Denver School of the Arts
2014-2015 school year
Español Uno
Beginning Spanish / Instructor: Profesor Mark Mallaney
E-Mail:
Phone: 720-424-1813
Classroom: D 204
Office Hours: 2:35–3:30pm Tuesday/Thursday

Overview

In this class we will explore the foundations of the Spanish Language. Students will be exposed to a variety of key features of the language through listening, reading, writing and speaking activities.

Goals

Students who successfully complete the beginning Spanish program at Denver School of the Arts will meet the following goals (based on CO standards):
  • Participate in basic conversations (written or oral) on a variety of familiar and predictable topics using isolated words and learned phrases.
  • Comprehend short exchanges (written or oral) that use learned vocabulary and grammatical structures on familiar topics.
  • Present using simple phrases and/or expressions (written or oral) on familiar topics.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their first language.

Requirements

All students will be expected to:
  • Be on time and ready to participate
  • Pay attention and give 100% all 90/43 minutes & follow directions
  • Have a good time and help make the class fun and interesting
  • Ask and answer questions
  • Use Spanish exclusively in the class
  • Do all gestures
  • Demonstrate good sportsmanship and encourage/help others learn

Grades

Composite grading based on 45% process (homework, classwork and communication grades) 55% product (tests, quizzes projects and the like). /

Materials

Everyday you will be expected to arrive in class on time and with the following materials
  • A folder for handouts
  • A notebook for notes and writing assignments
  • Writing utensils (pencils and/or pens, no markers please)

Milestones

8/26/2014 – 12/19/2014 (semester 1)
Basic commands and procedures in Spanish. Work on high frequency verbs, nouns and adjectives. Read various mini-stories in Spanish. Read the novelLas Aventuras de Isabela.
1/6/2015 – 6/4/2015 (Semester 2)
Work with complex verbal phrases and a wide variety of nouns, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns. Explore the present, past and progressive tenses of Spanish grammar. Read a novel chosen by the class.
August 2014 and May 2015
Students will complete the Denver Public Schools World Languages Proficiency assessment. The fall test will be a benchmark and the spring test will demonstrate student growth.

Approach

The approach to language learning in this course centers on methods of comprehensible input (CI) to develop fluency. CI allows you to learn Spanish in much the same way you learned your first language: by listening to and reading interesting things. Spanish is spoken at least 90% of the time in class. We develop much of the course content together.

  • TPR: You begin the year by acquiring a broad vocabulary base using Total Physical Response (TPR). You act out, point to, or otherwise respond physically to individual words and to narrative commands. Research on how we learn has proven that we remember better and longer what we have experienced kinesthetically. Gesturing and acting out commands will help you acquire the language more quickly.
  • STORYASKING: Although TPR is important; you will not spend all your time responding to commands. By the end of the first weeks you will create and act out your first story. Vocabulary acquisition will be a major focus of our early work, but you will be acquiring a sense of the structure of the Spanish language at the same time.
  • READING: Reading plays an extremely important role in language acquisition and fluency; the competency gains to be made through reading are phenomenal. Over the school year you will read novelettes, your own story creations, and be given class time to do Free Voluntary Reading (self selected materials).
  • GRAMMAR: A typical textbook outline cannot be used to describe the learning sequence in an input based classroom, especially where structure is concerned. You acquire basic grammatical concepts because you are exposed to them daily in the stories; indeed, students exposed to CI acquire more advanced grammar sooner than students in traditional grammar driven curriculums. Class time is better spent allowing you to hear, read and practice the spoken and written language than studying grammar rules.

Autobiographical sketch

Profesor Mallaney studied Anthropology and Spanish at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His senior year at CU he had the opportunity to complete an undergraduate internship in Chilean Patagonia and fell in love with the language and culture of elmundo español. Upon graduation he consulted for the US Forrest Service in and around the Western US. In 2005 he decided that teaching was his calling and he went back to CU for a Post BA licensure in Secondary Social Studies. Upon completion of his licensure he moved to Oaxaca, México where he taught 6th grade ESL and cienciasnaturales. Returning to Colorado in 2008, he took a job teaching Spanish in Denver Public Schools. This is his second year at the Denver School of the Arts, where he bringsa brand of interactive methodology to the World Languages department. In addition to Licensures in Spanish and Social Studies, Profe Mallaney also holds a MA in Curriculum and Design for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education from the University of Colorado, Denver (December 2012).

Extension opportunities for Spanish Students at DSA

  • Denver has a variety of museums, galleries and theaters geared towards art from the Spanish Speaking World. (Museo de las Americas, Su Teatro, Santa Fe Arts District etc.) Get out there are check them out!
  • Pick up a copy of the Denver Post’s Spanish language publication Viva Colorado. It’s free and can be found around town.
  • Check out online Spanish language newspapers and websites like espanol.yahoo.com and espndeportes.com.
  • Watch programming on any number of Spanish language television stations that we have available here in Colorado (Univisión, Telemundo, TV Azteca).
  • Denver has a thriving Spanish speaking community and the language can be found right here in our city and our school. Have fun and enjoy the adventure!

Beginning Spanish / 1