Ab Initio Spanish I - ASW Moodle

American School of Warsaw
2015-2016
Ms. Allison Schmidtke
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 702-8500, ext. 7104
Ab Initio Spanish I
Course Description and Student Expectations
¡Bienvenidos a la clase de Ab Initio I!
Description
This is the first year of a two-year course that prepares students with no previous experience in Spanish for
the final IB Ab Initio written exam at the end of the second year. The aim of the program is to develop
students’ abilities in Spanish so that they may communicate adequately in various situations of everyday
social interaction. In addition, students will explore life in Spanish-speaking countries through various media
including the Internet, films, music, and authentic texts, such as letters and emails. The course is meant to
provide a foundation for possible further study.
At the end of the two-year course students will take an IB exam in text-handling and one of written
production (55% of final IB mark). In addition, students will complete an extended written assignment in
class during the second year that is evaluated externally (20% of final IB mark). The remaining 25% will
be derived from an internal oral assessment in the second year of the course conducted and assessed in
class, as described in greater detail in the Ab initio Subject Guide available on Moodle. The specific
vocabulary and skills list, Ab initio required vocabulary and grammar, is also available on Moodle.
Materials
Students are expected to come to class prepared. The following materials are required in class every day:
- pencil/pen
- notebook with clean sheets of paper
- charged laptop
- course hand-outs
There is a textbook, Español lengua viva 1, for this course, which will be made available to students in the
classroom as needed.
The ASW Moodle site will be the primary source of additional resources for the course. Students should
expect to check the site daily. In addition, there will be important links posted on the Moodle page that
students will need to access on a regular basis. Students will be expected to organize their browser
bookmarks in such a way that “Spanish” is its own folder.
All students are issued a school Google email (gmail) account which they should use for all school
correspondence and assignments. We will be incorporating the use of Google docs for many assignments,
and it is important that students have a consistent point of contact in order to be able to access all necessary
information and materials.
Achievement Grade
The Achievement Grade in Spanish represents a student’s performance on different summative assessments in
the following standards:
Standards
Oral Communication
Written Communication
Reading Comprehension
Listening Comprehension
Grammar and Vocabulary
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Students will take a final exam at the end of the year. This is a cumulative summative assessment
encompassing all material covered during the first year of the course. Students will be provided with more
detailed information about the assessment prior to the exam period.
What follows is a description of a few of the more common assessments students will be doing throughout the
year according to the above-mentioned standards.
Oral Communication consists of, but is not limited to, paired dialogues, presentations, and skits. For most
topics, in place of a “unit” test, students will be required to complete an authentic oral summative assessment.
Students will be given ample time to prepare such oral projects in order to practice with peers and seek out
any other necessary assistance, especially if technology is required/involved. Where relevant, IB rubrics will
be used to assess oral tasks. In the first year of the course, however, much oral communication is of a more
basic and creative nature than the internal assessment task required in the second year. Therefore, students
will be directed as to the relevant oral rubric for each task. Students will be familiarized with the expectations
of each rubric prior to actual evaluation. All rubrics (IB and non-IB) can be found on Moodle.
Written Communication consists of, but is not limited to, blog entries, descriptive paragraphs, emails or
letters, and other relevant IB tasks. Not all written work will be summatively assessed since the primary
focus of the first year of the course is the practice of new vocabulary, structures and skills. However, where
relevant, IB rubrics will be used to assess certain written tasks. Students will be familiarized with the
expectations of the rubric prior to actual evaluation. All rubrics (IB and non-IB) can be found on Moodle.
Reading and Listening Comprehension consists of text-handling exercises and listening-comprehension
quizzes. As students gain more competence in the language, their reading comprehension will be assessed
using tasks similar to those on the text-handling portion of the actual IB exam. These assessments are of an
objective nature, with “right” or “wrong” answers; therefore, no descriptive rubric is used in evaluation.
Grammar and Vocabulary consists of grammar and vocabulary quizzes. Much of the work of learning a
language, especially in the initial stages, involves memorization of vocabulary and acquisition of grammatical
structures. Many students need the reinforcement of daily written homework assignments to successfully
internalize new material for later use in more authentic communicative tasks (dialogues, letters, emails, blogs,
etc.). To ensure that students are doing the individual study and rehearsal necessary to acquire the language,
periodic vocabulary and grammar checks in the form of unannounced quizzes will be given. These
assessments are of an objective nature, with “right” or “wrong” answers; therefore, no descriptive rubric is
used in evaluation.
A particular word about incomplete work…
The Achievement Grade communicates a student’s progress toward achieving particular standards upon
which the course is founded. Summative assessments are the tools teachers use to measure this progress. If
students do not complete summative assessments, I am unable to determine and report their achievement.
Therefore, incomplete work is not an option. Any student who fails to complete summative assessments will
be subject to the procedures and consequences explained on pages 28 and 29 in the ASW High School
Handbook.
Approaches to Learning Grade
Much of our daily work together in Spanish class is of a formative nature. This simply means that students
are constantly practicing new vocabulary, structures and skills as a group, in pairs, or one-on-one with the
teacher, with immediate, “non-graded,” feedback. Successful language-learners are those students who
maximize the benefits of these formative tasks by paying attention to their mistakes and taking the initiative
to correct themselves and clarify misunderstandings. In other words, they are active and engaged learners.
