Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Honors Spanish IV Course Overview
COURSE OVERVIEW
The Spanish IV course is an intensive course designed for students to improve and gain competency in Spanish. The basis of the course is an intensive grammar review, frequent readings from a variety of Spanish and Latin American sources, continuous vocabulary acquisition and daily auditory and oral practice. Spanish is the official language of the course. The students are encouraged to practice Spanish throughout the year with their teacher(s) and peers.
The primary texts for Spanish IV are Album and Avanzando: Gramática española y lectura. Each of the following units work on perfecting skills in grammar, reading, writing, listening, and speaking, as well as an enhancement of cultural knowledge of Spain and Latin America.
Main Texts
De la Vega, Sara L., Salazar, Carmen. (2007). Avanzando: Gramática española y
lectura (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Renjilian-Burgy, Joy, Valette, Rebecca M. (2005). Album (3rd ed.). Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Websites
Audiria
BBC Mundo
CNN en español
El Mundo
Notes in Spanish
Prensa Escrita
Websites for grammar practice
Bowdoin
http://www.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/newgr/index.html
Colby
www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/index.php
Study Spanish
Ver taal
Supplemental Texts
Blanco, J.A., Tocaimaza-Hatch, C. C. & García, P. N. (2011). Imagina: Español sin
barreras (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Vista Higher Learning.
Cabat, L. & Cabat, R. (1999). Momentos Hispanos (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Amsco
School Publications, Inc.
Kanter, A. (2011). Encuentros Maravillosos: Gramática a través de la literatura
(2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Langer de Ramírez, L. (1999). Cuéntame: Folklore y fábulas. New York, NY:
Amsco School Publications, Inc.
Wasserman, C. & Wasserman, M. (1997). Prosa moderna del mundo
hispánico (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Amsco School Publications, Inc.
Unit 1 ~ Leyendas, imaginación y fantasía
Grammar
Major review of the basics
Accents
Punctuation
Sentence structure
Verb practice in the indicative: regular and irregular
Reflexive verbs
Spelling particulars: c, s, z
Reading
“Leyendas” and “El nacimiento de la col” in Album
Various fables from Cuéntame: Folklore y Fábulas
Writing
Summarizing stories, making predictions and re-writing them in the form of children’s book.
Comparing and contrasting stories
Constructing comprehensive paragraphs using a wide range of vocabulary, transitions, and appropriate sentence structure
Journal entries
Dictations
Listening
Connecting the sound of a word to its spelling (accentuation)
Fables and children’s stories
Speaking
Creatively re-telling/acting/performing Latin American children’s stories
Initiate, maintain, and close conversation on familiar topics
Asking questions to get more information
“News reports” on current events
Culture/History
Religion in Spain and Latin America, synthesis of indigenous and Catholic practices, legends and fables, Aztec cosmos
Unit 2 ~ La identidad hispana
Grammar
Verb practice in the past tenses
Verbs that change meaning with verb tense (preterit vs imperfect)
Irregular forms in the preterit and imperfect tenses
Review of the articles (definite vs indefinite)
Impersonal verbs
Pronouns and Adjectives (possessive, demonstrative)
Nouns and adjectives
Words with the prefixes: des-, in-, re-
Spelling particulars: b, v, s
Reading
“El general Rueda” in Album
“México y el arte muralista” and “Diversidad versus unidad” in Avanzando
Selected newspaper and/or magazine articles pertaining to Hispanic heritage
Various biographies: Octavio Paz, Sor Juana Inés, Santiago Calatrava etc.
Writing
Creation of appropriate Spanish past-tense verbs without English hints
Timelines and compositions comparing and contrasting stories and/or authors
Journal entries
Dictations
Listening
Listen to various accents in songs: Mexican in “Me vale” Argentinean in “Milonga de Márfil Negro,” Caribbean in “Latinos,” and Spanish in “En lo puro no hay futuro”
Discuss themes, various podcasts and audio clips from Internet
Speaking
Small-group discussions on assigned themes
Initiate and maintain conversations on familiar topics
Biographical presentations of various authors
“News reports” on current events
Culture/History
Continuation of Hispanic Heritage Month
Día de la Raza vs Columbus Day
Día de los Muertos with “voyage” to a gravesite in Mexico
Spanish conquest of Latin America
Unit 3 ~ Relaciones familiares
Grammar
Review of pronouns (subject, direct object, indirect object, personal, reflexive, etc.)
Verb Hacer with time frames (hace + tiempo + que …)
Spelling particulars: gue, gui, güe, güi
Reading
“Preguntas” or “El nieto” in Album
“El huésped de la maestra” in Prosa
Selected poetry and/or newspaper and magazine articles
Writing
Responding to written and spoken prompts
Composing orderly paragraphs
Using transition words and a wide range of vocabulary
Journal entries
Dictations
Listening
Continued practice with audio and video materials from Internet, television, and radio, critiquing other students’ spoken Spanish.
