Course Syllabus

 Santa Rosa Junior College
Spanish, World Languages Department

SPAN 1 Elementary Spanish-Part 1

Section 3423
Class: 8/18-12/9/2022
Final: 12/15/2022 
Location: One in-person meeting on Thursdays Emeritus 1523
Days/times: Th 3-5 p.m & online assignments /T small groups/ study hall 3-4  p.m., office hour before and after T class)

Instructor

Carla Musik
 cmusik@santarosa.edu
 

Welcome

¡Bienvenidos a la clase de español! Espero que les guste. Será un verdadero placer tenerlos entre nosotros. (If you understood this, you most assuredly should not be in Spanish 1).   If you are a heritage/ native Spanish speaker try Spanish 40 or Spanish 2.    You also can take the Spanish 1 Credit by Exam (CBE); I suggest you talk to a counselor.

If you've never had Spanish, or you had it a long time ago, or you had Spanish in high school but your teacher was really the tennis coach and she knew almost no Spanish, then this is the class for you. Welcome!

Description

Spanish 1 is a 4 unit course (P/NP option). Recommended completion of English 100B or equivalent. Not recommended for students with 2 years of high school Spanish within the last 3 years with at least a B average or Heritage/ Native Spanish speakers. Elementary listening, speaking, reading and writing in Spanish. Introduction to Spanish and Spanish-American culture. 

This course provides you with an introduction to Spanish language and culture with a strong emphasis on oral and written communication.

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course - given your wholehearted motivation and self-discipline - you can expect to attain the following abilities in Spanish: 

. Control in a more or less active fashion the simple present, present progressive and preterite tenses, including high-frequency irregular verbs, subject and object pronouns, and adjectives. 

. Initiate and maintain simple conversations in Spanish on everyday topics, formulating statements and questions in the present with beginning familiarity with the past. 

. Listen and comprehend short messages and general ideas expressed in spoken Spanish. 

. Pronounce intelligibly whatever you are able to say. 

. Write paragraph-length texts containing coherent descriptions of people, places, and everyday activities. 

. Produce such vocabulary as greetings, school-related items, family members, clothes, food, days, months, weather, clock times, numbers, colors, cognates and common verbs. 

. Read and comprehend the main ideas presented in simply written Spanish texts and magazine articles. 

. Gain cultural information and insights about the Spanish-speaking world as well as the distinctive assets and contributions of Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. 

. Derive enjoyment from experiencing the different outlooks and unique attitudes that are embedded in another language and culture. 

Content

We will be covering the first six lessons of the text- Vistas Volume 1, 6e.

 

Hardware and Software

To maximize your use of text-related materials, particularly the Vistas online Supersite, you should have high-speed internet access. If you don't have a suitable computer connection at home, you can borrow a laptop for the semester. You can also use the dialup links for phone access to zoom class meetings.

Textbook

We will be using Vistas, volume 1, 6e with loose leaf text with an access code for online activities.
The ISBN of the Vistas package is 
978-1-54330-675-0, the description being: 

VISTAS 6e  V1 LL/ Supersite Plus/ webSAM.

 You can buy the package from the bookstore.  BEWARE of buying a used book with an expired access code.  You will then have to purchase a new active code and may pay more altogether than for the new textbook package.

Before getting too far, take a few moments to read the To the Student section of the text. This will give you an overview of the layout of the book as well as introduce you to the resources available to you. 

Very significant to the Vistas package is the Supersite. In order to use the Supersite, you will need to set up your own account using the student access code which you will receive with your book. With the account you will have access to the lab and workbook exercises as well as a fully functional e-text so that you can see the entire textbook online. 

Vistas has provided you with lots of assistance so you can be pro-active in your own learning process. There are tutorials, additional self-correcting exercises, music, cultural videos, vocabulary flashcards and much more.  Students who learn to use the Supersite to their advantage love it. 

Grading

ATTENDANCE, PARTICIPATION, AND CLASS PREPARATION 
Attendance (100 points): 

Attendance is an exceedingly important component of this course since much of your learning will come from communicative activities in class. Please make every effort to arrive to class on time so that you don't miss introductions to the day's lesson. Attendance is recorded weekly. If you have an extraordinary situation requiring that you miss class, please let me know by email. We can't work together if you just disappear and resurface weeks later. After two absences, your attendance grade will be lowered by ten points per missed class. If you are absent, you are responsible for coming to class the next time prepared with any assignments completed. After three absences you will be dropped from the class, unless there is an emergency situation and the instructor has been contacted.

Participation (100 points): In class and assignments at home from the Supersite, textbook and Canvas conversation and writing prompts)

This is a highly interactive and collaborative class focused on developing your communication skills. Motivate yourself to be an active participant in individual, pair and group activities and to communicate in Spanish at all times. Ask questions if something is unclear to you and offer your best answer even if you are unsure. Making mistakes is a natural part of learning so don't let this inhibit you from speaking! 
Preparing for class is of critical importance to your learning and performance in this class. Preparing each lesson ahead of time will enable you to better understand the material we present in class and participate more effectively. Please see the assignment class schedule showing by date what we will cover in each class as well as the assignment to be completed by the next class. When preparing the lesson: 1) study the grammatical concepts and vocabulary using the Supersite and text materials and 2) review the material of the previous lesson. Plan to dedicate approximately one- two hours of preparation for each class. 

