Syllabus

PREPARATION & PARTICIPATION

Class participation will be determined by your contribution to the class. Do not be afraid to make mistakes. While grammar and accuracy are important, they are not vital for successful oral communication.

Students are not to click on any buttons while in class unless granted permission to do so. I will direct students when to use the microphone, when to write on the whiteboard, and stuff like that. No chatting is to be going on during class except for the student to communicate with me. At times I may ask students to work together collaborating on a class assignment, but only when directed by me. Students are to “raise their hands to speak” by typing a "!" or to ask a question by typing a "?" in the chat box. When I call on them, then they may type in the chat box. I will be very strict in this area! Any communication that has not been granted permission is the equivalent of talking in class. I will give one warning and after that the parent will be contacted by me. A continued disregard for class rules will result in ultimately not being allowed back into class.

ATTENDANCE

Student attendance at each class meeting (including punctuality) is expected. Note that the professor reserves the right to count as absent a student who is excessively tardy (logging in extremely late), apparently inattentive in class (non-responsive/distracting) or otherwise not fully participating in the classroom educational experience.

STUDENT REQUIREMENTS

Students will meet with the instructor for 1 ½ hours per week.

Students are required to participate in class and be prepared to answer questions.

Students are SUGGESTED to take notes in class. Students can take notes during class from notes posted in the presentation area. These notes are to be kept in the binder for the student to refer to as needed during homework. Print out the presentation before class begins and take notes with me as we continue with the class. Pick a notebook with which you are comfortable and organize it well. Print out corrected homework and tests and place in the appropriate section. I don’t care how you organize your notebook, as long as you can get to your things quickly and easily.

Students will do daily work that takes approximately 20-30min. per week day; could be more – or less. Every person is different.

Configure your keyboard! Instructions may be found HERE. If these don’t work, find other resources, because I can’t help you! LOL.

Parent and student are required to login and keep up with their grades at http://www.engrade.com/aldeagrades. This page will be accessible at all times, parent will be logged in as a “teacher” under the admin of ALDEA. Families may print these grades and use them for their personal purposes.

ABOUT HOMEWORK

WORK DILIGENTLY AND NEVER BE LATE WITH YOUR WORK!

HOW I EVALUATE and HOW YOU EVALUATE!

The nature of studying a foreign language requires a person to use a wide variety of learning styles. We will be learning to speak Spanish, but we will also be learning to read, write, and comprehend the spoken language. Therefore, you will be quizzed and tested in each of these areas. You may expect grades to be given for oral pronunciation, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and writing skills (including spelling).

We will also be studying the history and cultures of many Spanish-speaking countries. These units may include a report and online presentation on an assigned country, and/or submitting a project based upon a relevant aspect of that country. All reports and projects will be done during the spring semester.

SUGGESTED GRADE WEIGHTS

20%

Quizzes

10%

Projects

20%

Homework

50%

Tests

100%

SUGGESTED GRADING SCALE

94-100

A-

90-93

B+

88-89

84-84

B-

80-83

C+

78-79

74-77

C-

70-73

D+

68-69

64-67

0 - 63

SUGGESTED POINT VALUES

• Your Quia quizzes/tests will generate your accurate quiz or test grade.

• 10 points for homework assignments under 50 questions.

• 15 points for homework assignments over 50 questions.

• 10 points for studyspanish.com quizzes

• 20 points for studyspanish.com tests

• 40 points for in-class projects (LIVE classes only).

EXAMPLE OF YOUR SCORE SHEET (let's pretend this is a word document)

{Your Name}

{Your Class}

{The Date}

{Assignment}

MY SCORE: 46/52

1 – 10/10

2 – (If, for example, this section asked for a writing sample, write the whole thing here as answers would vary on some of these types of questions.)

3 – 6/8

4 – 9/10

5 – 8/8

6 – 6/8

7 – 7/8

MY CORRECTIONS

Section 2 –

#2 I answered cuenta instead of cuento – “I count” (wrong conjugation)

#6 I spelled bicicleta "bicicleto"

The #6 was a spelling mistake and in #2 I conjugated in the third person instead of the first. I did not notice that the second sentence was continuing the thought of the one before it and so I wasn’t sure what to put (oops).

Section 4 - #4 I said “nosotros” instead of simply “nos.” I just realized that “nos” is only used as an object pronoun and nosotros as a subject. I’m getting it though!

Section 6 – both #1 and #3 I did not conjugate as reflexive verbs (should be nos lavamos and se baña)…we wash ourselves and he bathes himself)

Section 7 - #6 I used the wrong article AND spelled it wrong! (I wrote el mucha! It should have been la muchacha! I guess I should be careful, lol.)

