revised
for Fall 2010
wip
My Dear Friends,
This
guide is designed to answer questions you may have about Spanish 204
procedures. Our policies are somewhat different from those used in Spanish 101,
102, 105x and 203. Please read over the following material and familiarize
yourself with the approach used in Spanish 204 before the first day of class.
For more information, visit the course home page at http://sakaipilot.unc.edu/ If you are not
enrolled in the Spanish 204 site by August 1, contact me: Bill Maisch mailto:maisch@unc.edu
WHAT'S NEW IN SPAN 204?
TWO VERY
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES: We will be using a
wonderful new textbook, Anda Intermedio (and Letras literary
supplement); AND, I will have two co-coordinators: Hélène de Fays and Alicia
Ingram Shade, who together will have complete responsibility for some
major areas of coordination (briefly, Hélène is responsible for planning,
syllabus and all exams and Alicia for various pedagogical areas such as MSL,
lesson plan help, peer class evaluations (&/or video), student evaluations,
etc.). Are you are wondering why we suddenly
will have two co-coordinator lecturers, if this will be a substantive change,
and how it will effect you? It will
be a substantive change because it is a necessary one, and one that will help
us all. It is necessary because I will be
teaching an additional class each semester and can only afford to spend about
half the time that I have been coordinating.
I want, and have always wanted, to teach a bit more and coordinate a bit
less, so I am extremely happy about this change. I am also extremely lucky to have THE best two people imaginable
for doing extra Departmental service in major areas of SPAN 204
coordinating. Most of you know them,
and know that this is not an exaggeration.
WHERE YOU CAN YOU FIND & POST TO SHARE LESSON PLANS, QUIZZES, AND POWER POINTS FOR EVERY DAY OF THE SEMESTER????
Instructor resources at your MySpanishLab.com (MSL) include lesson
plans, power points, and quizzes. We will also start archiving your personal
plans and quizzes in a special place to share with fellow instructors:
on-line instructors’ by Spanish 204 instructors will be available at
Sakai’s “Recursos Profesores” site (https://sakaipilot.unc.edu/xsl-portal/site/ea9d8302-856b-4ea6-9bd4-fcc146b960d3). Please
send your own contributions to this site throughout the semester to Alicia
Ingram Shade, and let her know if you need to be enrolled in this site..
UPDATE: We will probably be showing the 204 required
film Crónica de una fuga (Argentina 2007), in HM 100
at 4:00 on September 22 -- date will not be confirmed until the second week of
class due to University scheduling norms.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TEACHING SPANISH 204 WITH ANDA INTERMEDIO
This will be our first
semester with Anda Intermedio, and we coordinators have the greatest
expectations for a highly successful and rewarding semester for all. Those of you who have taught 101 or 102 with
Anda Elemental, will already be familiar with MySpanishLab (MSL).
Those who have not used MSL are in for a very pleasant surprise. Having worked with QUIA for student
homeworks will help as the two are somewhat similar. Alicia has prepared all of the suggested homework assignments in
MSL in two templates, one for MWF classes and another for classes meeting on
T/R. Your section has been created from
the appropriate template, and comes pre-loaded with Alicia's suggested
assignments. I strongly encourage you to use these suggested assignments, which
will mean that the work of assigning was already done for you when your section
was created. (see it's already better
than QUIA) Alicia and I have both used
MSL, each of us for more than one semester, and we are looking forward to
helping all who are new to MSL. Having
used both QUIA and MSL, I personally find MSL superior in many ways, and know
that you will too once you get used to it.
This semester we will continue to require weekly student contributions in Spanish to an electronic class discussion forum
How to plan classes
Class time is primarily for speaking and listening practice. Students should be speaking as much as they are listening. They should be listening to each other as much as they are listening to you. Each student should be speaking in multi-sentence utterances every day in class, not just during group work and formal presentations, but also spontaneously as an individual to the whole group. It is essential from the very first day of class (when you may have students introduce themselves and each other to the class) that you establish that Spanish 204 is a class where students do most of the talking and your role is that of facilitator. While it is desirable to review some of the text exercises on structural points, the students get on-line feedback on their MSL computer-graded homework activities, and it is not appropriate to go over these activities in class.
