Faculty Syllabus

Required: Vistas, 7th ed., Blanco and Donley, Vista Higher Learning. Choose one of the following options:

• Digital access plus loose leaf textbook. (ISBN 822-0-13091-930-6).
• Digital access only (ISBN 978-1-54339-517-4).
• See Blackboard course or contact Professor Gibby for a link to special ACC pricing.

Optional: English Grammar for Students of Spanish. Emily Spinelli. Olivia Hill Press (www.oliviahill.com)

Grading

The following chart shows what you need for each letter grade:

A         -           90%                            D         -           60%
B         -           80%                            F          -           below 60%
C          -          70%

A grade of “C” or better is needed to continue into Spanish 2 (1412). The assignments comprise the following percentages of the final grade.

Blackboard Quizzes: Each chapter will have a quiz over both vocabulary and grammar. These quizzes have a 3-minute time limit. You may take these quizzes as many times as you need in order to get the score you want. These are designed to simulate the stress of trying to communicate in a foreign language so that you can get used to that stress. These are designed to be taken multiple times, so don’t just take it once.

Supersite: Access the supersite at http://www.vhlcentral.com and check the calendar to see what your next homework assignment is. Anything completed after the deadline will automatically deduct a 1% penalty per day it is late. These assignments are intended to be a check to see if you are learning the vocabulary and grammar and you get credit for completing them.

Achievements: You will get a score based on the achievements that you earn. There are basically 3 ways to earn achievements:

1. Quizlets & Crucigramas: Each chapter has a number of quizlets and crossword puzzles that you will use to practice the vocabulary.
2. Adding information to the culture wikis in the “landscaping” folder of each lesson.
3. Get an 80% on the estructura practice exercises in the “tools” folder of each lesson. You can do them as many times as you need, and they change each time. They also give you feedback about the correct or incorrect answer when you are done.

Speaking Pass-offs: These are quick, 1-line phrases that you need to be able to say OR simple questions you need to be able to answer. There are 6 per lesson and are found in the Repaso section of the Supersite lessons.

Oral Assessments: These are like a comprehensive exam and will require the incorporation of multiple pass-offs to have an actual conversation.

Essay: You will need to compose a 250 word essay at the end of the semester. Details available in Blackboard.

Cultural Project: This will be a presentation of information researched in regards to a minority culture within a Spanish-speaking country. Details available in Blackboard.

Midterm & Final Exam: The midterm will cover Lessons 6-8. You will need to submit a 1 page essay at the end of the semester. Details will be available in Blackboard. The final exam will cover comprehensive skills from the whole semester.

Vocabulary

• clothinig, shopping & price negotiating
• colors & more adjectives
• daily routine
• personal hygiene
• time expressions
• food & meals
• parties & celebrations
• relationships
• stages of life
• health, symptoms, medical conditions & terms
• parts of the body
• health professsions

Culture

• open air markets
• Carolina Herrera
• Cuba
• la siesta
• mate
• tapas
• Perú
• fruits & vegetables from the Americas
• Ferrán Adrià
• Guatemala
• Semana Santa
• Viña del Mar music festival
• Christmas in Puerto Rico
• Chile
• health services
• curanderos
• medical system in Argentina
• Costa Rica

Grammar

• review direct object pronouns
• Saber & Conocer
• indirect object pronouns
• present tense dar & decir
• preterite tense of regular verbs
• demonstrative adjectives & pronouns
• reflexive structure
• indefinite and negative words
• preterite of ser and ir
• verbs like gustar
• preterite of stem changing verbs
• double object pronouns
• comparisons
• superlatives
• irregular preterites
• verbs that change meaning in preterite
• ¿Qué? and ¿Cuál?
• pronouns after prepositions
• imperfect tense
• preterite and imperfect
• Constructions with se
• adverbs

Course Rationale/Objectives In addition to offering the fundamentals of the Spanish language, this course is intended to fulfill one semester of the foreign language requirement as needed for Associate Degree plans and transfer credit to four-year institutions. The number of courses required varies from discipline and institution.

