Fairchild Wheeler Inter-district Magnet High School

COURSE SYLLABUS: Spanish 1 IT

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring Instructor: Seorita Wolak
Course Number: Office:
Credit Hours: E-mail: vwolak@bridgeportedu.net
Office Hours: M, T,Th 2:15-3:15 Phone: (203) 275-3337
or by appointment


Course Description
A fast-paced, rigorous introduction to the Spanish language with a focus on communication. This course will
give you the instruction you need to use Spanish in a practical way by giving you the vocabulary and grammar
to use the language in your chosen field. Learning Spanish is an irreplaceable skill in todays global economy
and this course is intended to give students a broad foundation in the language. You will learn basic
vocabulary, but more specialized vocabulary related to your schools theme as well! I have very high
expectations for you and I am confident everyone will meet their potential here in class through hard work,
determination, and practice!


Course Objectives

Course objectives are based upon the American Council for Teaching Foreign Language Proficiency
Guidelines. Upon successful completion of this course students will achieve the following in the field of:
1. Listening:
By the end of the semester, the beginning language learner will:
Understand words and short phrases
Recognize the difference between formal and informal speech
Understand tasks given verbally and be able to complete them appropriately
Hear and identify the main idea in some short stories
2. Speaking:
By the end of the semester, the beginning language learner will:
Engage in basic conversation, including common courtesies
Express likes and dislikes
Provide grammatically-correct descriptions of themselves and others
Describe basic scenes using beginning level vocabulary and practiced phrases
Ask and answer questions using basic words and phrases
Read orally beginning level texts with reasonably accurate pronunciation
Retell simple stories with reasonable accuracy
3. Reading:
By the end of the semester, the beginning language learner will
Recognize the alphabet
Use contextual clues and knowledge of cognates to understand unfamiliar words and phrases
Construct meaning from presented texts
Understand basic reading selections and be able to answer comprehension questions
4. Writing
By the end of the semester, the beginning language learner will
Produce memorized vocabulary, phrases and strings of short sentences
Describe basic needs and feelings, likes and dislikes
Ask and answer questions dealing with practiced topics
Content Standards
Interpersonal Communication: Learner will engage in conversation and exchange information and opinions
orally and in writing.
Interpretive Communication: Learner will understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of
topics.
Presentational communication: Learner will present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of
listeners in the target language.
Cultures: The learner will gain knowledge and demonstrate an understanding of the relationship and
perspectives of cultures other than his/her own.
Connections: The learner will reinforce his/her knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.
Comparisons: The learner will develop insight into the nature of language and culture by comparing his/her
own language and culture to others.
Communities: The learner will use language and or demonstrate cultural knowledge and understanding beyond
the school for personal, educational, and professional growth.

Course Prerequisites: Spanish 1 is open to all students as the first course in a sequence and therefore
has no pre-requisites! Students must, however, demonstrate the following skills in the English
language:

Reading/Writing: Informational text analysis, publishing with technology, and rudimentary research skills.

Course Topics:
How do we vary our use of language based on the setting, i.e. the internet, texting, academia?
How have Latin American countries adjusted to the use of English as the dominant language for the
internet and technology, and how have they conversely managed to preserve the Spanish language in
technology?
How do we converse in a culturally appropriate manner in Latin America?
What are the countries that make up Latin America?
How do we obtain and express basic personal information in Spanish?
How do we accurately produce the sounds of Spanish?
What are the steps of the research process and why are they necessary?
What makes someone an individual? What makes me different than the people around me? How am I the
same or different than people in Spanish-speaking countries?
How do we use cognates and identify similarities amongst Spanish and English in order to facilitate
language learning and comprehension?
How does where we live influence our daily life?
How do our biases/beliefs/assumptions and experiences infuse our thinking?
Units:
1. Unidad Preliminar: Hola!
2. Unidad 1: Un rato con los amigos
3. Unidad 2: Vamos a la escuela
4. Unidad 3: Comer en familia
5. Unidad 4: Vamos de compras?
6. Unidad 5: Bienvenido a nuestra casa?
Schedule and Classroom:

TBD (as much as possible; perhaps provide teacher schedule and contact information

Examinations and Grading Criteria:

20% Classwork, Participation, and Effort
Your daily participation/effort grade is out of 15 points, for a total
of 75 points a week
-Hgalo Ahora! (Bell-ringer)-5 points
-Classwork Activities-5 points
-Hoja de Salida (Exit ticket) 5 points
10% Homework
30% Quizzes
40% Assessments (Tests and Projects)
Course Resources:

Textbook: Avancemos! Spanish 1. Holt-McDougal Publishing.
(ISBN 978-0-547-87202-5)
Rosetta Stone (the district will provide you with an account)
Quia Account (to be provided by teacher)

Daily Required Materials
School-Issued Laptop
Pencil (for Language lab, pen may be used in the regular classroom)
Spiral Notebook
Folder

Instructional Approaches:
The goal of this class is to lay a foundation for your skills in the 4 areas of language learning (listening,
speaking, reading, and writing). By the end of this class, you will be able to use basic sentences to
express, describe, and talk about a variety of different subjects.

