Clover Garden School
Highschool Spanish
July 2008
Teacher: Señora (Mrs.) Koehler
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Textbook: ¡Ven conmigo! Level 1, 2003 edition
Course Description: Spanish
1 is a beginning level study of Spanish and its culture. This course emphasizes
acquisition of basic vocabulary and grammar skills and the development of the
four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students will also explore various cultural
elements of several Spanish speaking countries.
Learning Objectives:
The students will be
able to:
Identify vocabulary words
Compare foreign culture to our own
Create conjugated verbs in the
present tense
Compose phrases and sentences
written in Spanish
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Spanish 2:
Textbook: ¡En
español! Level 2, 2004 edition
Course Description:
Spanish 2 is a continuation class from Spanish 1. Students will continue to acquire new vocabulary and practice
their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Focus is placed on understanding main ideas
and practicing conversational skills.
The students will continue to examine the beliefs and values of
Spanish-speaking cultures.
Learning Objectives:
The students will be
able to:
Identify vocabulary words, both new
words and words learned in Spanish 1
Compare foreign culture to our own
Create conjugated verbs in the
present tense, past tense, imperative tense and subjunctive mood
Compose sentences and paragraphs
written in Spanish
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Spanish 3/4: (school year begins in odd years, ie August 2007)
Textbook: ¡En
español! Level 3, 2004 edition
Course Description:
Spanish 3 / 4 is a combined class of both Spanish 3 and Spanish 4
students. Course material will
alternate from advanced grammar in odd years using the above textbook with the
material presented below in even years.
Students will have more opportunities to expand their listening,
speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Students will identify main ideas and details in authentic materials and
will compose short cohesive narratives.
The course will include more reading materials including excerpts from Don
Quixote.
Learning Objectives:
The students will be
able to:
Identify vocabulary words, both new
words and words learned in previous
years
Compare foreign culture to our own
Create conjugated verbs in the
present tense, past tense, future tense, conditional tense, imperative tense,
‘perfect’ tenses, and subjunctive mood.
Compose short paragraph ‘book
reports’ in Spanish.
Prepare oral presentations – don’t
be afraid to speak in Spanish, please.
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Spanish 3/4: (school year begins in even years, ie August 2008)
Textbook: Multiple authentic sources: video,
audio, magazine, newspaper, web-sites, novels,
Literature
textbooks currently being evaluated
Course Description:
Spanish 3 / 4 is a combined class of both Spanish 3 and Spanish 4
students. Course material will
alternate from advanced grammar in odd years (see previous listing) with
emphasis in reading and literature in the even years. Students will have more opportunities to expand their listening,
speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Students will identify main ideas and details in authentic materials and
will compose short cohesive narratives.
Learning Objectives:
The students will be
able to:
Identify vocabulary words, both new
words and words learned in previous
years
Compare foreign culture to our own
Use all previously learned verb
forms and grammar appropriately.
Compose short ‘research reports’ in
Spanish.
Use conversational skills in
discussion.
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Participation / Pesos:
Participation is important. I use a PESO
system to reward good participation and to penalize bad participation. Pesos
are the only extra credit work that I allow.
I will keep track of your peso
balance on my seating chart for the class and ‘account balances’ will be posted
in the classroom every Monday.
If
your balance becomes negative, up to -100 pesos,
you will receive a verbal warning. If
the balance continues to stay between
-100 pesos and -200 pesos,
you will be warned again and a note may be sent home to your parents. If a balance falls below -200 pesos,
you will receive a detention for
each week that the balance remains below
-200. This is actually pretty hard to do in my class so if you get a
detention this way, you will have earned it.
Ways to earn pesos:
class room
participation (answer questions, read aloud, boardwork) 10 pesos /
incidence
be class secretary
(take attendance and notes for absentees) 10 pesos / day
be extra helpful
(hand out papers, clean up, etc.) 10 pesos / incidence
good conversation with teacher in Spanish outside class time 10 pesos
/ conversation
actively participate
in classroom games 10 pesos / game
win BINGO 10 pesos / game
win classroom games
(except BINGO) 1st
place = 30 pesos
2nd
place = 25 pesos
3rd
place = 20 pesos
Ways to lose pesos:
tardy to class with
no reasonable excuse 10 pesos each
instance
using inappropriate
language 50 pesos per word
off task (talking,
sleeping, doing other class work, etc.) 10 pesos each instance
disrupting class 30 pesos each instance
not prepared for
class (no book, no pencil, no paper) 10 pesos / each
not turning in any of
the during-class assignments 10
pesos / assignment
The missing assignment will also be
graded as a ‘0’.
