Sinclair Community College - Course Syllabus

Summer Quarter 2006 - Elementary Spanish III - SPA 103

Instructor Information

Instructor: Dr. Derek Petrey    Office: 3232-B                       

Office Hours: 2-3 pm MW, 1-2 TR, and by appt.

Conversation Table Hours:

Office Phone 512-2092                                             

E-mail: derek.petrey@sinclair.edu

Instructor Webpage: http://people.sinclair.edu/derekpetrey/

Dept. Office 3-240          

Dept. Secretary: Mrs. Lora Bowling (512-2844)

Dept. Chair: Luis Samuel González Acevedo, M.A. Philosophy, Juris Doctor

                Assistant Professor of Philosophy

                Office:  Bldg. 3,  Rm. 240 F

                E-Mail: luis.gonzalez@sinclair.edu

                Office hours: By appointment

Course Information

Division: Liberal Arts & Sciences                                

Dept.: Hum., Govt. & Mod. Lang.

Course Title: Beginning Spanish III                             

Course No.: SPA 103   

Credits: 4 hrs. Parallel Univ. Cred.                              

Prerequisites: SPA 102 or placement.

 

Course Description   (What does this mean?)

Essentials of the spoken and written language are stressed.   

We speak and write Spanish in class.  This is the best, quickest, and most fun way to learn it!

Emphasis is on vocabulary practice, grammar, pronunciation, simple sentence structure, conversational drills, and reading.              

We learn words, how to say & combine the words, and how to use the words to speak, listen, write and read in Spanish

This course is the third of the three courses that make up the 1st year of university-parallel language study         

Course progress: SPA 101 → SPA 102→ SPA 103

4 hours of in-class interactive activity supported by in-class lecture, handouts, quizzes, and exams.

You are evaluated on performing in class in various ways.  Class is 250 min. / week.

Outside of class (in addition to homework) you should spend at least 45 minutes in the Language Lab

every week using the programs there to improve your skills.

Students must see the instructor on an individual basis to arrange for optional ways of fulfilling the

language lab attendance requirement if the requirement is a problem. 

Any alternative options must be arranged by JULY 1ST and they are approved solely at the instructor's discretion. You are responsible for your own academic success. As your instructor I will work with your special needs as best as I can, but if I don't know these needs, I can't help you.

 

Course Objectives

·To develop basic communicative competence (understanding and using) in Spanish by developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  This includes using basic gestures and other discursive and sociolinguistic features of the language appropriately with native speakers of Spanish.

·To provide practice and instruction in basic structures of the language.

·To apply rules of pronunciation, grammar, and lexicon usage to unfamiliar material. 

·Specifically we will look at: Informal Commands, Present Subjunctive, Present Perfect Indicative and Subjunctive, Past Subjunctive, Future, and the Conditional Tenses.

Materials & Resources

Required Texts

· A steno pad, at least 80 pages, 5 x 8.5 inches.  This will be used for the sole purpose of journal entries & not for class notes.

 

These texts are sold as a bundle in the Campus Bookstore.  (1st floor, Building 7)

· TEXTO: Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish: 7th Ed.  Marty Knorre et al. McGraw-Hill: Boston, 2003.

· DIARIO: Workbook to Accompany Puntos de Partida... Marty Knorre et al. McGraw-Hill: Boston, 2000.

· MANUAL DE LABORATORIO:  Laboratory Manual to Accompany Puntos de Partida... Marty Knorre et al. McGraw-Hill: Boston, 2000.  (This book is for supplementary audio exercises and will not be a course component.)

Additional Materials

LAB CDs.  To use the Lab Manual, you must get a copy of the full set of the Language Lab CDs.  The files are free of charge. Bring a CD-R for each chapter you want to have recorded to the Language Lab: they do not sell them, you must bring your own.  (Please be polite to the Language Lab staff, as they are very busy at the beginning of the quarter!  There is a drop off box where you can leave the CDs.  You should indicate your name, your course title, and "LAB MANUAL" with the chapters you need copied.) It may take them up to a couple of days to burn the CDs for you.

 

 

DICTIONARY: Not required but strongly suggested.  Choose one that has at least 60,000 entries. 

There are a variety of ones out there, some good ones are Langenschiedt, VOX, Larousse, University

of Chicago.  You should check to see if the dictionary notes regionalisms in English and Spanish.

OTHER:  Looking for comic books, short stories, novels, dictionaries, and other print materials in Spanish?

Check out the LRC (Learning Resources Center, on the Campus Lower Level)!

MORE OTHER?: Check out: http://people.sinclair.edu/derekpetrey/   This site has links to lots of other

interesting Spanish-language resources, including on-line newspapers and educational sites.     

