Spanish III A – B 2011-2012
Course instructor : Omar Antonio Anduaga Bocanegra (mdeamiens@hotmail.com)
Days: M,T,W,F
Course description:
This course meets four times a week, for 45 minutes. Students are involved in different activities that allow them to understand and learn the Spanish language with a immersion, but also academic approach. We follow the standards of the Royal Academy of Spanish Language.
The students are required to use the language and to be involved in cultural discussion and it requires a highly critical approach, in order to introduce the use of Spanish in daily life in different topics of every day culturally authentic situations.
This course reviews basic grammatical structures learned in Spanish I and Spanish II and continues with the study of grammar, vocabulary and cultural topics.
Students further develop skills in understanding, reading, speaking, and writing through short stories, poetry, debates, articles, oral presentations and they are involved in two major projects: The presentation of a song and a magazine at the end of the semesters.
Standards
Listening: Students listen to and derive meaning from a variety of sources (songs, movies, poems)
Speaking: Students speak for a variety of purposes and audiences
Reading: Students read, and derive from a variety of written materials
Writing: Students write for a variety of purposes
Cultural: Students acquire understanding and use of knowledge of Latin American and Spaniard culture.
Texts and readings used in the course:
The teacher provides materials (based on “Realidades” and “Puntos de Partida”) with grammatical structures, conjugations and exercises in order to have a basic material or reference for the theory of Spanish III.
Other readings and materials are used like short readings of Latin American writers (Julio Ramón Riberyro, Julio Cortázar) and poems from Spaniard poets like Pablo Neruda. Level readers are going to be implemented for the 2011-2012 school year.
Also, there is a very active and complete use of modern songs, involved in the “grammar with songs” approach, from artist from all over the world like Juanes, Shakira and other modern artists.
Grammar objectives and Scope:
- Review + “Extending your language” (September) (2weeks)
· Alphabet and pronunciation / sound discrimination
· Ser/estar (to be)
· Saber/ conocer (to know)
· Tenses and Moods of the verb in Spanish
· Present Indicative. Present Continuous (Present participle)
· Reflexive verbs (expressing daily routine)
· Possessive adjectives
· Near future using the present “ ir + a” (going to)
· Use of special verbs: Gustar-( like verb).
· Making comparisons and building superlatives in Spanish.
FOR 2011-2012 – Review using leveled reader “Carl no quiere ir a Mexico”
- Present Imperative and Past tense (September-October)
· Commands in Spanish. Cultural immersion on the use of commands and “would like to” in the Latin American countries – Giving recipes using commands and use of informal commands in daily life routine.
· Field trip to a Latin American restaurant to use commands.
· Past tense:
o Use of Preterit and conjugations.
o Use of Imperfect and conjugations
o Use of both tenses combined and special cases. Preterit vs. Imperfect
· Extending your language: Use of por / para (For)
- The Future and conditional (October)
a. Uses of future tense and difference with near future
b. Conjugations on future tense
c. The use of Conditional and conjugations.
d. Extending your language: Family of words
- The world of Subjunctive (November / December)
a. Present Subjunctive:
i. Understanding present subjunctive. Cases. Parts of its structure.
ii. The DEERDO chart and the situations when you use subjunctive.
iii. Conjugations.
iv. Expressing wishes
b. Imperfect Subjunctive
i. Understanding the cases when we use the preterit and imperfect tenses in the subjunctive mood.
ii. Conjugations
iii. Imperfect subjunctive with “si” clauses
c. Subjuntive in nominal and adjectival clauses
d. Conjunctions with present indicative and present subjunctive.
e. Extending your language: Sufix –mente / -miento
- Sentence Analysis (January)
a. The use of Direct, Indirect and Double pronoun of the Object in the sentences in Spanish.
b. Identifying the Subject and Predicate in the sentence.
c. Identifying the complements of the sentence.
d. Turning regular sentences into simple ones, using the pronouns of the objects.
e. Extending your language: Relative pronouns “que, lo que, quien” (which, who, whom, that)
- The Perfect Tenses (January/February/March)
a. The use of the auxiliary verb “haber” (no English translation)
b. The past participle as a verb and as an adjective
c. The passive voice (ser+ present participle)
d. Using time lines to understand tenses in Spanish
i. The Present Perfect (Pretérito Perfecto)
ii. Pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto)
iii. The future perfect
iv. Pluperfect Subjunctive
v. The Perfect Conditional
vi. The Preterit Perfect
e. Extending your language: The use of “sino” (if not)
- Critical analysis Anaylisis (April/ lMay/June)
a. Students analyze a more difficult long text in Spanish understanding and translating it, not in a literal way, but understanding the different idioms and expressions in the Spanish language. After that, they make a report and a reading comprehension test explaining what they understood of it. The choosen text for 2010 was “El banquete” of Julio Ramón Ribeyro.
Vocabulary topics:
1. Greetings and farewells.
2. Environment and health
3. Daily routines /Dining out/ School schedule
4. Politics and religious costumes
5. Vacation/Leisure time
6. Clothing
7. Food and beverage
8. Films/literature and art
Cultural topics
a. Difference of the Spanish in the different countries in the world. Atypical conjugations.
b. The importance of the use of “vosotros” as the natural informal form of “tú”
c. Cultural differences in society, politics and religious mentality in Latin American culture. Focus on Latin American foreign affairs and types of government.
d. Latin Americans in American Society.
e. Holidays in Latin America and Spain.
Specific assignments and assessments for the course:
Students are evaluated in three different skills:
1. Grammatical knowledge
2. Communicative and writing skills
3. Creativity
The most important goal of this course is that students use the language. The students are tested in speaking, listening reading and writing. A grade is also given for homework and participation.
Assignments in Spanish III A- B are given so the students can use and practice their language in an active interesting way for a high school student that might will to continue his/her studies in Spanish in a college level.
Apart of the regular homework, and work in class, the students have to:
1. Introducing Level Readers: Students read and comprehend 3 level readers in Spanish (with 250, 300 and 350 new vocabulary words).
2. Present a song for their second quarter project in a Karaoke were they compete with other groups of their class, performing a song and using their understanding, pronunciation, knowledge of the tenses involved in the song and artistic creativity.
3. Present a Magazine or newspaper, were they use all the tenses and vocabulary they learned during the year.
4. Bi weekly in the second and third quarter, students write short stories on different topics.
5. Presentations on a topic of their interest after Christmas break.
6. Mandatory presentation on grammar with the teacher. The class is involved in a unique experience of responsibility on teaching, so their classmates learn part of the structures of language listening to their classmates.
7. Christmas Carol that is sung to the administrative staff at the School as a group project for Christmas.
8. One critical review on a Movie that we see in class.
9. Small critical reviews on TV show in of Latin America.
Grading System: (1st, 2nd and 3rd Quarter)
1. Quizzes: 30%
2. Exams 40%
3. Work in class 30% (Includes oral and written assignments)
- Quizzes will be assigned biweekly, and there will be one exam every 6 weeks.
- Karaoke assignment and Debate will count as exams.
- Critical Reviews on TV shows and presentations will count as quizzes.
- The Magazine project counts as an exam
- No exam can be retaken.
- Quizzes can be retaken, depending on the student having no less than 25/30% in the work in class item.
Grading sytem (4th quarter)
1. Critical Reviews (60%) (One every 2 weeks) – Includes discussion + paper.
2. Final Exam (40%)
