Classroom Guidelines
and
Syllabus for Spanish 1
Course Description:
This is a beginning level Spanish course. It will combine elements of Vocabulary, Grammar, and Culture to give a World Languages experience. We will use different countries/regions from the Spanish speaking world to explore new vocabulary and introduce you to thematic vocabulary and grammar concepts in the Spanish Language.
Instructor and contact information:
My name is Mr. Aldrich. Often you will hear me called Sr. Aldrich or El Cid. I am happy to answer to all of these.
The easiest way to contact me outside of class is via e-mail. If it is during school hours please send it to my school address I try to check this e-mail a couple of times during the day.
If it is after hours I will also take e-mails at home at . Like all of you I lead a very busy life so if I do not answer right away I may not be home or available to help yet.
Textbook:
We will be using the Exprésate textbook Level 1. The textbook is broken into Capítulos (Chapters). Each of the Capítulos are broken into sections. Those sections are the Vocabulary sections, called “Vocabulario”, the Grammar sections, called “Gramática”.
The order is Vocabulario 1, Gramática 1, Vocabulario 2, Gramática 2.
In addition to the textbook itself, we will be using the Cuaderno de Vocabulario y Gramática (Vocabulary and Grammar workbook) and the Cuaderno de Actividades (Activities workbook). All of this will be provided to you in either a paper version or an electronic version.
Other available materials:
In addition to the textbook and workbooks, we also have online resources and CD tutorials and flashcards that are available.
· The online resources are available at the following URLs:
o Exprésate textbook general site – www.go.hrw.com
o My internal web site - www.moodle.cleelum.wednet.edu
o My external web site El Cid’s Web Page (www.inlandnet.com/~elcid)
· Tutorials and Flashcards
o Quizlet flashcards are a great way to learn the vocabulary.
o BYKI flashcards and tutorials are available on my web site.
o I do have CD’s with tutorials for the book but they are getting quite old and may or may not work on your modern operating system. However you are more than welcome to check one out and try.
Classroom Procedures
There are a few procedures you will be expected to follow in class.
· You are expected to be on time. If you are late and you are with another teacher or office personnel, bring a note. Failure to do so will cost you points from your grade.
· Have your materials ready to go. Every day you should have access to your textbook, paper, and something to write with. If you accidentally come without one of these, borrow the missing item(s) before class starts so that you are not a distraction to yourself, your neighbors, or me.
· Homework is assumed to be due the day after I assign it unless I say otherwise.
· When you come into class, you are to check the board for an activity and directions. If there is not one there you are to study your vocabulary. You are to work on this while I am taking role.
· Though I do not expect a silent classroom I do expect you to listen when I am explaining something, whether I am explaining it to you or not.
· I do not like people getting up and walking around the classroom when I am talking. Please stay seated and wait. If it is urgent, raise your hand.
· Gum is allowed as long as it does not interfere with class and I do not find it anywhere but the garbage can. If the class can’t comply with this simple stipulation I will stop allowing it so please, keep it in your mouth or in the garbage can.
· There is no food allowed in the class unless it is part of a class activity. If you are eating in my class I will ask you to through the food away.
· There are no drinks allowed in the class except for water in a clear, closable container. The exception to this is if it is a pre-approved drink as part of a classroom activity.
· I reserve the right to limit you two bathroom passes per term. Use them wisely. I will start by not doing this but if the number of bathroom trips becomes excessive or I keep getting interrupted to be asked I will implement the limit.
Tests and Quizzes:
Each section of the textbook is associated with a quiz and/or test. This will take place on the Moodle Server so be sure to have a computer account. It will usually be broken into a Vocabulary 1/Grammar 1 quiz and a Vocabulary 2/Grammar 2 quiz. At the end of each of the Capítulos there is a Unit Exam. In addition to the book quizzes and tests I may also give additional quizzes on materials covered in class.
