<< Back to Curriculum | Syllabus for Intermediate Spanish (2006-2007)

Instructor: Weidia Coutts

Major Concepts/Content:
The purpose of this course is to enable students to begin to acquire proficiency in Spanish through a linguistic, communicative, and cultural approach to language learning. Emphasis is placed on the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills and on acquisition of the fundamentals of applied grammar. Cross-cultural understanding is fostered and real-life applications are emphasized throughout the course. The content should include, but not be limited to, the following:

- conversational expression of feelings, ideas, and opinions in Spanish
- comprehension of spoken and written Spanish
- oral and written presentation of information and ideas, in Spanish, to an audience
- social interaction patterns within Spanish culture(s)
- connections between the Spanish language and culture(s) and other disciplines
- communication patterns of languages
- Spanish language usage within and beyond the school setting

Realidades A/B: Based on five curriculum strands outlined in the Sunshine Standards for Foreign Languages. Realidades A for review during September, Realidades B October-June.

Students will take a chapter test after each chapter and a semester exam
Workbooks will be used during class and homework

Projects:
2-3 projects will be assigned during the year
Fiesta participation

Classical TPR Phase: During the first nine weeks, you will be expected to learn basic vocabulary words that will be essential for TPR Storytelling in the second nine week period. We can’t tell stories without knowing these basic words! You should study every night. Practice the words and teach other members of your family what you are learning at school. If learning these words is difficult for you, please work extra hard to keep up this first nine weeks. Make flashcards or picture dictionary. We will be able to slow the pace a little after we begin storytelling, but daily study is always important in a foreign language. We will be using List1-3 for storytelling.

Evaluation:
Students will be graded using a point system for determining grades. Each assignment, test, or project has a certain number of points possible. For example, a test or project may be worth 100 points while a quiz or homework assignment may be worth 20 points. A final will also be given at the end of each nine weeks. To determine a student’s grade at the end of the nine weeks, the number of points that the student earned will be divided by the number of points possible. That percentage will be assigned a letter grade using the following scale:

90-100		A

80-89		B

70-79		C

60-69		D

0-59		F

In Grades 6-12, a nine weeks test will constitute 25 percent of the final nine-week average. When a semester examination is given on a nine-week grading schedule, the examination will count no more than 20 percent of the semester grade.

Make-Up Work:
It is the responsibility of the student to ask for make-up work after an absence. Students will have the same number of days to ask for and complete the make-up work as the length of their absence.

Late Work: Late work will be accepted only one day late and points will be deducted for late work.