What to assign for homework & how to grade it (please read with great care)
Your section in MSL comes preloaded with our recommended homework assignments for your students. Alicia has picked the very best activities for each lesson, and I have checked over them. We also tried to be very careful not to give you too much work that has to be instructor graded as many of us are teaching more than ever this semester. You may modify these assignments, but should remember that it is required in SPAN 204 that students do some open-ended (and unfortunately instructor graded) writing in each chapter. If you wish, you may modify the homework assignments in your own section of MSL and also assign graded homeworks outside of MSL, but you may not give students a homework grade in 204 that is based wholly on computer gradable exercises. Unless you have students that are better than any I have ever seen, your grading of the required open-ended writing homeworks will probably mean that no student gets a final homework grade of 100%!
Compositions and class presentations
Students will do both compositions out of class. Their course contract suggests that the first will be library or Internet research and the second independent research. You should tell your students that composition topics are their choice but should concern Hispanic culture as studied in the text, and their 5 minute+/- class presentation must be on the same topic. Composition due dates have been planned to give you enough time to return their graded compositions before their presentations. PLEASE BE SURE THAT YOUR STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE INFORMAITON ON HONOR VIOLATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS THAT CAN BE FOUND ON THEIR ON-LINE COURSE CONTRACT
On their final evaluations, students in most sections have consistently reported that class presentations were among the courses highlights. There are still six dedicated days on the (MWF) syllabus for class presentations allowing for two five-seven minute presentations for each student during the semester. Be sure to stress the importance of students holding their presentations to the five-seven minute limit.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS INSTRUCTOR
Follow the syllabus, course contract, and course policies. Although you have quite a bit of freedom to teach the course from day to day as you see fit, you are expected to closely follow the scope of the syllabus and the spirit of the course policies so that all the Spanish 204 students are treated in a similar manner.
Tend to your discussion group regularly (at least once every couple of days).
Attend all course meetings (please arrive on time and prepared to contribute). Please note that we have only three mid-semester general meetings, and your attendance at those three meetings is essential; write the dates on your agenda now!!!
1. Monday, August 23rd
1:30-3:00 in Gardner
0008: course overview;
coordinating this semester; where to find on-line resources; substitute
schedule; committee assignments: exam 1, exam and the final exam; additional
assignments. MSL introduction for your students; getting your discussion
forum set up and running. After our
meeting, Roxane Roberts from Pearson will be available in Dey 303 (3:15-4:30)
to help any who need extra support for MySpanishLab.com - Bring your laptops!!!
N.B. Instructors meet as necessary with your exam committee partners at your mutual convenience. / Exam 1 report via email by Sept. 4
2.
Thursday, Sept. 9 at 4:00 in room TBA: Exam 1 – written exam comments DUE before meeting;
semester-start issues; MSL; film; grading compositions, forum and
presentations.
3. Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. in
room TBA: Exam 2 – written exam comments DUE before meeting / mid-semester
evaluations
4. Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 4:00 in
room TBA: Final Exam & other
final assignments and procedures
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
AS INSTRUCTOR (continued)
Complete assignments for exams, and turn in grades punctually
Arrange for
your own substitutes except in a dire emergency. I will prepare a substitute schedule updated
on 204_professor_recursos @ Sakai. Please be sure to keep a printed
copy of the schedule at home.
One of the ways that make it
possible to not have many meetings in Spanish 204 is to rely heavily on email.
PLEASE check your e-mail & mailbox every day
before teaching for the day. We will do our best to send you important
memos well in advance, but sometimes this is not possible. We may need to rely
on the email system to get important information to you concerning teaching
activities for that very day.
Carefully proofread and comment exams when you receive the draft; you will generally have
a few days. Exam proofs will be sent to
you via email several days before your comments are due. PLEASE be very careful with exam proofs
(i.e. not to leave them where students might "find" them). You may make your comments due at the exam
meeting either via email or hard copy turned in to the exam committee before
the start of the meeting.
