AP SPANISH LANGUAGE ~ SPAN. 4 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sra. Norma Ríos rios.norma@chandler.k12.az.us 480-812-2800 X2882 Dear Parents and Students: Welcome to AP Spanish, a continuation of your journey in the Spanish language and culture. I welcome you Spanish 4, and I am both proud and extremely honored you have decided to continue in your studies in Spanish. Congratulations on your decision to continue in your studies of Spanish. Please feel free to contact me at any time during the year to answer any questions and/or concerns. COURSE DESCRIPTION The course of AP Spanish is conducted almost entirely in Spanish. Some English is allowed for specific needs such as certain grammatical explanations; however it is an expectation that students use the target language not only in the classroom but with their peers, their teacher, and with their peers outside of the classroom if the opportunities arise. Students who enrolled in the class are ready to challenge themselves in the most advanced course at Perry H.S., an experience equivalent to that of a third-year college course. Students are provided the opportunities to develop the four language skills, which are reading, writing, listening and speaking. In order to prepare the students to take the AP Spanish Language Exam, I will be using an extensive amount of resources, some of which will include authentic materials in the target language. The class is designed to challenge extremely motivated students who have a strong interest in the Spanish language. Students at this advanced language level are expected to demonstrate greater and more sophisticated use of the target language, therefore literature, culture and history are taught primarily through the active use of the target language. Upon successful completion of the AP Spanish exam, the students may receive college credit and advanced placement. COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Throughout the year, students will acquire new vocabulary and grammatical concepts, in addition to reviewing already acquired material; this will be done via comprehensible activities, authentic sources, and a wide array of resources. This is done while simultaneously building their vocabulary knowledge and their speaking, writing, reading and listening skills that are necessary to achieve an advanced level of proficiency of the Spanish language. In addition to a very solid working knowledge of the language, it is important for students to be aware of the history, art, architecture, politics, and social structures of many of the Spanish-speaking countries; this includes not only Latin America but Spain as well. Therefore, this class will introduce the students to a panoramic introduction of some literary works in addition to the different cultural aspects of Spanishspeaking countries in the world. The following are our yearly goals:
Students will increase and refined their written skills in formal and informal contexts, therefore will be able to write a cohesive and coherent analytical and/or persuasive essay on a personal, academic, cultural or social issue, with control of grammar and syntax. Students will refine their oral presentational skills in formal and informal contexts, therefore be able to describe, narrate and present information on general topics with grammatical control and good pronunciation, and thus use language that is grammatically and semantically accurate according to a given context Students will broaden their understanding of the cultures that make-up the Spanish-speaking worlds through the study of literature, music, history and/or current events, and consequently identify and summarize main points and important details and make appropriate inferences and predictions from a written text using authentic sources, such as a newspaper or magazine article, or a contemporary literary excerpt. Students will broaden their comprehension skills of written and oral sources in both formal and informal contexts, thus they will successfully identify and summarize the main points from a spoken authentic source, such as a broadcast news report and/or a cultural topic related to the Spanishspeaking world. Students will refine and expand their interpersonal communication skills in Spanish through daily classroom interactions using the target language, and thus be able to use information from sources to initiate, maintain and close s conversation on a familiar topic, to express an opinion and to formulate questions to seek clarification or additional information on any given topic related to the Spanish-speaking world. PLEASE NOTE: In order to work on all four skills required for success in the AP Spanish Language tests and this course, the following are expectations of each student: Attend class as scheduled, arrive in a timely fashion, and hand in all of your required work. Your participation and effort in this class are extremely important for your success, and please remember to bring a positive attitude. Respect your fellow classmates and courtesy above all; this is an expectation for all students. It is my overall goal and hope for every one of you success and opportunities to succeed in this class. Please make sure you stay committed, be consistently present, and demonstrate commitment and a desire to learn and make-up work in a timely fashion in the event of an absence. It will be my pleasure to work with every single on one of you, and remember that learning a foreign language takes motivation, commitment and lots of practice. Strong study skills are one of the biggest factors for success in the classroom. And lastly, remember that your grade will be earned, not given to you.
