Instructor: _____________________________  Office Hours: _____________________________

Office: _________________________________  E-mail: ___________________________________

The Spanish 1 Series (A, B, C) employs a proficiency-oriented, task-based approach, designed to develop basic oral communicative abilities in Spanish. In order to support these abilities you will also be introduced to beginning grammar as well as speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. Class will be conducted in Spanish.

Textbooks (required)

1. Puntos de Partida: An Invitation to Spanish (Knorre et al.), 9th Edition, Companion Volume to online E-Book

2. Puntos de Partida: Workbook, 9th Edition, online access

3. Puntos de Partida: Lab-book, 9th Edition, online access

Additional Material (recommended/required)

1. A good Spanish/English dictionary / recommended

2. A Verb Conjugations book (like 501 Verbs) / recommended

3. Audio material to accompany the printed material is available on the Internet.

Spanish 1A: Chapter 1 through Chapter 6

Spanish 1B: Chapters 7 through 12

Spanish 1C: Chapters 13 through 18

 

Number of Class Periods: 48-50 (depending on quarter)

Class Dynamics:

I will attempt to balance a relaxed atmosphere, where students will be willing to use Spanish without fear of criticism, with the need for academic excellence. Try, however, not to get as comfortable with the class so as to not study enough; some anxiety about academic performance is always helpful. On the other hand, avoid getting so tense that you "freeze up". Please, avoid monopolizing the class, or otherwise creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for your classmates. Remember that I am always available during my office hours to help you.

Note:  Any incident involving cheating, plagiarism, etc. will affect your course grade and will be reported to both the instructor's as well as to the student's Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies.

Students with Disabilities:

Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Disability Services Center at  949/824-7494 as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. Students with a registered disability are encouraged to make an appointment with the instructor. 

Workload:

Students with a large course- or workload and students with weak studying skills/habits are not encouraged to take this class until they solve those problems first. Each class will require approximately two to three hours a day of careful and systematic studying. Without sufficient time and solid studying skills/habits, you will struggle to pass this class. You are strongly advised to evaluate your own situation carefully before deciding to stay in the class.  

Attendance Policy:

To develop communicative skills in Spanish, class attendance it is critical, therefore attendance is mandatory. Regular class attendance is expected and essential for successful completion of the course. Students may fail the course due to excessive absences.

You are allowed only two absences ("freebees") per quarter. For each absence beyond those two, your final grade will be lowered by 1.0 percentage point. Three "tardies" (arriving within the first ten minutes) constitute one absence. Arriving after the first 10 minutes will be marked as an absence. Excused absences are granted in the case of a verifiable emergency (e.g. medical or legal). You are required to present proper documentation for excused absences.  It is your responsibility to make up all missed work and meet all required deadlines.

Participation Policy:

Being prepared for and participating in class activities are some of the most important means of attaining the goals of this course. This course requires active participation in Spanish, which involves arriving to class well prepared, participating in group activities and class discussions, volunteering to answer questions or sharing ideas, and remaining on-task.  Using your laptop for surfing the web, checking email, sending instant messages, speaking to classmates in English about unrelated class discussions or similar behavior is disruptive to class and will negatively affect your participation grade. If you are not in class, or in class, but unprepared, or you do not participate, your course grade will be lowered by 0.25 percentage point per day.

Written and Oral Assignments:

These assignments are part of the course, and consist of material(s) assigned to be completed outside of the classroom, such as Connect online exercises, exercises from the book, exercises in the computer lab, activities on Nulu, short oral presentations, etc. The goal of the homework is to help students identify problem areas. Students are encouraged to clarify any remaining questions with the instructor during office hours. 

To get full credit for Connect homework completion, you need to have worked on all the exercises that are part of assigned homework and have at least 85% correct answers. This means that you may have to make several attempts to successfully complete an exercise. If you do not get 85% correct after three attempts, you can still get full credit by meeting with the instructor during office hours to clarify any questions related to the homework.  

If you have to be absent, you are expected to call a classmate to find out the assignment for the next day so that you will not fall behind. If you miss a day, you are expected to turn in the online homework on-time. No late assignments will be accepted.

Classmate₁: 
Name ________________ E-Mail _________________ Phone _____________

Classmate₂: 
Name ________________ E-Mail _________________ Phone _____________

[You are expected to check your e-mail daily!]

Dialogue Journals:

These will be written, in an 8½x11 Bluebook, out of class. You may write on any topic you wish, unless I assign a specific topic for a given week, and I will dialogue with you on each journal entry. As a general rule, your Spanish will not be corrected. You are expected to turn in one journal entry per week; I will determine the expected length of the individual entries at the appropriate moment. A missing entry will result in a reduction of your final grade by 1.0 percentage point.

Tests and Quizzes:

There will be three regular tests. They will test reading comprehension, listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and written expression. There are NO MAKE-UPs for tests or quizzes. If a test or quiz is missed due to a documented police, court or medical emergency of your own, the next test or quiz will count double; permission to make-up the last test or quiz is given solely at my discretion. There will be seven quizzes of which the lowest score will be dropped. Quizzes may be given at any time and may cover any area studied up to that day.

Oral Exam:

Towards the end of the quarter, your oral proficiency in Spanish will be evaluated on the basis of a personal interview, and a prepared dialogue or small group skit. Details will be announced further along in the quarter.

This exam will reflect the overall emphasis given to most of the important skills and tasks practiced in class. The Final exam will be on the day and time indicated on the Registrar's Finals Schedule; place to be announced at a later date. It is your responsibility to resolve any scheduling conflicts you may have due to work, etc., before that date.

Extra Credit:

For completing EEE Course Evaluations, students may earned one percentage point towards the final grade; this point may be split between mid-course and final evaluations. An additional 2 percentage points may be earned by doing extra-credit work in Spanish. Check with your instructor and consult the extra-credit Webpage.

Grading Policy:

Your COURSE GRADE will be weighted in the following way:

The following scale will be used to determine your grade in the course.

Remember: it is the School of Humanities’ policy that, "within the beginning and intermediate foreign language instructional sequences, students must earn a ‘C’, ‘P’ [73.0%], or better, in order to advance to the next level of instruction".

A+ = 100.0 - 97       A = 96.99 - 93       A- = 92.99 - 90.0

B+ = 89.99 - 87       B = 86.99 - 83       B- = 82.99 - 80.0

C+ = 79.99 - 77       C = 76.99 - 73       C- = 72.99 - 70.0

D+ = 69.99 - 67       D = 66.99 - 63       D- = 62.99 - 60.0

F = 59.99 - 00.0