College of Southern Idaho Español 102 online Spring 2016
Profesor: Adam V. Crofts
Oficina: Canyon 106D
E-mail:
Teléfono: 732-6845 (oficina) or 420-8487 (mobile, call or text. If you text, please identify yourself. J)
Horas de oficina: Monday thru Thursday from 1:00 to 2:00 PM, Friday 10:00 to 11:00 AM or by appointment.
I love Spanish and Portuguese. Learning a language came along at a time in my life when I didn’t yet fully realize that I was capable of great things. There was a time when I was dead set AGAINST learning a foreign language. It was too hard. It IS hard. But once I realized that a gringo like me could pick up two foreign languages (and that the process hasn’t killed me yet) I began to see that I (and we) CAN do hard things, and that a literal world of opportunity, adventure, and fulfillment are available if we are willing to work for it. I am here to help you on this journey and pledge to you my time, abilities and dedication to this cause. Please do not be afraid to ask me anything at any time, or to come talk to me if you need help in any area of the course.
Required Course Materials
Aventuras Fourth Edition with Supersite Plus & Websam access. This is the textbook we used in Spanish 101, and it will also be used in SPAN 201. It comes with a code that you will use to access the website where all of your homework is located. It is of course a good idea to have a good Spanish / English dictionary. The best one is free online at www.wordreference.com. In Spanish 102, we will cover lessons 7 through 11 of Aventuras.
HOW TO ACCESS COURSE WEBSITE AND ONLINE HOMEWORK
Go here and follow the instructions:
https://www.vhlcentral.com/section/ 381536/student_instructions
COURSE GRADE
There are 1150 points available in this course. Your final grade is based on the following point scale:
A = 900 and up
B = 800-899
C= 700-799
D= 600-699
F= 599 and below
This course is set up to as a “buffet” style class, which is designed to give you more control over your own learning, as well as having the opportunity to do “extra credit” built in to the course.
VHL Central homework assignments - 600 points (6 chapters,75 points each)
Quizzes - 300 points (12 quizzes, 25 points each)
Final Exam / Interview 100 points
______________
= 1000 Points
Spanish news article summaries - 15 points (each summary)
Spanish song assignments - 15 points (each assignment)
“El Norte” film assignment- 30 points
________________
= (up to) 150 points
Possible Points - = 1150 points
You may notice that the first three items (homework, quizzes, and the final exam) are worth the majority of points in the class. In our “buffet” analogy, these are the main dish; the “meat and potatoes” if you will. These will give you the most nutrition and energy out of your dining experience. We can consider the other assignments as “desserts”: they are a tasty addition to your meal, as well as providing quick energy and extra calories, but should not be considered a substitute for the main course. The “Main course” assignments will be enough to fill you up (and get you an A), but the dessert bar is there if you should want (or need) it.
Grades for chapter assignments and quizzes, as well as any “dessert” assignments will periodically be posted on the course grade book in Canvas.
“MEAT & POTATOES” ASSIGNMENTS
VHL Central All of your homework will be accessed through the Vista Supersite (vhlcentral.com). Most of the assignments are automatically corrected and you have as many attempts as you need to master the concepts (and get a perfect score) before the due date. A few assignments (those with true or false and open-ended questions) have only one attempt. Quizzes are open-book, but are limited to 1 attempt. Homework assignments are frequent (often daily) so you can get the practice you need to retain new material. You may work ahead and complete assignments and quizzes before they are due. All late assignments or quizzes will receive an automatic deduction of 10% per day that they are late. As technology is sometimes prone to hiccups depending on the browser or device that you are using, please make sure you give yourself plenty of time to complete all tasks before they are due. If you are in need of extra points for any reason, you will need to select from the “dessert” buffet assignment options to obtain them. Both homework and quizzes can be viewed and accessed through the assignment calendar on the website. Please check the calendar daily & be aware of due dates!
Do not feel bad if it takes you many attempts to finish an assignment. We learn through trial and error, and repetition is a huge part of the process. I recommend that you watch each chapter’s videos and grammar tutorials multiple times. if you are consistent and study every day, the homework will help you gain a strong foundation towards fluency in Spanish.
Outcomes Assessment Interview
1-2 weeks before the final exam, you will have a brief interview with a Spanish faculty member to determine your progress in listening comprehension and oral fluency. In addition to being part of your final exam grade, the results of this interview are also evaluated by Spanish faculty to determine if students, as well as the class in general, have made satisfactory progress in achieving the course objectives. Online students who live far from campus will need to make arrangements ahead of time to do this interview via Skype / Facetime.
Final Exam
The final will be on paper (rather than online like your other quizzes) and will be taken in a CSI testing center. If your location makes travel to a testing center prohibitive, you will need to arrange to take the final with a proctor. If you have not done so already, please email me as soon as you can with the name of your proctor, as well as their email and phone number.
The final exam will be available in the testing centers from Monday, May 9, through Wednesday, May 11. Make sure you are aware of testing center hours and leave yourself plenty of time to take the exam before they close.
“DESSERT” ASSIGNMENTS
You can submit up to 2 extra credit assignments per chapter or up to 150 total points toward your course grade throughout the semester. In other words, you cannot turn in 12 dessert assignments the last week of the semester. Up to two extra-credit assignments, if you elect to do them, will be accepted on each the following days:
February 8
February 22
March 7
March 28
April 11
May 2
“Dessert” assignment guidelines, Spanish 101
Dessert option #1: Spanish news article summary
For this assignment, you will read and summarize a Spanish language news article of your choosing. You can find several up-to-date news sites from all over Latin America and Spain at www.prensaescrita.com, as well as www.dailyearth.com. While these two sites feature links to Spanish language newspapers, you can also find plenty of news relating to entertainment, music, gossip, celebrities, sports, etc. at www.univision.com, www.peopleenespanol.com, http://cnnespanol.cnn.com, and of course, the almighty Google.