 

Language Laboratory (Room 2-321)

THE LANGUAGE LAB HOURS ARE: 8:30-7:30 MTWR, 8:30-3:30 F, no Saturday hours (as of yet).

  There are many things you can do there:

·USE THE AUDIO FILES with your LAB MANUAL          

·LISTEN TO SPANISH-LANGUAGE MUSIC

·WATCH VIDEOS from your book and MOVIES IN SPANISH (either on the server or in the DVD collection)

·USE THE ONLINE LEARNING CENTER WEBSITE  (www.mhhe.com/puntos)      

·WRITE COMPOSITIONS with ATAJO

·CHECK YOUR GRADES & CLASS ANNOUNCEMENTS AT THE CLASS WEBPAGE (at my.sinclair.edu)

·As an absolute minimum you must visit the language lab regularly for at least 45 mins every week. You can work on the Puntos de Partida Interactive Program.  For each chapter you must complete at least 10 of the chapter activities in the Puntos de Partida Interactive Program and then print out the report page to be turned in.  You will receive credit for the chapter reports you turn in on time.

-The Language Lab Policy on Copyrighted Material, Pornography and Otherwise Offensive Material:  Using the Language Lab to browse, download, transmit or create any form of pornography will result in immediate and permanent expulsion from the lab.  Copying copyrighted material without the author's permission will bring the same consequences.


STUDENT EXPECTATIONS

You are ultimately responsible for your own academic progress and success.

Things I expect students to do:

            -Ask questions:  If you have doubts, ask the instructor to clarify them. If you are not sure about something, it is your duty to let the instructor know. 

            -Be courteous: Just because you are using another language doesn't give you the right to be judgmental, racist, sexist, obscene, or rude.  The need for courtesy and respect is universal, even though it may not always be expressed in the same way from culture to culture.  Cell phones, pagers, beepers, and the like are expected to be on silent, whether in the classroom or in the Modern Language Lab. 

            -Challenge themselves: Language learners are most successful when they have a strategy for learning languages that involves learning both inside and outside the classroom.  The Independent Learning Styles is there to help you see what is in your comfort zone and what you need to do to challenge  yourself.  Learning a language involves a lot of skills: oral, aural, reading, writing, cultural, and metacognitive.  It follows an easily discernible cycle:

                                                            LEARNING ABSTRACT PRINCIPLES

                                    REFLECTIVE ASSESSMENT                 ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION    

                                                            CONCRETE PRACTICE IN REAL LIFE

Instruction in a classroom setting can give you with 60% of the cycle.  You have to provide the other 40%.

            -Do the logical thing: If you miss a class, it is your task to check on-line to see what you have missed and catch up on the assignments. Not being in class on one day is no excuse for not being prepared the next! It is your duty to help create a learning environment.  If you are ill-prepared, other students you work with will not be able to learn as well as they could.

            -español, español, español: The more Spanish you use in class, the better!  When you do group activities, resist the urge to speak to your classmates in English!  You will get more out of it if you force yourself to stretch your Spanish!

            -Follow the guidelines: Just because I don't collect all the homework I assign doesn't mean I don't expect you to do it.   The three questions I will ask you when you come to me for problems is 1) What is your outside learning strategy?  2) Are you doing the supplementary assignments?  3) Have you thought about getting a tutor?  Of course, I am always happy to help you find what you need to do in order to learn and use these skills better.

 

Evalution / Grades

The course total is 1000 points, or 100%

ESSAY JOURNAL ENTRIES (200 points)  20%

            Students are responsible for writing 1 journal entry per class (about 20 pts. @). 

            These are for the sole purpose of practicing creative expression and

            composition skills. You will receive specific assignments and free topic assignments. 

            Students are often asked to read from their journals in small-group peer-review

            sessions, so you should always bring your steno pad with you to class.

WRITTEN AND ORAL HOMEWORK (200 points) 20%

            You will have 4 written homeworks and participate in 4 oral presentations. 

                There will be one reading, two extemporaneous presentations, and one presentation / debate.

                There will be no makeup possible for the debate.

INDEPENDENT PROJECT (100 points)  10%

                You must turn in two an activities, one related to cultural experience.

             Consult this page for more details.

LAB PARTICIPATION & ASSIGNMENTS (100 points) 10%

             You get 20 points for turning in summary pages from the Puntos de Partida interactive

             program related to the chapters covered in class (12-18), up to 100 points.

