Mr. Pozas

Valley High School

Advanced Placement Spanish Language

(Español Avanzado)  

School Year 2009-2010

Maestro:                       Harry H. Pozas

Contacto:                     505-345-9021 Ext. 82183

Correo Electrónico:      pozas@aps.edu

Sitio Web:                    http://teacherweb.com/

Estimados padres y estudiantes:

BIENVENIDOS al hermoso mundo del español. Mi nombre es Harry H. Pozas y estoy muy contento y orgulloso de ser el maestro de la nueva clase de Español Avanzado  durante el año escolar 2009-2010 en el Valley High School. Soy de Chile por lo tanto el español es mi lengua nativa y espero que mis estudiantes tomen ventajas de tener un maestro que habla el español y que les enseñe a perfeccionar el idioma tanto en su discurso (forma de hablarlo, uso de vocabulario académico), como en su expresión escrita (estructura, gramática, estilos académicos). Su ayuda y colaboración en calidad de padre es indispensable para asegurar que su hijo (a) tenga un gran éxito en esta clase. Por favor lea la información de este nuevo curso y al final firme y corte el talón de la carta y regreselo con su hijo (a) a más tardar el viernes 25 de septiembre del 2009. Si tienen alguna duda o no entienden la información escrita en inglés, favor de contactarse conmigo o bien, visitar mi clase durante el horario que corresponde.

Gracias por su tiempo.

Harry H. Pozas

Ph.D. in Education

Licensure # 273906 Level III A: Instructional Leader and Administrative with endorsement in Social Studies, Modern and Classical Languages, and Bilingual Education.

AP Spanish Language Syllabus

COURSE OVERVIEW

1. Description:

This AP Spanish Language course is conducted completely in Spanish in all formal and informal daily communications in order to build students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in the target language. Students are encouraged throughout their AP Spanish studies to practice their Spanish language consistently with teachers, peers, and outside the school with family members, friends, or special Spanish speakers groups/organizations. The course is organized upon three AP recommended textbooks where students are exposed to the target language using authentic written texts, audio-visual media, and interpersonal and presentational speaking and writing practices.  

2. Objectives:

Speaking: Students will improve their ability to comprehend formal and informal spoken Spanish. Students will be able to handle formal and informal conversations, lectures, and oral presentations using academic vocabulary and grammar rules. Controversial topics will be promoted in order to spark conversation and discussion.    

Listening: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of audio sources. They will be capable to identify and summarize significant information and make inferences and predictions from a spoken sources related to the Spanish speaking world such as films, videos, songs, broadcast news, etc.

Reading: Students will acquire meaningful vocabulary which allows them to read magazines, newspapers, stories, and other pertinent written documents. Students will broaden their comprehension skills of written and aural material. This process will be emphasized through identify and summarize the main points in their readings.

Writing: Students will increase and refine their written presentational skills in formal and informal contexts using a variety of authentic sources. Students will improve their ability to write expository passages via journals, reviews of passages read, letters and essays.                                                                                                                                                                     

COURSE OUTLINE

This course outline had been structured according to the following recommended AP textbooks:

a) AP* SPANISH PREPARING FOR THE LANGUAGE EXAMINATION THIRD EDITION. This book offers practice with aspects of Spanish language learning from which any student can benefit by reinforcing the skills necessary for successful communication and understanding of texts.

b) ABRIENDO PASO: LECTURA. It contains a large selection of short stories, poetry selections, and printed media articles by writers from Spain, Latin America, and the United States. Teachers can choose the chapters and exercises that are most appropriate for students.

c) ABRIENDO PASO GRAMATICA. It is an independent grammar book in which grammar is not an end in itself, but rather a tool for communication.

d) TRIANGULO. It is considered a complementary textbook that will be used to provide students with extensive vocabulary and examples of essays that students can use to practice writing.  

In addition, and because the use of the same based textbooks, this course outline had followed similar breakdown of the sections in each textbook proposed by the instructor Sheldon Ormsby, Mililani High School.

TENTATIVE AGENDA 2009-2010

FIRST SEMESTER (Week 1-9) August 17 to October 9

FIRST SEMESTER (Week 10-18) October 12 to December 11

SECOND SEMESTER (Week 1-9) January 5 to March 5

SECOND SEMESTER (Week 10-18) March 8 to May 14

COMPLEMENTARY LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

Use of computer/internet: Students will have the opportunity to use computer lab twice a month to search internet for activities such as in-class writing, research, and presentation. Keyboard will be set-up in Spanish in order to let students to practice Spanish accents and punctuation.  

