SINCLAIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Course Syllabus, Winter Quarter 2005
Spanish for Social Work & Outreach–
SPA 297
Instructor: Professor Derek Petrey E-mail: derek.petrey@sinclair.edu
Instructor's Office: 3232B Instructor Phone: 512-2092
Department Office: 3240 Secr.
Phone:(Mrs. Ginn) 512-2844
Course Information:
Division: Liberal Arts
and Sciences
Department: Humanities,
Government, and Modern Languages
Course Title: Spanish for Law
Enforcement
Course Number: SPA 297
Credits: 3 Credit Hours
of Electives in Humanities
Prerequisites: None
Co-requisites: None
Suggested: None
Course Description:
This course is designed for
the student interested in learning to speak with Hispanics in the professional
capacity of a social worker or outreach professional. Oral practice is stressed
and discussions center on the understanding of the language within its cultural
context. 240 minutes of supplementary
work will be required of the student.
The nature of this supplementary work will depend on the result of the
Learning Styles Assessment (see below), but may consist of any of the
following:
-attending cultural
presentations -going
to conversation tables
-interviewing native
speakers -attending
the language lab
-doing independent research -additional writing
activities
-service learning
opportunities
Course Objectives:
1. To apply rules of
pronunciation, grammar, and lexicon to unfamiliar material.
2. To internalize a large
amount of vocabulary and a number of different discourse functions that make it
possible to ask and answer simple spoken communications.
3. To understand and use the
following grammatical functions in a professional capacity: present tense,
imperative, imperfect, and preterit.
4. To understand some
cultural differences that may affect professional communication with Hispanics.
Upon Completion:
The student will have been
provided the knowledge & skills to:
- correctly pronounce the
Spanish alphabet & use it to spell common names.
- use common social work expressions
in Spanish
- work with numbers, days of
the week, and months of the year
- identify danger
expressions, parts of the body, job-related terminology
- use common expressions of
courtesy, emergency situations, managing crisis situations
- work with a report or related
social work/outreach form & generate a list of questions in Spanish that
could be used to help a native speaker of Spanish complete the form
- identify some basic hand
gestures & cultural expressions
Course Requirements
(Course Survival Skills):
The focus of this class is oral proficiency and the
assessments reflect that.
Every student is expected to
prepare ahead of time all of the homework assignments in the text so that
he/she may get the full benefit of the instructional activities in every class.
Depending on the results of the Learning Styles Assessment, your instructor may
provide a number of possible suggestions as to how you can best prepare for this
material.
We will cover approximately 1 lesson out of the main
textbook every class meeting. You should spend time outside of class previewing
the materials that will be studied. Also, due to the large amount of regular
and highly irregular action verbs, the author of this text will try to get you
to learn, you will have to spend a large amount of time out of class studying
them. Also, you will be expected to recognize and memorize the meaning of certain
cognate words that Spanish and English share.
Course Rationale:
This course is designed for people who want a
introduction to Spanish conversation without undertaking a university-parallel
series. Spanish is one of the
fastest-growing languages spoken in the
According to the American Council of Teachers of Foreign
Languages, it takes about 90 hours of instruction to advance a learner to an
Intermediate level of language proficiency in all 4 areas (reading, writing,
speaking, and listening). By focusing on
speaking proficiency in the limited contexts of your profession, it is possible
to make advances in less time.
According to the ACTFL,
intermediate speakers of a language are characterized the ability to:
• participate in simple,
direct conversations on generally predictable topics related to daily
activities and personal environment
• create with the language and
communicate personal meaning to sympathetic
interlocutors by combining language
elements in discrete sentences and strings
of sentences
• obtain and give
information by asking and answering questions
• sustain and bring to a
close a number of basic, uncomplicated communicative
exchanges, often in a
reactive mode
• satisfy simple personal needs
and social demands to survive in the target lan-
guage culture
Calculation of course grade:
Component points
(out of 1000) % of total grade
Inventory of Learning Styles
25 2.5%
Independent Study Contract 75 7.5%
Vocabulary Quizzes (2) 100 (50 each) 10%
Written Homework (5) 100 (20 each) 10%
Individualized Professional
Survey 200 20%
Mid-term Assessment 250 25%
Final Assessment 250 25%
Inventory of Learning Styles (25 points)
Each student will take the
Learning Styles Assessment given on the webpage for the class. These Assessments will be used to generate a
list of Individualized Learning Goals.
Each student will be responsible for making an appointment with the
instructor after having taken the LSA.
You can find these assessments on the my.Sinclair webpage
Independent Study Contract (75 points)
Each student will be
responsible for 240 minutes of supplementary work outside of class.
The nature of this
supplementary work will depend on the result of the Learning Styles Assessment
(see below), but may consist of any of the following:
-attending cultural
presentations -going
to conversation tables
-interviewing native
speakers -attending
the language lab
-doing independent research -additional
writing exercises
-service learning
opportunities
Vocabulary Quizzes (50 points each)
Quizzes will involve three
sections: selection of vocabulary by category, short answer, and
dictation. The first quiz will focus on
words from Ch. P, 1, & 2 and the second on words from Ch. 12, 17, & 18.
Written Homework (100 points)
These will be assigned from
the textbook & turned in for a grade.
Students should turn these assignments in on time. Late assignments will be accepted only at the
instructor's discretion.
