Roane State Community College Spanish Program
Humanities Divisions
Syllabus
Syllabus for Spanish 2020
Instructor’s Name:
Instructor's Office Hours:
Course Tentative Schedule:
Note to Students: The students must read the following syllabus carefully.
By enrolling in this course the students agree to abide by the information set
forth in this document.
RSCC Spanish Program Description
The RSCC Spanish Program emphasizes the language skill of comprehension
by focusing on the application of grammar and vocabulary to listening,
reading, speaking, and writing exercises. As a result of successful completion
of each course, a student will be able to listen to advance Spanish with
increasing comprehension; develop and increase his or her Spanish
vocabulary for practical every day use and he and she will feel confident to
apply the grammatical concepts to form sentences to engage in common
dialogues. When possible, Spanish-Speaking guests will be invited to classes
to give students first hand exposure to the Spanish language and culture.
Teaching-Learning Foreign Language Pedagogy
Foreign languages courses, including Spanish, require the students to be
engaged in cumulative acquired knowledge. The cumulative acquired
knowledge sits on the pedagogical system on which the learners understand
and retain the first chapter concepts and vocabulary to be able to succeed
in the second chapter. The same situation is repeated all through the
chapters conforming each semester and the cumulative knowledge passes
from semester to semester. The cumulative acquired knowledge is the
reason for pre-requisites for some of the RSCC Spanish courses.
Pre-Requisites for Spanish 2020
Approval of Spanish 2010 is required for taking Spanish 2020.
Spanish 2020 Learning Objectives and Contents
The students will learn the vocabulary and the grammar concepts that will
allow them to describe their social life and their feelings, work, the
contemporary events and how to get prepared and take a trip to a foreign
country. In addition to being able to use the grammar concepts and
vocabulary the students learned in Spanish 1010, Spanish 1020 and Spanish
2010, the students will learn more about Present Subjunctive, they will learn
how to conjugate and use Conditional, Past Subjunctive Future, how to use
new prepositions and conjunctions, how to use adverbial clauses and a new
form of expressing possession. Due to the fact this is the Spanish Program
last course at the end of the semester individual or group projects will be
presented in class as a recapitulation of the cumulative acquired knowledge
of Spanish that the RSCC Spanish Program offers students.
Spanish 2020 Chapters
Capítulo 15 la vida social y la vida afectiva (Social and Personal Life,)
Capítulo 16: ¿Trabajar para vivir o vivir para trabajar? (Work to Live or Live
to Work?,) Capítulo 17: En la actualidad, (Current Events,) and Capítulo 18:
En el extrajero, (Going Abroad.)
Learning Services
The RSCC Spanish Program helps the students to successfully pass Spanish
courses by offering them the Learning Center and Library academic
assistance:
Learning Centers
The Learning Center offers assistance to students who need extra
help learning or remembering Beginning Spanish through the following two
avenues:
1. Free-of-charge-individual-tutorial-sessions at the Oak Ridge, Harriman
and Cumberland Learning Centers.
2. A discussion forum in the Learning Center On-line (inside Momentum) for
Spanish where students post questions and receive feedback from Learning
Center tutors and from other students.
For questions regarding the Learning Center Spanish Tutoring Systems,
students should contact the Harriman or Oak Ridge Learning Centers.
RSCC Libraries
The RSCC Library offers assistance to students who need extra help learning
or remembering Spanish concepts and vocabulary through the following
three avenues:
1. On Reserve Textbooks: The Library keeps all the Spanish textbooks on
reserve to be used by students at any time.
2. Exercises: The Library keeps several computer disks and a reserved
laptop to be checked out to practice grammar concepts vocabulary and
pronunciation for all the Spanish courses RCC offers.
3. iPads and Apps: The Library keeps at least one iPad with Spanish apps. to
offer student practice by playing some academic oriented games.
4. Mango: the Library provides Spanish practice by using the Mango
program.
For questions regarding the Library services for the Spanish Program,
students should contact the Harriman or Oak Ridge Libraries.