Pesos
may be used to:
improve a test grade:
30
pesos will bring a test grade up by 1
point
improve a quiz grade:
60
pesos will bring up a quiz grade by
10 points
skip one homework
packet: 200 pesos for a free ‘A’
I
will automatically deduct 200 pesos
if homework is not turned In as long as the student has a positive balance in
their account. If they have a negative
balance, the missing homework will receive a ‘0’ as a score.
get an extra day on a
project: 50 pesos a day for the first week
get an extra day on a
project: 100 pesos a day for subsequent weeks
improve mid-term
score: 60 pesos will
bring the test grade up by 1 point
improve final-exam
score: 175
pesos will bring the test grade up by
1 point
skip final exam: 17500
pesos
Pesos
may be saved from year to year and used in subsequent Spanish classes.
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Homework: Vocabulary homework will be assigned
on the first or second day of each week and will be due on Fridays (or the last
day of the week during short weeks).
Spanish homework shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes a night. I do not usually assign homework on Friday,
except for projects. This is a
privilege that can be rescinded at the teacher’s discretion. There will usually be time during class to
do the homework - please use it.
Homework is expected on time.
Late homework will not be accepted. An exception is for absences, when
homework is expected at the earliest possible time. I give effort scores on
homework for attempting the assignment, but it has to be a serious attempt (not
just turning in a paper with your name on it - that will get you a ‘0’).
Students may use their pesos to skip
homework assignments, but this will make it difficult for them to have enough pesos to affect any test or quiz grades
that they might want to improve. There
is no other extra credit given in my classes other than the pesos.
Please use the pesos
wisely. My homework is not that hard or
time consuming. A serious effort at doing the assignment will score at least a
70. The scale on grading these
assignments will be from 70 to 100, except for those people who earn a ‘0’ by
‘blowing it off’.
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In-class assignments:
In-class assignments will be graded with the same criteria as homework (effort
counts). However, since these are
in-class work, you cannot use
pesos for these; you should have
plenty of time to complete these assignments and there is no excuse for not turning them in before you leave class. Most days there will be at least a Para Empezar (start-up assignment) and
possibly a Para Terminar (closing
assignment). Those people who earn a ‘0’ by ‘blowing off’ the assignment will
also lose pesos.
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Absences: It is your responsibility to find out what
work you have missed due to an absence.
I will provide all the help that I can, but you may need to come to a
tutoring session to catch up. I will not
usually have time during class to assist you privately. The class secretary
takes notes on days when students are absent and the information can be found
in the secretary’s box.
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Quizzes: There will be a quiz every Friday on
that week’s new vocabulary. The quizzes
are usually matching or multiple choice.
Be sure to study the new vocabulary each week; I will choose words from
the list. In addition, vocabulary from
a previous chapter may be included as a review. We review new vocabulary every day in class; please pay attention
during review and the quizzes should not be a problem for you. Pop
quizzes: There will be occasional pop quizzes. These will cover listening skills, translation skills, recently
covered grammar rules, or cultural topics.
Pop quizzes will be in addition to the regularly scheduled Friday
vocabulary quiz.
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Spanish 1 Projects: You will have 2-3 weeks notice on each
project so there is no excuse for late work.
You can use pesos to get extra
time on a project. Most of my projects
are designed to help the grades for students who have trouble ‘testing
well’. Please take advantage of this
and don’t turn in garbage-work as a project.
Unexcused late projects will lose 10% of best possible score for each
day late. There will be approximately
one project per month in Spanish 1.
There is usually time allowed to work on projects during class. Some example projects from previous years
which we may or may not use this year are: ABC cognate project, family tree
project, restaurant menu, fashion magazine, Mexican Independence Day project,
and others. You will receive a grading
rubric for each project when it is assigned so you'll know what is expected.
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Spanish 2 Projects: You will have 2-3 weeks notice on each
project so there is no excuse for late work.
You can use pesos to get extra
time on a project. Most of my projects
are designed to help the grades for students who have trouble ‘testing well’. Please take advantage of this and don’t turn
in garbage-work as a project. Unexcused
late projects will lose 10% of best possible score for each day late. There is usually time allowed to work on
projects during class. Some example
projects from previous years are: writing and illustrating a children’s book,
creating a newspaper (a group project), childhood story (in past tense), and
the Amazing Race Project. You will
receive a grading rubric for each project when it is assigned so you'll know
what is expected. The Amazing Race Project is a project that is done completely
during class so that will not require any work at home. That project will probably start in October
or November and continue to the end of the school year.
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Spanish 3 and 4 Projects: You will have 2-3 weeks notice on each
project so there is no excuse for late work.
