Spanish 209 MWF  Spring 1999	Department of Modern and Classical Languages  George Mason University
Instructor ____________________________________  Phone _______________________________________	Office hours ___________________________________________  E-mail address _________________________________________

Course Description

Spanish 209 is the third and fourth semester of the basic Spanish series. It is designed to include grammar plus listening, speaking, writing and reading skills you need in order to further your study of Spanish. As in all previous courses, in 209 you will learn more about the language and some of the different facets of the Spanish speaking cultures. 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. Jarvis, A. C. and R. Lebredo. Conversemos. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, 1999.

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/s99/209mwfb.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

Fecha	Lección	Contenido	Gramática
Lunes 25/1	Introducción al curso Repaso lección 28		Pres. Subjuntivo
Miércoles 27/1	Repaso lección 29 Lección 32	El mundo y su forma	Pres. Subjuntivo
Viernes 29/1	Lecciones 32 y 33	Profesiones y oficios	Pres. Subjuntivo
Lunes 1/2	Lección 33
Miércoles 3/2	Lección 34	Relaciones sociales	Pretérito Perfecto
Viernes 5/2	Lección 35	Consejos y sugerencias	Subjuntivo
Lunes 8/2	Repaso 32-35 - Examen I
Miércoles 10/2	Lección 37	El dinero	Pretérito de subjuntivo
Viernes 12/2	Lección 38	El dinero; la estructura familiar	Pretérito de subjuntivo
Lunes 15/2	Lección 39	Los bienes raíces	Pretérito de subjuntivo
Miércoles 17/2	Lección 40	Correos y viajes	Condicional
Viernes 19/2	Lección 41	Viajes	Condicional
Lunes 22/2	Lección 42	En un restaurante	Condicional
Miércoles 24/2	Repaso 37-42 - Examen II
Viernes 26/2	Lección 43	En un hotel	Pluscuamperfecto
Lunes 1/3	Lección 44	Deportes	Pluscuamperfecto
Miércoles 3/3	Lección 45	La vida hispana	Debería haber…
Viernes 5/3	Lección 46	Diversiones y pasatiempos	Orac. condicionales
Lunes 8/3	Lección 47		Relaciones temporales
Miércoles 10/3	Lección 52
Viernes 12/3	Repaso - Examen III
15/3-19/3	Vacaciones de primavera
Lunes 22/3	Unidad 1	Nosotros los estudiantes
Miércoles 24/3	Unidad 1
Viernes 26/3	Unidad 2	¡Vamos de viaje!
Lunes 29/3	Unidad 2
Miércoles 31/3	Unidad 3	¡Vamos de tiendas!
Viernes 2/4	Unidad 3
Lunes 5/4	Unidad 4	El arte y los artistas
Miércoles 7/4	Unidad 4
Viernes 9/4	Unidad 5	¿Qué hacemos este fin de semana?
Lunes 12/4	Unidad 5
Miércoles 14/4	Repaso – Examen IV
Viernes 16/4	Unidad 6	Es mejor prevenir que curar
Lunes 19/4	Unidad 6
Miércoles 21/4	Unidad 7	Atletas y excursionistas
Viernes 23/4	Unidad 7
Lunes 26/4	Unidad 8	Cosas de ayer y de hoy
Miércoles 28/4	Unidad 8
Viernes 30/4	Unidad 9	¿Por mar, por aire o por tierra?
Lunes 3/5	Unidades 9 y 12	¡Aquí se habla español!
Miércoles 5/5	Unidad 12
Viernes 7/5	Examen V
Exam Week	Examen Oral	Consult schedule of classes for appropriate date and time.