Contact me if you have
questions. Please check with me if you have any questions or doubts about
anything regarding Spanish 204. The best method to contact me is e-mail: mailto:maisch@email.unc.edu
N.B. Teaching Fellows: You
should know at the start of the semester that as course coordinator I must keep
careful record of how well you meet the “business” responsibilities above, and
at the end of the semester report my confidential evaluation of you to the
Director of the Spanish Language Program who in turn will use this information
in making teaching assignments for upcoming semesters.
Class visits:
I will be visiting the
classes of all new Teaching Fellows, and asking Alicia to help all “old” GTFs and lecturers to have a class
video-taped by flrc) or visited by a peer. I will also make
available the evaluation sheet that we use; read it and ask questions if there
is anything that you do not understand.
COMMITTEE & OTHER
ASSIGNMENTS FOR FALL 2010
Please refer to the Exam Guidelines in this guide before planning and working on a common exam with your committee.
Exam 1 committee: Martha Ruiz (chair), Britt Newman, Julián Díez Torres, and Ester Sánchez-Couto, email proof to all three days before meeting on Sept. 9
Exam 2 committee: Abel
Muñoz (chair), Carlos Abreu Mendoza, Neil Anderson, and Carrie Holland, email
proof to all three days before meeting on Oct. 12
Final Exam committee:
Sangsuk Kim (chair), María del Carmen Caña Jiménez, Jen Wooten, Martha
Alexander and Elise Harris, email proof to all three days before meeting
on Nov. 9
After committees are fully populated, the faculty member in each committee with the most experience in SPAN 204 will be designated as Exam Committee Chair, and as such be responsible for the quality, point count, formatting and consistency of the draft and final copy of the exam as well as the Study Guide to be published at the Course web page.
Film Organizer: Heather
Knorr (publiciy, study aids, venue, reservation, reserve copies at the UGL
Digital media, non-print and logistics) -- we are hoping for Crónica de
una Fuga in HM 100 at 4:00 on Wed. Sept. 22;
reservation cannot be made until Sept. 14.
Final exam make-up
proctor; MSL, Bb and e-testing help: Raúl Brown
204 Study Abroad Sevilla
Oral Testing Project (see Bill for details): Gosia Lee, Luis Marcelino Gómez
and Corina Dueñas
Bill: Course Coordinator
Hélène: Co-Coordinator
for Curriculum: Syllabus and Exams
Alicia: Co-Coordinator
for Pedagogy: MSL and Teaching
All SPAN 204 instructors,
lecturers and GTFs: if your assignment
is not already listed above, please contact Bill as soon as possible.
Spanish 204 at UNC
THE NATURE OF THE COURSE
The following is the revised course description of Spanish 204
Spanish 204 is a
fourth-semester (intermediate) Spanish language course designed to foster both
linguistic and cultural competency. The course approach is both
student-centered and content-based, incorporating development of basic language
skills for communication and the study of linguistic structures into the frame
of a course designed to develop student awareness of the Hispanic World.
Speaking
Spanish 204 classes are planned to allow ample opportunities for students to continue developing their speaking skill. Speaking activities are communicative as well as cooperative (pair and group work), and emphasize learning in context. They also foster critical thinking skills and the development of some basic speaking strategies such as circumlocution and rehearsed speech. By the end of the course students should be able to ask and answer questions in present, past, and future; state the main ideas and issues related to the Hispanic World studied in class, express and support opinions (from others and from themselves) expressed in or inferred from the material studied in class. In class, individual students should be speaking to the whole group in two and three sentence utterances daily.
Reading
The reading skill is
developed in Spanish 204 primarily through text readings that deal with
Hispanic culture including: profiles of Hispanics, Hispanic history, and
authentic literary and journalistic selections deemed appropriate for learners
of a second language. The course also increases student awareness of basic
reading strategies such as skimming for the gist and guessing meaning in
context. By the end of the course, students will be able to demonstrate that
they understand the main facts and opinions stated in the text materials.
Students will also be able to demonstrate that they can draw inferences from
readings at a similar level of difficulty to those done in the text throughout
the semester.
Writing
Writing is developed in
Spanish 204 primarily by guiding the students through writing as a process.
Students will be able to produce a reasonably grammatical and cohesive five or
six paragraph composition on a topic familiar to them, organizing their
thoughts and expressing them in a reasonably flowing style, using appropriate
conjunctions and other transitional devices. The composition is expected to
have the ideas and evidence clearly and succinctly presented; to have few, if
any, mistakes that obscure comprehension; and, it should read easily.
