El rincón de Margarita

Spanish 103 Syllabus – Summer 2004

Course Description: SPA 103

Teaches oral communication and introduces cultural mores and customs to students with no prior instruction in the language. Does not fulfill the foreign language requirement for the Associate in Arts degree. Lecture 3 hours per week.

This the first part of the Introduction Conversational Spanish I & II sequence. The purpose of this course is to enable the student to acquire a novice proficiency in speaking and listening using basic survival situations. At this level, students begin to narrate and describe personal information in present and future time. While the focus is on developing the conversational skills, much listening and reading is needed to help develop speaking. The student learns to pronounce Spanish clearly, handles some survival situations, begins to ask and answer questions, and communicates using memorized language patterns. The learner learns a rudimentary grammatical basis to be able to express ideas in speaking and writing using correct sentence structure at the sentence and possibly the paragraph level.

Lecture is three hrs. per week (16 week session), seven and one-half hrs. (six week session).

Class activities center around aural (listening) and oral Spanish practice. The class will be conducted as much as possible in Spanish except when explaining grammatical concepts.

Foreign Language Teaching Method: The Natural Approach is an inductive method of language teaching, developed by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell, that has among its hypotheses that language is acquired in stages, that comprehension precedes production, and that language is best learned in a low anxiety atmosphere.

 

Evaluation: Course grades will be based upon:

Attendance/participation/homework preparation	30%
Vocabulary/Grammar quizzes	20%
Audio Component of Textbooks/Listening Tests	10%
Notebook	10%
Mid-term and Final Oral Proficiency Interviews	30%

Auditory Practice:
Students are required to listen to audiotapes. In order to complete the audio portions in the Getting Along in Spanish & Basic Spanish Grammar  texts, several methods can be of help:

Spanish Video Broadcasts: Destinos Episodios 1-11

Video Viewing: Students need to view the accompanying video for each episode/chapter. Ideally each video should be viewed three times. There are several ways of completing this video viewing:

• The videos will often, but not always be viewed during class time.  They can be viewed online if you have a DSL Connection.  Check with the instructor’s webpage for the link.

• The Extended Learning Institute (ELI) airs Destinos videos which students can view on different cable networks that carry the NVCC ELI broadcasts. Check for video schedules on your cable network in the Schedule of Classes.

Destinos Broadcasts (Spa 101 Broadcasts – Episodios 1-11)

Cable network____________ Day _______________ Time________________

Online resources:

Internet

Blackboard

Destinos Online Video & Internet Resources

Attendance:
It is not possible to succeed in this course without regular class attendance. Only one unexcused class is permitted.   If you find it necessary to miss a class session due to circumstances beyond your control, it is your responsibility to complete all assignments you miss by the time you return to class.  Late arrival may be counted as a partial absence, at the discretion of the professor. Make-up work can be arranged after the student and the professor have mutually agreed on an assignment.

Withdrawal and Audit:
Withdrawal without grade penalty, or change from credit to audit must be completed at the Office of Admissions and Records. The student is held responsible for this change in academic status. A student who does not complete the course, but who fails to withdraw officially, will have all uncompleted work averaged as F.

Extra Credit:  

Good Language Learners

• Good language learners are willing and accurate guessers. They use all the clues which the setting offers and are thus able to narrows down what the meaning and intent of the communication might be.
• Successful language learners have strong motivation to communicate. They will do many things to communicate: paraphrase, use gestures, circumlocute, etc.
• Good language students are often not inhibited. They are willing to take a chance and make mistakes in order to learn to communicate.
• Good language learners are prepared to attend to from and pattern. They are constantly looking for patterns in the language they constantly analyze and categorize the linguistic material.
• Good language learners monitor.

Classroom Policies

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 unexcused absences
• 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 tests
• will keep notes in a notebook on class lectures
• will manage time according to personal needs to provide for seven hours (summer school schedule) per week
• will make up tardies or absences with extra credit work
• will make use of all learning resources, e.g., library, tutorial services, Learning Resources Center, computer lab to receive help with study aids
• will attempt to join a study group to learn and review concepts
• will confer often with the professor to gauge on-going progress
• will become aware of his/her learning style and make necessary adaptation to accommodate and enhance foreign language learning skills
• 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.

Special Needs and Accommodations:

Please address with the instructor any special problems or needs at the beginning of the semester. If you are seeking accommodations based on a disability, you should provide a disability data sheet, which can be obtained from the counselor for special needs.

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