Karen Hutchinson

TruckeeHigh School

Truckee, CA.

Spanish Language Course Description

All course activities are aligned to the course goals and expectations listed in the College Board publication Course Description for Spanish Language and Spanish Literature, May 2007, May 2008, which states that “the course is meant to be comparable to fifth and sixth semester (or the equivalent) college and university courses that focus on speaking and writing in the target language at an advanced level (p. 3).” The four language skills are synthesized and emphasized in addition to providing cross-cultural elements, aspects and opportunities.

Course Goals

The successful AP Spanish Language student as described by the Course Description for Spanish Language and Spanish Literature, May 2007, May 2008 will be able to:

  • Identify and summarize the main points and significant details and make appropriate inferences and predictions from a spoken source, such as a broadcast news report or a lecture on an academic or cultural topic related to the Spanish-speaking world.
  • Identify and summarize the main points and significant details and predict outcomes from an everyday conversation on a familiar topic, a dialogue from a film or other broadcast media, or an interview on a social or cultural topic related to the Spanish-speaking world
  • Identify and summarize main points and important details and make appropriate inferences and predictions from a written text such as a newspaper or magazine article or contemporary literary excerpt.
  • Write a cohesive and coherent analytical or persuasive essay in reaction to a text or on a personal, academic, cultural or social issue, with control of grammar and syntax.
  • Describe, narrate, and present information on persuasive arguments on general topics with grammatical control and good pronunciation in an oral presentation of two or three minutes.
  • Use information from sources provided to present a synthesis and express an opinion.
  • Recognize cultural elements implicit in oral and written texts.
  • Interpret linguistic cues to infer social relationships.
  • Initiate, maintain, and close a conversation on a familiar topic.
  • Formulate questions to seek clarification or additional information.
  • Use language that is semantically and grammatically accurate according to a given context

Course Plan/Organizational Structure

TruckeeHigh Schooloperates on a four by four18 week semester block schedule. Each class is 90 minutes in duration which has the advantage of providing an immersion-like experience for the student. The class is conducted entirely in the target language and is usually comprised one third native speakers. Mock and practice AP exams are given as midterms and finals. Essays on a variety of topics and styles are assigned each 2 week period as well as oral presentations/PowerPoints. The AP grading rubrics are utilized.Students are encouraged to practice the target language consistently with their teachers, peers, and in the community. Opportunities to interact with our local Spanish-speaking community are encouraged and provided. Our foreign language exchange program (AFS and Rotary Club) is well-respected and utilized. The students are expected to use the Spanish language to:

  • Comprehend conversations, lectures, news programs, newspapers, letter, e-mails, Internet text, short stories, poems, oral presentations.
  • Express themselves and articulate verbally to convince, acquire information, debate, describe and elaborate.
  • Employ a variety of linguistic styles and strategies for a variety of social registers and audiences.
  • Demonstrate Hispanic cultural awareness and appreciation in addition to empathy, and understanding of the Hispanic world.

Throughout the semester structural concepts are reviewed and applied contextually via comprehensible input activities within the target language. The grammatical structures are simultaneously interwoven throughout the curriculum along with vocabulary building and specific speaking,writing, reading and listening skills. All components needed to achieve an advanced level of proficiency in the Spanish language are developed and reinforced.

The AP Language program has access to a technology lab, in class networked computers, a library with extensive resources in Spanish, a TV with surround sound and DVD/video player, hand-held tape recorders and a stereo system. The department has accumulated a wide-range of videos, CD’s and former AP exam materials. The teachers are encouraged to attend AP conferences regularly to best serve our students and stay abreast of changes and trends. Foreign Language teachers collaborate regularly on techniques, strategies and skill development.

Reading Skills

The reading section of the AP exam is particularly challenging for students and therefore requires daily practice with a wide selection of authentic texts from a variety of sources and styles. Our program employs authentic literature selections from Sendas Literarias, Aventuras Literarias, Spanish Four Years with AP Component,current events fromour local news publications Nuestro Pueblo, Moonshine Ink,and internet websites like , The students practice reading comprehension strategies such as making inferences, summarizing, comparing, contrasting, predicting, educated-guessingand activating prior knowledge. The students also learn how to identify tone, objective, main ideas and audience. The readings are the springboard for class discussions, think-pair-shares, grammatical structures and fuentes that are incorporated in their essays and oral presentations. Some readings are done independently; others are done as a class, in pairs or small groups. In order to increase their fluency and build vocabulary, students also participate in Silent Sustained Reading in Spanish for approximately 20 minutes weekly during which time they are allowed to select their own Spanish-language reading materials which includeSpanish-language novels and magazines.