Students in SPanish 204 are
given additional "non-threatening" practice in writing by being
required to make weekly contributions in Spanish to an electronic class
discussion group for their section.
Listening Comprehension
Spanish 204 course
instructors and the audio-video components of the course text provide students
with multiple levels of authentic comprehensible input. By the end of the
course students will understand almost all, if not every word, of reasonably
authentic Spanish spoken at almost normal speed but slightly monitored (such as
that of TV newscast announcers); they will be able to understand enough to get
the gist of professional standard Spanish spoken at near-normal native pace;
and, they will be able to get the general idea of authentic native speech (such
as friends speaking in the street).
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES FOR INSTRUCTORS
The Foreign Language
Media Resources Center (Dey 104) offers a number of teaching aids for
classroom use: overhead projectors, CD and tape players, slide projectors, TV
monitors/VCRs, etc. In addition, they have audiocassettes, videos, and other
teaching aids.
Films in Spanish are also
available from the Institute for Latin American Studies and the University's
Non-Print Collection (in the House Undergraduate Library).
The Center For Teaching
& Learning provides instructional support material to all instructors
You may also sign up to have
someone from CTL come and videotape your class. If you decide to do this, it is
a good idea to make the appointment early and to check back with CTL a day or
two before the appointed day to make sure that they do in fact have someone
lined up to videotape your class. In
recent years, FLRC in DE has acquired flip-cams and also have assistants
available to video your classes. FLRC
also makes available to you and your students an excellent set of tutorial
tapes to introduce students and instructors to using MSL as well as other IT
requirements of the course. These are
available on line at flrcvideos.
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS
Encourage your students to
use the following resources. If possible, spend a class period in the computer
lab in order to introduce your students to the computer programs available.
The FLRC listening & computer lab in Dey 109 provides stations with tape players and headsets where students may log on to MSL and listen to the audio and other material that accompany the textbook. Even though the the audio are included in the MSL for each student and MSL and a personal laptop are required of all students, students may still choose to go to the lab to listen and work on their MSL assignments if they do not have a suitable place to work on their own laptop or are experiencing temporary difficulties with their own laptops.o listen to their tapes. Schedule of listening lab:
8 am - 10 pm Monday -Thursday
8 am - 5 pm Friday
7 pm - 10 pm Sunday
In addition, another
valuable resource is the tutoring sessions that meet in Dey Hall twice a
week sponsored by the student government. Soon after each semester begins, the
student government puts out a flyer that announces the days and times for these
sessions. When this information is available, please share it with your
students.
Course Organization
Please refer to the syllabus
and course contract on line at https://sakaipilot.unc.edu/xsl-portal/site/a9952894-c195-4286-9747-9a10e580e53f
to get an overall view of Spanish 204. Remind your students that the
syllabus is a legal, binding agreement/contract. You will hold them responsible
for following the terms listed. The policy governing each component of Spanish
204 is spelled out in detail in the pages that follow.
GRADING COMPOSITIONS
An appropriate grading rubric for Spanish 204 compositions, based on
100%:
Español 204 COMPOSICIÓN n._________________________________
1‑11=
suspenso (unacceptable); 12-13 = aprobado (satisfactory); 14-17=notable (good); 18‑20 = sobresaliente
(outstanding)
Communicative competence (60%)
1) level of sophistication (linguistic richness &
authenticity of syntax). (1-20)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 _____
2) richness & appropriateness of vocabulary;
(1-20)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 _____
3) grammatical accuracy (use of verb --tense,
person, mood--; adjective, article, noun, gender agreement) (1-20)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 _____
4) quality of research and appearance of copy
(appearance is neat, typed with accents) (1-20)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 _____
5) theme or cultural content and overall organization
(style, creativity, internal logic) (1-20)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 _____
_____=_____
Abreviaturas sugeridas para la redacción de trabajos escritos:
Ortografía ort
falta el acento o acento mal puesto ac
Puntuación
puntuación
equivocada, necesidad de puntuación P
Gramática
artículo equivocado Art
falta de concordancia (e.g., sustantivo-adjetivo) Con
pronombre equivocado, omitido o No necesario Pron
uso equivocado de ser-estar s/e
forma equivocada del verbo Vf
tiempo verbal equivocado Vt
modo verbal equivocado Vm
se requiere (o no) la "a" personal a-p
orden de palabras equivocado OP
fragmento frag
forma plural incorrecta pl
preposición equivocada, omitida o no necesaria prep
uso
equivocado de por-para p/p
Dicción/estilística
palabra o construcción inglesa ing
palabra
no apropriada o equivocada voc
Misceláneo
omitir o pensar en omitir x
insertar ^
significado obscuro ?