Note to student:

I REQUIRE THAT YOU LIST ANY INCORRECT ANSWERS (EXAMPLE ABOVE) SO THAT I CAN KNOW HOW TO HELP YOU.

Email me with any questions you have about the activity. Like, “I also did not count one wrong because there was a problem in the textbook (they had el clima instead of la clima) – thought I’d let you know.” Include with your comment the exact question from the activity and the answer you gave. (you might figure out why it is wrong while you’re asking me! Tee hee).

Note to parents:

If the key says “answers may vary” on a particular section and you are not sure your child answered correctly, feel free to have them write out their answers.

Make sure your child is writing the answers in the activities manual and not the answer sheet. Then send in the scores only along with detailed corrections. “I spelled this wrong,” is not an acceptable correction. The corrected answer must be given. “I conjugated this verb incorrectly,” is also not acceptable. The correct conjugation must be given.

Give your child an appropriate score for completion and log it in your online gradebook.

CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE

“It’s all fun and games until someone loses their mind.”

As you well know (or are about to find out), I love to have fun and to make learning fun. However, here are some tips for our class that will establish the boundary that will keep fun about learning above all. Thanks for your attention! I love you all!

CHATBOX

Socializing happens before class starts and ends ONLY.

Can’t hear or see? Use private chat to alert Profa Fann. Do NOT type to the public list about your tech. This interrupts other students. I cannot stop teaching to help you with tech. Alerting me through private chat simply informs me that you are working on the problem.

Can’t chat? If your chatbox freezes, then leave and reboot. Do not grab the mic and interrupt.

Emoticons. Use them judiciously, but do not use class time to ask how to create them.

Writing to me through private chat is like whispering in my ear. Please wait for me to respond to you – do not continue to whisper. I do see you, but you might need to wait for a few minutes for me to get to a stopping point.

If I personally sidetrack b/c of a funny comment a student (or I) make(s) about something in class presentation or chat as happens from time to time, you will notice that I always get RIGHT BACK ON track. I’m good about that; you should be too. Stay with me.

SOS does not mean “Save our ship” in our class; it means “Stay on subject."

Inappropriate private chat:

JoseV: Profa Fann, did you get my homework?

JoseV: HEY PROFA FANN, DID YOU GET MY HOMEWORK???????

(I rarely respond to this kind of chat. If you uploaded and have a receipt, then, yes, I got your homework.)

XavierM: What was the assignment that was due today?

(I also rarely respond to this question. Check your weekly Agenda and Assignments doc.)

MariaX: Sorry I’m late. Our guinea pig chewed up the Ethernet cord

MariaX: Sorry I’m late. Our guinea pig chewed up the Ethernet cord.

MariaX: Did you get my message that the guinea pig chewed up the Ethernet cord?

Appropriate private chat:

JoseV: Profa Fann, I can’t hear, so I’m going to reenter.

(I appreciate knowing who is intentionally leaving. I usually do not write back)

XavierM: Profa Fann, sorry I’m late. I’ll get to the homework page to see if I missed anything.

(This is not only good class etiquette, but also shows a responsible student)

UPON ENTERING (and the ensuing welcoming committee)

If class has already started once you arrive, please do not strike up conversation.

This often starts the “domino effect.”

Example

While Profa Fann is teaching…..JorgeZ enters

JorgeZ: Yo! Wuz up? Sorry I’m late. Hey, did you get my email, Profa Fann? Dude, my guinea pig chewed up the Ethernet cord and my dad had to unhook one from his computer and then that cord didn’t fit right so then we had to run next door to the neighbor’s and ask for theirs. Anyhow, I’m finally here. What did I miss?

XavierM: hey, Jorge!

MariaX: hey, Jorge!

JoseL: hey, Jorge!

MartinM: wazzup, Jorge!?

Etc, etc…

TIMEKEEPERS

This has not been an issue with my class, but has been with other teachers. Please do not play “timekeeper” and count down how many minutes are left in class. I am very aware of the clock!

RESPECTFUL EMAILS

When writing to an instructor or fellow student, stay mindful of how you come across. “Please”, “thank you”, and other pleasantries are important.

TECH ISSUES

These happen. I can’t help you except for audio and annotation. Please do not spend class time trying to figure it out in public chat. I’m sorry that you may miss something, but we have to move on. Alert me in private chat (see above in “Chatbox”) that you are working on it.

Annotation. If you can’t see it right away, please give it 30-60 seconds. It is still has not popped up, alert me in PRIVATE CHAT. Then you may have to log out and come back in if there is still a problem.

Audio. If you can’t hear, but everyone else can, alert me in PRIVATE CHAT, then leave and come back. If the problem persists, alert SUPPORT.