Classroom Expectations:

Enter the class ready to work with all materials. There will be an exercise on the board (Hgalo
Ahora!) to complete immediately. I should see you working on this as soon as you enter class.
All students are expected to be wearing their lab coat during class.
During partner and group work you must stay in the target language. Work will be designed for you to
speak Spanish so you will not need English!
Raise your hand.
Be respectful of the teacher during instruction.
Respect your classmates right to learn.
Bring a respectful and open mind to cultural lessons.
Consequences:
Positive
Phone call home
Class competitions with prizes
Negative
Verbal warning (up to 2)
3
rd
verbal warning results in detention and phone call home
Administrative Action
Rosetta Stone:
In this course you will each have a membership to Rosetta Stone. We will use this in class to practice the
material we are learning. Rosetta Stone is a fantastic program because it will show you what your strengths
are in the language, and what areas need improvement. It is a very individualized program so it will allow for
everyone to work at their own pace. *You are expected to keep track of your own login information!

Online Resources:
Technology has many benefits to language learning, and will be embraced in this classroom. At the beginning
of the year there will be a lesson outlining expectations regarding appropriate web sites that can be used to
complete work. *The use of online translators for assignments will not be tolerated and will result in an
automatic 0 for the assignment.*




EXAMPLE COURSE OUTLINE

This course is designed for a 20-week semester with each class meeting 5 days per week for 80
minutes a day. Course outline should reflect all 20 weeks.

Week Unit Topic Activities/Assessments
(this is not an exhaustive
list!)
1, 2, 3 Unidad Preliminar -Introduction to being a
language student
-Basics of linguistics
-Basic Introductions,
Greetings, and Goodbyes
-Days of the week
-Classroom phrases
-Weather
-Numbers 1-10
-Alphabet/Sounds
-Courtesy Words
-Online translators
-How to find and evaluate a primary
source in the language classroom
-Word Endings Sort
-Phonetic Comparisons
Phrase Categorizations
-Latin American map analysis
-Basic conversations using language
lab software
Assessments:
-Alphabet/sound recitation
-Vocabulary Quiz
-Diferencias Dialectales
- Conversaciones Creadoras


4,5,6, Unidad 1
-Talking about activities

-Expressing likes and
dislikes

-Describing yourself and
others
-Comparisons: Activities here and in
Latin America

-Subject pronoun introduction

-Ser verb cubes


-Identifying People and
things

-Expressing place of origin

-Parts of a computer
vocabulary

-verb ser

-verb gustar with an
infinitive

-noun-adjective agreement

-definite and indefinite
articles
-Class activity surveys

-Definite and indefinite articles and
noun-adjective agreement with
computer parts

-Celebrity guessing game with
personality traits and physical
characteristics

Assessments:
-Vocabulary quiz
-Unit Exam
-Why____is the ideal college for me?
7,8,9 Unidad 2
-talk about daily schedules

-ask and tell time

-say what you have and
have to do
-say what you do and how
often

-verb tener and tener +
que

-present tense of ar verbs

-describe classes and
classroom objects

-use estar to discuss
location

-verb ir

-useestar to say how you
feel
-Telesecundaria
exploration

-Mi horario de clase
-Diagram of a Wheeler classroom

-Situation and feelings interview

-Una Escuela International en Mxico
reading

Assessments:

-Vocabulary quiz

-Unit Exam

-Compare and Contrast

-Why is___the ideal college for me
10,11,12 Unidad 3
-talk about
foods and beverages

-ask questions

-interrogative words

-gustar with nouns

-present tense of er/-ir
verbs

-the verb hacer

-talk about family

-ask and tell ages

-Fictional family tree

-Pen Pal letter

-Computer timeline

Celebrity Comparisons

-Quinceaera

-Mi plato

Assessments:

-Vocabulary Quiz

-Unit Exam
-express possession

-give dates

-make comparisons

-La comida y la salud

-Why____is the ideal college for me


13,14,15 Unidad 4
-talk about clothes and what
you want to buy

-say what you wear in
different seasons

-expressions with tener

-stem changing verbs, e-ie

-direct object pronouns

-describe places in events
and town

-talk about types of
transportation

-say what you are going to
do

-order from a menu

-the verb ver

-ir +a + infinitve

-stem changing verbs o-ue,
e-i
-Lookbook readings and comparisons

-Currency conversion activities

-Fashion Show

-Clothes race

Assessments:

-Vocabulary Quiz

-S Ecolgico

-Superheroes y Malvados
16,17,18 Unidad 5
-describe a house and
household items

-indicate the order of things

-describe people and
locations

-ser vs. estar

-ordinal numbers

-stem changing, o-ue

-plan a party

-talk about chores and
responsibilities

-give commands in the t
form

-say what you just did
-Real Estate Web quest

-Ser and Estar stations


-Vivir en Ecuador Reading

-Plan a party

Assessments:

-Mi casa ideal

-Why_____college is the ideal college
for me

-acabar de+ infinitive

19,20 Final Wrap Up Final Project

Final Exam review