Señor Klose

sr.klose@gmail.com

CAS website: www.cas.bhs.berkeleypta.org

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to achieve fluency in conversation as well as an understanding of complex grammatical structures. I expect students to have fun with the language while mastering advanced vocabulary and expressions, and to further their appreciation of different cultures. Students will practice Spanish through a variety of scaffolded and open-ended activities that require the use of multiple intelligences. Music is a big part of our class. In addition to playing the guitar and singing, we will experience Flamenco, Salsa, Mariachi, Afro-Cuban, Bachata, Reggaeton, Folk, Religious, and Classical Music from the Hispanic world.

Skill Objectives and Outcomes:
In this level we seek to achieve full student participation by means of informative, interpretive, and specific conversations, readings, lectures and interviews. Since learning a foreign language is impossible without the willingness to speak up and take risks, daily participation is essential to success in our class. Throughout this course students will be able to:

-Engage in conversations, understand and interpret written and spoken language and present information to an audience.

-Use critical thinking to examine the relationship between their culture and Spanish-speaking cultures.

-Recognize distinctive viewpoints and life opportunities that are available through the study of Spanish and its cultures.

-Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of language through comparison of Spanish and English.

-Use Spanish within and beyond the school setting.

Course Content:
Fall Thematic Units:
Ya veras, Level 2
Introduction/Review

* Preterit

* Imperfect

* Time expressions

* Clothing

UNIT 3: Today
7: Daily routines
8: Organize weekend activities
9: Discuss vacation plans

UNIT 4: Health
10: Health/Physical Condition
11: Habitual actions in the past
12: Reflexive verbs in the past

UNIT 5: A trip to Latin America
13: A trip to Mexico
14: A trip to Central America
15: A trip to South America

Spring Thematic Units: ¡
Ya veras, Level 3

UNIT 1: Clothing and Food
1: Going shopping
2: Food in Spain
3: Food in Latin America

UNIT 2: Let's take a trip
4: Organizing a trip
5: Traveling on train
6: By car, bus or plane?

UNIT 3: Art and Music
7: Art: murals, painters, museums
8: Popular art: masks, crafts, fabrics
9: Music/Dance: mariachi, tango, flamenco

UNIT 4: Literature
10: Newspapers, magazines, photo novel
11: Realism and Idealism
12: Writers: Cervantes, García Marquez

Instructional Materials:Students will use Ya veras, Level 2, in the fall semester; continuing with Ya veras, Level 3, in the spring semester. The texts will be heavily supplemented by a workbook, activities, and projects however it will primarily stay in the classroom.

*** You are expected to have a Spanish binder including areas to keep handouts and assignments as well as paper or notebook for warm-ups, homework and quizzes. This binder will be checked periodically.

Grades/Credit:

Students and parents are expected to monitor progress online at mygradebook.com, the site where I keep grades and attendance. Each student will receive a password from me. Assignments and projects will periodically be posted to the CAS website. Distribution of grades is as follows:

40% Daily Participation and Classwork

* Students will earn participation points each day by being cooperative and trying their best. Students who are unprepared or unwilling to participate will receive a ZERO for that day.

20% Dialogue Journals and Homework

* Students are expected to communicate regularly (minimum once every two weeks) with me by email (sr.klose@gmail.com) in the form of a confidential dialogue journal. This is a very important vehicle for teacher-student communication. Your feedback on what´s going well and what can be improved in the class will help to make this year fun and successful for all of us. Homework will be assigned occasionally.

20% projects and portfolios

* Throughout the year, students will create projects based on their own interests related to the curriculum. These will be collected in a portfolio.

20% tests and quizzes

* Quizzes will be bi-weekly, generally reviewing one section of a chapter in the textbook. Tests will be cumulative, given once per quarter.

Basic Requirements
1. Attend class and be on time.
2. Have all necessary materials ready (every day).
3. Be present in every class and participate daily.
4. Respect all in the classroom.
5. It is expected that you will make mistakes when speaking--this means you are learning.

Suggestions for independent work:
-Watch a Spanish language movie or TV program
-Listen to Spanish language radio
-Read a Spanish magazine or newspaper
-Make friends with a native Spanish speaker and practice
-Visit a museum exhibit that focuses on Spanish-speaking cultures
-Live with a family as an exchange student in a Spanish-speaking country for a summer, semester, or year

Late Policy:

Work missed due to excused absences needs to be made up as soon as is reasonably possible, including quizzes and projects. Late (unexcused) work receives 1/2 credit.