Spanish 1234 Syllabus
Fall 2014/Spring 2015
COURSE CONTENT AND METHODOLOGY
The language teaching community agrees that learning language and culture are inextricably connected. Thus, this course focuses on developing students’ Spanish- language proficiency through modes of communication that reflect real life communication in the varied cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. By employing interpersonal, interpretive and presentational communicative modes in Spanish, students will explore the ideas, values, beliefs and other cultural aspects of Spanish-speaking peoples across the world and how these aspects work together to affect human experience.
SKILLS AND OUTCOMES
This course involves the development of specific Spanish grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic usage in the context of the varied cultures of the Spanish-speaking world for the purpose of exploring ideas that foster aesthetic and intellectual creation in order that students may understand the human condition across cultures. In this course, students will also continue to develop awareness of and practice the use of appropriate cultural norms in the Spanish-speaking world for formality, informality, personal space and gestures. Furthermore, students will continue developing language in the context and manner it is used in the Spanish-speaking cultures and recognize how these uses are different from those of English-speakers. By the end of the semester, students will be able to:
· Make reservations for travel, inquire about hotel amenities, order in a restaurant, shop for food and clothing, follow or give instructions for recipes.
· Engage in simple question/answer conversations using memorized and/or high-frequency expressions indicating cultural sensitivity and awareness to talk about pastimes, hobbies, holidays, celebrations and daily chores.
· Provide and request basic information (continued development).
· Give and receive instructions and directions (continued development).
· Express ongoing actions, routine actions, future actions and past actions in the context and manner these are used in the Spanish-speaking cultures and recognize how these uses are different from those of English-speakers (continued development).
· Express preferences and comparisons.
· Describe the state of objects and people (continued development).
· Express doubt, uncertainty and emotional reactions to
· Discuss hypothetical situations.
· Describe and illustrate aspects of the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries and make comparisons between these cultures and their own culture(s) using basic linguistic structures and vocabulary in the target language.
· Evaluate their own values, behaviors and worldviews on the socio-cultural topics presented and compare these to those of Spanish-speakers.
CORE OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT
Core objectives for the Language, Philosophy and Culture Foundational Component Area are addressed in this course according to the following descriptions. A global assessment tool that incorporates all required core objectives is used for assessment rather than objective specific assessment tools. This global assessment tool is called a Portafolio Cultural (Cultural Portfolio) and will be completed by students over the length of the course. Please see the attached description of the Portafolio Cultural assessment tool.
· Critical Thinking:
o Students will respond in the target language orally and in writing to questions and/or topics based upon in-class readings, presentations, and/or out-of-class assignments that require students to extract information, analyze and evaluate information and draw conclusions and/or form opinions on the topic.
o Students will inquire, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information from various resources available in the target language on a cultural topic of his/her choosing to be presented in a variety of modes to the instructor and/or class (e.g. art work, presentations, theatrical works, essays, music)
· Communication Skills:
o Students will demonstrate ability to effectively use memorized vocabulary, high-frequency expressions, accurate grammatical usage and idiomatic expressions in the target language to effectively develop, interpret and express ideas orally and in writing with culturally appropriate sensitivity.
o Students will demonstrate effective interpretation of memorized vocabulary, high-frequency expressions, grammatical usage and idiomatic expression in the target language both aurally and in print through the use of culturally-bound print and multi-media.
· Personal Responsibility
o Students will demonstrate the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical-decision making by writing a personal reflection essay on a specific cultural topic that presents an ethical dilemma or issue for resolution.
o In their personal reflection essays, students will identify their core beliefs and the origins of those core beliefs, recognize complex ethical issues and relationships between issues, state a position on an ethical issue and connect their position to implied actions and consequences.[1]
· Social Responsibility
o Students will demonstrate intercultural competence and knowledge of civic responsibility as demonstrated in the connections or comparisons made by the student between his/her own culture and the target culture
o Alternatively and/or additionally, students will demonstrate intercultural competence and knowledge of civic responsibility by engaging in four (4) volunteer hours in the local, regional, national or global Spanish-speaking community through the service projects of the Spanish Club, another campus or community organization and/or through an alternative Spring Break option.
Required text and materials:
1. Textbook: Exploraciones. Blitt, Mary Ann/ Casas, Margarita. 2012.
2. 10 long Scantrons (please turn in to instructor)
Recommended materials:
Student Activities Manual and CourseMate for Exploraciones
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Participation & Attendance
Ten percent of the course grade will be based on a combination of attendance and participation. Six percent (6%) will be based on the student’s use of Spanish, active participation and volunteering in classroom activities. The remaining four percent (4%) is based on your attendance.
The instructor will take attendance every day. Students are required to be in class for the entire 50 minute period. Students may be counted absent if arriving more than 10 minutes late or leaving class early. This syllabus serves as notice that a student may be dropped from the class without further notification if absent more than six times. Please note that if a student decides to drop the course, he/she must follow university procedure for dropping a course in order to receive a “W.” University policy dictates that if an instructor instigates a drop, the student will receive a “WF” or “F,” depending on the date of the drop.
Absences due to official university functions or documented illness will be dealt with on an individual basis and should be discussed with the instructor outside of class time. There are no “excused absences” from regular class periods. If a student misses an exam, he/she must present documented proof of illness or university activity to the instructor before a make-up exam will be allowed. Students will not be allowed to make-up quizzes nor Exploraciones video lab quizzes (taken in Moffett 112A).