Individualized Professional Survey (200 points)
Students will bring in a
form from their workplace that is commonly used for applicants. If students do not currently work in a social
work / outreach setting, it is their responsibility to contact an outreach agency
and find a form that they would typically fill out in the course of their
normal duties. The form must have at least 10 fields of information that
an interviewee would provide. Each
student will work with the instructor's guidance to develop a list of questions
that can be used to elicit the answers necessary to complete the form.
●The form is due on week 3. (50 points for finding
& turning in the form)
●The rough draft of the list of questions is due on week 6. This will be accompanied by a
sound recording of the student reading those questions.
(75 points for turning in
both components)
●The final version of the list of questions is due on week 9.
This will be accompanied by a new sound recording of the student reading
the revised list of questions. (75
points for turning in both components)
Mid-term and Final Oral Assessments (250 points each)
The oral assessments are
simulation exercises that will be used to evaluate the student's ability to
converse in Spanish with a native speaker.
A native or near-native speaker will interact with the students in a
conversation. The student will act out
the role of a social worker engaging in dialogue with a Hispanic citizen.
The criteria of evaluation
will be: pronunciation, appropriate content, appropriate engagement of the
speaker, comprehension of the information obtained as a result of the
conversation, and professional deportment.
Required Attendance Policy:
Due to the highly
interactive nature of the learning process that is needed to master a foreign
language, your attendance and participation is expected in all classes!
-Two absences will drop your earned grade average 5% (one half of a letter grade).
-Three absences will drop your earned grade average 10% (one letter grade).
-No student who misses 4 or more classes under any circumstances, excused or otherwise,
will be allowed to pass the class.
You may excuse up to three absences
only by discussing them with the instructor and by handing in all of the
homework assignments covered in class on the days of the absences in writing.
All of these assignments are due in within one calendar week of the absence. No
missed assignments will be accepted any later than the last week of classes.
Required Text:
-Spanish for Social Services,
Jarvis & Lebredo, Houghton Mifflin, 6th Ed.
(0-395-96302-8) [available in bookstore]
Optional texts and ancilliaries:
-Spanish Phrasebook for Law
Enforcement & Social Services Professionals
(0-395-96310-9) [should have
been bound with textbook if bought new]
-Spanish for Social Services
audio [available for use in Language Lab]
(AUDIO CDs 0-618-03234-7)
(Cassettes 0-395-96343-5)
-Spanish for Gringos Level
II [available in bookstore].
A non-required but highly recommended text:
Almost every student will
benefit from purchasing an adequate Spanish/English, English/Spanish bilingual
dictionary. An adequate bilingual dictionary is one that includes a minimum of
60,000 to 80,000 entries. Some good ones
are produced by Langenscheidt, AMSCO, Vox, and the
The Modern Languages Lab (Room 2321) has:
-“on the shelf” copies of the CDs that accompany the
textbook used in class
-a fast connection to the
Internet and to an on-campus multimedia “server”.
- access to DVD, CD ROM,
Microsoft Word 7.0, Powerpoint, Excel, and Iomega Zip Drives from the computer
workstations.
-access to ONE free copy of
any Web page, Microsoft Word document, or any Powerpoint presentation they need
for any modern language project. Extra
copies should be duplicated by the students in the Learning Resources Center
(LRC) on the lower level of campus.
-new software packages and
streaming multimedia will be added quarterly to the lab. You will be given a guided tour of the
language lab on the first day of class.
Other types of reference materials:
Many other types of
bilingual dictionaries, tapes, records, full length feature video-taped movies,
novels, short stories, comic books, and a variety of other materials to
supplement your study of Spanish are available in the Learning Recourse Center
(LRC), located on the lower level of the campus. Look in the SUBJECT CATALOGUE
under SPANISH for a complete listing of these materials.
Make-up examinations:
Examinations should be made
up no later than one week after the date on which it was taken in class. These exams are permitted only at the
instructor's discretion.
Institutional Policies:
All other student
regulations are contained in the Student Handbook for this academic year. It is
available from the Student Activities office in Building 10. Please consult
this document to receive all updated information on all topics of interest to
you.
Other information:
If you have any questions
about any other aspect of this course, or any questions about anything written
above, please contact me before or after class, or make an individual
appointment with me at a time mutually convenient to both of us. Thank you. I
hope this turns out to be both a challenging and profitable course for you.
Professor Derek Petrey, Sinclair
Community College.
Week Day Chapter Assessments & grammatical topics
1 JAN 3 P Intro,
Learning styles assessment, SER
Greetings, introductions,
sounds of Spanish
2 JAN 10 1 ESTAR, continuous actions,
question words
Writing names, taking
personal information, numbers 1-10
3 JAN 17 2 NO CLASS: Martin Luther
King Day
[Students will be
responsible for vocabulary from ch. 2]
4 JAN 24 2
& 3 Vocab Quiz #1,
TENER, Present tense
Living
arrangements, family, numbers 1-100, calendar
5 JAN 31 3
& 5 VENIR, Helping verbs:
making requests
Putting sentences
together, making comparisons
6 FEB 7 5 & 8 Negatives & polite commands
Midterm
assessment: a client interview
7 FEB 14 12 past
tenses: imperfect
Body parts,
mistreatment of a child
8 FEB 21 17 past tenses: preterit
Clothing, medical
terminology
9 FEB 28 18 combining past tenses
Sex, drugs, and
other personal problems
10 MAR 7 - Vocab
Quiz #2, review
Controlling
the conversation; crisis situations
F MAR 14 - Final assessment
Final assessment:
Getting a client history