taken the quiz (unless you are still absent of course). If you are absent more than one day, you have the amount of days you missed to make-up the missing assignments.
Please check the class webpage when you are absent.
Curriculum outline
Actions in red = formal projects
August - Repaso/Review
August - September: La comida
You will learn to:
Discuss food groups and healthy foods
Describe different foods
Describe traditional medicine in Spain
Write a composition on healthy eating habits.
Sept. - October: Los pasatiempos
You will learn to:
Talk about different places in a community
Discuss your favorite sports and other activities
Create a dialogue with a new student about fun things to do in Flagstaff
Write an invitation to an event
Describe the Day of the Dead tradition
Nov. - December: Fiesta en familia
You will learn to:
Describe your family
Compare family gatherings from different communities
Write about plans for a celebration
Order food at a restaurant
Write a description of your family. Record yourself describing them.
Write a restaurant review
Make a luminaria and understand the history of this tradition
January - February: La casa
You will learn to:
Compare how different people decorate their bedrooms
Create a model of your room and describe it
Design a flyer in Spanish advertising the sale of your house
Talk about household chores
Give advice to friends
Compare houses from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world with those in the United States
March - April: De compras
You will learn to:
Communicate about shopping for clothes and gifts
Compare the significance of crafts and clothing in Panama and the United States
Talk about gifts that you have bought for people
Understand the tradition of Mariachi music
Interact with a salesperson about buying something in their store
Write a letter to a family member about a gift that you just bought a relative
April - May: Experiencias
You will learn to:
Talk about travel and places to visit
Plan a trip to a Spanish-speaking country
Talk about volunteer work and community service
Talk about the Mexican tradition of recycled glass art.
Record yourself describing a (real or imaginary) trip
Create a poster for a community clean-up event