Homework, quizzes and other assignments
Regular study, reading and homework assignments will be made from the text and from the Student Activities Manual (SAM). Students are expected to prepare homework as assigned. Frequent quizzes, based on homework and class work, will be given. Graded quizzes and homework assignments will account for 10% of the course grade.
Language Lab (Moffett 112A)
You must take a listening comprehension quiz in the Foreign Language Laboratory in Moffett 112A once for each chapter covered this semester. There are a total of six lab quizzes to complete (only portions of Chapters 13 and 14 are covered). Please give your MSU Student ID to the lab attendant in order to receive your quiz. You will receive a cassette tape, a quiz and a Scantron. No materials other than your textbook may be used while you complete the quiz and you may not write on the quiz. Please sign out at the lab attendant’s desk in order to retrieve your student id. Make-up and/or late quizzes are NOT permitted. One lab grade will be dropped at the end of the semester. Please note the due dates given below. You will be given a schedule of Language Lab Hours.
Language Lab Assignment Due Dates:
Chapter 7: / Chapter 8: / Chapter 9:Chapter 10: / Chapter 11: / Chapter 12:
Grading components
Participation and Attendance / 10%Quizzes and Homework / 20%
Language Lab Quizzes / 10%
Exams (3 major exams) and Portafolio Cultural (10% each) / 40%
Comprehensive Final Exam / 20%
COURSE CALENDAR
Week 1 / Chapter 7 / · Request a room and hotel services; hotel vocabulary· Use numbers greater than 100
· Irregular verbs in the preterite
· Uses of por and para
· Culture: Unique lodging for travel in the Spanish-speaking world; Tourism and the Economy
Week 2 / · Uses of direct object pronouns
· Reading (Reading out loud): ¿Dónde quedarse: hotels, motels, pensiones o albergues?
· Food, utensils, ordering in a restaurant
· Culture: Unique restaurants in the Spanish-speaking world; Eating habits; specialty stores
· Bilingualism and Careers: The hotel industry
Week 3 / Chapter 8 / · More food vocabulary; vocabulary for preparing food
· Uses of indirect object pronouns
· Verbs like gustar and indirect object pronouns
· Constructions with se: Passive and impersonal se
· Reading (recognizing root words): Los alimentos del Nuevo Mundo
Week 4 / · Childhood pastimes and activities
· Introduction to the imperfect
· Describing your childhood and adolescence (imperfect)
· Culture: Music and dance
· Double object pronouns
· Reading (combining strategies): Literatura para niños
Week 5 / · Bilingualism and Careers: Professional Chef
· Exploring Literature: José Martí
EXAM I / Chapters 7 and 8
Chapter 9 / · Celebrations and those unique to the Spanish-speaking world
· Comparison of the preterit and the imperfect
Week 6 / · Culture: Festivals and Celebrations
· Celebrations in the Spanish-speaking world
· Uses of the preterit and the imperfect
· Reading (reading interactively): El Día de los Muertos
· Transportation, emergency services, navigating the city
· Preterite and imperfect with emotions and mental states
· Culture: Traffic and accidents, driving habits, highway systems
· Overview of the Preterite and Imperfect
Week 7 / · Reading (Reading interactively): Leyendas urbanas
· Bilingualism and Careers: Police Officer
Chapter 10 / · Travel and transportation
· Relative pronouns
· Culture: Tourism Industry
Week 8 / · Formal and nosotros commands
· Reading (visualizing and paraphrasing): ¿Adónde ir de vacaciones?
· The home and domestic chores
· Informal commands
· Culture: workers in the Spanish-speaking world
Week 9 / · Pronoun use with command forms
· Reading: Mexicanos…con escoba y aspiradora
· Bilingualism and Careers: Airport security
· Exploring Literature: Marco Denevi
· Review of Chapters 9 and 10
Week 10 / EXAM II / Chapters 9 and 10
Chapter 11 / · Clothing and shopping for clothing
· Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns
· Culture: Traditional Dress, appropriate dress for different occasions, fashion
Week 11 / · Making comparisons of equality and inequality
· Reading (identifying patterns): Las tapadas: una moda escandalosa
· Art, description of art work
· Estar with the past participle
· Culture: Traditional art forms; attitudes toward artists; art for the community
Week 12 / · Se to indicate accidental occurrences
· Reading (identifying patterns): Remedios Varo
· Bilingualism and Careers: Retail sales
Chapter 12 / · Nature, geographical terms, environmental concerns
· Future tense
· Culture: Geographic Diversity
Week 13 / · Present Perfect
· Reading: Los parques nacionales de Costa Rica y de Ecuador
· Farm animals and wild animals
· The present subjunctive and its use with impersonal expressions
· Culture: Animals; El burro y la flauta; biodiversity; ecology
Week 14 / Chapter 13
Chapter 14 / · Exploring Literature: Mario Benedetti
· Reciprocal verbs
· Subjunctive with expressions of doubt
· Subjunctive with expressions of influence (desire) and expressions of emotion
· Conditional; hypothetical situations
· Bilingualism and Careers: Mass communications
Week 15 / · Review of Chapters 11, 12 & portions of 13, 14
Exam III Chapters 11, 12 & portions of 13, 14
· Review for Comprehensive Final Exam
Departmental Final Exam given during week of Final Exams: TBA
Core Course Review Documentation-SPAN 1234 6 rev 02/18/2013
[1] Modified from AACU Ethical Responsibility VALUE Rubric.