SYLLABUS
SPANISH 101
BEGINNING SPANISH I
Fall 2006
_________________________________________________
Instructor: Cristina P. Sparks-Early
Office: 237 Colgan
Telephone: Office--257-6504 ext. 6504; 257-6685
e-mail: csparks@nvcc.edu or
Office Hours: M W
_________________________________________________
REQUIRED TEXTS
Renjilian-Burgy,
Joy, et.al. Caminos. 2/e
OPTIONAL
AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
501 Spanish Verbs
Good English/Spanish Dictionary
Students must have an email address by the end of
the 1st week of class. They are available free to students in the library. This will be the only email address through
which we will correspond. In addition,
students should consult the NOVA home page regularly for information. Students must also consult my webpage for
information and links to the important sites we will use in class.
http://www.nvcc.edu/home/csparks
Students need to be familiar with Blackboard, as I
will post announcements, handouts and information on the site. It will not be used as a medium to teach the
course.
In case of an emergency, please follow the
emergency procedures as discussed on the first day of class and as posted in
the classroom.
Course
Description
Spanish 101 is an introductory Spanish course for
students with one or two years of high school Spanish. The students will learn listening,
speaking, reading and writing, with particular emphasis on the oral skills.
Students must try, at all costs, to speak only in Spanish in the class, both
individually and during group work.
Course
Objectives
Students will learn to function in the language
within a limited context of vocabulary and structure. At the end of the course, students will be
able to give and get basic information and carry a simple conversation with a
native speaker.
Classroom Management
Students will be respectful of the instructor and one another. Students that hinder the learning of others through disruptive behavior or disrespect to others and/or the instructor will be asked to leave the class. Students who are asked to leave the class must come see me for permission to return to class (please see pp. 58-60, Section II: Student Conduct of the 2005-2007 Student Handbook).
In addition,
although we are in an electronic age, all pagers and cell phones must be turned
off during class—OFF, not on vibrate. Should you need to leave it on for an
emergency (valid emergency), please let me know. You must place your cell phone in your bag,
away, hidden, don’t check for messages or text messages, don’t check the
time… Our society has become too
dependent on these devices, and the result is disruption to the class and
general rudeness. If you cannot sit in
class for an extended period of time without making or receiving calls and/or text
messages, then this isn’t the best time for you to be enrolled in a college
course.
The first time your phone rings, makes noise,
vibrates, beeps…you will sing for us.
The following time your phone rings or you receive a “silent” call/text
message during class time, you will lose 5 points on a test (unless it is an
emergency and I know you are expecting a call).
Should it happen a third time, you will be regarded as disrupting the learning
process of others. You will need to see
the Dean for permission to return to class.
Additionally, students may not take bathroom breaks to make or receive
phone calls.
**NOTE—trying to organize your friends as to what
to do after class does NOT constitute an emergency, whereas a sick family
member does.
Any student who may require special accommodations must first see a counselor for the appropriate paper work.
Academic Dishonesty
Assignments and/or tests, which are not completely
your work, shall be regarded as cheating and will receive an F. See p. 65-66 of the 2005-2007 Student
Handbook.
Evaluation
In order to successfully pass the course, students
must complete all components and assignments.
Grades will be assigned as follows:
Tests/quizzes/pop quizzes ………………..45%
Participation/homework….………………. 20%
Lab work……………………...………………10%
Oral Exams…………………………………....25%
Attached you will find a rubric for class participation. I urge you read it and understand it. Every person in class is fair game and you should expect to be called upon. This particularly applies to anyone sleeping, yawning loudly, eating heartily, talking to friend, doing other work…
Having homework completed for in class review along with the assignments to be collected will comprise the class participation grade. I will periodically check for completed homework, and those students that haven’t done the assignments will lose a letter grade in class participation for the week.
Homework
Homework is assigned daily. It is to be done in your notebooks for your
review. On occasion I may ask for a
specific exercised to be written separately to be turned in. This must be legible to receive credit. The only homework that is regularly turned
in is a journal
entry(see below).