Spanish 1412 Learning Objectives

The main objective of the course is to help students to develop skills in the areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing in the Spanish language at a basic level. Your ability to understand and communicate will develop along with your knowledge of the vocabulary and grammatical structures of the language. You should allow two or three hours a day (more in summer classes) for the study of Spanish (at least two hours outside of class for each hour in class). If you feel you need extra help, you can find a Spanish tutor at the Tutoring Labs on all major campuses. This service is free to ACC students.

At the end of one semester of SPAN 1412, students should be able to do the following:

READING

• use reading strategies such as reading for the main idea, recognizing cognates, and using context, sequence of events, prefixes and familiar words to guess.
• understand the main idea and some detail when reading a text based largely on familiar material. 
• recognize the main topic of an authentic text or one not primarily based on familiar material.

LISTENING

• use listening strategies such as listening for the main idea and for specific details and asking for clarification
• understand the main idea and some detail when listening to a passage based largely on familiar material
• recognize the main topic of an authentic text or one not primarily based on familiar material
• follow simple classroom instructions
• demonstrate comprehension of simple questions based on familiar topics

WRITING

• fill out a simple registration form with name, address, phone number and nationality
• take dictation of familiar material
• ask and answer simple questions based on familiar topics with reasonably accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation
• write a letter in which they talk about themselves and ask about the other person with reasonably accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation
• spell numbers 0 to 1 million

SPEAKING

• introduce themselves and tell a little about themselves
• initiate and maintain a short conversation with someone
• identify and describe people and objects
• identify clothing and colors
• tell what they like to do and tell what they do
• tell the day, date, and time and describe the weather
• answer questions on familiar topics with comprehensible grammar and pronunciation
• perform these specific functions: talk about themselves and their family, talk about their interests and what they do in their free time, tell what they are studying and something about their university courses, invite someone to do something and make plans, list five things they are going to do next week, talk about the weather,
• be able to navigate these situations: getting a room at a hotel, going through customs at the airport, buying needed things in a store,  meeting new people in a social situation.

CULTURAL AWARENESS

• exhibit conceptual understanding and partial control of the use of tú and usted
• use basic courtesy expressions and appropriate kinesics
• identify several Spanish-speaking regions throughout the world and give basic information about them
• read Spanish addresses and phone numbers
• list several pastimes popular in Spanish-speaking countries
• locate Spanish-speaking countries on a map
• identify some famous Spanish-language writers and musicians
• understand the importance of family

Discipline-Level Learning Outcomes for Spanish

At the end of the fourth semester of Spanish, students should be able to:

• apply a variety of reading strategies to increase understanding of written material and state the main idea and some details of a text based on familiar material or authentic literary works;
• use a variety of listening strategies in order to increase understanding of oral speech and state the main idea and some detail when listening to a passage on familiar material or authentic selections; maintain simple conversations on a variety of topics (including descriptions, comparisons, recommendations, narrating in the past, expressing likes and preferences, making hypothetical statements; talking about the future) while demonstrating awareness of the sequence of tenses and use of prepositions and articles;
• write organized short compositions on a variety of topics (including descriptions, comparisons, recommendations, narrating in the past, expressing likes and preferences, making hypothetical statements, talking about the future) while using connectors and transitional words;
• perceive and identify cultural contrasts and demonstrate some knowledge of Hispanic writers, painters, movies and literary works.

General Education Students Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the general education component of an associate’s degree, students will demonstrate competence in:

• Civic and Cultural Awareness - Analyzing and critiquing competing perspectives in a democratic society; comparing, contrasting, and interpreting differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices
• Critical Thinking - Gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information.
• Personal Responsibility - Identifying and applying ethical principles and practices; demonstrating effective learning, creative thinking, and personal responsibility.
• Interpersonal Skills - Interacting collaboratively to achieve common goals.
• Written, Oral and Visual Communication - Communicating effectively, adapting to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.