Various podcasts & videos from www.terra.com
Speaking
Informal spoken presentations with written and audio prompts
Preparing a dialogue from an outline
Practicing caroling in Spanish with Parranda-style songs and performances
“News reports” on current events
Culture/History
Family life in Spain and Latin America vs in the US
Relationships, diversions, holidays in Spain and Latin America
Various holiday traditions: Parrandas/Asaltos, Posadas, 3 Reyes Magos
Midterm Assessment
For our midterm exam, a performance assessment is given. After our unit on Hispanic Identity, students will be asked to research a well known person from Spain or Latin America. From that point until the midterm exam, students will familiarize themselves with the life and works of that person so as to “become” him/her for our exam. On the day of our midterm, we will hold a “tertulia” where they must dress and speak as that person. I will then speak to all of the “characters” and retrieve information about their research during our conversations. They must also interact with one another as that person.
Unit 4 ~ La justicia social
Grammar
Verb practice of future and conditional
Verbs of being (ser vs estar)
Present and past participles
Infinitive uses
Expressions with verb tener
Confusing words
Perfect tenses in the indicative
The verb haber
Passive voice and expressions with se
Verbs like gustar
Spelling particulars: que, qui, cue, cui
Reading
“Emma” and/or “Un día de estos” in Album
“Chile: dictadura y democracia” in Imagina
“La mejor tinta” in Avanzando
Selected newspaper and/or magazine articles, in print and/or online
Writing
Creating vivid, accurate descriptions using dynamic vocabulary and sentence structure
Composition on social justice, comparing and contrasting researched information
Journal entries
Dictations
Listening
Accommodation to the different voices/accents of the teachers at our school and the various voices/accents of the students in the community
Various podcasts and newsclips from www.cnnchile.com , “Nuevos antecedents en el caso de la muerte de Victor Jara”
Music: “Venceremos,” “Me gustan los estudiantes”
Movies: Kamchatka or Machuca
Speaking
Recounting and summarizing information previously listened to or written in an informal setting
Question/answer exercises with other students in the form of interviews and news reports
Imitating the accents of peninsular v. Caribbean v. South American Spanish
Initiate and maintain a conversation on a familiar topic
“News reports” on current events
Culture/History
Social movements in the Spanish Speaking world
Hispanic involvement in Civil Rights
Unit 5 ~ La experiencia migrante
Grammar
Adverbs
Comparatives, superlatives and relative pronouns
Expressions that indicate obligation
Prepositions, those with a or de followed by an infinitive
Uses of por vs para
Uses of pero vs sino
Expressions with the verb hacer
Spelling particulars: r, rr, cognates with slight differences (ph vs f, ch vs qu etc.)
Reading
“Cajas de Cartón” in Album (compare with Grapes of Wrath)
“España: Nueva ola de inmigrantes” and/or “Corriente latina” in Imagina
“Inmigraciones hispanas en los Estados Unidos” in Avanzando
Selected newspaper and/or magazine articles, in print and/or online
Writing
Writing in response to written prompts including “A quiénes admitimos?”
Writing from a variety of sources (extrapolating meaning, tone, theme)
Comparing countries that experience influx of immigration and/or exile;
Journal entries
Dictations
Listening
Television and/or internet and/or radio audio/video programming
Podcast “La nueva inmigración” (notesinspanish.com) and excerpts from F. Jimenez
Music: “Clandestino,” “En mi Viejo San Juan”
Movie: Excerpts from La Bamba and/or El Norte
Speaking
Debates on researched issues of immigration and exile
Spanish tongue-twisters (trabalenguas)
“News reports” on current events
Culture/History
Immigration and exile as recurring issues in Spain and Latin America, Spanish-speaking communities and culture in the USA
Various holiday traditions: Semana Santa, Carnaval, Calle Ocho
Unit 6 ~ El amor y otros sentidos
Many students enrolled in Spanish IV are also enrolled in multiple AP courses. They will be absent from Spanish IV for testing as well as study leave for these tests. Therefore the month of May and beginning of June will be dedicated to a more liberal and individual approach to Spanish learning. Students will explore cultural and historical topics, literary genres, and writers discussed previously throughout the year. With the teacher’s guidance, they will complete a travel research project, based on personal experience. The end product will be a multi sensorial presentation during the week of finals.
Grammar
Affirmatives and negatives
Commands
Indicative and subjunctive moods
Subjunctive review, expressions that require it, use with various tenses (imperfect, present perfect, pluperfect)
Clauses with si
Spelling particulars: g, j, ll, y, ío, ía, illo, illa
Reading
“La ilusión de la despedida” in Momentos hispanos
“Hombre pequeñito” in Avanzando (Compare with the novel/artwork of The Awakening)
“Poema 20” in Imagina
Lyrics of a myriad of love songs in Spanish
Personal ads and profiles in Spanish-language newspapers & websites
Writing
Responding to written and spoken prompts
Writing using a variety of sources
Creating personal ads, poems and profiles
Journal entries
Dictation
Listening
Practice with rapidly-spoken Spanish
Music: “Olvídate y pega la vuelta,” “Carta de amor,” “El día que me quieras”
Listening to television/radio/internet audio/video programming
YouTube: “Poema 20” with voiceover, takes place in Argentina
Movie: Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown
Speaking
Karaoke-style singing of popular love songs in Spanish
Song analysis/deconstruction and presentation
“News reports” on current events
Culture/History
Stereotypes of Spanish and Latin American passion, “piropes”
Gypsies and Flamenco, Soccer the world’s passion
Various Latin dances: Tango, Merengue, Salsa