The mission of North Bullitt High School is to provide a strong academic and social foundation, within a safe and nurturing environment, whereby all students can achieve their maximum potential and become responsible, productive members of society.
Course Description:
This course description is designed to give students a basic understanding of Spanish language and culture. We will study vocabulary, verbs, and grammar to give students communication skills in the foreign language.
Method of Instruction:
Class will be conducted in Spanish with as little English as possible. Students are expected to actively participate in discussions and projects. We will use a combination of approaches-lecture, discussion, workshop, cooperative learning, including Kagan methods.
We use games, partners, teams, memorization drills, role playing, small group/large group activities, multimedia lessons, creating lessons to share, PowerPoint presentations, and DVDs for instructions. There are Spanish songs, dances, and a cultural foods tasting event.
Objectives:
By the end of the course students will be able to:
Comprehend native speech with greater facility
Successfully edit Spanish documents
Demonstrate increased intercultural understanding as the basis for professional interactions in Spanish-speaking countries
Use complex structures of the Spanish language along with expanding vocabulary learned previously
Learn how to ask and respond to simple questions, request information, and relate basic biographical data
Learn how to speak about personal interests and have survival skills for travel
Learn about cultural and historical topics, social issues, political events, everyday situations, family life, student life, cross-cultural comparisons, and use of leisure time in a variety of Spanish-speaking countries.
Our objective and purpose is to enable the student to become more proficient in speaking and understanding Spanish in a greater variety of situations.
KY Academic Standards
Goal 1: Communication
Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
Goal 2: Cultures
Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between practices and perspectives of the culture.
Standard 2.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied.
Goal 3: Connections
Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.
Standards 3.2: Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are available through the foreign language and its culture.
Goal 4: Cultures
Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the concept of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.
Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the culture studied and their own.
Attendance:
Regular class attendance is required. Repeated absences will negatively affect progress in the course.
In Case of Absence:
If you are absent you are expected to come to me before or after school to pick up your work OR you must ask a friend and copy their notes. You have 1-3 days to make up your work once you return. If it is not made up in 1-3 days you will receive a 0 (zero) for that work in the gradebook. However, if you make up the work at a later date I will give you credit.
Absences and After School Help—Per the NBHS Student Handbook, students who have absences are permitted the number of missed days plus one to make up any work. Although I am happy to help with this, I will have 150 students every day and it is the student’s responsibility to schedule the after-school time to make up the missed class and assignments. Since the most important part of our class work is verbal/spoken drill, regular attendance is extremely important. In order to help students make up for what wasn’t heard/practiced in class, our department will have 3 after-school make-up sessions each week. You MUST make up missed classes in order to succeed.
NOTE: All make up work will be placed in a green box in your class folder. All work is dated. If you miss school make sure you pick up your work from the box BEFORE or AFTER class. Do not pick your missed work up during class time.
Method of Evaluation:
Assignments: 31.5%
All assignments which includes in and outside of class work and participation will be worth ten percent of the course grade.
Participation grades are given daily. To receive credit, you must contribute verbally in a meaningful way to the class discussion and come with all assigned readings completed and written homework ready to discuss. You should also come to class prepared to ask questions, interact energetically with the group. You are expected to review course content week-to-week in order to fully engage with the material. This course will require significant student engagement due to the breadth and depth of content, and you must prepare diligently in order to succeed in the course.
Homework will be assigned and handed in as you walk into class unless told otherwise. We will learn a topic in class and what work is not finished practicing what you have just learned will be finished at home.
Quiz: 31% After learning material and after practicing it you will be quizzed on it. Once the unit is completed you will be tested on it. Quizzes will take place at the beginning of class before we begin learning new material.
Tests: 37.5% We will have one test for each unit or topic taught. You will be expected to incorporate multiple course themes into a coherent essay/paragraph. Everything we study in class will be on the test.
Final exam: 20% Late in the semester you will be provided with a list of topics and/or questions rooted in our class discussions and readings that will require you to pull together everything we have studied and covered throughout the course.
Translators cannot be used, they are incorrect and typing more than one word at a time in one is considered cheating and will be treated as such.
Plagiarism Statement:
This simple. Just don’t do it! Plagiarism will not be tolerated. When plagiarism is detected, the assignment will immediately receive a “0”. Further disciplinary action will follow as described in your NBHS Student Handbook. Please read the following descriptions of plagiarism:
Submitting a work that is obviously copied in part from an original
Copying or trying to copy from someone’s paper, report, lab work, computer program, or test
Turning in a paper in your name when it was written either by someone else or by a “ghost writing” service
Writing someone else’s words without citing it or without using quotation marks
Summarizing someone else’s work without acknowledging the source.
Textbook:
We do not follow a textbook chapter-by-chapter. We follow the KY Core Content for World Languages. We provide Realidades by Prentice-Hall Publishers to be used as a reference for assistance and additional clarification.
Work from the textbook will be assigned and posted on the weekly lesson plan for students who are not present in class that day allowing them to keep up with their peers and not get behind in their school work.
Basic Classroom Rules
Raise your hand to speak
Bring materials to class and have them ready when the bell rings.
No gum, food, drink, or candy permitted.
No speaking while the teacher is speaking
No vandalism, treat classroom objects with care; pick up after yourself.
Go to restroom and sharpen pencils before class.
No leaving the classroom till I dismiss you.
Note: If a water bottle is ever left in my classroom then bottles will not be allowed in my classroom from that day forward. Make sure you clean up after yourselves in my classroom or you will slowly lose your rights to water bottles and other privileges.
Consequences
If students misbehave parents will be contacted. If students disobey teacher or disobey above rules and class expectations then a referral will be written. If a student cheats s/he will receive an automatic zero for the assignment and will not be allowed a retake. Discipline is taken very seriously. Please make sure you abide by the school and teachers’ expectations.
Guidelines to be successful
Be responsible
Always try
Do your best
Treat everyone, including yourself, with respect
Follow the appropriate expectations for class activities
Academic Expectations:
Nothing is more important than participation in language learning. In a situation where the classroom may be the only time of the day where the second language is heard and practiced, attendance is extremely important. Therefore daily points are given for being in class, arriving punctually with all materials, for oral participation, and for completion of written drills and assignments. Homework is EVERY NIGHT as you are to review the day’s class and be prepared for a flashback or quiz at the beginning of next class. Any assignments not completed in class must also be homework.
Studying and reviewing must be done at home in order to be successful. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to review daily. The assignment is ALWAYS to review the day’s lesson and be prepared for the next day. There is a weekly quiz or test.
IMPORTANT!! What if there is a sub for the class?
I take behavior when I am gone very seriously. Do NOT misbehave for a sub-plain and simple. I expect your behavior to be superior and I expect you to do and hand in the work I leave for you.
What about group work?
For group work opportunities, I expect everyone to be working and following the expectations for group work. Each person will have an assigned task and it will be their duty to see that it gets done. Students choosing not to work will see this reflected in their grade and may receive an alternative assignment.
What if I need to go to my locker or the restroom?
Absolutely NO, NONE, NIL, NINGUNO hall passes will be given to your locker!
You will have a maximum of THREE passes to the restroom per trimester
If you lose your pass, I will not let you out of the room, unless it is an emergency