In order to prepare students to take the AP Spanish Language Exam, the following resources will be used throughout the year: Díaz, José M., Nadel, María F., Collins, Stephen J (2000) Abriendo Paso: Gramática (Prentice Hall) Springer Alice G. (2008) BARRONS: AP Spanish ~ 6 th edition. Adey, Margaret and Albini Louis (1989). Galeria de Arte y Vida: (McGraw Hill Spanish) Gordon, Ronnie L. Ph.D, Stillman, David M. Ph.D (1999) The Ultimate SPANISH review and practice. (Passport Books) Conexiones: Lecturas para Hispanohablantes (1997) (Prentice Hall): Juntos Uno. READER: Anonymous. Lazarillo de Tormes. (Edited and Translated by Stanley Appelbaum). (2001) (Dover Publications) READER: Cervantes, Miguel. Selections from Don Quixote. (Edited and Translated by Stanley Appelbaum). (1999) (Dover Publications) ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUCTURES AND CLASS ASSIGNMENTS Reading Skills: (20 % of grade) Using authentic literature sources, students will read and interpret selected samples of short stories, novels, newspaper and magazine articles. Students are taught to use various reading strategies and vocabulary knowledge to improve reading skills and to ultimately be able to create and present a synthesis. Assigned literature is chosen from multiple sources, including the texts previously mentioned, and they are as follows: Quarter 1: ~ Una Carta a Dios, La noche de fuga, El Gato de Sevres, El tiempo borra. Grammar Structure: Present, Preterite & Imperfect (Regular and Irregular); Progressive Tenses; Ser vs. Estar; Prepositions; Por vs. Para, Reflexive Verbs with Reflexive Pronouns. Quarter 2: ~ El Lago Encantado, La camisa de Margarita, El delantal blanco. Grammar Structure: Future and Conditional; Verbs with indirect object pronouns (gustar, encantar, etc.); Passive se ; Perfect Tenses; Additional work with direct and indirect object pronouns; Commands in formation to Present Subjunctive
Quarter 3: ~ No oyes ladrar a los perros, Mi caballo mago, Un dia de estos Grammar Structure: Subjunctive in Noun Clauses, Subjective in Adjective and Adverb Clauses; Imperfective Subjunctive; Review with reflexives, direct/indirect object pronouns and prepositional pronouns. Quarter 4: ~ El Arbol de oro, El brujo postergado, El senor Viejo con alas enormes. Grammar Structure: Present-perfect and past perfect~review (Indicative and Subjunctive; Review of preterive vs. imperfect; Sequence of Tenses ~ Subjunctive. Students identify and summarize the main points in the readings, state opinions and furthermore raise questions in the target language. Then, a class discussion is held to discuss the stories, however some of the reading is done outside of class. To further build on their reading comprehension skills, all students also read Lazarillo de Tormes and selected readings from Don Quijote. Again, students will identify and summarize the main points in the readings, and further write their reactions in a journal writing session held the day after assigned readings. We will begin reading in class, however outside reading will be required. In order to further develop their reading skills, the class will read from a variety of authentic sources, including: Selected readings from People en español. News articles found online, including www.elmundo.es, www.prensalatina.com.mx, AP practice tests are used for reading selections and multiple choice testing. Lastly, students will select from a variety of sources during Voluntary Reading time, which will include choices in Spanish magazines and/or newspapers, etc. * Second Semester Exam: All students will take a practice exam for the formal AP Spanish Language, which will count as their Final Exam grade for the class. Students will review the following topics to prepare for the exam. Grammatical tenses and sequence of tenses in subjunctive, pronouns and prepositions. Reading Comprehension in multiple choice format Speaking with informal dialogue and formal summary presentation. Listening comprehension in multiple choice format.
