Santa Monica College

Syllabus: Spanish 4

Prerequisites: Students should have skill levels equivalent to that of students who have completed Spanish 3.

Texts:

• Conexiones, (3rd Ed.), Zayas-Bazán, Bacon, García, Prentice Hall, 2006.
• Conexiones: E-Workbook and Laboratory Manual, (3rd Ed), Zayas-Bazán, Bacon, García, Prentice Hall, 2006. (This is an access code only. The workbook is on line.)

Textbook Website: http://www.prenhall.com/conexiones/

Additional course requirement:

All students must have an email account that can be checked regularly. A good part of the homework is on line and I will respond to it via email. You may use either your home email or set up your email at SMC.

Course description: This course reviews and refines grammatical concepts covered in the previous levels as well as explores other moods and tenses such as the compound tenses, the imperative mood and indirect discourse. Vocabulary enhancement, conversation, culture, and literature are core elements of the curriculum. This course prepares students for literature and civilization classes.

Course content:

• Indicative tenses: present, present progressive, preterit, imperfect, future, conditional, progressive and perfect tenses
• Subjunctive: present and past as well as compound structures
• Command forms
• Additional grammatical concepts such as the uses of se, of por and para, expressions with hacer, indirect speech, relative pronouns, passive voice, etc.
• Selected readings
• Vocabulary and idiomatic expressions

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs):

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the Spanish language and the Hispanic cultural diversity in the global setting by expressing, discussing and defending their opinions and impressions
• Students will communicate formally and informally in both oral and written forms utilizing different tenses, moods and structures
• Students will read, analyze, dicuss, paraphrase and interpret a variety of Hispanic literary, artistic and creative works.
• Students will write effective and coherent essays following the conventions of formal writing and editing.

Additional Course Objectives:

Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the multicultural/multi-racial diversity of the Spanish-speaking world, the global importance of the Spanish language as well as the historical, linguistic and literary ties among Spanish speaking peoples.
• Demonstrate a clear understanding and use of a variety of verb tenses and moods, including indicative, subjunctive and imperative.
• Demonstrate a command of refined grammatical concepts such indirect discourse, sequence of tenses, the verb gustar, the uses of por and para and other prepositions, passive voice, the subtleties of the use of the articles, the use of the infinitive, etc.
• Exhibit the ability to carry on a conversation about present, past, and/or future actions.
• Use the rules of syllabification, written accents, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization with relative correctness.

Method of Presentation: The course is conducted in Spanish. Students are required to engage in cooperative learning activities. Class discussions are based on material from the text to improve oral comprehension and fluency in responses. Vocabulary and idiomatic phrases are practiced in order to increase and enhance effective communicative skills. Oral exposés and short written essays are assigned throughout the semester to improve students' knowledge of sentence structure and self-expression.

METHOD OF EVALUATION:

The final grade will be based on objective criteria (homework, projects, compositions and exams) and on the students’ audio-lingual contribution and improvement in class as monitored by the instructor throughout the course.

Grading scale: Grading categories:

90-100 A Homework 10%

80-89 B Projects 10%

70-79 C Composition 15%

60-69 D Participation 20%

50-59 F Exams 45% (25% chapter exams; 20% final exam)

Cheating and plagiarism of any sort are not tolerated. Students who do not follow the SMC Code of Academic Conduct are subject to disciplinary action.

First week of class is very important: A student must either attend the first two class meetings or notify the instructor that the absence is temporary; otherwise, the instructor may drop him or her.

Dropping the class: Students who decide to drop the class must officially withdraw and let me know also. Students who do not, may receive an F.

Homework:

• Homework includes the daily assignments given in class and the exercises assigned in the online workbook and laboratory manual.

· Students are held accountable for all announcements, assignments, handouts, vocabulary, and material covered in class whether they are present or not.

• Late homework is NOT accepted. Students arriving late to class will NOT receive credit for homework.
• When students are absent, they are responsible for getting the assignment from a classmate and preparing it for the next class meeting. If not, they will not receive credit for the work.
• It is recommended that all get the telephone number of two other students in the class for assignments in order to come to class prepared. Absence or misinformation from unreliable classmates will not be acceptable excuses for lack of preparation or missed assignments.

Compositions: There are two types, those that are graded informally and those that receive a letter grade.

• Informal compositions are usually short paragraphs assigned as part of the homework, but are graded and assigned points. These assignments are graded on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest (=100%).
• Formal compositions are assigned in advance and follow a theme connected to the chapter of the book. These compositions are longer in length and must address the main topic presented by the instructor. In general, the composition must follow the conventions of college writing: have an introduction, body, and conclusion and be typed and double-spaced. It must be turned in on time; any late composition will receive a lower grade: 10% drop for each day it is late. The instructor will give you more information about completing the composition when the first composition is assigned. Please note that the composition will receive a grade out of 100.