Independent study: Each student will choose one independent study to complete during the semester. The study will be related to a social, economic, political, historical, cultural, or artistic event of interest in the Spanish-speaking world. The result of this study will be an essay where originality, presentation, and syntax will be considered the critical components for evaluation.

Critical Writing: Students will make journal entries every two weeks. They will be provided with articles from authentic sources related to currents events and/or controversial topics. Students have to read the article and write in their journal their critical reaction/opinions about what they have read. Content, organization, vocabulary and grammatical accuracy will be some of the criteria for formal evaluation.

“Las Noticias” (as an integrative language skill activity):  Every two weeks students will be randomly selected to inform to the whole class about an important news event of the week that occurred in the Spanish-speaking world.  Students should present it orally making reference to the authentic material selected for it. Presentation will not be longer than ten minutes. Open discussion will follow the presentation. Students should write down what they learned along with their personal reaction/critiques about the news event.

STUDENT MATERIALS:

1.      One inch 3-ring binder with pockets

2.      Set of dividers (at least 4)

3.      Writing implements (pen, pencil, paper, etc.)

4.      Spanish Dictionary

COURSE EVALUATION

This process include different formative and summative evaluation activities such as quizzes, written and oral tests, oral presentation, role playing, note taking, essays, online and bibliographical researches, journal, etc.  Student grades will be determined using the following percentage categories:

a) Homework/Daily Grades 40%

Homework assignments include workbook pages, written assignments, and worksheets. Daily grades are assignments done in class, such as warm-ups, worksheets, group presentations, participation activities, communicative activities, etc.

b) Assessment/Projects/Journal/Quizzes 40%

Assessments include tests, oral exams, individual oral presentations, writing assessments, etc. Tests/Exams will be announced at least a week in advance. Projects could be individual or group project based assessments done and may include group presentation, online and bibliographical researches, class discussions or community activities involvement. Quizzes can be announced or unannounced at various times throughout the semester.

c) Final Exam/ Independent study 20%

Final Exam count 10% of the overall average for the course and includes portions of the previous AP Exams. The other 10% represent the final inform of the student’s independent study. 

RESOURCES:

a) Textbooks

Díaz, José, Nadel, María and Stephen, Collins (2007). Abriendo Paso: Lectura. Boston, IL: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Díaz, José, Nadel, María and Stephen, Collins (2007). Abriendo Paso: Gramática. Boston, IL: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Díaz, José, Leicher-Prieto, Margarita and Nissenberg, Gilda (2007). AP Spanish: Preparing for the Language Examination (3er.      Ed). Boston: Person Prentice Hall.

Gatski, Barbara and Mc Mullan, John (2006). Triángulo. A Propósito. (Cuarta Edición). MA: Wayside Publishing.

b) Website for news and information in Spanish

BBC Mundo:                           www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/Spanish/news/

El País:                                     www.elpaís.com/  

Radio Naciones Unidas:            www.un.org/redio/es/

CNN en Español:                     www.cnm.com/espanol/

Univison:                                  www.univision.com

Voice of America News           www.voanews

c) MP3 Files:

Pablo Milanes, Silvio Rodriguez, Joan Manuel Serrat, Victor Jara, Mercedes Sosa, etc.

--------------------------------------------Detach this portion of the syllabus and return it to the teacher---------------------------------------------

Parent/Guardian Information Questionnaire

Parent’s Name _________________________________________

Student’s Name ________________________________________

Relationship to Student __________________________________

Phone Number ________________ Email ________________________________

Does your student have access to a computer? : Yes_____No_____Internet? : Yes____No_____ Printer?: Yes_____No_____

I give my student permission to watch Spanish movies “PG13” or “R” with teacher’s supervision:  Yes____ No_____

Student Agreement

I have read the syllabus and understand all that is expected of me. I will work hard, be prepared, and be responsible for my own actions.

Signed ___________________________________________ Date__________

Parent Agreement

I have read the syllabus and understand all that is expected of my student. I will do my best to help my student be prepared for this class.

Signed ____________________________________________ Date__________