Spanish One Sample Syllabus
Living Waters Spanish
Syllabus - Spanish Levels I, II, III, and IV+
General Course Overview
Living Waters Spanish courses take students from the initial stages of acquiring Spanish language skills to preparation for the Advanced Placement and CLEP tests for college credit. The goal for the first year is for students to be able to listen to, speak, read, and write in Spanish, the language of about 400 million people in 21 nations, at the novice-mid to novice-high level of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. Spanish II students are expected to an ACTFL proficiency of novice-high to intermediate-high. Spanish III students get to the intermediate-mid to advanced-low level, Spanish IV to the advanced-low to advanced-mid level, and Spanish V+ students move up from there.
Classes meet one day per week for 90 minutes and include homework, with a minimum required six hours of combined instruction and practice time per week. Students learn primarily through the TPRS method, being exposed to approximately 60 hours of fully comprehensible and authentic audio input and 400 pages of comprehensible and authentic written material to which students respond in writing and speaking. Creative story-telling, story re-enactments, personalized conversations, reading of skill level-appropriate texts, and writing are used in each course. During each year of instruction, students gain a new active vocabulary set of approximately 800 Spanish words and phrases, and a passive vocabulary set of about 1000 additional words and phrases. Grammar is taught both systematically and incidentally, as students ask for clarification of new concepts, culminating in a sound understanding of Spanish grammar by the fourth year.
Instructor
Brad Riegg was an Oregon and California State-certified teacher, K-12, with a specialty in Spanish, for about 20 years, and has taught Spanish for about 30 years in high school and junior high classrooms and online.
Specific Course Goals
Each year, students will:
· Understand a Christian worldview and importance of foreign languages better.
· Acquire additional Spanish phrases helpful for sharing Jesus’ good news with others.
· Develop improved Spanish listening, reading, speaking and writing skills.
· Gain approximately 800 new active vocabulary words, and 1000 new passive vocabulary words.
· Increase conceptual understanding of Spanish grammar.
Teaching Methods and Activities
· Aural and oral development: Enacting skits; Reading Spanish literature; Comprehensible video and audio input; Leading pairs and class conversations and discussions.
· Conceptual and Linguistic development: Interactive lectures; Grammar and vocabulary drills and tests.
· Reading and Writing skills development: Assigning and correcting student writing activities; Individual instruction.
· All areas of development: Tests and quizzes; Instructional games; Singing and reading Spanish songs
Course Materials:
· Living Waters Spanish curriculum
· Live communication with native Spanish speakers
· Diverse and authentic Spanish texts and audio-visual recording
· Education Perfect
Evaluation/Grading Procedures:
About 50% of the final grade is based on assignments and 50% on quizzes and tests. Classroom participation is also graded. One grade is given at the end of the academic year, based on the following grading scale:
· 90-100% - A
· 80-89% - B
· 70-79% - C
· 60-69% - D
· 59% or less - F
Course Management:
Some of the building blocks for learning Spanish include the following:
· God’s enabling. If you can communicate in English, you are just as capable of learning to communicate in Spanish,
· Comprehensible input: listening and reading that you fully understand;
· Speaking and writing practice. Eager participation in class and practice outside of class go a long way toward learning a foreign language.
· And, to a lesser degree, vocabulary and grammar study. Enjoy yourself and relax. Keep at it and per severe! You’ll eventually be able to communicate in Spanish but, like most good things, it takes time and practice.
Supplies:
Students are expected to bring the following to class each day:
· Completed homework assignments
· A red pen
· A black or blue pen
· A 3-ring binder with about 50+ sheets of paper
· Any other materials the teacher requires.
Tests and Quizzes:
There normally is a weekly quiz at the beginning of class. Questions cover material studied in class and for homework.
Homework:
Homework is assigned online, and is due each Friday. Written work is normally to be done using complete sentences wherever possible and with neat penmanship.
Makeup-work Policy
Students are allowed one month to complete any missing assignments or quizzes. It is the student’s responsibility to check online for assignments missed and then to complete them within the time limit. Missing work that is over one month old receives zero credit.