To assist students in doing the daily work necessary to acquire and internalize new material, we have a
number of class routines that will be periodically assessed in different standards of the High School
Approaches to Learning rubric, which may be found on Moodle. In addition, each quarter students will be
assessed in all four of the following standards: Work and Deadlines; Ownership of Learning; SelfManagement; and Engagement and Interaction.
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What follows is a description of a few of the more common routines students will be doing throughout the
year according to the above-mentioned Approaches to Learning standards.
Engagement and Interaction in the Spanish classroom takes the form of daily oral
participation. The more students speak Spanish, the faster they will acquire
proficiency in the language. Students will receive a monthly evaluation of their use of
Spanish in the classroom in activities such as role-playing, acting, oral vocabulary and grammar practice,
singing, and general conversation. Exemplary students take risks and volunteer to speak often, striving for
complex sentences rather than one-word or simple responses. In addition, exemplary students strictly adhere
to the class norm that all conversation, whether with classmates or the teacher, should be in Spanish.
Due to the performance-based nature of this course, it is imperative that students attend class every day.
Exemplary students will make up oral participation individually with me during a break or after school if
they are absent. Excessive absences will not only affect achievement, but also be reflected in the grade for
Approaches to Learning.
Work and Deadlines in the Spanish classroom takes the form of daily entry tasks and homework. Very little
class time is dedicated to practice of the written language. As a result, the few tasks that are of a written
nature are of utmost importance since written communication is a fundamental skill in language acquisition.
Students will receive a monthly evaluation of their successful completion and correction of entry tasks. These
tasks are activities designed to help get class started on time and efficiently. The daily activity will review
work from the previous class period, week, or month, or preview the new lesson. Exemplary students begin
the entry task immediately upon arrival to class and carefully review and correct their work with the entire
class, making sure they understand each answer. In addition, exemplary students will make up any missed
entry tasks from the Moodle if they are absent. Excessive absences will not only affect achievement, but
also be reflected in the grade for Approaches to Learning.
Students should expect to complete approximately 30 minutes of homework in Spanish three nights a week.
Homework will include any of the following: vocabulary practice and study, grammar practice activities,
reading, and writing. Homework is due at the beginning of class and will be recorded on an assignment sheet
kept by the student. It is the student’s responsibility to bring the sheet to class each day and to keep it current.
This sheet will be collected at the end of each unit and evaluated. Exemplary students accurately and
independently complete all homework on time and carefully review and correct their work with the entire
class, making sure they understand each answer. In addition, exemplary students will make up any missed
homework from the Moodle if they are absent.
A particular word about homework…
For some students, a new language comes easily and they may feel that homework completion is not
necessary to master the material. However, review of the homework is an integral part of our daily routine in
class and in order to maximize their participation, they need to actively engage with the exercises.
Additionally, many of the quizzes reinforce the format of homework tasks. In other words, it is in the best
interest of all students to complete, correct and keep their homework organized in a notebook for independent
study.
Ownership of Learning in the Spanish classroom will be evaluated each quarter. There will be many times
during the course when students receive comments on drafts for final projects. Moreover, during the last
quarter of this first year of the Ab initio course, students will be completing some practice written tasks
(Prueba 2) for formative assessment and will be given the opportunity to revise their work. Exemplary
students always take advantage of the chance to use teacher/peer-feedback to improve their work. In
addition, exemplary students use every opportunity to employ new vocabulary and structures in original
contexts, both oral and written. Finally, exemplary students identify individual areas of weakness (oral,
reading, writing, listening) and make a concerted effort to develop strategies to strengthen those skills, as well
as seek clarification from the teacher outside of class if there is confusion about a particular concept.
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Student Expectations
The following general expectations will also be reflected in the Approaches to Learning grade, in particular
Self-Management, at the end of each quarter.
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Observe the rules, procedures and guidelines of the ASW High School Handbook.
Show respect for everyone in the classroom: the teacher, guest teachers, fellow students, visitors, and,
most of all, yourself. This includes not talking when someone else, teacher or student, is talking to the
class.
Keep food, drinks (except water), and gum OUT of the classroom.
Bring all necessary materials to class. Necessary materials in Spanish include a pencil/pen and
notebook.
Use your laptop computer and all classroom technology appropriately and as instructed by the teacher.
Speak Spanish and keep a positive attitude. The only way to improve is by practicing! Don’t give up if
you don’t understand at first. Be patient. And be proactive.
Attendance
Attendance is the most important part of students’ success. If students are present, they participate in the
activities designed to help them learn the material. Many tasks are easily completed in class with the help of
the teacher and other class members. Doing the work at home is much more difficult! The Absence Policy in
the ASW High School Handbook applies regarding the make-up of daily work. It is the students’
responsibility to find out what they missed from Moodle. There are also guidelines stated in the ASW High
School Handbook that address absences and quizzes/tests/presentations/projects.