Workbook
The workbook that accompanies Caminos is on line using a program called Quia! The passkey that comes with your book is the code you must enter only once for access. You then set up your own user name and password. Your access is good for 18 months—the time it should take you to complete 101, 102 and 201. I have given you an instruction sheet for getting set up in Quia! with your passkey. Should you lose the passkey before you enroll in Quia!, you will need to purchase another passkey at around $58. DON’T LOSE IT. Workbook assignments are not optional.
Journals
Students will keep a journal in Spanish at home
using the Atajo
writing program is in the Language Lab.
You will be either given a topic on which to write, or be asked to
follow the guidelines in the workbook.
The instructor will specify on what date they are due and will correct
grammar and spelling. Journals are due at the beginning of class. If you are tardy on the day a journal is to
be turned in, it will not be accepted.
I will not accept disks or the excuse that “it wouldn’t print” or “it
wouldn’t open in the lab.” If you are
absent on the day a journal entry is due, it is your responsibility to get the
entry to the instructor by the time class begins. They will count as a homework grade. They are not graded on grammar—they are to
help you practice the grammar points we are leaning. The entries must be typed in size 12 font, double-spaced in order to be counted.
Students will spend one hour per week in the
language lab (211 Howsman). A program
called Carmen is loaded on the computers for student use. You should practice the grammatical points
that we have been covering in class and those you feel you need more practice
with. Additionally, you may use the hour
to write your journal entries using Atajo, a Spanish writing
program. You MUST sign in and sign out
(which is just signing in again) when you attend the lab, as I will receive a
print out from the lab verifying who went . Grades will be assigned weekly, and failure
to go to the lab will result in a zero for the week. The week is defined as Monday through
Saturday.
Oral
Exams
After each exam and during the last 2 class
meetings, students will do an oral exam/interview with the instructor. The oral exams throughout the semester will
be performed during class time or immediately before or after class. I will ask students personal questions using
the grammar we are learning and have already learned.
The last oral exam will be conducted in groups of
two or three and students will perform a small skit based on much reviewed
material. Since we will practice oral
skills repeatedly in class, the topic will be very familiar.
Attendance
Attendance is extremely important in a foreign
language class, since the aural-oral skills can only be practiced with the
professor and with other students.
Absence from class will affect the class participation grade. A student who has missed more than 4 classes
for any reason will fail the class.
There are no excused or unexcused absences, so use them wisely. If a student comes to class after roll has
been taken, it is her/his responsibility to check with the professor to be
counted present.
Tardies
and Early Departures
Punctuality is important in any class. Situations arise which may cause a student to
be a few minutes late. Habitual
tardiness will not be tolerated. A
student arriving more than five minutes tardy more than three times will be
counted absent for that fourth late arrival.
Any tardy thereafter will also be counted as an absence. Arriving more than 25 minutes late will
also count as an absence.
Leaving early will not be allowed. Again, situations may arise that might
require a student to leave early. Any
student leaving early will be counted the equivalent of a tardy, and three or
more early departures will count as an absence.
A student who leaves with more than 25 minutes remaining in the class
will be marked absent.
Attendance will be taken with a sign in method. Every day there will be a notebook on the instructor’s desk. Students must sign in each class.
Make up exams will only be administered under the
following conditions:
To be perfectly clear, let me give some examples.
*In order to make up the test you must call, email, or write me a note, which I must receive before the time of the exam. When you are able to return to class, you must bring a doctor’s note.
B. You are driving to class and you get a flat tire/shattered windshield…
*You must call me. Most everyone has a cell phone. If you don’t, I highly recommend you get one especially for this type of emergency. Not knowing my number is NOT an excuse--you can call 411 and get the campus switchboard, which can get you to my voicemail.
C.
You have tickets to
*You must bring me a copy of the tickets and let me know before 10/8
D. You must appear in court on the day of an exam.
*You must let me know PRIOR to the court day and bring me a copy of the citation/subpoena/court order.
A student who has missed no more than one class during a semester for any reason may elect to drop their lowest homework score, including a zero.
