Spanish 109 TR   Spring 1999	Department of Modern and Classical Languages  George Mason University
Instructor ____________________________________  Phone _______________________________________	Office hours ___________________________________________  E-mail address _________________________________________

Course Description

Spanish 109, a six-credit intensive elementary course for students who have studied less than two years of high school Spanish, prepares you for the work that you will be required to do in Spanish 201. In this course you will be reacquainted with the Spanish language and you will also work to develop all language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Your final grade will be determined as follows:

Class Preparation and Participation 5% or 15%
Graded Assignments 20%
Exams 45%
Oral Presentation 20%
Final Written Exam 10% or 0%

IMPORTANT: Be aware of the fact that learning a foreign language requires your regular class attendance, your undivided attention in class, and at least the same amount of hours of homework per week that you spend in class.

Textbook

1. VanPatten, B., Marks, M. A., and Teschner, R. V. Destinos. Alternate Edition. McGraw-Hill: New York, 1997.

2. VanPatten, B. Destinos. Workbook/Study Guide I and II. McGraw-Hill: New York, 1997

3. Spinelli, E. English Grammar for Students of Spanish. The Olivia and Hill Press: Ann Arbor, 1998.

4. Highly recommended: A good Spanish - English dictionary.

5. Additional materials can be found at http://mason.gmu.edu/~eromanme/destinos.htm

Attendance

You must be exposed to Spanish and use Spanish in order to learn it, so you really want to be in class and benefit from it. Class attendance provides the kind of interaction in Spanish that you cannot do at home. For this reason, there is no real substitution for attendance. In addition, you will have to take a final written exam if you miss more than two classes during the semester.

Irregular attendance will severely affect your learning process and, consequently, your final grade in this course.

In case of non-attendance

Although there is no way to make up for non-participation, starting at your third absence you will be required to submit for each absence either a 5 minute tape recorded dialogue with any other person, or a 10 sentence paragraph in Spanish on the subject discussed during the class you missed. These tasks will not be graded, but you will receive an Incomplete if this is not completed.

Class Preparation

In order for you to actively participate in class, you have to read the material assigned for each class and prepare the activities assigned by your instructor. These activities can include workbook and textbook activities, and the viewing of videotapes in the lab.

Class Participation

In order to participate, you must be present. You will be graded for this component of the course. It will be based on the quality and quantity of what you say in Spanish in class. The participation grade includes your active contribution in Spanish in regular class sessions, pair work, and small group activities.

Graded Assignments

These assignments include written compositions, class quizzes, and book exercises. Your instructor will inform you about the specific contents and dates of these assignments.

Exams

There will be 5 exams. All exams are comprehensive and will include all the material covered in class up to the date of the exam. Exams will include listening, grammar, reading, writing and culture sections. There are NO MAKE-UPS for missed tests. Consult your instructor if your absence is fully justified.

Oral Assignments

Your oral performance in Spanish will be evaluated by means of a five-minute oral class presentation and a ten-minute oral interview with your teacher during the exam week. This presentation will last approximately 10 minutes. The class presentation might include a variety of tasks, such as role-plays, description of pictures, answering personal questions, responding to a situation, asking questions, etc. The interview is comprehensive and will include all the material covered in class. More details will be given in class by your instructor.

Final Written Exam

Whether or not you will be required to take the final written exam will depend on your attendance as mentioned above. If you miss more than two classes you will have to sit for the written final to be counted as 10% of your grade, reducing your preparation/participation grade to 5%.

Schedule

A detailed schedule can be found on the WWW at:

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/SPANISH/s99/109trb.htm

Grading Scale

A 100-93
A- 92-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-83
B- 82-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-70
D 69-60
F 59-0

HONOR CODE

All written assignments, quizzes and examinations must be done independently. Please read the university catalogue for information regarding the GMU Honor Code.

Last day to drop this class: February 26, 1999

SPANISH 109 – Spring 1999 – TR TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Fecha	Lección	Contenido	Gramática
Martes 26/1	Introducción al curso. Entremeses I - Lección 1	Los cognados	Ser
Jueves 28/1	Lección 2	La familia; los saludos	Posesión
Martes 2/2	Lección 3	Los números del 0 al 20	Presente
Jueves 4/2	Lección 4	Las presentaciones	Descripción
Martes 9/2	Lección 5 - Lección 6	Las despedidas; días de la semana	Presente
Jueves 11/2	Examen I - Lección 7	La ropa; los números del 21 al 99	Saber
Martes 16/2	Lección 8	Los agradecimientos	Verbos irregulares
Jueves 18/2	Lección 9	Los meses; las estaciones del año, los colores	Verbos reflexivos
Martes 23/2	Lección 10 - Lección 11	Adjetivos descriptivos; las despedidas	Verbos reflexivos
Jueves 25/2	Examen II - Lección 12	Los números de 100 a 1000	Pretérito
Martes 2/3	Lección 13	Comestibles; en una tienda	Pretérito
Jueves 4/3	Lección 14	Comestibles	Pretérito
Martes 9/3	Lección 15	Las frutas	Pretérito
Jueves 11/3	Lección 16	Las legumbres	Pretérito
15/3-19/3	Vacaciones de primavera
Martes 23/3	Lección 17 - Lección 18	Los medios de comunicación; saludos y despedidas	Pretérito
Jueves 25/3	Examen III - Lección 19	Las instrucciones	Imperfecto
Martes 30/3	Lección 20	Los parientes	Imperfecto
Jueves 1/4	Lección 21	El tiempo	Imperfecto
Martes 6/4	Lección 22	Cambios de estado	Imperfecto
Jueves 8/4	Lección 23	Partes de la casa	Imperfecto
Martes 13/4	Lección 24	Las reacciones; la personalidad	Otros usos de los tiempos del pasado
Jueves 15/4	Repaso 19-24-Examen IV
Martes 20/4	Lección 27		Futuro
Jueves 22/4	Lección 28	Partes del cuerpo	Futuro
Martes 27/4	Lección 29	Los exámenes médicos	Introd. al subjuntivo
Jueves 29/4	Lección 30	En una ciudad	Introd. al subjuntivo
Martes 4/5	Lección 31	En las tiendas y comercios	Futuro
Jueves 6/5	Repaso 27-31- Examen V
Exam Week	Examen Oral	Consult schedule of classes for appropriate date and time.