. In previewing you are responsible for active, focused reading of the explanations, dialogues, essays, etc., and answering questions and/or completing related exercises. You should keep these notes and exercises in a notebook. Don't rely on your memory! This way, you're prepared to participate intelligently in classroom practice and focus clearly on any difficulties that arise so that they may be resolved promptly and easily. Your notebook will be useful for reviewing for exams. Coming to class unprepared is a disservice to yourself and to your classmates. 

. Remember - you can review anything you need to, either by looking up a particular grammar point in your Vistas text or going online. The online resources referenced for this course offer many self-correcting exercises on a wide variety of topics. 

. How about forming a study group with your classmates via email, zoom, facebook or telephone?  As you know, with the technology available, there are a variety of ways to help each other. As students of SRJC, each of you is also entitled to an hour of individual tutoring each week - absolutely free through the SRJC Tutorial Center. 

 SUPERSITE Activities (Ss), Student Activity Manual (SAM), Tutorials

(300 Points) 

As we move through each lesson, you will be completing the corresponding SAM and tutorial tasks. They are found online-there is a dashboard when you log in from which you can get to all SAM, Tutorial and Supersite (Ss) activities. I have assigned them to reinforce the concepts we are covering in class. All online activities for a particular lesson are to be completed by the date posted for each week. 

That means that you should be doing some part of the SAM and Ss activities on a daily and weekly basis. 

 If there is something you don't understand or encounter a problem, leave a question for me and next time I log in I will answer it. You can contact Vistas at their Student Tech Support : 800-248-2813.

LESSON TESTS and WRITING (600 points)
There is a test after every lesson. Tests will be the Supersite Prueba de Práctica/ Practice Test online and include grammar, vocabulary, and cultural topics of the respective lessons, plus listening, and reading.  Each online test is worth 70 points.  The short writing assignment from the textbook recap section worth 30 points for each lesson is to be emailed through Canvas.  Each lesson online test and writing assignment will be worth a total of 100 points.

FINAL EXAM ( 200 pts.) 

The final exam will be cumulative, so a good strategy would be to review all old exams and related materials to help you study. 

EXTRA CREDIT ( to be determined)

There will be a few extra credit assignments during the semester.  These will be optional.  

Grading scale: A = 90-100% B =80-89% C=70-79% D=60-69% F = below 60%. P/NP requires at least C work. 
Total points possible-1300

Important things to remember

1. 
   If you both faithfully preview what we will be doing in class and review what we have already done, you will learn quickly and easily. If you are unclear about a concept, or wish to review something in class, please let me know. 
   
   2. Make use of the ancillary materials that come with your Vistas text. It is unlikely you will use everything provided; nevertheless, there is a variety of material for every learning style and you have the tools to take charge of your own learning process. 
   
   2. Active oral participation in class, breakout rooms and small group sessions will improve your listening and speaking skills. 
   
   3. Study and work effectively with other students during and outside of class. Find a study buddy or two.  You are eligible for help through the SRJC Tutorial Center.
   
   4. Plan on taking notes during class. Your brain, however agile, cannot hope to remember everything we talk about. 
   
   5. Don’t fall behind. It’s very hard to catch up in this class if you do. If you keep up with the assigned Supersite, Canvas work and textbook page activities you can easily earn a passing grade or higher in this class.
   
   6. If you need a dictionary, try using wordreference.com. It will give you some context to the word. Please do not use an online translator. You will receive no credit if you do, since, besides yielding an awkward final product, it will not represent your work.

Need help?

Feel free to e-mail me at cmusik@santarosa.edu; I answer e-mails promptly. If my office hours don't fit your schedule, we'll find a mutually agreeable time to meet. 
If you need disability-related accommodations for this class, such as a note taker, test taking services, special furniture, etc., please provide me with the Authorization for Academic Accommodations (AAA letter) from the Disability Resources Department (DRD) as soon as possible. You may also speak with me privately during office hours about your accommodations. 

You will note that suggested grammar exercises are almost entirely limited to a very few websites. But if you explore online you will find there are many more than those highlighted on this schedule page. 

If you find a mistake on this page, a link that doesn't work or have a suggestion or find something interesting on your own, please let me know. 

Have a good semester! Be well and safe!

Links: 
Vistas Supersite: You will need the student access code that comes with the book to set up your own account. BEWARE of purchasing a used textbook; the access code will have expired.

Studyspanish.com: Lots of grammar practice and exercises 

Duolingo.com: Another site for practice 

Conjuguemos.com: Another practice site 

Wordreference.com: A very good online dictionary 

My Spanish Dictionary: Another good online dictionary 

Colby University: Lots of grammar practice