The quizzes actually come quite quickly and test on smaller concepts. They emphasize the few concepts and vocabulary from the smaller sections of the Capítulo.
The unit tests follow section quizzes and involve a much larger scope of learning. They emphasize the information and vocabulary over the entire Capítulo.
Although quizzes and tests emphasize their individual section, all quizzes and tests are comprehensive. That is to say that if I was tested on conjugating –AR verbs on a quiz or a test. When I get to the next chapter I still need to be able to conjugate –AR verbs. Because of this, think of each assessment as an opportunity to measure what you do and don’t know. If you find that you did poorly on a section. Ask questions about it and make sure that you can do it. The concepts keep coming back and you will need to know how to do the early things in order to do the later things.
For both quizzes and tests there are some procedures and guidelines you will need to follow.
· You will be given a finite amount of time in which to complete the assignment.
· Once the quiz or test has been started there is no talking until I say that all the tests are done. This is only fair to those who do not finish early and should not have to deal with the distractions of noise.
· You may have a piece of blank paper to write on but you must show it to me at the start of the quiz.
· When I finish correcting an assessment I will open it up for you to look at and fix any mistakes you made. This is very important to me. Spanish is a cumulative class. If you don’t see what mistakes you made you cannot assess how well you know the subject. This is an opportunity for you to shape the learning. You can ask questions and get more explanations before we take a unit tests or move on to the next Capítulo.
Homework:
Homework is given one to three nights a week. It is intended to give you more practice with the concepts that were learned during the week to help solidify them and give you a chance to formulate questions about them before we take quizzes on the material. It is usually exercises from the Cuaderno de Vocabulario y Gramática but can come from other sources including exercises from the textbook and the Cuaderno de Actividades.
Vocabulary:
Vocabulary should be studied every night. There is no night that you do not have Spanish to do. Every night you should study your vocabulary for no less than 15 minutes even if you have homework, Studying vocabulary more than 30 minutes in a single setting is usually counterproductive. If you wish to study for more than 30 minutes in a night, you should take a break, do something else, and then return to the vocabulary.
Daily Participation:
Daily participation points are points that I give you for being in class and participating responsibly in the classroom activities. You are given daily points. You loose them for being absent, tardy, or not participating responsibly in class. You do not loose them if you are gone for a classroom sponsored activity such as a field trip or presentation. Since participation points are given freely, if you lose them you cannot make them up unless it is an excused absence. If you are absent and it is excused you can make up the points in one of two ways.
1. You can spend time before or after school working on Spanish in my classroom.
2. You can bring in tangible forms of study.
Some examples of tangible forms of study are:
· Worksheets that were not assigned as class work or homework
· Worksheets that you make and provide answer keys to
· Study guides that you create about topics we are currently covering or have previously covered.
· A printed sheet from my website or the studypanish.com website showing a 100 percent score.
I am looking for what seems to be fifty minutes worth of work to equal one day of participation points.
Here is a typical schedule of study for a Capítulo. Remember that this can change somewhat according to the class schedule, the complexity of the concepts, and other events that influence the flow of the classroom.
Day / Class events / Student Responsibility at home1 / Introduce the Capítulo and the country in takes place in.
Introduce the vocabulary
Do exercises from the book
Assign homework / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 1
20 – 30 minutes of homework
2 / Review the vocabulary
Talk about the homework
Do more exercises from the book / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 1
20 – 30 minutes of study for the quiz
3 / Introduce the Grammar 1 concepts
Concentrate on the first one or two concepts
Do exercises from the book / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 1
4 / Review the grammar concepts from day 3
Concentrate on remaining concepts from Gramática 1
Do more exercises from the book
Assign homework / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 1
20 – 30 minutes of homework
5 / Review for quiz
Section 1 Quiz / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 2
6 / Cultural exploration
Look at the Vocabulario 2
Do exercises from the book
Assign homework / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 2
20 – 30 minutes of homework
7 / Review the vocabulary
Practice putting the vocabulary into context
Introduce the Grammar 2 concepts
Concentrate on the first one or two concepts / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 2
8 / Review the grammar concepts from day 7
Concentrate on remaining concepts from Gramática 2
Do more exercises from the book
Assign homework / 20 – 30 minutes of vocabulary study for Vocabulario 2
20 – 30 minutes of homework
9 / Review for the quiz
Section 2 Quiz / 15-20 minutes of review Vocabulario 1&2
10 / Review for Unit Test / 15-20 minutes of review Vocabulario 1&2
11 / Review for Unit Test / 15-20 minutes of review Vocabulario 1&2
12 / Unit Test / Look at the vocabulary from the next section
Course Study/Objectives
Each Unit will take three to four weeks to complete and will cover the following topics.
