West Port High School

 Syllabus

Course Description

AP Spanish Language and Culture is a language acquisition course designed to provide students with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate successfully in an environment where Spanish is spoken and as such, is an immersion experience requiring almost exclusive use of Spanish. 

The course is equivalent to a third year college level Spanish course. The student curriculum engages students in learning activities that encompass the different modes of communication as outlined in the AP Spanish Language and Culture Curriculum Framework: Spoken Interpersonal Communication, Written Interpersonal Communication, Audio, Visual, and Audiovisual Interpretive Communication, Written and Print Interpretive Communication, Spoken Presentational Communication, and Written Presentational Communication in addition to goals from the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century that include Cultures, Connections, and Comparisons.

Students learn about culture through the use of authentic materials that are representative of the Spanish-speaking world.  Materials include a variety of different media, e.g, journalistic and literary works, podcasts, interviews, movies, charts, and graphs.  This course is designed around the following themes:  Global Challenges, Beauty and Aesthetics, Families and Communities, Science and Technology, Contemporary Life, and Personal and Public Identities.

The students must be prepared to write daily in different formats (essays, extended responses, journal entries, etc.). Students will communicate in writing the comparisons/connections they will make about their culture/community and the ones discussed in class.

Preliminary Assessments:

All students must complete three separate preliminary assessments based on the Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational modes of communication.  These assessments are graded as class work and will count as the first assignment in their portfolio.  Students can use their results to measure their progress in the class.

Overall Grading:

Each quarter is based on points to be transferred to percentages.  Timeliness of assignments is crucial.  Grades are lowered one letter grade for each day an assignment is submitted late. Absent students will have no more than 10 days to make up a test unless special arrangements are made with the teacher. Make up tests are different than the original ones. It is the student's responsibility to comply with these requirements Failure to do so will result in a "0".

Homework:  Daily  100 points per assignment

Tests:  Assessments include integration of the modes of communication.  Unit assessments are announced several days in advance.  Students should visit with their teacher during power hour prior to an exam if they need extra help.  It is imperative that students read and reflect on the feedback provided by the teacher, as it is there to help improve language proficiency and avoid the same errors on future assignments. 100  points per test

Quizzes:  Frequent. Most are announced in advance.  100 points

Portfolio:  Students are responsible for maintaining a 3-ring binder to organize homework, notes, corrected quizzes, practice exams, vocabulary, rubrics, and writing; 100 points per quarter.

Cultural Projects:  In person or online, students participate in at least one cultural project per semester from a choice of authentic suggestions that include virtual museums and/or research about cultural topics, special guests, festivals, events in the city and surrounding cities, etc.  Students make entries in their portfolio and will orally summarize their reflection about the experience. 100 points

Class Participation:  Based on exclusive use of Spanish.  Speaking the language increases fluidity and accuracy.  Risk-taking is rewarded.  The goal is to demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening. The use of English in class limits the students opportunities to gain fluency and weakens the learning process.  Speaking AP Test practices are included in this grade. These practices include conversations and short speeches that will be recorded for evaluation and discussion.  100 points every 9 weeks (minimum).

News Report:  Each student is responsible for reading and briefly summarizing orally the content of two of the following: news article, editorial, letter to the editor, and/or TV news broadcast every 9 weeks from a current authentic source that will be provided. 100 points per report.

Essays:  Throughout the course, students write a variety of essays (i.e. synthesis, persuasive, expository) using authentic audio, visual, and reading resources, such as documentaries, T.V. news, interviews, newspapers, magazines articles, etc.; Students watch at least one movie on their own time and write an essay based on a specific prompt given. The essays are worth 100 points and are scored using the AP scoring guidelines. 

Final Exam

In addition to the College Board’s AP Spanish Language and Culture Test, the student will take a final exam in AP format to complete the course’s grade.

Grades

Reading  25%

Writing 25% 

Speaking 25%

Listening  25%

Materials - These materials are important for the students to practice for the AP Examination.

(1) 1 1/2"  three rings binder

1 set of 8 binder dividers

1 set of headphones

1 Spanish dictionary

2 packs of college rule paper - to stay in the classroom

1 ream of copy paper - to stay in the classroom

5 red ink pens to stay in the classroom

pens (all assessments must be answered in pen (blue or black) except for multiple choice questions.

pencils

Textbook

 Temas AP Spanish Language and Culture - Draggett, Conlin, Ehrsam & Millán -  2014 Edition

Additional Resources

 AP Spanish Preparing for the Language and Culture Examination - José M. Díaz - 2014 Edition

Cinema for Spanish Conversation - Mvey Gill, Smalley & Haro - Third Edition 2010

Dos palabras – Isabel Allende

El ahogado más hermoso del mundo – Gabriel García Marquez

El Principito – Antoine De Saint Exupery

En el fondo del caño hay un negrito - José Luis González

Cajas de Carton - Novela

El niño que enloqueció de amor - Eduardo Barrios

Cajas de Cartón - Francisco Jimenez

Poems by Pablo Neruda

Notes in Spanish - podcasts

BBC Mundo

Univision

RTVE

Caracol TV

El Pais

You Tube

Films

 La misma luna

Spanglish

María

My name is Khan

Not Today

El Estudiante

Cuando era Puertorriqueña

Short Films

Ella o Yo

El circo de las mariposas

Fragments of "Frida"