Presentation problems. If there are presentation problems we are working with as a class, please leave it to me to fix from my end. If you have tech advice for me, PRIVATE CHAT is appropriate.

ON USING (*gasp*) AN INTERNET TRANSLATOR

I have spoken with the other Spanish teachers and the rest of the foreign language department extensively on this topic. Last year we had some emails burning up the cyber waves about it. All of us vehemently discourage the use of an Internet Translator (IT). We have all mentioned that at the very most it could be used as a dictionary to translate word-to-word, but there are two difficulties with this:

a) it is simply too tempting to translate whole passages and

b) it does a horrible (though often hilarious) job of translating said passages!

What I have said before and will say again in class multiple times before the end of the year is “whatever you do DON’T use the Internet translator. The translations are off (examples below); the same thing happens from English to Spanish. It is very, very flawed. Again, the translator is an okay tool for a dictionary (word to word) and nothing else (definitely NOT a conjugation tool or sentence builder). I don’t want any student to get into the habit of using it because it becomes a crutch (not to mention the use of their own knowledge becomes lessened and fades because the translations are incorrect). They translate literally and do not do a very good job. Why? Because the computer, as incredibly advanced as it is, is flawed. Only humans can pick up the nuances, expressions, and unique twists and turns in a language. They might get the point across if you are desperately trying to get a message to someone in Germany or Spain or France or, er, Ancient Greece and Rome (Dave Spotts, Latin/Greek), but their message will be jumbled at best. It is very obvious when one is using an IT.

Here are some examples (and they are funny!):

1. On answering a question from the literature in Spanish 2, one student was trying to say (I think): “The candles were dancing in the moonlight,” they instead received, (as I translated from their Spanish sentence): “The camels were dancing in darkness.”

I asked them to translate: He can do it tomorrow.

Their answer: Él lata lo hace mañana.

Big problem: lata is not a verb – it is the noun for “tin can” / there also needed to be two verbs (one not conjugated) in the sentence! Back to English again, this is translated, “The tin can does it tomorrow.”

3. I asked them to translate: I am going to go to the store in the morning.

Their answer: Yo iré a la tienda en la madrugada.

Big problem: Technically, the grammar was correct, BUT they hadn’t even learned the future tense (iré), I wanted an actual translation of “I’m going to go”, which can be done! Also, madrugada is technically the word for “dawn” – another word they hadn’t even learned yet. They were expected to learn “mañana” first.

4. THIS is my favourite from my good friend in Honduras – he is a preacher who knows a little English and uses Babel Fish IT to send out his reports to supporting congregations. I think this is a good idea for him b/c this is his only means at the moment. We all expect to see some jumbling, but we get the idea. However, he does not claim to know English fluently.

In his language: Que Dios les bendiga en el nombre de nuestro hermano, El Señor Jesu Cristo

What he wanted to say: May God bless you in the name of our brother, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What the IT did for him: What God might bless you all in the name of our sibling, the Mr. Jesus?

Gotta love THAT. Close, but not quite right. It is the best he can do right now, but I tell MY students to avoid ITs at all costs or they will give themselves away to those of us who actually speak the language! LIKE ME!!! You might even get away with it a few times and the BANG, you’re toast.

People who should be using ITs are:

someone who is using it as a word-to-word dictionary (I would like to say using an IT could be exactly the same thing as using a dictionary, but that would truly only be the case if one is a taking a college Spanish class and is trying to find a word that would best describe what they are trying to get across; otherwise, you may end up something that isn’t remotely related to what you are studying)

people like my friend above who have no other choice and

people like ME who know how to fix the ridiculous sentences they toss out

My suggestion to my students is that instead of trying to translate something from English that is a little too hard, try to say it in the simplest Spanish possible. Just say it another way. If the student wants to use a verb structure he or she hasn’t done or doesn’t understand, just don’t use it – change the sentence to make it simpler so that it will be from your head.

The points of translating on one’s own are:

To use their understanding of the grammar so far (as if they were trying to tell the story using only what they know),

To use the vocabulary words from the chapter and

If they read it back to the class, the class would understand it.

The exercises are much more challenging this way!

For example, when we have written short stories from cartoons and then told them to the class, the class would have no idea what a student means by “El elefante carga su maleta.” The correct use of our vocabulary level would be “Hace su maleta.” However, if he or she is trying to get the point across that the elephant is packing ammo (which this student was trying to do from his picture of an elephant cramming an Uzi in his luggage, he would want to use the simplest term – “Hace su maleta con armas (or pistolas – both of which we learn in chapter 7).”

Does that all make sense? I hope so, I know it is long, but I wanted to be specific. Yes, I have and will address this many times in class, but I am making sure it is posted here, just in case. Thanks so much for your time and care to this matter! (go back to the top of the page)