Textbooks and Supplemental Material
Textbooks for All Courses
Knorre, et all. Spanish 201-202 Puntos de partida, Fifth Edition: McGrawHill Primis Custom Publishing
To be purchase at any of the RSCC Bookstores.
Spanish-English Dictionary (recommended).
Honor Code, Assessment System and Grading Calculation
Honor Code
Students must observe the Honor Code of Conduct requiring that all exams
and quizzes are closed-book assessments. The Honor Code also prohibits
students from gaining help from any of the following: asking people,
including classmates; consulting textbooks; previous course answers;
consulting notes or dictionaries, on-line or traditional, using the cell or other
technical instruments, unless other instructions are delivered by the
instructor. When a student submits any graded assessment, he or she
affirms that the work submitted is his or her own.
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
Academic Misconduct includes, but is not limited to, Plagiarism, Cheating,
Fabrication and Facilitation. Academic misconduct is prohibited. Upon
identification of misconduct, an instructor has the authority to assign an “F”
or a zero for the exercise, the examination, or the entire course. Students
guilty of academic misconduct that would typically result in the grade of “F”
for the course will not be permitted to drop the class in which the academic
misconduct occurred. The instructor will contact the appropriate Division
Dean who will then contact Records and request that an administrative hold
be placed on the course in question. The instructor will notify the student of
the appropriate due process/appeal procedure. The administrative hold will
remain in place until the academic misconduct matter is concluded.
Chapter Assessment
Instructor’s designed graded exercises, quizzes and chapter exams.
Grading Scale
100-90---A
89.5-80---B
79.5-70---C
69.5-60---D
59.5-0----F
Final Grade Calculation
To calculate the final grade there is a mathematical equation based on the
addition of all the points a student receives, divided by the addition of the
maximum possible points. The result of this division is multiplied by 100.
Rubrics
Listening-Comprehension Rubric
Exemplary
Word/Phrase
Recognition
□
Comprehension
□
Often, but not
always, able to
understand
information from
sentence-length
speech, one
utterance at a time,
in basic personal and
social contexts
where there is
contextual or extralinguistic support.
Comprehension is
very limited. Able to
understand speech
dealing with areas of
practical need such
as highly
standardized
messages, phrases,
or instructions.
Competent
Developing
□
Can recognize
and begin to
understand a
number of highfrequency, highly
contextualized
words.
□
Able to
occasionally
recognize isolated
words or very
high-frequency
phrases when
they are strongly
supported by
context.
□
Understand little
more than one
phrase at a time,
and repetition
may be required.
□
Virtually no
comprehension of
any messages
spoken in
Spanish, not even
within the most
basic personal
and social
contexts.
Comments
Reading Rubric
Recognition of
words, phrases,
and symbols
□
□
Exemplary
Reader can
understand, fully
and with relative
ease, key words and
phrases across a
range of highly
contextualized
texts.
Can understand
□
□
Competent
Able to recognize
the letters and
symbols of the
language.
Can identify a
number of highly
contextualized
words and
phrases but rarely
□
□
Developing
Able to recognize
a limited number
of letters and
symbols.
Occasionally able
to identify highfrequency words
and/or phrases
when strongly
Comments
□
predictable
language and
messages such as
those found on
roadmaps and street
signs.
Able to derive
meaning from short,
non-complex texts
that convey basic
information from
which there is
contextual or extralingual support.
□
supported by
context.
understand
material that
exceeds a single
phrase.
Re-reading is
often required.
Speaking Rubric
Grammar and
Vocabulary
□
□
□
□
Pronunciation
□
Exemplary
Includes basic
language such as
personal
information, basic
objects, and a
limited number of
activities,
preferences, and
immediate needs.
Responds to simple,
direct questions or
requests for
information.
Able to ask a few
basic questions.
Language consists of
short or even
incomplete
sentences in the
present tense.
Pronunciation may
be strongly
influenced by the
student’s first
language, but with
repetition and/or
rephrasing, listeners
used to hearing nonnative speakers can
understand.
□
□
□
□
□
Competent
Communicate
minimally by
using isolated
words and
memorized
phrases limited by
the context in
which the
language has
been learned.