Arrangements to complete makeup quizzes and tests should be made outside of class time.
Living Waters Spanish courses take students from the initial stages of acquiring Spanish language skills to preparation for the Advanced Placement and CLEP tests for college credit. The goal for the first year is for students to be able to listen to, speak, read, and write in Spanish, the language of about 400 million people in 21 nations, at the novice-mid to novice-high level of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. Spanish II students are expected to an ACTFL proficiency of novice-high to intermediate-high. Spanish III students get to the intermediate-mid to advanced-low level, Spanish IV to the advanced-low to advanced-mid level, and Spanish V+ students move up from there.
Classes meet one day per week for 90 minutes and include homework, with a minimum required six hours of combined instruction and practice time per week. Students learn primarily through the TPRS method, being exposed to approximately 60 hours of fully comprehensible and authentic audio input and 400 pages of comprehensible and authentic written material to which students respond in writing and speaking. Creative story-telling, story re-enactments, personalized conversations, reading of skill level-appropriate texts, and writing are used in each course. During each year of instruction, students gain a new active vocabulary set of approximately 800 Spanish words and phrases, and a passive vocabulary set of about 1000 additional words and phrases. Grammar is taught both systematically and incidentally, as students ask for clarification of new concepts, culminating in a sound understanding of Spanish grammar by the fourth year.
Instructor
Brad Riegg was an Oregon and California State-certified teacher, K-12, with a specialty in Spanish, for about 20 years, and has taught Spanish for about 30 years in high school and junior high classrooms and online.
Specific Course Goals
Each year, students will:
· Understand a Christian worldview and importance of foreign languages better.
· Acquire additional Spanish phrases helpful for sharing Jesus’ good news with others.
· Develop improved Spanish listening, reading, speaking and writing skills.
· Gain approximately 800 new active vocabulary words, and 1000 new passive vocabulary words.
· Increase conceptual understanding of Spanish grammar.
Teaching Methods and Activities
· Aural and oral development: Enacting skits; Reading Spanish literature; Comprehensible video and audio input; Leading pairs and class conversations and discussions.
· Conceptual and Linguistic development: Interactive lectures; Grammar and vocabulary drills and tests.
· Reading and Writing skills development: Assigning and correcting student writing activities; Individual instruction.
· All areas of development: Tests and quizzes; Instructional games; Singing and reading Spanish songs
Course Materials:
· Living Waters Spanish curriculum
· Live communication with native Spanish speakers
· Diverse and authentic Spanish texts and audio-visual recording
· Education Perfect
Evaluation/Grading Procedures:
About 50% of the final grade is based on assignments and 50% on quizzes and tests. Classroom participation is also graded. One grade is given at the end of the academic year, based on the following grading scale:
· 90-100% - A
· 80-89% - B
· 70-79% - C
· 60-69% - D
· 59% or less - F
Course Management:
Some of the building blocks for learning Spanish include the following:
· God’s enabling. If you can communicate in English, you are just as capable of learning to communicate in Spanish,
· Comprehensible input: listening and reading that you fully understand;
· Speaking and writing practice. Eager participation in class and practice outside of class go a long way toward learning a foreign language.
· And, to a lesser degree, vocabulary and grammar study. Enjoy yourself and relax. Keep at it and per severe! You’ll eventually be able to communicate in Spanish but, like most good things, it takes time and practice.
Supplies:
Students are expected to bring the following to class each day:
· Completed homework assignments
· A red pen
· A black or blue pen
· A 3-ring binder with about 50+ sheets of paper
· Any other materials the teacher requires.
Tests and Quizzes:
There normally is a weekly quiz at the beginning of class. Questions cover material studied in class and for homework.
Homework:
Homework is assigned online, and is due each Friday. Written work is normally to be done using complete sentences wherever possible and with neat penmanship.
Makeup-work Policy
Students are allowed one month to complete any missing assignments or quizzes. It is the student’s responsibility to check online for assignments missed and then to complete them within the time limit. Missing work that is over one month old receives zero credit.
Arrangements to complete makeup quizzes and tests should be made outside of class time.
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