Listening Skills

In this course students exclusively hearSpanish from a wide variety of sources. These include the teachers, the native-speaking students, our Hispanic community, television, film, internet broadcasts, music, and practice AP listening selections. The listening activities are used in conjunction with note-taking, objective listening, writing and discussion skills. Cultural topics and norms as well as current global and local events and issues are expanded upon through research, authentic news programsand extended reading and discussion.

The text Barron’s How to Prepare for the AP Spanish Exam and former AP listening sectionsare used throughout the semester to improve student listening skills and to develop their oral ability to synthesize and present information in a more formal manner.

  • Listening of short narratives and dialogues with multiple choice responses
  • Listening of extended auditory pieces with multiple choice responses (note-taking)

Speaking Skills

In order to demonstrate and improve speaking skills in Spanish, students are provided continuous opportunities to speak both formally and informally in class. A participation grade is assigned weekly that is based on the use of Spanish in the class activities. The teacher uses the students’ oral Spanish skills to determine pitfalls and provide guided practice and supplementary activities. Students participate in dialogues, debates, discussions, demonstrations, PowerPoint presentations in addition to bimonthly pairings with the bilingual and monolingual preschool and elementary school classes. The students prepare plays and games to present to their “amiguitos’ in addition to engaging in conversation with Hispanic parents. Opportunities to interpret are frequent and the AP language class is called upon to interpret and translate for administration and non Spanish-speaking staff.

  • Students practice and develop circumlocution and conversational management strategies.
  • Situational speaking employing a variety of registers is addressed.

Writing Skills

To further build writing skills throughout the year students are assigned topics for both short and extended writing, both informal and formal in purpose. These include quick-writes, essays, e-mails, business letters, pen pals, journal entries, song translations, translating for the school district and community organizations. As part of the course requirements, students must publish an article in one of our local bilingual newspapers.

  • Student will perform short informal writing tasks (short messages, e-mails, parts of a letter) in ten minute timed-writings.
  • Student will practice self and peer-editing of written works.
  • After reading 2 short readings and listening to an auditory source on the same topic, the student practices writing formal, 250 word-minimum essays, synthesizing information from all 3 sources.

Synthesis of Skills

An immersion and thematic approach is utilized so that the students are developing speaking, reading, writing and listening skills simultaneously in all activities. As the students acquire language, they learn to open their minds and hearts to new ways of looking at the world and to respect and value diversity. The weekly planner will provide evidence of this synthesis.

Student Evaluation

The student’s grade is cumulative and determined by their achievement based on standards in a variety of categories as outlined by the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning as well as the individual language fluency components assessed on the AP Spanish Language Exam. AP reading, writing, speaking and listening rubrics are utilized in the grading process in addition to teacher-made project rubrics. The students are assessed consistently and regularly. Sample assessments include:

  • Weekly vocabulary and structure quizzes and tests
  • Oral and written current event and thematic reports and PowerPoints
  • Weekly use of Spanish and participation grades
  • Bi-monthly AP format essays
  • Practice AP tests
  • Projects

Some of the Resources used for this course:

Amsco’s Spanish Four Years with AP component

Barron’s How to Prepare for the AP Spanish Exam 4th Edition

College Board released materials for the AP Spanish Literature Exam.

Cubillos (2000) Siempre Adelante Heinle & Heinle: Boston

Ecos website,

Moonshine Ink monthly bilingual newpaperTruckee, Ca.

Paperboy website

Quia website,

Sierra Sun weekly Spanish section Nuestro PuebloTruckee, Ca.

Univision website,

Walqui-van Lier Barrazza (1999) Sendas Literarias Heinle & Heinle: Boston

Course Planner

The following outline is a guideline and may be modified as needed.

Week 1 & 2 Rubrics for oral, written and participation grades are given along with class expectations, organization and overview. Texts are handed out.

Structure and vocabulary emphasis: Review of present, imperfect and preterite and future tenses with emphasis on irregulars using Spanish Three Years Nassi/Levy, and other resources and handouts. The activities from the Características personales and la familia sections of the Barron’s AP book is reviewed and used.

Written and oral practice: Various “who am I” and “who are we” type assignments such as interviews, surveys, and journal writing are employed to get to know one another and assess where we are in the language. Several AP sample (Barron’s How to Prepare for the AP Spanish Exam, 2005) and SAT II samples (REA SAT Subject Test Spanish,2006) that emphasize the structures are also used.

Oral activity: The symbol paper bag project-Each student receives a paper bag to decorate with important events in their life’s story. They also must have three important symbols or mementos of their life which they will present to the class in round table fashion. The purpose is to create a sense of community as we get to know one another. They other students take notes on all the presentations and the bags are hung from the ceiling. The students receive an oral grade for their presentation.