May ask or
answer questions
with 2-3 words.
Includes frequent
pauses.
Often resorts to
repetition, words
from native
language, or
silence.
Quite difficult to
understand, even
by listeners
accustomed to
hearing nonnative speakers.
Developing
Given adequate
time and cues,
may be able to
exchange
greetings, give
their identity, and
name a few
familiar objects
from the
immediate
environment.
Unable to answer
or ask basic
questions arising
in common,
everyday
conversation.
□
□
Comments
Pronunciation is
nearly or
completely
unintelligible.
□
Writing Rubric
Content
□
□
□
Exemplary
Writing includes
lists, short
messages,
postcards, and
simple notes.
Consists primarily of
practiced material.
Focused on common
elements of
everyday life.
□
□
Competent
Can produce from
memory a modest
number of words
and phrases in
context.
Can supply limited
information on
simple forms and
documents (e.g.,
biographical
□
□
Developing
Able to copy or
transcribe
familiar words
or phrases.
With adequate
time and
familiar cues,
can produce
from memory a
very limited
Comments
information
including name,
number, address,
and nationality).
Vocabulary and
Structure/Grammar
/Spelling
□
□
Able to recombine
learned vocabulary
and structures to
create sentences on
very familiar topics,
but cannot sustain
sentence-level
writing all the time.
Writing is often
comprehensible to
natives used to the
writing of nonnatives, but gaps in
comprehension may
occur.
□
□
□
High degree of
accuracy when
writing on wellpracticed, familiar
language.
Frequent spelling
and/or symbol
errors may be
present.
May be difficult to
understand even by
those accustomed to
non-native writers.
□
number of
isolated words
or familiar
phrases, but
with errors.
Not proficient
at the
competent or
exemplary
levels.
Ground Rules
Instructor’s Role
The course instructor leads the students through the content material and
answers questions the students bring to class. The course instructor also
corrects assessments and exams in a timely manner.
Students’ Role and Responsibility
The course requires from the students to take full responsibility for their own
learning and success. In order to be successful in learning Spanish, students
must study the material daily, answers all exercises, submit assignments on
time and take exams on the due-date.
Students’ Attendance to Class
Attendance to class is mandatory.
Students’ Health Issues
If a student cannot take any of the chapter exams due to an illness the
student must present the instructor his or her doctor's excuse. After
receiving the student’s doctor excuse, the instructor will tell the student
what to do.
Students' Academic Conduct
The students are expected to keep current on all course announcements and
observe course etiquette at all times.
Guidelines for Communication
E-mail
Subject line must be included.
Remember without facial expressions some comments may be taken the
wrong way.
Be careful in wording your e-mails.
Use of emotions might be helpful in some cases.
Use standard fonts unless otherwise is required.
Respect the privacy of other class members.
Special formatting, such as centering, is not allowed.
Discussions
Do not make insulting or inflammatory statements to the instructor, other
members of group or to the course itself.
Be respectful of other’s ideas.
Be patient and listen to the comments of other group members thoroughly
before giving your opinion.
Be cooperative with group members.
Be positive and constructive in group discussions.
Students with Disabilities
Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable and necessary
academic accommodations if determined eligible by the appropriate disability
services staff at their home institution. Prior to granting disability
accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written
verification of a student's eligibility for specific accommodations from the
disability services staff. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact
with the disability services staff and to follow the established procedures for
having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor.
Syllabus Changes
The instructor reserves the right to make changes as necessary to this
syllabus. If changes are necessary during the term of the course, the
instructor will immediately notify students of such changes by posting both
notification and nature of change(s) by e-mail.
Disclaimer of Offsite Content
The instructor is not responsible for links to web sites that were deemed
appropriate for educational use at course design time but changed without
the instructor's knowledge during the course of this semester. Please do not
attempt to view a web site that you deem inappropriate. Contact the
instructor regarding any such web site and include the reason(s) that you
feel it is not suitable. Again, web sites will change owners or add content,
graphics, and advertisements without notifying the Internet at large. Please
be advised that no advertisements are endorsed by the RSCC or the
instructor.