CHAPTER EXAMS (200 points)  20%

            There will be combined chapter exams for 12-13 and for 14 -15 (100 points @)

CAPSTONE EXAM (200 points)  20%

            This will be a general assessment examination that will give you some indication

             of how you have progressed in Spanish & mastered the basic grammatical elements

             of the language.  It is designed to give you some prediction of how you will do in

                subsequent Spanish courses. 

                It will cover ser / estar, imperfect / preterite, subjunctive / indicative,

                combination of tenses, and have a listening comprehension component.           

Attendance / Participation Policy

To learn a foreign language, you have to practice it with others.  A lot of work in class is small group and individual work that requires constant participation.  Participation should be active, engaged, and informed.  This means that you have to prepare the assignments ahead of time.  Homework should be done before class begins.  Arriving late or leaving early from class will count toward partial absences.  For purposes of participation value only, excused absences will count as half-absences. Students with under a 50% attendance by the time the initial rosters are requested will be disenrolled.

 

0-2 classes missed = no penalty

3 classes missed = -25 points

4 classes missed = -50 points

5 classes missed = -75 points

6 or more classes missed = -100 points

 

Make-up Work

Late assignments will be accepted and make-up exams will be authorized solely at the instructor's discretion.  They are usually granted on receipt of a documented absence.  In all such cases, it is best to contact the instructor as soon as possible and make-up work must be done within a reasonable time (in most cases within 1 week of the student's return). 

 

Institutional Policies

Honesty Policy:  Cheating or plagiarizing in any manner will not be tolerated.  Any student

found cheating or plagiarizing material in any manner will be assigned a failing quarter\session grade. 

                Honor Code 

·As a member of the Sinclair College community of students, faculty, and staff, I will

uphold the values of citizenship, social-responsibility, and personal accountability.

·I will maintain the highest standards of professional and academic ethics.

·I will uphold my personal integrity, dignity, and self-respect by being fair and honest

at all times and by treating all individuals with respect.

·By honoring these ideals, I will be building a better future for myself, my college,

and my local, regional, and global communities.

 

Any student found in breach of Sinclair Community College’s Honor Code may be administratively

withdrawn or withdrawn in any other manner consistent with the policies of Sinclair Community College. 

 

Student Conduct:

Any student found in breach of Sinclair Community College’s Student Handbook may be administratively withdrawn or withdrawn in any other manner consistent with the policies of Sinclair Community College.

Any student whose conduct is disrespectful and/or aggressive and/or violent toward a professor and/or student and/or creates a detrimental learning environment for the professor and/or other students may be administratively withdrawn or withdrawn in any other manner consistent with the policies of Sinclair Community College and the Student Handbook.

 

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism, the misuse of source materials involving greater or lesser amounts of copying, is unacceptable in student work. A grade of zero credit, "F," will be assigned to the student’s work product.   In addition, any student who plagiarizes or misrepresents his or her work or engages in dishonest behavior as relates to his or her work may be administratively withdrawn or withdrawn in any other manner consistent with the policies of Sinclair Community College.

There are a variety of types of plagiarism; common types include:

  1. Student submits a paper wholly or in substantial part using the exact phrasing of source material. In-text parenthetical documentation and quotation marks fail to make clear the degree of borrowing.
  2. Student submits a paper closely paraphrased from source material, i.e. the original source material is simply edited with perhaps minor word changes occurring. There is an absence of reorganization of the source.
  3. Student submits a paper closely paraphrased from source material, splicing together sentences from scattered segments of the original. Phrasing of the original is little, if any, changed. This constitutes patchwork plagiarism, whether documented or not, unless direct quoting has been indicated.
  4. Student submits a paper written or dictated by another student, a spouse, or colleague etc.
  5. Student uses an online translation machine (such as Babelfish) to translate entire sentences. 
  6. Student copies source material in its entirety or using condensation method of paraphrase (b above). Dummy documentation to nonexistent source material is sprinkled throughout the essay to give the appearance of bona fide scholarship.

 

A Special Rule for Learning Languages

            In language classes, you are often asked to share personal information in small groups.  Topics may include talking about your family, your interests, past activities, where you live, etc.  If you don't feel comfortable divulging personal information to someone you don't know very well, make something up!   We are not going to call your grandfather to see if he actually water-skis, has a mohawk hair-cut, and plays the bandoneón.  As long as it is grammatical, makes sense, and is good-natured, no harm is done in being creative!  

 

¿Algo más?

            I am at your service and willing to discuss and aspect of the course, any issues, and any concerns you have.  Given that Spanish is the primary language of instruction, I will not always be able to answer your questions in English during class time.  However, I am available to you during my office hours, by phone, and by e-mail.  If you need to meet with me outside of my office hours, please contact me to arrange an appointment.