Spanish 102, Spring Quarter 2007

Instructor: Autumn Knowlton

Office- A 245C Phone- X4176

Office hours- Tuesday 9:30 AM-10:30 AM and Thursday 1:30 PM-2:30 PM, or by appt

E-mail address- aknowlto@bcc.ctc.edu

Welcome to Spanish 102! The key to making our class time successful is coming to class with a good attitude, so that everyone is comfortable speaking up and making mistakes. I hope you take advantage of my office hours and access to e-mail to keep in touch with me about any questions or concerns.

Since this is a Spanish class, the entire class will be conducted in Spanish. A little English may be used to explain a difficult grammar point, but that is an exception. All grammar points that I explain in class are in English in the textbook. I also expect you to speak Spanish while class is in session. This gets easier with practice, and by the end of the quarter you should notice an improvement in your conversational skills.

Required materials (available in the BCC bookstore)

Aventuras: Primer curso de lengua española (text book)

Workbook/Video Manual

Lab Manual

Textbook CD-ROMs

Optional materials

Spanish-English dictionary (I recommend Larousse)

501 Spanish Verbs

English Grammar for Students of Spanish

My Web site

I maintain a My BCC site for this class. On it you will find reviews for quizzes, the answers to activities in the workbook and lab manual, and a list of upcoming events related to the Spanish-speaking world. You can access the site by going to your schedule on My BCC and clicking on Spanish 102.

GRADES

Participation: 25 points X 11 weeks= 255/2= 178 points

Homework/workbook (25X 5) + 50= 175 points

Quizzes (4): 25X4= 100 points

Final exam: 75 points

Skits (5): 10X5= 50 points

Presentation= 50 points

Approximate total: 628 points

Participation

Your active participation in class is an important element of your grade. I ask that you come to class with a positive attitude and, while I generally expect you to speak Spanish all of the time, I understand that you might need to use a word or two of English at times. If you finish an activity and have time to chat, please speak in Spanish. Even though a few minutes of Spanish doesn’t seem like much, it can give you a good idea of everyday words that you need to learn in order to carry on a conversation in Spanish.

You earn up to 5 participation points per class, and you lose points for being late and for speaking in English for more than a couple of sentences, including between activities.

** Extra credit**

There are two ways to earn extra credit. You can do up to one of each.

1) You can watch a movie in Spanish from a Spanish-speaking country to make up for 10 participation points (2 classes). In order to receive credit, you need to type up a summary of the movie (about 3/4 page) and include 5 new words that you learned in Spanish. Your summaries have to be turned in by the last day of class (not the day of the final).

2) You can attend an event related to the Spanish-speaking world and type up a 3/4 page summary of the event. You can receive up to 10 points, and you need to turn in the summary within two weeks of going to the event. If you have a question about whether an event is applicable or not, please ask me.

Homework

I will assign you specific activities from the workbook that we'll go over in class, and on the day of every quiz you have to turn in all of the workbook activities for that chapter, not just the ones mentioned on the syllabus. I will also assign selected activities from the lab manual (workbook with listening comprehension activities) for that chapter that you turn in on quiz day. You can access the lab manual listening activities by going to the Aventuras Web site or by buying the CDs at the BCC Bookstore. It is not included in the packet you received with the textbook. You will also do a few other assignments during the quarter. All assignments that need to be turned in are in bold. I will post the answers to both the workbook and the lab manual activities on my My BCC Web site a few days before the quiz. You will lose 5 points for every day that you turn in your workbook and lab manual late.

Quizzes

There will be a quiz at the end of each chapter. If you know you l miss class the day of the quiz, you have to contact me before the quiz is given in order to make arrangements to take it. I will drop the lowest quiz grade of the five.

Final exam

At the end of the quarter, you will take a comprehensive exam on material covered in Chapters 6-10. I will give you a study guide to help prepare you, and we will spend some time in class reviewing.

Skits

After every chapter, you will organize skits in Spanish in groups of 3-5 people. You will have one class period to prepare, and groups will present the following day. You need to use some Spanish as you are preparing the skits.

Presentations

At the end of the quarter each of you will make a presentation of 3-5 minutes about a topic related to the Spanish-speaking world. You can present in pairs, but each individual has to speak for a minimum of 3 minutes. I will cut you off if you speak over 5 minutes. You will be graded on content, pronunciation, grammar, organization, and visual aids. We can go over a draft of your presentation during my office hours if you have questions about grammar or content.

OTHER MISC. INFORMATION

Academic dishonesty

Stealing, cheating, and plagiarizing other students work will not be tolerated. All students caught plagiarizing will be reported to the Dean of Student Services.

BCC Disability Statement

Students with disabilities who need additional classroom accommodation are required to meet with the Director of Disability Student Services, B 132, phone (425) 564-2498, to establish their eligibility for accommodation. In addition, students who require accommodation in classes must review those requirements with each instructor during the first week of the quarter.