María Elena Doleman Fall 2001

Office: LDC 370 Phone: x4166 SPAN 204-04

Office Hours: MW 10:00-11:00

F by appointment

E-mail: mdoleman@carleton.edu

Course Objectives:

1. To be able to speak Spanish comfortably in a conversation.
2. To learn more about the Hispanic culture and to keep up with current events in the Hispanic world.
3. To read Spanish literature.
4. To improve writing.
5. To review the structure of the Spanish language
6. To learn more vocabulary.

Textbooks:

Fuentes: Conversación y Gramática, segunda edición

Fuentes: Lectura y Redacción, segunda edición

Fuentes: Activities Manual, segunda edición

Aproximaciones al estudio de la literatura hispánica, cuarta edición

Requirements:

The major requirements are:

1. Daily attendance and active class participation. Oral participation is crucial to successful language learning. Missing class will lower the grade. See note about the Romance Languages and Literatures Department Attendance Policy.
2. Dependable class preparation. Study grammar discussions and review exercises before coming to class. Read carefully the "lecturas" and be ready to discuss them in class. Not being prepared will lower the grade.
3. Watch videos outside of class. The videos are placed on reserve at the Modern Language Lab and will be shown there on Sundays. They can also be watched at any time if the Sunday schedule is not convenient.
4. There will be two mid-terms exams and some short quizzes on a specific grammar point.
5. Three compositions. Topics and format will be given.
6. Sometimes there will be readings from the WWW for class.

Suggestions to succeed in a foreign language class:

1. Study every day the assignments: readings and grammar. Do some of the exercises from the book and workbook to practice what you learned. The Activities Manual is mostly for your personal use. Some of the questions for the tests will come from this source.
2. If you feel that you need extra help, please don't hesitate to see me right away or as soon as you feel the need. Also, get a Spanish tutor.
3. The Language Lab is a place to visit regularly to do some of your assignments and as a study resource.
4. Practice speaking and listening outside the class. Attend the activities sponsored by the Spanish House.
5. Take notes in Spanish on the readings. Practice writing summaries of the readings in Spanish. Practice recording yourself as you talk about the readings or the oral presentations.

    

6. Reading: First, look for the main topic of the selection by reading the titles, the subtitles, and the first and final lines of each paragraph and by looking at the pictures or drawings. Next, read to get the general idea of each section without looking up each unknown vocabulary. Try to get the meaning from context, as you would do in English. Then, read it again and look up words that you still can't understand. Write the definitions in your notebook, not in the textbook. Since we will discuss the selection, try to anticipate questions for discussion.

Spanish House

You must attend at least two activities at the Spanish House. Write a summary of the activity and your involvement and hand in on days assigned.

Listening comprehension activity: You may choose among these activities:

1. Do chapters 7-10 of the Activity Manual: Lab Manual, 217-236. Hand in on assigned days.
2. Watch 4 extra movies or Spanish speaking programs. Write a summary. Hand in on assigned days.
3. Have breakfast with elementary school students at Greenvale Elementary school. Open every weekday. Volunteers eat a free breakfast while having a conversation with one or a group of students. You can volunteer once, once a week or every day. Transportation can be provided for groups of volunteers going on the same day. Vans leave from Sayles at 7:40 and arrive at Greenvale Elementary at 7:45. Breakfast included. For more information call the ACT office at x7020. Write a detailed report of the activity. Hand in on assigned days.

Oral reports

You will do one oral report of five minutes. It has to be related to the topics covered in the chapters. See what interests you and sign up for the day of those chapter presentations. You must check in the web for information, but at least one site must be in Spanish so that you may learn the vocabulary to use in the presentation. A copy of the article in Spanish and a basic outline of the presentation must be handed in to the instructor the day of the presentation. You may use some notes or power point to keep yourself on track while you present but absolutely no reading. Before the presentation, write on the board the title of the presentation, five key vocabulary words that you will use and a brief outline of the topics you will cover.

Compositions

You will write three compositions in this class. The first two will be of a minimum of 250 words and the last one of 350 words. One rewrite will be expected. There are some errors that will be heavily penalized in 204. You will be expected to check for them before you hand in the compositions. These are:

-spelling (check words in your book, dictionary and use the spell checker in the computer)

-English words (look words up in your dictionary)

-regular accent marks (check the rules)

-gender and number agreement between nouns and adjectives (e.g. el libro rojas instead of el libro rojo)

-subject and verb correspondence (e.g. ellos comíamos instead of ellos comían)

-regular and irregular present and preterite verb forms.

Policy on missed/late work, attendance and grade scale:

1. A one-class delay of work will result in a 25% reduction of the grade for that assignment. A longer delay will become an F.
2. You must contact me before a quiz or an exam if you are ill or there is an emergency. If necessary, leave a message in the answering machine or by e-mail. If I am not informed that same day, you will not be eligible to take a make-up quiz or exam. There are no make-ups for the final exam.
3. Attendance is required. Participation is 20% of your grade.

    

4. Attendance Policy: According to the policy of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, students may miss no more than five classes (exception: medical problems with a written notice from the Dean's office) and still be able to pass the course in the 101-204 language sequence. This is not to say that you are "allowed" five days off. Every unexcused absence will lower your grade.

    

5. RLL Grading Scale:

Course Evaluation:

25% Class participation (includes: attendance, active participation, conscientious

class preparation of all the material assigned, Spanish House, homework and pop quizzes)

5% Listening comprehension activity

10% Oral presentations

20% Three compositions

20% Two mid-terms

20% Final exam