lógica defectuosa log
¡excelente!
*
Electronic Class Discussion Groups
his has been an assignment in Spanish 204 since we discontinued “dialogue journals” which we started on a student request to have more un-graded opportunities to write. These have many advantages over dialogue journals in notebooks. We will have a brief workshop following our opening course meeting.
Instructors may pose "questions" from time to time about issues related to our study of Hispanic Culture current events, elections, Hispanic art, the US and issues of historical and political debate, in order to stimulate and guide student input. Yes, you will have to spend time learning to administer and administering the discussion group, but I honestly believe that it will be less time with greater reward than what was necessary to do a proper job with the dialogue journal.
Quizzes
For your quizzes PLEASE try out on-line testing with Sakai (or Blackboard?). Many of us, including me, tried our quizzes this way with Blackboard in the spring semester of 2009 and found few problems with student access or comfort level. I am convinced that students like this better; it’s easier for us; it’s more secure; and, students also respect us for conserving natural resources (i.e. paper)
As you have read on the back of the syllabus, our policy on quizzes gives each instructor a lot of freedom to decide what to quiz and when. There are a few general guidelines that you should keep in mind when you make up your quizzes.
Give quizzes
frequently (I would recommend not fewer than 8 during the semester, but many may
wish to give shorter quizzes far more frequently). Instructors
who are new to Spanish 204: I would like to see a copy of the first couple of
quizzes that you are planning to give well before you need to have them run.
Make the quizzes no longer
than 15 minutes.
If you are not quizzing on line with bb, consider having your students use their own paper and using transparencies or putting the information they need for the quiz on the board.
Vary the type of material
tested.
Many instructors like to
drop the lowest quiz grade. I usually do this in my own class. I do not,
however, feel that it is appropriate to drop more than one quiz, nor is it appropriate to have fewer than six quiz grades for
each student by the end of the semester.
Please remember to share your quizzes with other instructors by sending them to
Alicia or posing them directly on the 204 Recursos Instructores
There will be two hour exams
and a final exam // all instructors of SPAN 204 that do not have coordinating
responsibilities will work with a committee on one of the exams
Exam guidelines -- A guide to exam preparation in SPAN 204 (the 13 commandments)
All hour exams in Spanish
204 must have a listening comprehension part that will be given the class day
before or the day after the written exam in MWF classes,
1. Be sure exam has a single, strong, logical, and interesting overall context.
2. PLEASE avoid as much as possible fill-in-the-blank and matching vocabulary
and structure (grammar) exercises. Remember that real language is always
used in meaningful contexts. In intermediate language courses students
should be asked to deal only with real and meaningful language. When
there is a focus on structure or vocabulary, try to ALSO synthesize culture and
language so that students are making meaningful utterances of more than just a
word or two. Always head the section of the exam according to the
context NOT the linguistic focus of the section (In other words, head the
section "Día de Acción de Gracias en Nueva York" NOT
"vocabulario" or "gramática" or "pretérito o
imperfecto.")
3. Every part of the exam (including those that focus on names, dates, history,
facts) must also be about language. In other words, please do not
ask students to do exercises that are mere matching or fill-in or
multiple-choice that involve names, dates, years, etc.
4. Including the place for student answers to the
listening comprehension, the HOUR-exams (aka 2 mid-terms, exámenes
parciales) MUST fit on 4 pp so they can be run on two sheets front
and back; finals can be up to 6 pp total to run on three sheets front and
back. We cannot exceed these
limits as doing so would violate Departmental norms for the conservation of
paper.
