Spanish 3

Mountain View High School

Spanish 3

 

Instructor information               Course information

Teacher: Mr. Scott Saylor            Class: Spanish 3

Classroom: 180                       Term of course: Full year

Work phone: Ext 7231                 Amount of credit: 1 Credit

Email: [email protected]

 

Course description:

Spanish 3 will continue to review and reinforce Spanish 1/2 material and concepts to increase speed and precision.  Students will continue to create with the language adding humor, sarcasm, and irony to their work.  Students will be able to speak in paragraph length discourse, translate native texts, and write persuasive essays.  Culture will focus on important Hispanic figures, places, and events in the Hispanic world, with a focus on authors and their works.

 

Attendance:

Attendance is essential in a language class.  Proficiency comes with practice, repetition, and review.  These critical elements of learning take place in the classroom and cannot be made up or replaced at home.  Students cannot miss or skip concepts without paying for it later.  Language proficiency is acquired in steps and failure to attend class will lead to gaps in knowledge of the new language.

 

Grading scale:

A=100-90   B=89-80   C=79-70   D=69-60   F=59 and below

 

Failing grades:

When students have a failing grade in Spanish it is almost always because of missing work and most of that happens because of missing class.  Students that attend class and are diligent in coming in for missing work when they are gone are always successful in Spanish.

 

Grading system:

Grades will be calculated and determined by the amount of points they earn divided by the total amount of points possible.  There are no weighted categories that count more than others.

 

Extra credit:

Students can earn extra credit on quizzes and each test but extra credit is not offered to improve grades after assignments are done.

 

Assignments:

Students will have classwork to complete every day for a grade and many times they will need to finish it at home.  We will have quizzes every other week, a paper every semester, and a test every quarter.  Work that is handed in late will be accepted for half credit. Students can retake quizzes and the 2 scores will be averaged together.

 

Papers/reports:

Students will work on a longer paper each semester with purpose of also presenting it to the class orally.  These usually include some aspect of Hispanic culture, like the Quinceañera or the Running of the Bulls, and a Spanish-speaking country.  This provides students the opportunity to speak extensively in a formal setting.

 

Standards and Benchmarks:

Communication:

Students will engage in an exchange to perform basic tasks, provide and obtain information for personal use, and express opinions and needs.

Culture:

Students will analyze the similarities and differences between the products, practices, and perspectives of our two cultures.

 

Learning objectives:

Students will learn ≥150 common verbs, 2 additional tenses (present subjunctive and past subjunctive), more complicated expressions (like idioms, proverbs, and conjunctions), expanded vocabulary, and more complex grammar structures.  Students will be able to initiate and carry on more lengthy conversations or a variety of subjects.  Students will also learn more about Hispanic culture, customs, and history. 

 

Discipline policy:

I try and handle all discipline issues myself, in my own classroom.  Rarely do I send a student to the office for someone else to deal with.  I might move a student within my room, temporarily ask them to sit in the hall for a while, or make them come in on their own time to make up for wasted class time.  When I need to call a parent or involve the counselor or principal, it has become more serious and is likely distracting other students and affecting the learning environment.

 

Classroom rules and expectations:

1-Be respectful of the teacher, classmates, yourself, and the school.

2-No food, hats, phones, inappropriate language, or discrimination.

3-Participate willingly, work hard, and do your best.

4-Come to class on time with appropriate materials ready to work.

5-No cheating (includes copying/sharing answers, using a computer to translate).