El rincón de Margarita

Spanish 201 Syllabus

Profesora:

Dr. Margarita E. Hodge

Oficina:

Room 252

Teléfono:

845-6585

MEHodge’s Website:

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/nvhodgm

Blackboard:

http://bb.nvcc.edu/

E-Mail:

nvhodgm@nvcc.edu

Libro de Texto:

Destinos, VanPatten, Marks, Teschner (Alternate Edition, 2/e),
McGraw-Hill

Cuaderno:

Destinos, Workbook II - Lessons 27- 36 (Alternate Edition, 2/e)

Recommended:

University of Chicago Spanish/English Dictionary, or equivalent

Classroom/Lab: 

CD or clean/good quality audiotapes for Destinos workbook (90 minutes)

Materials:

3 x 5 cards
floppy disk (Maxell brand with plastic case)
Highlighters and Red pen
Loose leaf notebook
Plastic Inserts for 8 ½ x 11 handouts (optional)

Course Description:

 SPA 201 is the first part of the Intermediate Spanish I & II sequence. The purpose of this course is to enable the student to acquire greater proficiency in the four skills in a greater variety of situations. At this level, students should be able to narrate and describe in present, past, and future time and handle many survival situations. Since the focus is on developing the conversational skills, much listening and reading is needed to help develop speaking. The writing skill will be developed using a process--approach to include discourse modes of narrative, descriptive, expository, and argumentative styles. It is assumed that the intermediate student is able to understand authentic aural and written texts as used by native speakers to narrate and describe personal and factual information. An intermediate student is able to pronounce Spanish clearly, handle many survival situations, can ask and answer questions, and create with the language on familiar topics. The learner has a grammatical basis to be able to express ideas in speaking and writing using complete sentences and paragraphs.

Lecture is three hrs. per week (16 week session) or seven and one-half hrs. (six week summer session). Class activities center around a video-based course in which the student continues to develop skills for understanding spoken and written authentic texts. Classroom time is devoted primarily to developing speaking. The student continues to develop writing at the paragraph level using correct sentence structure. The class will be conducted mostly in Spanish.

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:

Attendance/participation/homework preparation

20%

Grammar quizzes & Tests (Classroom & Online)

20%

 Language Lab Workbook/Listening Tests

10%

Mid-term and Final Oral Proficiency Interviews

30%

Notebook and Writing Portfolio

20%

Laboratory Requirements:

Auditory Practice:

Students are required to listen to audiotapes, either in the laboratory or on their own cd or home players. In order to complete the audio portions in the Destinos workbook, several methods can be of help:

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:

Spanish 201 Broadcasts: http://www.nvcc.edu/tvcenter/grid.htm

 

·         Students may check videos out from the library for an hour (for use within the library only). There are VCR viewing stations on the first floor. Students will need their NVCC Student I.D. Card in order to check the videos out. Videos can be also be checked out for a week or more, but there are very few copies. (Also check your local public library, e.g., Arlington County’s Quincy Library.)

Alexandria Campus Language Center

Students may get help with computer-assisted language instruction in the computer lab located in Rm. 160. The lessons are designed to help tutor the students in vocabulary and grammar. Students are required to receive training with the instructor or assistant  and may access software.  Students must sign in and access materials with a personal ID card, e.g., VA driver’s license.

Spanish Materials

Attendance:

Only two classes of unexcused absences are 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.

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 narrows 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 from and pattern. They are constantly looking for patterns in the language they constantly analyze and categorize the linguistic material.

5.  Good language learners monitor.

Extra Credit:

Field Trips to Wolf Trap, National Gallery of Art
Video and Spanish written summary of Spanish/L.A. movies
Spanish Theatre Plays held in the area
Software Practice in Rm 160
Spanish Language Exchange Partners
Native Speaker Interview Project
Video Project

Classroom Policies

The professor assumes that students:

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