Other Assessment: Grammar and vocabulary test with translations, definitions, fill-ins and questions/answers derived partly from text practice and partly from in class discussions and new vocabulary will be administered.

Week 3 & 4

Oral Activities The topic approach is continued with an investigation into happiness. We begin with background knowledge and vocabulary development as we prepare to discuss this subject. Last week’s presentations are used to infer what makes us happy. Famous quotations on happiness are used to springboard discussions. In think-pair-shares the students discuss related ideas like the secrets of happiness and other contributing factors.

Reading: The students’ are given articles from Selecciones 2006/2007 such as “10 Claves de la felicidad” and ¿Cuál es el país más feliz? The students read, keep vocabulary lists (Spanish- Spanish) and answer and ask questions based on the readings. Also the literary selections, “Caja de oro” by Bazán and “El premio” by Salinas and the same format is followed.

Project: The students go to the library/tech lab and investigate a subtopic of happiness. They will present a summary of their findings to the class and the class will take notes on each presentation.

Written: the students will write in their journals on the happiness topic. They will write an expository essay using three fuentes- a short story, an article, and the class presentations on the topic of happiness. This counts as an exam.

Structure: Articles, nouns ser/estar, gerunds, participles, present perfect, progressive. They will be tested in the same format as weeks 1 & 2 along with vocabulary from the grouped vocabulary section Los recuerdos del pasado from Barron’s AP and AP and SAT II drills.

Weeks 5 & 6

Setting the stage: The topic approach is continued with the issue of abuse and neglect. In think-pair-shares the different types of abuse are discussed and current event examples are given. Students listen to 3 songs: Malo by Bebe, La historia de Juan by Juanes and Angel de amor by Maná. They write in the journals about the meanings of the songs. Then we get copies of the words, listen again and compare ideas.

Readings: In addition to articles from Selecciones and Univision.com, our local Spanish newspapers the students will read “Con Los Ojos Cerrados” by Arenas and “Los Chicos” by Matute. They will keep vocabulary lists and answer questions based on the readings and journal write.

Structure: The imperative, present subjunctive and pronouns will be reviewed and drilled and tested.

In class writing Assessment: Using 3 fuentes- the songs, the articles and an anonymous poem titled “Niños de la calle”- the students will answer the question, what consequences do children who live in the street suffer. How does this reflect on our society and our world? What can we do locally and globally to prevent abuse and neglect?

Weeks 7 & 8:

Setting the Stage:The next topic is cultural differences and norms. In think-pair-shares, students will use their personal experiences to identify and discuss examples of cultural differences and similarities.

Oral and Written Activities:Students will choose a topic to investigate further. Topics include time, gestures, greetings, marriage, coming of age, eating habits, group versus individual, punctuality, family, holidays, school etc. Each student has a different topic and will investigate in books, encyclopedias, personal experiences and on the web. The students prepare a 10 slide PowerPoint on their findings which are graded for both writing and speaking. Students take notes and ask questions during the presentations for participation and use of Spanish credit.

Structure and Vocabulary:The imperfect and other forms of the subjunctive will be reviewed and drilled. Practice AP and Sat II tests will be given and reviewed in preparation for the mock AP midterm. The students will practice the grouped vocabulary sections of la escuela and los viajes.

Weeks 9 & 10

Activities and Projects: The mock AP midterm is given using combination of samples and practice exams.

In groups of 2, the students begin to investigate possible topic of local interest from the local newspapers to use towrite their own. They will share these ideas in their journals where I will make comments and suggestions They will finish this project throughout the next term.

The students prepare a play/game/art activity for our elementary school amiguitos.

Structure and vocabulary: Accents, prepositions and modismos and false cognates are reviewed, drilled and tested.

Weeks 11 & 12

The AP midterms are reviewed. Students set learning goalsfor the May AP exam and next quarter. Structure and other communication needs mentioned in their goals will be addressed and reviewed throughout the coming weeks. Grammar lessons will be added as needed and a more individualized approach will be used based on results from the practice tests.

Setting the stage: The concept of faith is the next topic. In groups, the students discuss the questions such as: Do you have to be religious to have faith? What are some symbols of faith? How does someone with faith act? Does your nationality have anything to do with faith? I faith were a color, a shape, what would it be? We then share our ideas with the whole class.

Oral and written activities: In 10 minutes write an e-mail to a desperate friendexplaining why he shouldkeep the faith. Begin the letter with the reason for his desperation (which you will invent) and then follow with sound advice.