This article will be graded on (1) a summary of the article or news item selected, and (2) your reaction to and thoughts about what you have read. The summary portion can be in English (with some Spanish if you want to try it), but your thoughts and reaction must be in SPANISH.
In selecting an article or news item to summarize, please keep the following in mind:
1) Try to choose something that interests you. If you like sports, look for news about the Chilean soccer team. If you like music, try to find a concert or album review. The point is to find something that will help you learn vocabulary that you will be likely to use when discussing your interests with others.
2) Don’t rely on a dictionary. As hard as this may sound, you will be able to understand more than you think buy using other clues before resorting to looking up every word. Excessive dictionary use is exhausting, painful, and doesn’t tend to help you retain new words. Instead, look first for (a) visual cues, (b) previous knowledge, and (c) cognates.
a. Visual cues: Look at the pictures! They are worth a thousand words,
especially in a language where you don’t know that many words yet. J
b. Previous knowledge: You will find that Spanish-language news will have
many of the same events that are covered in the English language press. I am
continually amazed at how often news from the US (even news that doesn’t
seem at all relevant to Latin America) ends up in Latin American papers.
c. Cognates: A cognate (cognado in Spanish) is a word that you can usually easily
understand in a foreign language because it looks a lot like the English word
and has the same meaning. Some examples are universidad, calendario,
teléfono, computadora, atlético, etc. Spanish has thousands of words that have
a cognate in English.
This assignment is worth 15 points total, based on the following criteria:
· The summary is worth 7.5 points and will be graded according to length and content. I am not as concerned with the accuracy of your understanding as I am with the effort that you make to understand and learn. If your summary shows a decent interpretation of the content of the article based on your reading of cognates, visual cues, etc., then your grade will reflect that. It must be at least a paragraph. A paragraph is not just one sentence, but a group of sentences that contain a single idea. One-sentence responses will receive no points for the summary portion.
· The second paragraph (also worth 7.5 points) will be your reaction in Spanish to the content of the article. In Spanish 101, I do not expect your sentences to be tremendously complex, but I do expect you to use as much as you can of the grammar and vocabulary you have been studying.
· Formatting of this assignment should be consistent with other college papers, and should include your name, date, and section number. Include your summary paragraph, your thoughts / reaction (in Spanish), and copy and paste the text of your article, (along URL where the article was found) at the end of the paper. Submit by email and include “Spanish news summary” in the subject line.
Dessert option #2: Spanish song assignment
· Pick any song in Spanish. I will be happy to recommend some artists as a starting point; just come talk to me. YouTube is also a tremendous resource here.
1. Find the lyrics to the song on Google. The word letras means lyrics. Listen to the song a few times. If you like it, listen several more time. Sing along. J Copy and paste the lyrics into your word document to turn in with your summary.
2. Write a brief summary (in English) of what the song means to you or what it is about, and what you learned while analyzing it. Your interpretation doesn’t have to be exactly what the artist intended; music, like poetry, is subject to the interpretive vision of the listener. In line with our news article summaries, remember to look for cognates and other familiar words, and don’t rely excessively on your dictionary. Your summary may include identifying words / grammar structures learned in class and pointing out their use in the song. Why did the songwriter choose those lyrics and /or grammar structures?
3. Include a list of new vocabulary words and their definition (you can use your dictionary here).
4. This assignment is worth 15 points and will be graded on length (a good, solid paragraph or two is what I am looking for), and your creativity in analyzing and interpreting the meaning of the song.
5. Formatting of this assignment should be consistent with other college papers, and should include your name, date, and section number. Include the text of the song you have chosen (as well as the name of the artist / composer) along with your summary. Submit by email and include “Spanish song assignment” in the subject line.
Dessert option #3: “El Norte” film assignment
El Norte is a classic film that deals with the ever-controversial issue of illegal immigration to the United States from Latin America, and puts a face to the stories and experiences of these immigrants. Although filmed in 1981, the movie is as relevant today as ever. A DVD of this film is available in the CSI library (and probably on YouTube). If you would like to view the film for extra credit, contact me and I will send you an assignment with questions based on the film. This assignment will be worth 30 points.
Want more dessert? Rate the course!
I really do look forward to receiving your honest feedback at the end of the course. Evaluations are completed through MyCSI, are anonymous and I am not able to view student feedback until after final grades are submitted. Previous to this, I only receive a system email stating a student’s name and that they have submitted an evaluation. I offer 15 “dessert” points to all students who submit evaluations before the final exam.
A FEW WORDS ON LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
1. It is hard work! You will need to study every day.
2. Learning Spanish is a cumulative endeavor. You may be able to memorize for a test, pass and
then forget the material in some courses; but in Spanish everything builds on previously-learned material.
3. YOU MUST SPEAK IF YOU WANT TO LEARN TO SPEAK. Reading fitness magazines and watching body-building competitions will not give you huge muscles unless you DO what you SEE. Watching guitar tutorials on YouTube will not teach you to play if you don’t have a guitar in your hands. Although this is an online class, it is important that you seek opportunities to speak Spanish as often as possible. Make a habit of reading out loud every day. Sing along with songs in Spanish. The more you speak, the more quickly you will learn.