Course Design for Spanish for Heritage Speakers
Course Description: This course is designed to teach Heritage Speaker, Spanish as a
language and not as a foreign language. The goal of this class is to help students speak,
write, and understand an “academic” level of Spanish. Many of these students have
never formally learned Spanish, but this course is designed to help fill in those gaps. We
will look at the linguistic variation and the structure of the Spanish language as well.
Focal Students for the Course: This class is designed to accommodate at a maximum of
15 students whose home language has been Spanish. Most of the students will have more
experience in the oral aspects of the Spanish language, and less in the writing, grammar,
and contextual understanding. The abilities may vary from high bilingual to low
bilingual.



High Bilingual range: the student presents complex speaking abilities that are easily
transferable to a variety of written text.
Mid Bilingual range: the student presents confidence in oral abilities but not in the there
written abilities, pronunciation vice versa, more complex forms may be problematic.
Low bilingual range: the student presents a mixture of native speaker tendencies with
Foreign Language tendencies.
(Adapted from M.L. Ruiz, 1999)
Course objective for the first semester:
After the completion of the first semester students will have expanded their knowledge in
the following areas:
I.
II.
III.
Written Communication- Objectives:
A. Mastery of Spanish orthography and various grammatical concepts
i. Written accents
ii. Punctuation’s
iii. Diphthongs
iv. Division of syllables
v. Problematic phonemes
B. Development of writing skills
i. Brainstorming
ii. Outlines
iii. Organization of text
iv. Revision
v. Editing
Oral communication
A. Development of oral skills within a variety of contexts.
i. Comprehension skills
ii. Narrative skills
iii. Presentation skills
Reading Comprehension – Objectives for first semester
A.
B.
Literal Comprehension
i. Identify the main idea and supporting details of the text.
ii. Infer meaning from unfamiliar words given the context in which they are found.
iii. Understanding organizational pattern of text.
iv. Recognize cause and effect relationships.
Critical Comprehension
i. Gain the ability to s distinguish between a fact and opinion
ii. Recognize point of view, intent, bias, and attitude if the author within a text.
iii. Make critical judgments
iv. Ability to draw inferences from a text.
v. Recognize tone and mood of text.
vi.
Objectives to incorporate throughout the course:
I.
II.
Incorporate the Spanish language in writing
Develop the student understanding of sociolinguistic factors in all languages
and dialects.
III.
Promote a higher self-esteem in each student’s language skills
IV.
Emphasize the importance of maintaining the Spanish language
V.
Enhance an appreciation for the diversity of dialects of the Spanish language
with the US and throughout Latin America
VI.
Promote and encourage cultural and political awareness of bilingualism in the
United States and other Spanish speaking countries
VII. Enhance students abilities in Spanish to raise them from a non-academic
Spanish to an academic pre-college level Spanish
General Objective: After a year f studying Spanish for Heritage speakers, students will
be able to take advanced composition classes, and enter the AP Spanish class. Students
will study Spanish literature, and take content level classes in Spanish (level 3 in high
school). Students will be advance in their reading, writing, and oral skills in the Spanish
language. Students will be prepared to take advanced Spanish classes at the high and
university level. Students will also be able to improve their writing, reading, and
comprehension in English
Week 1:

Culture: Students will have a better understanding of Spain and their
culture.

Students will understand how to write a composition (brainstorming,
rough draft, peer editing, and final version)

Students will begin to understand the art of translation, and the letter”c”











Week 2:
Culture: Students will have a better understanding of Mexico and their
culture.
Grammar: Students will study and have a better understanding of
diphthongs.
Grammar: Knowledge of the borrowed English word in Spanish.
Reading: The ability to conceptualize what is being read.
Week 3:
Culture: Mexican-Americans in the US
Reading: Students will study and have a better understanding of the
following: ie> y and ue>o, prefixes, and suffixes, homophones “c” and
“s”
Students will have a better of false cognates
Week 4:
Culture: Other Hispanic groups in the US
Grammar: articles, contractions, and the article “lo,” “unos,” “unas,” and
the omission of the article.
Grammar: Students will fully understand the rules of “accents” and will
be able to apply them to their writing.
Grammar: The letter “z”





Week 5:
Culture: Students will understand Puerto Rico and their status to the US
Oral:
students will each present a news article over Puerto Rico
Grammar: Syllables, accents, and homophones “s” and “z”
Week 6:
Review for exam 1
Take exam 1
Oral: Students will present article over Cuba and Fidel Castro
Culture: Students will have a better understanding of Cuba and the US
relationship with Cuba
Grammar: Verbs, regulars, irregulars, and participles
More accent rules
Week 7:
Writing: “b” and “y”
Movie: Cuba
Composition: Over Fidel Castro and dictatorship
o Peer editing and final version
Culture: Bring favorite Spanish dish to share and to learn about other
country’s food (bring a copy of the recipe)
Week 8:
Country: Dominican Republic
Grammar: Irregular verbs, future regular verbs
Writing: letter “v” and practice accents
Oral:
Presentations of a news article about the Dominican Republic
Week 9:
Country: Guatemala
o Rigoberta Minchu
Grammar: preterit, imperfect. Preterit vs. imperfect
Writing:
“b” vs. “v”
Movie: Rigoberta Minchu
Week 10
Country: El Salvador: Read and analyze text
Oral:
Present news articles over El Salvador
Grammar: Commands and imperative, “let’s”, equal to Spanish, time
Writing: Punctuation marks
Quiz:
grammar and punctuations marks





Week 11
Country: Honduras
Reading: Text over Honduras and questions
Grammar: Sentence structure
Oral: Presentation with news articles over Honduras
Writing: Letter “d’





















Week 12

Review: Exam II

Exam II

Debate: Abortion (oral skills)

Movie: Selena

Composition












Week 13
Oral: Debate over capital punishment
Reading: “Casa en Mango Street
Quizzes: Over text
Week 14
Quizzes: Over reading
Read and discuss book
Exam III
Research over final project
Week 15
Listening presentations over final project
Week 16
Introduction to poetry
Read poetry
Final Exam review
Final Exam