Withdrawal
Students will be allowed to withdrawal without
penalty or to change to audit until October
27th.
Students who wish to drop the course must do so
themselves prior to this date. The
instructor will not withdrawal students; those students that stop attending
class will received zeros for worked missed which then will be averaged with
their other grades.
Good Language Learners
1. Good language learners are willing and accurate guessers. They use all the clues which the setting offers and are thus able to narrow down what the meaning and intent of the communication might be.
2. Successful language learners have strong motivation to communicate. They will do many things to communicate: paraphrase, use gestures, circumlocute, etc.
3. Good language students are often not inhibited. They are willing to take a chance and make mistakes in order to learn to communicate.
4. Good language learners are prepared to attend to form and pattern. They are constantly looking for patterns in the language they constantly analyze and categorize the linguistic material.
5. Good language learners monitor.
The professor assumes that students:
· take responsibility for their own learning
· are serious about and want to learn
· will not miss more than one week of class
· will come prepared to class with appropriate materials needed, e.g., pencil, books
· will come prepared for the lesson’s assignment
· will make-up any missed work
· will manage time according to personal needs to provide for 5 - 6 study hours per week (2 hrs. per credit hour)
·
will make use of all learning resources, e.g.,
library, tutorial services,
· will attempt to join a study group to learn and review concepts
· will confer often with the professor to gauge on-going progress
·
will focus at all times
on developing foreign language skills for
communication regardless of foreign language aptitude/ability.
· will focus on developing multi-cultural sensitivity in a multi-cultural society and world.
SERVICE
LEARNING
Because we are a Community College, and because one
of your individual goals should be to become an active and productive member of
society, Service
Learning is an integral part of gaining
your education at NVCC-Manassas. Service
Learning is just what it says—you learn while you provide a service. It is also a way to build a bridge between our course
content and the real world. In Spanish courses,
you may provide your services through many different avenues that we will
explore together.
Students may elect to donate 15 hours of their time
towards Service Learning to gain 20 extra-credit points towards any written
test grade. Students should contact
Sonia Jacob of B.E.A.C.O.N. at 368-7491 or 703-331-5513; Michelle at Transitional
Housing Barn, Inc. at
703-994-2191; or Jan Hawkinds at SERVE at
703.368.2979 for information and help getting started. Of course, there are other places and ways to
volunteer your 15 hours.
After you have completed your 15 hours,
you will turn in a one page
self-reflecting evaluation of the time and efforts you gave, and of the
program.
TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE
el
21 de agosto Introduction
and explanations, service learning, Capítulo preliminar
el 23 de agosto Capítulo preliminar,
Capítulo 1
el 28 de agosto Capítulo 1,
el 30 de agosto Capítulo 1, Quiz I
el 4 de septiembre no hay clase
el 6 de septiembre capítulo
1
el 11 de
septiembre Capítulo I, repaso
el 13 de
septiembre Quiz II, capítulo 2
el 18 de
septiembre capítulo 2
el 20 de
septiembre capítulo 2
el 25 de
septiembre capítulo
2
el 27 de
septiembre capítulo 2
el 2 de octubre capítulo 2, repaso
el 4 de octubre no hay clase
el 9 de octubre NO HAY CLASE, Día de
fiesta
el 11 de octubre Examen Capítulo 2
el 16 de octubre capítulo
3
el 18 de
octubre capítulo
3
el 23 de octubre capítulo 3
el 25 de octubre capítulo 3
el 30 de octubre capítulo 3
el 1 de
noviembre capítulo 3
el 6 de
noviembre capítulo
3, repaso
el 8 de noviembre Examen
Capítulo 3
el 13 de
noviembre capítulo 4
el 15 de noviembre capítulo
4
el 20 de noviembre capítulo
4
el 22 de
noviembre no hay clase
el 27 de noviembre capítulo 4
el 29 de noviembre capítulo
4
el 4 de
diciembre capítulo 4
el 6
de diciembre oral exams
el 11 de diciembre repaso
el 18 de
diciembre Examen Final
4:00-5:25