5. It's good to include graphics that help students instantiate context as long
as they are not too large and do not have large black areas.
6. There must be a running footer on each page that has exam name, course
name and page number, for example examen 2, Español 204, p 1 of 4, 2 of 4, etc.
7. All 204 exams must have a significant essay-writing activity, to be added during exam by each individual instructor.
At least two choices should be given from which students will pick one. The
final exam should have a reading that is appropriately long and difficult. Remember
that students have three hours for a final exam. If class is primarily for
speaking and listening, exams are primarily for reading and writing, and a
problem that I continue to see with some Intermediate final exams is that the
level of work in writing and reading is way below what the students
should be capable of in Intermediate Spanish. I think that this is partly
because we are accustomed to planning hour-exams that students have to take in
50 minutes; we forget that as the final exam is three hours, a story of several
pages (10 pt if necessary, with glossed vocabulary) AT the level of the
reading they do in the text throughout the course would be more appropriate
than the two and three paragraph watered-down readings we have been using on
some final exams.
8. Remember that it is NOT necessary that every set of thematic vocabulary and
point of structure (grammar) in the text be tested on the exam. Not only
is it unnecessary, but it is simply not possible given the constraints of time
and resources. Neither is it
"unfair" to students who may have studied something that it not on
the exam. Lif is often about studying
for something that's not on the "exam." ;-)
9. Be sure that spaces are
large enough for student responses. Also remember that students must be
able to take the written exam in a 50 minute class.
10. Be sure that instructions to students are clear; models should be given
for every activity.
11. Put point values for sections and individual questions on the exam.
12. Double check to see that the points add up to 100, 200 for final exams.
13. Don't forget to do a study guide for the course
site. Do it as an html document (web page) and when it's been
double checked for vocabulary and culture against the final version of the exam
and the text, email it to Spanish 204 Webmaster to publish.
Participation /
Attendance Grade
The participation /
attendance grade is worth 10% of the final grade. This grade incorporates
attendance and participation. In the past some instructors have been reluctant
to assign anything less than 100% as the class participation grade to the
majority of their students, i.e. those who did not have excessive absences.
Please resist this temptation. The following suggestions may help you to view
this part of the overall grade more objectively.
For participation: give a
10 to the student that volunteered as much as possible without dominating the class; spoke Spanish at every chance; group work excellent. Performance above expected level.
9 to the student that volunteered very frequently; excellent group work; tried his/her best to say it in Spanish; performance at expected level.
8 to the student that volunteered frequently; good group work and in-class use of Spanish. Performance at expected level.
7 to the student that rarely volunteered; spoke only when called on; used English; yawned audibly. Performance slightly below expected level
6 to the student that was present in class but unwilling or unprepared to participate; hardly spoke Spanish; lack of attention.
5 or less to the student that was uncooperative and/or insisted on speaking English.
Remind any student who
starts to miss a lot of class of the course policy regarding excessive absence
on the course contract. ONE of the ten percentage points for participation will
be deducted for each excessive (more than 3 in MWF, 2 in TR classes) unexcused
absence. An unexcused absence is one about which the student either says
nothing to you or offers an excuse that you think is not valid. University
policy demands that you excuse athletic teams on the road and religious
observance; common sense demands that you excuse serious illness and death in
the family; as for other excuses they are left to your discretion. I do
not feel that oversleeping and working on papers for other courses are valid
excuses for missing class. If you like, you can ask for my opinion on whether
or not an excuce seems valid.
Policy on excessive lateness to class
Or on-line course contract
has a new policy on excessive lateness that states: “Lateness to class: Also
note that if you are late to class three times (twice in TR), it will count as
an unexcused absence (and six times = 2 unexcused absences, etc). If you
have extenuating circumstances that may make you late to class frequently, you
need to inform your instructor as soon as possible.” This has been added
for your convenience if you have a student who is habitually late to class
without a valid excuse. It has been worded so that you do not HAVE to
penalize students who have a valid excuse for lateness such as having a class
right before yours in a far distant location.
More about Homeworks (???)
