Chapters to be covered in class: Capítulo Preliminar to Capítulo 6

Course Description and Teaching Method:

Spanish 2200 is the third course of a four‑semester sequence which implements a proficiency‑oriented approach. Proficiency is defined as the ability to understand and convey information and/or feelings in a particular situation for a particular purpose. This approach focuses on the rapid development of listening and reading comprehension skills through constant exposure to high‑frequency language in the form of spoken conversation and printed texts. In addition, the proficiency‑oriented approach encourages maximum oral interaction from the beginning and consequently is designed to provide students with useful language skills in Spanish. Grammatical accuracy is one part of communicative proficiency, but it is not a prerequisite. Our teaching techniques are student‑centered, with the instructor as the facilitator. The instructor will conduct the class in Spanish to contribute to the Spanish listening‑speaking environment.

Evaluation: The final grade will be based on the following:

Attendance and Participation in class: 25%

Chapter Quizzes: 40%

Final Exam: 25%

Lab manual/Workbook completion: 10%

_____

100%

Course Grades:

93 -100 A

90 - 92 A-

87 - 89 B+

83 - 86 B

80 - 82 B-

77 - 79 C+

73 - 76 C

70 - 72 C-

67 - 69 D+

63 - 66 D

60 - 62 D-

00 - 59 F

Policy on Spanish Bilingual/Advance Students:

SPN 2200 is not designed for bilingual or advance students of Spanish who already speak and understand Spanish. FIU has developed a series of courses designed for such students who wish to improve their Spanish communication skills. If this is your case, you should see the instructor or the language coordinator in the Department of Modern Languages (DM 490) for a course appropriate to his/her language proficiency level.

Incomplete Grades:

A grade of “I” is only given when there is a valid, documented reason which prevents the student from finishing the class. To get an “I” you should have attended classes regularly and just missed the final or just the end of the course. If this happens to you, please advise your instructor immediately, and make arrangements for removing the incomplete as soon as possible. *Students that have no attendance will get an F.

Academic dishonesty:

Plagiarism, cheating, and forgery will not be tolerated. Homework, or any graded exercises ought to be individual work; otherwise, it is considered cheating.

Misbehavior:

The teacher will always address the student first in case a student disrupts the class. However if the misbehavior persists, strong measures will be taken.

Misbehavior in class will affect your grade since you can be removed from the classroom by the FIU security for disrupting the class or offending others. That will count as absence.

Attendance, participation, and homework:

Regular attendance is mandatory. In order for students to progress in their ability to understand and speak the language, they must be exposed to hearing and speaking it on a regular basis. You earn a grade by coming to class and studying through out the course, not for knowing Spanish before hand and just coming to test. *
No more than two (2) unexcused absences will be permitted. Two late arrivals (that is, 10 minutes after the start of class) equal ONE ABSENCE. Absence above the permitted two will result in the lowering of the final grade by one point. This is from your passing grade, apart from loosing points in the 25% stated above. The student must notify the instructor either before the absence or within 24 hours after the missed class.
The student must have a valid reason for missing class (e.g. serious illness, family emergency, religious observances, attendance to statutory governmental responsibilities—jury duty, subpoena for court appearances, military obligation—or participation in an university-sponsored event at which the student is representing the University) to obtain an excused absence. Merely notifying the instructor that you will be absent does not guarantee that the absence will be excused.
Students are expected to come to class prepared and ready to participate actively. A participation grade is assigned daily. Students are expected to be in class and also to participate; to attempt to speak Spanish regardless of any mistakes they may make. Errors are to be expected and are viewed as a natural part of language learning.
Each student is responsible for reviewing/studying at home the material covered in class and/or assigned by the instructor. Should a student miss a day of class, he is responsible for studying on his own the material covered that day in class, and to make up missed assignments. It is strongly recommended that each student exchange his phone number or email address with at least two classmates to find out what was missed.