You can use pesos to get extra
time on a project. Most of my projects
are designed to help the grades for students who have trouble ‘testing
well’. Please take advantage of this
and don’t turn in garbage-work as a project.
Unexcused late projects will lose 10% of best possible score for each
day late. There is usually time allowed
to work on projects during class. You
will receive a grading rubric for each project when it is assigned so you'll
know what is expected. The projects at
this level will usually be either a book report or a short report on a cultural
issue. I have easy ‘short’ novels for
the students to read and there will be ample time in class to work on both
reading and creating the report/summary.
During odd numbered years, students will be reading excerpts from Don
Quijote and will do an additional report on Cervantes (the author).
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Grading Policy:
Tests (end of each chapter) and
Projects = 50% of your grade
Quizzes = 20% of your grade
Homework/Class-work = 30% of your
grade
Zero (0) scores on these assignments will seriously bring
down your grade.
Extra Credit – use your pesos.
Final Exam (end of year) = 25% of total score for the year
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Procedures:
1. Students will arrive on time and immediately
begin work on para empezar (daily
start-up).
2. A student will volunteer (or be drafted) to
be class secretary each day.
3. Please raise your hand if you have a
question.
4. It is expected that students will do their best to
communicate in Spanish at all times.
5. We use a lot of Powerpoint in class. Please pay attention. If you have trouble
seeing the TV let me know.
6. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
7. Don’t be afraid to go to the board when asked.
8. Don’t be afraid to speak in Spanish.
9. Most class sessions will end with time for homework.
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Academic Honesty:
Cheating and plagiarism will NOT be tolerated.
Each student is expected to do his/her own work. This includes homework, tests, quizzes,
projects, etc. Sharing work with other
students during test, quizzes, etc. is considered cheating. When in doubt, ask. It’s not work the risk. Use of on-line translators for other than
single words is considered cheating. One of our first homework assignments in Spanish 1 will illustrate
the problem with these translators.
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Tutoring: Tutoring will be available on Thursday afternoons. I am also available on a limited basis other days after school. Please ask in advance for other days.
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To the parent:
Please read over this
syllabus with your child. Do not
hesitate to contact me anytime during the school year if you have any questions
or concerns. Please be aware that during the school year, we will be discussing
different cultural holidays, both secular and religious, as we compare
cultures. Please notify me if this will
be a problem. If you would like to
receive email updates from me, please give me an email address where you can be
reached. My email address is jean.koehler@clovergardenschool.com. I will try to send out a general
informational email with a progress report every week to keep you informed.
Thank you.
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Special class rules:
Reglas de la clase: (Classroom procedures:)
1. Sea respetuoso a
los otros estudiantes y a la maestra, sus objetos y sus ideas.
(Be respectful to the
other students and the teacher, their possessions and their opinions.)
2. Venga a clase a
tiempo, listos para trabajar con su libro de texto, su tarea, papel, y lápiz.
(Come to class on
time, ready to work with your textbook, your homework, paper, and pencil.)
3. Cumpla con las
reglas de la escuela.
(Follow the school
rules.)
4. Sea cortés a
todos.
(Be polite to
everyone.)
5. No chicle; ésta es
una clase de la lengua y deba de hablar claro.
(No gum; this is a
language class and you need to speak clearly.)
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Study Tips - Spanish:
A new language is
different from other subjects you may have studied. Here are some suggestions
to help you study Spanish:
* Study in brief, but frequent intervals.
Memorization is a big part of learning a foreign language and memorization only
takes place after a lot of repetition. 10 minutes spent every night (including
the days you don't have class) reviewing concepts and vocabulary will have
greater results than longer and less frequent studying.
* Speak the language. When studying or
doing homework, read or speak out loud. Practice speaking to your friends and
family. They will be impressed! The
more you speak, the more you'll remember.
* Don't fall behind. We continually build
on what we've already learned. While cramming the night before a quiz may
result in an acceptable score, it will not build a strong foundation for
future, and more difficult, concepts.
* Don’t forget everything you have already
learned. Grammar rules and vocabulary
will continue to be used in future chapters.
Language class builds on previously learned material and keeps adding to
it.
* Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
Mistakes are a normal part of learning a foreign language. Correct yourself if
you make a mistake. It shows me that you're trying!
* Be positive about your ability to learn.
Learning a foreign language takes time, patience, practice, and a positive
attitude helps a lot! Don't get discouraged if you get stuck. If you keep
trying, it will click.
Finally, when people
find out that you are studying Spanish, they always ask you to say something in
that language. A quick response will be
the word ‘algo’, which means ‘something’ in Spanish. Have fun with it!