This semester your MSL section will have one open-ended writing activity for each text chapter. If you unassign any of these in your section, be sure that you replace it with your own open-ended writing, graded homework; at the end of the semester your grade sheet should not show a lot of 100% homework averages. In addition to these required homeworks, each course instructor may make his or her own homework assignments. I think it is essential to see a sample of your students' writing as a homework before the first out-of-class composition in order to clarify your expectations, get a sense of the class's abilities, and identify any students who may have serious difficulties with writing. You should announce to your students ahead of time when a homework will be graded. No number of graded homeworks is specified on the course contract but I strongly recommend that you have no fewer than seven during the semester.
Presentation or Informe
On the
days (MWF) dedicated to presentations 5-8 students will each give a 5-minute
presentation related to their research paper "compositions." In order to prepare the students as to your
expectations for the presentation, share with them the following guidelines.
It's a good idea to insist that students meet with you in the office prior to
their presentation so that you can help them avoid grammatical errors in their
text and help guide them toward a presentation that will be worthwhile for the
whole class. These questions can serve as a check list for students as they
prepare their presentations:
1. Topic for discussion
a. Is it a succinct presentation of their composition?
b. Is it relevant, interesting, and/or thought-provoking?
2. Quality of presentation
a. Are you well-informed about your topic?
b. Do you present the materials freely, not relying on copious notes?
c. Can you help classmates who cannot understand or follow discussion?
d. Can you effectively encourage discussion (are you trying a variety of techniques to motivate your classmates to participate?)
3. Use of the language
a. Is your Spanish grammatically correct?
b. Is your Spanish well-pronounced?
c. Are you presenting new
terms and concepts to your classmates before beginning discussion?
NOTE: I had the best presentations ever last
spring semester in mt 204 class. I told
students, and I suggest you do the same, that "ANYONE who
"appeared" to be READING his/her presentation or even
"part" of his/her presentation, could NOT expect to make a higher
grade than D (60%)" I then used
FLRC videos to show them a few from the semester before: some good, some OK,
some outstanding, NONE READ. It worked! I cannot recommend this too highly. I have the flrc compete set from spring to validate
my claim. One student made a C- last
semester, he was not well prepared but he stood out in the middle of the
classroom with absolutely nothing in his hands or on the screen and spoke
spontaneously as best he could.
The following is the grading rubric for presentations:
Español 204 - informe n. ________________________________
1) Fluency and pace; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 _______
2) Accuracy and richness
of detail of cultural content; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_______
3) Comprehensibility; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_______
4) Grammatical accuracy; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_______
5) Pronunciation. 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10_______
Total = _______ x 2 = ______% = _____
Section 2: Meeting Course Objectives in Spanish 204
After the fourth semester of Spanish at UNC, students will be able to go far beyond using Spanish in "survival" situations (ordering food, giving directions, etc.). Share these objectives with students as part of the course introduction. They will be able to:
1. state (orally and in writing) the main facts and opinions from an oral or written passage or video selection;
2. draw some inferences from an oral, written, or video selection;
3. state (orally and in writing) facts about any Hispanic country studied (location, capital, government, economic activities, political and social issues, world-renown figures and their noteworthy contributions to society);
4. state cultural similarities and differences among different Hispanic groups, and between the student's cultural background and other cultural practices in the Hispanic world; and,
5. state and support their
opinions about the issues presented in class.
The role of grammar in and out of class
I am still enthusiastic about the concept of a communicative language course, one in which the major responsibility for grammar review lies beyond the classroom. Remember that all First-Year student sections will not have had 203 here and need extra orientation.
Make it very clear to your
students on the first day of class that there are comprehensive grammar
explanations in the textbook and in MSL and that you expect each student to
spend time carefully reading, studying, the explanations and doing the
exercises. It is the responsibility of each student to do the grammar
assignments carefully and to ask questions in class if something is not clear.
PLEASE avoid giving in to your students if they constantly try to get you to give lengthy grammar explanations in class.
Be aware of the fact that
your Spanish 204 section(s) will have students that come from very different
backgrounds. Some come from programs that emphasized grammar and reviewed it
frequently in class. Others may be shaky on very basic grammar points. It is up
to you to be sensitive to the needs of your students. It's very possible that
it will be necessary for you to assign additional grammar exercises. If you
notice, for example, that most of your students constantly misuse personal pronouns. BE sure on the first
couple of days that ALL your students KNOW about the glossary AND tutorials AND
e-text as well as extra practice available to them at MSL!!!