Writing component, comprised of two three paragraphs to summarize, compare, synthesize and give an opinion on a theme presented in assigned reading and listening exercise. * AP Spanish Language Exam: All students will take AP exam in May (8 students total) Listening Skills (20 % of grade) Spanish is the official language of the course, therefore almost all of instruction, explanations and exercises are executed in Spanish. Students will become accustomed to hearing a variety of accents when they listen to one another and to the professors at school. In addition to listening to classroom conversations about different authors and literary pieces in the Spanishspeaking world, students will listen to extensive amount of audio sources to prepare them for the listening component of the AP Spanish Language Exam. Comprehension improves as the students learn to make inferences and predictions about what they are listening to; thus, the goal is the integrate the visual, auditory and written sources which will provide good practice for both the formal oral and written portions of the AP Spanish Language Exam Students also practice listening to broadcasts and conversations with the opportunity to answer questions about their comprehension. These selections come from Barrons: AP Spanish 6 th edition (2008),and a variety of websites such as www.notesinspanish.com, www.cnn.com/espanol/, www.bbc.co.uk/spanish/, http://www.un.org/radio/es/ Students listen to authentic songs in Spanish that have unique grammatical structures we are studying in class (i.e. Ojala que llueva café by Juan Luis Guerra, La Historia de Juan by Juanes, etc) Students will watch a series of documentary pieces from Las Voces de las Mujeres (http://larc.sdu.edu/voces/), which compares and contrasts women from different parts of Spanishspeaking countries. Presentations done in class also gives students the opportunity to listen to information about the Spanish speaking culture, thus allowing them the opportunity to practice what they learn. Twice weekly, students write in their journal to prompted questions, and each students presents their answers to their classmates. Students listen to the AP Spanish Barrons practice exercises for the listening component to the AP exam. Speaking skills (20 % of grade) Through daily class discussions students will be provided with the opportunity to participate and use the target language. As their reading and speaking abilities improve, their comfort levels will eventually increase, allowing them to become more comfortable in using the target language. In order to acquire more proficiency of the target language, students must contextually use all the grammatical concepts and figures of speech to
communicate. The following exercises will help prepare them for the oral sequence element of the AP Spanish Language exam. Students will participate in guided weekly discussions about an assigned literature piece. After writing in their journals with prompted questions, each student presents their journal prompt to the class, done on a rotation basis. Situation cards are used as a practice tool to practice the informal speaking component of the AP Spanish Language exam. Oral presentations are done on a topic relating to the Spanish-speaking culture, after individual research and written component are complete. Students will also be required to present timed presentations, and as the year progresses, these will become lengthier. Writing Skills (40 % of grade) In order to prepare the students for both the formal and informal writing components of the AP Spanish Language exam, students receive a variety of writing assignments; some of which will come from the BARRONS: AP Spanish. The goal is for students to practice writing both short and long essays, letters, journal entries and/or literary analysis. Accuracy will be encouraged; however corrections will follow when deemed necessary. Grammar reviews will be done in class to help achieve accurate use of grammatical structure in their writing. Twice weekly, students write in their mini-cuadernos (i.e. in-class journals), a one paragraph response to prompted questions on a variety of topics relating to every day life. After reading our quarterly assigned readings, students are given weekly assignments related to the short stories or authentic articles read. It is an essential skill that they learn to paraphrase the readings in their own words. Peer editing is also part of this process, which allows them not only to evaluate their peers writing, but to self-evaluate as well. Students complete a 150 word essay twice during the quarter, on an assigned topic that will allow them to develop an opinion of a topic of interest in the Spanish speaking culture. (i.e. Bullfighting: cultural sport or animal cruelty?). Their essay will include a THESIS, 3 Supporting Ideas, and a Conclusion with Evidence and Sources.
Students will progress to an in-class essay as they near the AP examination, relating to the incorporation of authentic audio and written sources. The scoring rubric is based on AP Scoring Guidelines. Students complete AP exam paragraph fill-in-blank to work on skill development relating to the AP exam. Similar to AP exam, students will read 2 short readings, and listen to an audio source, both of which are of authentic source, and practice writing 200 word minimum essays, which requires them to synthesize, analyze and contextualize all three sources in a well-crafted essay. Student Evaluation Students are evaluated on all four levels as stated in the syllabi: reading, listening, speaking and writing; each will be weighted as stated. Evaluations of journal entries and informal writings are evaluated on including the details as stated in the prompt(s) and for class presentation. Presentations are evaluated based on a rubric that scores their fluency and research on specific topic (synthesizing the information from multiple sources). Reading is evaluated through journal summaries, multiple choice and/or true~false activities and/or tests. Lastly, listening is evaluated through a wide array of in-class activities, including also tests (multiple choice, essay, etc), and through participation points based on in-class assessment of discussion. The evaluation of grammar concepts, vocabulary and/or story comprehension is evaluated through tests and quizzes, including fill-in-theblank, short response, essay and/or multiple choice. Students are evaluated based on their achievement level in all four of the skills mentioned, and each area receives a weighted percentage grade. As a Final Note: As you approach class assignments, readings, and other class activities, commit to these and also allow yourself to make mistakes. This class can be extremely rewarding, and challenging all at the same time. Please note that the class will require a fair amount of hard work and dedication, as it is a college level course; nonetheless, it is my hope that after deciding to take on the challenge, you are willing to work hard, ask questions, become involved and participate as often as possible while using the target language. And lastly, be willing to take risks, and accept that by making mistakes you will learn by these.