AP Spanish Literature and Culture
Course Overview: The AP Spanish Literature and Culture course is a survey course which covers the six AP Spanish Literature themes and the entire reading list outlined within the AP Spanish Literature Curriculum Framework. The course is conducted entirely in Spanish and covers Spanish and Latin American authors, and their works, from the medieval period to the present day. The works are presented in chronological order with the aim of integrating the historical themes and literary movements of the different time periods, and highlighting the schools of literature to which each piece belongs as well as the author’s style and the characteristics of each selection. The two main texts, Abriendo Puertas volumes I and II, provide students with the socio-cultural context necessary to fully comprehend each piece. Abridged versions of the texts are not used; the instructor provides the students with the full text in its original version. The two-semester course and its activities are intended to teach and enhance a student’s ability to acquire, identify, understand, discuss, interpret and analyze the form and content of literary works of prose, poetry and drama along with the literary terms and conceptual aspects of art and history of the time. The lessons are designed to help students interpret the figures of speech, tone, genre, style, characters, themes and literary symbols in an effort to develop their analytical and interpretative skills.
Course Objectives:
The objectives of this course are to:
Foster students’ appreciation for the richness of the Spanish language and Hispanic literature and culture.
Provide opportunities for students to use the three modes of communication in the process of learning how to analyze a literary text.
Provide opportunities for student reflection on the relationship of a reading selection to its artistic, historical, social, and cultural contexts.
As a result, the students will be prepared to take the AP Spanish Literature and Culture Exam at the end of the year. The following procedures have been set in order to attain these objectives.
1. After establishing the essential questions and readings, the students are presented with activities, quizzes, and tests that link the literary works and the six AP themes and a variety of the sub-themes.
2. In addition to timed essays written in class, students are assigned essay prompts similar to those of the AP Spanish Literature Exam. These essays and the take-home essays consist of: Poetry Analysis, Thematic Analysis (analysis, compare and contrast) and Text Analysis (short answers to open ended questions, analysis of critical commentary). Student responses are weighted for organization, content, historical connections, analysis and language usage, following the AP scoring guidelines.
3. Students need to master not only the literary terms and rhetorical devices, but also make explicit connections between the devices and the overall themes represented. Emphasis will be placed on the integration of the author’s use of devices and the overarching message he/she intends to convey through the rich vocabulary in the texts and its context. AP Spanish Literature and Culture: Sample Syllabus 2 CR3d: The course explicitly addresses the theme: Las relaciones interpersonales.
4. Students will be presented with the six overarching themes and sub-themes presented in the AP Spanish Literature Framework and will make several levels of connections in order to develop a deeper understanding.
5. Readings will continuously be compared and contrasted by theme, historical context and artistic representations to help students develop an analytical understanding.
Additional Considerations:
1. All assignments will include an activity before, during and after.
2. All readings will be followed with a series of questions.
3. Students will create an “Archivo de autor” after every reading for their final portfolio.
4. All essays will be self and peer edited and will be graded using the AP Scoring Guidelines.
5. The three modes of communication will be emphasized throughout the year.
6. All spoken and written work will be presented in Spanish.