Tardy Policy
Punctuality is a demonstration of respect for one’s teacher, peers and the integrity of the learning taking place
in class. Exemplary students arrive on time and prepared with necessary materials for every class. In
Spanish, we begin class promptly according to the published bell schedule. Tardies will be negatively
reflected in the Approaches to Learning grade and reported to the office.
Academic Integrity
Learning a new language tests our sense of academic integrity to a great extent because a very effective
acquisition strategy we use is to mimic the authentic language we see and hear around us in new and unique
contexts. Is this copying? Not necessarily. In addition, in a communicative classroom, the nature of
language-learning provides the opportunity for much group and partner work. In Spanish class, cooperation
and teamwork are often encouraged because we can learn a lot from our fellow classmates; in fact, my goal is
to promote a community of learners in which students feel safe among their peers to take risks and even fail at
times. Consequently, there will be situations when the line between appropriate and inappropriate use of
material and assistance from others isn’t always clear, and we will have to define this boundary from time to
time in class. More often than not, though, students can trust their instincts when it comes to faithfully
presenting work and ideas as their own in this course. In the end, students must be independent learners, and
no type of deliberate cheating or plagiarism will be tolerated. Should a student produce work which raises
suspicions of inauthenticity because it does not represent his/her knowledge and skill level, he/she will be
asked to redo the assignment. Further violations of academic integrity will be handled according to the
Academic Integrity policy as outlined on pages 25 and 26 of the ASW High School Handbook.
The use of on-line translation sites and services can also be troublesome when it comes to copying and
plagiarism. Our goal in language-acquisition courses is for students to be able to independently and
authentically communicate in a new language; translation is not the equivalent of communication for our
purposes. While on-line translation sites can be an invaluable tool, students should only use them with great
caution as they would a physical dictionary, looking up individual words. If students use such sites to
translate an entire sentence or paragraph from their native language to Spanish, they will invariably run into
problems. Should this occur, they will be asked to redo the assignment using the notes and vocabulary
provided to them in class.
Whenever they are in doubt about the appropriate use of the myriad resources available to them for the
purposes of learning Spanish, students shouldn’t hesitate to consult with me.
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Assistance
Students may come in before school, during breaks or after school for help, or to make up
entry tasks, participation, quizzes and tests. Please check ahead of time to make sure I have
no other appointments scheduled.
Communication – A Note to Parents/Guardians
I firmly believe that students’ academic success depends on the cooperation and open
communication between students, families, and teachers. I make an effort to keep my grade
book current, so student progress can be monitored on a regular basis via Power School. In
addition, please be sure to check your student’s Moodle page from time to time to stay informed about course
assignments and expectations. If you ever have any questions or concerns about your student’s progress
throughout the year, please feel free to contact me. The best time to reach me at school is during my
preparation blocks, A, F and G, at 702-8500, ext. 7104. You can also email me at
[email protected]; email is actually the best method to contact me.
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Course Content
Spanish Ab Initio I 2015-2016
The course content is developed around three broad themes prescribed by IBO in the program guide:
individual and society; leisure and work; urban and rural environment. Additionally, individual topics of
study are organized under each theme.
Topic: Kilómetro 0
Theme: Individual and Society
Function: Getting started in Spanish. Saying basic greetings and introducing ourselves.
Forms: cardinal numbers (0-100); colors; date; gender and number of nouns; articles; recognition of
formal/informal register; subject/verb agreement; recognition of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd conjugations of
regular verbs in present tense; ser and tener
Topic: Nuestra escuela
Theme: Individual and Society
Function: Talking about our classroom and school.
Forms: time; interrogatives; ir and hacer; ir a + infinitive to express the near future; more with
conjugations of regular verbs; noun/adjective agreement; expressions of obligation
Topic: Nuestras rutinas
Theme: Individual and Society
Function: Talking about our daily routines. Narrating a sequence of events.
Forms: ordinal numbers; antes de/después de + infinitive; acabar de + infinitive to express the recent
past; use of reflexive verbs; stem-changing verbs; soler; saber
Topic: En familia
Theme: Individual and Society
Function: Describing the personalities and physical characteristics of our friends and family.
Forms: noun/adjective agreement; contrasting uses of ser and estar; use of possessive adjectives; verbs
with irregular yo forms
Topic: De compras
Theme: Individual and Society
Function: Talking about clothing and shopping.
Forms: more with cardinal numbers (100-1000); use of direct object pronouns; nominalization of
adjectives; demonstrative adjectives; use of verbs like gustar
Topic: Nutrición y salud
Theme: Individual and Society
Function: Talking about our health and what we eat.
Forms: use of indirect object pronouns; hace + que + tiempo; idiomatic expressions with the verb
tener; use of si in conditional expressions; verbs that end in -uir
Topic: Ciudades y barrios
Theme: Urban and Rural Environment / Leisure and Work
Function: Getting around town.
Forms: expressions of weather and seasons; indefinite and negative expressions; expressions of
comparison; prepositions of location; use of informal imperative
Topic: Objetos de casa
Theme: Urban and Rural Environment
Function: Describing the space where we live and our responsibilities at home.
Forms: more with prepositions of location; use of present progressive; introduction to preterit tense
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