Exams:

· There will be 4 chapter exams and one final exam during the course. Dates will be announced in class. At the end of the semester the chapter exam with the lowest percent will be dropped. Students must take the final exam to pass the course

• There will be NO MAKE-UP exams. No one will be given extra time for exams due to tardiness. Anyone missing an exam will receive a score of zero.

Tutoring is available in the Learning Resource Center in D219. Students having difficulties with the material should seek help as quickly as possible. Students may also come to my office hours for help.

Cultural Presentation: The student will prepare two cultural presentations: one prior to the midterm, one prior to the final. These presentations have both a written and oral component. The student will investigate the topic, write a 2-3 page composition summarizing the key points of his/her investigation, and then prepare an oral presentation. The topic will deal with a theme in Hispanic Culture. The student must receive the instructor’s approval before preparing the topic for his/her presentation.

Participation and attendance:

• Active participation in the target language is of great importance in a language class and is preferred over the use of English.
• Being in class and participation in group-type activities will only earn a grade of C in participation. Students desiring a higher grade must volunteer answers in class.

Attendance:

• Be punctual! Students are expected to come to every class for the entire class session.
• For classes meeting 3 days per week, students are allowed 4 absences. For classes meeting 2 days per week, 3 absences are allowed. Three tardies are equal to one absence. If absences and/or tardies are excessive, a student may be dropped from the class at the professor's discretion. (An absence = Not being in class no matter the reason)
• Roll is taken at the beginning of each session. Students arriving after roll has been taken are marked tardy. Students are marked absent if they arrive after the first fifteen minutes or if they leave class early.
• Absences and tardies will affect the participation grade: 2% will be taken off the total percent of the participation grade for each absence beyond the absences allowed for the class.

Student behavior:

• Students are expected to behave appropriately in class.
• No food or beverages (except water) are allowed in class.
• Cell phones and pagers are not to be on. If a student leaves class to answer a call or a page, the student should not return to class. Viewing and/or responding to text messages is not permitted. This is an education setting, not one of business.
• Respect and consideration for classmates and their learning environment is of the utmost importance.

Medical problems: If you have a medical problem that may occur during class, please notify your professor and the campus Health Services at 434-4262 and provide the following information:

• Name, address, phone number
• Nature of problem
• Action you want taken if needed
• Name and phone number of at least three people who can be called to take you to a place you designate for care

Emergency procedures: If, at any time during class, it becomes necessary to evacuate the building, the procedure is:

• Exit the building in an orderly fashion.
• Help any classmates who may be in need of assistance
• Re-group outside, in front of the building to check in with the professor. It is imperative that all students check in with the professor in order to be certain that everyone is accounted for.

Course Outline

This is tentative. All assignments will be given during class.

Week One: Uses of present indicative and present subjunctive.

Week Two: Imperfect. Preterit.

Monday, September 7, Labor Day Holiday

Sunday, September 13, Deadline to drop & be eligible for a REFUND of enrollment fees

Week Three: Imperfect and preterit. Uses of por and para. Time expressions with hacer and desde.

Week Four: Uses of the imperfect subjunctive. Verbs that require a preposition before an infinitive

Monday, September 21, Deadline to drop and avoid W

Week Five: The conditional and conditional perfect. If clauses.

Monday, September 28, Deadline to apply for Pass/No Pass grading option

Week Six: If clauses. Present and pluperfect subjunctive.

Week Seven: Uses of se. Se for unplanned occurrences. Passive voice. Indefinite and negative expressions.

Week Eight: Review of all subjunctive

Week Nine: Indirect speech. Present and past subjunctive

Monday, October 26, Deadline to drop and receive a GUARANTEED "W"

Week Ten: Relative pronouns.

Week Eleven: Sequence of tenses. Review of commands, formal and familiar

Friday, November 13, Veterans’ Day Holiday

Week Twelve: Uses of definite and indefinite articles

Week Thirteen: Use of the gerund vs. infinitive

Monday, November 23, Deadline to drop with required faculty approval. Requires faculty approval with extenuating circumstances.

Thursday and Friday, November 26 and 27, Thanksgiving Holiday

Week Fourteen: Review of all subjunctive and sequence of tenses

Week Fifteen: Diminutives and augmentatives. Review.

Week Sixteen: Review

Monday, December 14, Last day of classes

Tuesday, December 15, Final exams begin

In addition to the major grammatical concepts, others will also be presented during the semester as well as vocabulary and selected readings. Some assignments will have to be completed in the language lab in Drescher Hall 219.