The four basic skills and class time
Reading and writing
Reading and writing are major components in Spanish 204. We ask that the students read a lot of material on their own outside of class so that they are then able to work with the reading in class with their peers.
At the beginning of the semester you will want to introduce reading strategies to your students. Stress the importance of pre-reading activities. Before they dive into the actual text, they should stop to do things such as look at the title, look at the pictures/drawings, and read information about the author, if it is provided. They can also skim the text looking for key words and ideas. These are all tools that will help students gain confidence and understand the reading.
English
speakers face many challenges when they sit down to write a composition in
Spanish. The following is a useful tool that may avoid some of the most common
mistakes that we see. Please feel free to share it with your students:
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TROUBLE SHOOTING (suggestions)
Prepositions with Verbs
Remember:
The use of prepositions differs considerably in Spanish and English. Some verbs
that do take prepositions in English do not in Spanish, e.g., mirar (to
look at) pedir (to ask for). Conversely, certain verbs
that do not require prepositions in English do in Spanish: asistir a (to
attend), entrar en (to enter).
Articles
1. Subjects in Spanish almost always take a definite article, especially to begin a sentence.
2. otro = other, another; thus, the indefinite article (un/una) never precedes otro;
3.
Many words of Greek origin ending in -ma, -pa, and -ta are
masculine despite the final a. Common examples: el problema, el clima,
el mapa, el poema, el poeta, el programa, el sistema,
el telegrama, and el tema. Other very common words with
irregularities in gender are el día and la mano.
False Cognates
False cognates such as realizar, embarazada, sensible, asistir, éxito, actualmente and aplicación have to be memorized.
A Personal
Whenever
the direct object is a person, a thing, or a place you wish to personify, it
must be preceded by the a personal. Exceptions: after the verb tener:
"Tengo dos hermanos" and when the person is hypothetical: "Busco
un estudiante que lo sepa todo."
Speaking
Most Spanish 204 students have the ability and the confidence to participate in classroom discussions. Your job as an instructor is to serve as the moderator. Your functions as a moderator will vary depending on the personalities of your students. Tailor it to fit the situation you find. You may have a student who is shy and needs encouragement to participate and another student that has a difficult time explaining his/her opinion so that other students understand and yet another student who wants to talk all the time. The whole group may have a tendency to wander away from the topic. You are there to facilitate the discussion by doing your best to make sure that every student has and takes advantage of the opportunity to participate.
Although we do not have a
pronunciation testing instrument in Spanish 204, pronunciation is still important.
Remember that some of your students are considering majoring or minoring in
Spanish. Do not hesitate to correct their pronunciation. You don't necessarily
have to correct every singe pronunciation error that you hear. If one student
has trouble with several sounds, bring them to the student's attention one at a
time so that he/she does not feel persecuted. Stress to your students on the
first day in a friendly way that you consider correct pronunciation a very
important part of class participation. Reassure them that you are there to help
them with pronunciation and that no offense should be taken if you correct them
in class. Please note that it is
always better to correct a student's pronunciation during your circulation when
they are working in small groups or pairs.
Listening comprehension
In the classroom, students are constantly sharpening their listening comprehension skills with various levels of culturally authentic comprehensible input. Because we conduct our classes in Spanish, they must focus on what they hear in order to participate and learn. In addition to classroom time.
There are several things that instructors can do to assist their students in this process. You can usually gauge the need to repeat or rephrase a statement by the look on the students' faces. If the majority look confused, explain yourself again, using slightly different words.
If you are giving directions for small group work, consider modeling with one student what it is you expect them to do. This will give the students the time they need to process all of the information they have received.
Remember that it is important for students to learn to accept various levels of authentic input. You, as instructor, must not let students demand that you consistently speak so slowly and deliberately that they can always understand all, or even most, of what you say. If you do not regularly speak at near normal pace and to expose them to other culturally authentic input, you will find that your students will inevitably complain that they cannot "understand a single word of" authentic input.