Quizzes, make-up quizzes /exams and final exam:

Quizzes or exams will be given on the day and the hour scheduled, usually at the completion of each chapter. There will be no make-ups without a valid reason. Should a student have an emergency, he/she must notify the instructor at once. In order to re-schedule an exam a documented valid reason for missing it must be presented. As a general rule, the final exam will include listening comprehension and grammar sections, as well as reading and writing sections. The final exam will be comprehensive (Units Preliminary to 6) and it will be given during Final Exams Week. No exceptions!

Language Labs:

Students are required to complete all exercises in the Lab Manual for the chapters covered in class, as well as other exercises assigned by the instructor. The labs schedule will be announced during the first week of class. The instructor will collect the assignments on the dates of the quizzes.
In order to improve listening skills and cultural competency, students will also be able to use the Nuevos Destinos CD-ROM, available at the UP lab.
Students may have the tapes accompanying the Laboratory Manual recorded. Please, provide a 90-minute tape for each lesson. New tapes must be unwrapped and labeled; used tapes must be rewound to the beginning of side A.

Tutoring:

Each student can arrange up to 10 tutoring sessions (15-20 minutes each) per semester. Please, see our lab assistants for more details.

Cell phones and beepers:

In order to maintain an environment conducive to learning, the students are requested to turn off all cell phones and silence all beepers before entering the classroom.

DATES SEQUENCE BREAKDOWN

*Subject to change as course progresses:

1ra SEMANA Introduction and presentations

Capítulo preliminar

Una carta de Raquel Rodríguez: pags. 2-3.

Algunos documentos importantes: pags. 6-7.

Enfoque léxico: pags. 7-10.

Enfoque estructural: pags. 13-17.

¿Cómo son los personajes de Nuevos Destinos?: pags. 17-18.

Para terminar: Vamos a conocernos mejor – p. 23.

2da SEMANA Capítulo 1 : Dos abogadas

El video: pags. 26-27.

Enfoque léxico: Las actividades diarias: pags. 28-30.

3ra SEMANA Enfoque cultural: Los hispanos en los Estados Unidos: pags. 32-34.

Repaso del enfoque estructural: pags. 34-44.

Jueves 16 de septiembre Quiz # 1

Capítulo 1 evaluado (Workbook due).

4ta SEMANA Capítulo 2: Encuentros

El video: pags. 52-53.

Enfoque léxico: La familia: pags. 54-57.

5ta SEMANA Enfoque cultural: pags. 59-60.

Repaso del enfoque estructural: pags. 60-68.

Jueves 30 de septiembre Quiz # 2

Capítulo 2 evaluado (Workbook due).

6ta SEMANA Capítulo 3: El viaje comienza

El video: pags. 74-76.

Enfoque léxico: El trabajo: pags. 77-80.

7ma SEMANA Enfoque cultural: pags. 81-83.

Repaso del enfoque estructural: pags. 83-89.

Jueves 14 de octubre Quiz # 3

Capítulo 3 evaluado (Workbook due).

8va SEMANA Capítulo 4: Datos importantes.

El video: pags. 96-98.

Enfoque léxico: La vida en casa: pags. 99-102.

9va SEMANA Enfoque cultural: pags. 104-106.

Repaso del enfoque estructural: pags. 106-114.

Jueves 28 de Octubre Quiz # 4

Capítulo 4 evaluado (Workbook due).

10ma SEMANA Capítulo 5: Más datos.

El video: pags. 118-121.

Enfoque léxico: pags. 122-125.

11va SEMANA Enfoque cultural: pags. 126-128.

Enfoque estructural: pags. 128-134.

12va SEMANA Capítulo 6: La búsqueda

El video: pags. 142-145.

Enfoque léxico: ¿Qué hay en tu ciudad o pueblo?: pags. 146-148.

Martes 16 de Noviembre Quiz # 5

Capítulo 5 evaluado (Workbook due).

13va SEMANA Enfoque cultural: pags. 149-151.

Repaso del enfoque estructural: pags. 146-154.

14va SEMANA Grammar Review

Jueves 2 de Diciembre Quiz # 6

Capítulo 6 evaluado (Workbook due).

15va SEMANA Final Exam Review

Martes 14 de Diciembre Final Exam