SPAN 101: Elementary Spanish I
Dear prospective students:
Thank you for your interest in Hybrid Spanish 101. As you might already know, hybrid in the name of the course
implies that this is a combination of online and face-to-face learning and studying.
This class is designed for people who have time constraints but would love to learn a modern language. Our
department has offered this class five times already and students who take it had comment how helpful it was to be
able to do work on line and come to campus once a week instead of two times. I opted for hybrid rather than solely
online course to help you develop conversational skills and benefit from cooperative learning as well as lectures on
grammatical points. You have to be able to come to weekly meetings; they are very important and should’t be
missed except in an extreme emergency,
The information bellow is intended to help you understand how this course works before our first meeting on January
14, and January 16 2013, respectively.
You are required to attend class once a week, 4:10 – 6:00 on Mondays, for section #10574 and 9:40 -11: 30 on
Wednesdays, for section 10570
The other on line portion is done at any time convenient for you, but always by the date assigned by instructor.
We use both SUPERSITE created by the editorial Vista Higher Leaning and the book Aventuras, 3rd edition, and
Moodle. Supersite is very well designed and students enjoy using it. You will not communicate with each other
through the website but will be able to communicate with me and get fed back regarding your work. You could use
other means (Skype) if you wish to speak to each other out of scheduled class. I will send all announcements through
MOODLE primarily and supersite secondary. You will be able to log on supersite as soon as you have your code. My
section will be announced under College of Marin Spanish 101 and you will follow self explanatory instructions on
www.vhlcentral.com
IMPORTANT: as we do meet once a week, greater burden is on you and you must have the discipline to do the
online portion timely. If you for any reason cannot make our fist meeting, you MUST contact me before hand to save
your spot as I do honor wait lists.
You automatically are put on Moodle when you enroll in hybrid class. PLEASE make sure you know how to log into
Moodle, and how to use it, as you will be visiting the site all the time. Information about getting a MyCOM account,
read the FAQ's on the MyCOM Portal login page: https://mycom.marin.edu/cp/home/display login
I hope this email answers your preliminary questions. If you have any doubts, please email me. My e-mail is
radica.portello@marin.edu
Course Materials:
Aventuras 3rd edition, Aventuras Workbook and supersite code. If you buy new book at COM bookstore you will
get all three for approximately $200.00. You may buy used books/workbooks, but in that case, you will need to buy
supersite code for$50.00 on the vhlcentral.com website. You can also purchase the book directly from the
editorial Vistas, through this website, www.vhlcentral.com
I love teaching Spanish and am looking forward to an exciting semester with you all: I must underline this again: I
do require that you come to weekly meetings except when ill or in family emergencies. Looking forward to
meeting you. ¡HASTA MUY PRONTO!
Su profesora
Radiça (Raditza) Ostojic-Portello
Professor of Spanish
Modern Languages Department, College of Marin