Unit / You will Learn to: / You will use:Capítulo 1 / · Ask someone’s name and say yours
· Ask how someone is and say how you are
· Introduce people and say where they are from
· Give phone numbers, the time, the date, and the day
· Spell words and give e-mail addresses / · Subjects, verbs, and subject pronouns
· Numbers 0 – 31
· The alphabet
· The verb ser
· Punctuation marks and written accents
Capítulo 2 / · Describe people
· Ask someone’s age and birthday
· Talk about what you and others like
· Describe things / · Ser with adjectives
· Gender and adjective agreement
· Questions
· Nouns and definite articles
· Gustar, Por Que?, and porque
· The preposition de
Capítulo 3 / · Talk about what you and others like to do
· Talk about what you want to do
· Talk about everyday activities
· Say how often you do things / · Gustar with infinitives
· Pronouns after prepositions
· Querer with infinitives
· Irregular –ar verbs
· Ir and jugar
· Weather expressions
Capítulo 4 / · Say what you have and need
· Talk about classes
· Talk about plans
· Invite someone to do something / · Indefinite articles, cuanto?, mucho, and poco
· Tener and some tener idioms
· Venir and a la/las with time
· Ir a with infinitives
· Regular and irregular –er and –ir verbs
· Tag questions
Capítulo 5 / · Describe people and family relationships
· Talk about where you and others live
· Talk about your responsibilities / · Possessive adjectives
· Stem-changing verbs: almorzar, dormer, volver, merendar, entender, and empezar
· Estar with prepositions
· Negation with nunca, tampoco, nada, and nadie
· Tocar and parecer
Capítulo 6 / · Comment on food
· Take an order and make polite requests
· Talk about meals
· Offer to help and give instructions / · Ser and ester
· Pedir, server, preferir, poder, and probar
· Direct objects and direct object pronouns
· Affirmative informal commands with pronouns
Capítulo 7 / · Talk about your daily routine
· Talk about staying fit and healthy
· Talk about how your feel
· Give advice / · Verbs with reflexive pronouns
· Infinitives
· Stem-changing verbs
· Estar, sentirse and tener
· Negative informal commands
· Object and reflexive pronouns with commands
Capítulo 8 / · Ask for and give opinions
· Ask for and offer help in a store
· Say where you went and what you did
· Talk of the phone / · Costar and numbers to one million
· Demonstrative adjectives and comparisons
· Quedar
· Preterite of –ar verbs
· Preterite of ir
· Preterite of verbs with reflexive pronouns
Capítulo 9 / · Talk about plans
· Talk about past holidays
· Talk about preparing for a party
· Greet, introduce others, and say goodbye / · Preterite of –ar, -er, and –ir verbs
· Pensar que and pensar with infinitives
· Direct object pronouns
· Conocer and personal a
· Present progressive
Capítulo 10 / · Ask for and give information
· Remind and reassure others
· Talk about a trip
· Express hopes and wishes / · Preterite of regular verbs
· Preterite of –car, -gar, -zar verbs
· Preterite of hacer
· Informal commands of spelling change and irregular verbs
· Direct object pronouns
· Verbs followed by infinitives
First homework assignment for Spanish 1