Manchester Essex Regional School District
Foreign Language Department
AP Spanish Literature
Curriculum Guide
Revised by the Foreign Language Dept. June, 2008
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
AP SPANISH LITERATURE
course # 360S
The AP Spanish Literature course is designed to give students an opportunity to read and
interact with an impressive collection of works written in the Spanish language. The class is
generally taken in the students’ senior year after having taken AP Spanish Language as a
junior. Students read over sixty five works of Hispanic literature from poems and short stories
to plays and novels. The goals for the course are as follows:
1) To begin a lifelong love of reading and interacting with great works of literature written
in the Spanish language.
2) To learn how to analyze a literary text and connect it with its historical and cultural
setting.
3) To learn how to support ideas and opinions with textual evidence during class
discussions as well as in writing.
4) To acquire and gain comfort in utilizing a broad range of literary terms when analyzing
a literary work.
5) To learn how to write a persuasive essay on a literary topic.
6) To prepare all students to take the AP Spanish Literature Exam in the spring.
INTENDED AUDIENCE:
• Students in grade 12 with the successful completion of Spanish IV AP Language and a teacher
recommendation.
COURSE GOALS:
The five C’s of the National and Massachusetts Foreign Language Frameworks are:
Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities.
Of the five C’s,
Communication is the core goal of all foreign language instruction at Manchester Essex Regional
Middle High School. The remaining four C’s influence the context for teaching and assessing
Communication.
STRAND ONE - COMMUNICATION:
PreK-12 STANDARD 1 Interpersonal Communication
PreK–12 STANDARD 2 Interpretive Communication
PreK–12 STANDARD 3 Presentational Communication
All students will communicate in the target language using the four primary skills of listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. The department develops the interpersonal, interpretive and
presentational modes of communication. Primary emphasis is placed on the context and purpose of
communication: expressing feelings, emotions, opinions and ideas. The interpersonal mode involves
spontaneous, interactive conversation where the message is most important and where meaning
needs to be negotiated between the speakers. Students use both receptive skills (listening and
reading, sometimes enhanced by viewing) and productive skills (speaking and writing, sometimes
enhanced by showing). The interpretive mode focuses on the receptive skills of listening and reading
in order to demonstrate understanding. Finally, the presentational mode requires the speaker or
writer to adapt language to fit a particular situation and/or audience.
productive skills of speaking and writing.
This mode entails the
One hundred percent of all classroom interaction will be conducted in the target language.
Speaking: Through the intensive reading, class discussions and writing on those readings, students will
reinforce the grammar that they have mastered in the K through AP language years. They will continue to
acquire new vocabulary, reinforce grammatical structures while debating, explaining and discussing the
works read. Students will communicate in all existing tenses and moods in the target language. All
communication will be exclusively conducted in the target language.
Writing: Students will write persuasive essays containing a thesis statement which they will use textual
evidence to defend in a five paragraph essay format throught the year as this essay writing forms an
integral part of the AP Spanish Literature Exam. Students will write in all existing tenses and moods
incorporating complex grammatical structures. Students will submit at least one formal writing assessment
per chapter.
The department will use the AP Literature Rubric to assess writing.
Maximum standard: Students will earn 100% of the possible points on writing assessment rubrics.
Minimum standard: Students will earn at least 60% of the possible points on writing assessment rubrics.
Reading: Students read over sixty five works of Hispanic literature from poems and short stories to plays
and novels. Comprehension will be measured by the correctness of answers in Spanish to oral and written
questions about the readings. Students will be expected to predict, analyze, compare and contrast what they
have read. Students will take reading comprehension quizzes as well as write effectively on the
information that they have read.
Maximum standard: Students will read written material and answer questions with 100% accuracy with
little to no help from the teacher.
Minimum standard: Students will read written material with guidance from the teacher in the form of
paraphrasing and word banks and answer questions about it. The accuracy level of responses will be of at
least 60%.
Listening:
Students will respond to teacher requests, grammar instruction and vocabulary explanations. Students will
answer free response questions. All communication will be conducted in the target language.
Maximum standard: Students will receive 100% on these sections of the test and will need little to no
assistance with comprehension or repetition of class directions in Spanish.
Minimum standard: Students will receive 100% on these sections of the test and will need some assistance
with comprehension or repetition of class directions in Spanish.
STRAND TWO – CULTURES:
PreK–12 STANDARD 4 Cultures
All students will use language to gain knowledge and understanding of peoples and cultures.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the traditions, perspectives, practices, and products
of the culture studied, including human commonalities reflected in history, literature, and the visual
and performing arts. Beyond art and literature, learning occurs in the context of the way of life,
patterns of behavior, and contributions of the people speaking the language being taught. In
addition, Manchester Essex sometimes offers travel to foreign countries.
The works read span the entire Spanish speaking world. They will be exposed to the cultures of an
enormous amount of our planet’s people. Through this experience, the will realize global differences in
writing language and culture, but they will also see the human similarities that we all share.
STRAND THREE – COMPARISONS:
PreK–12 STANDARD 5 Linguistic Comparisons
PreK–12 STANDARD 6 Cultural Comparisons
Foreign Language study is a way for students to learn more about any languages
they speak and about the universal principles of language and culture. In the
study of grammar, language and culture, similarities and differences will be
pointed out and discussed. The use of linguistic and cultural comparisons
enables students who are enrolled in two foreign languages to make additional
associations.
STRAND FOUR - CONNECTIONS:
PreK–12 STANDARD 7 Connections
All students will use language to connect to other disciplines and acquire information and knowledge
in the areas of Social Studies, English, Science, Technology, Mathematics, Health and Physical
Education, Art, Music and Drama. These connections are made through various means: the annual
Student Research Presentations, International Week, Foreign Language films, Web Quests, along
with daily cross-curricular grammar and vocabulary topics.
STRAND FIVE – COMMUNITIES:
PreK–12 STANDARD 8 Communities
Students will use language to participate in local and global communities. Students will apply their
knowledge of a foreign language through designed events and field trips offered by the Foreign
Language department including: international travel, visits to museums and restaurants, and
international week. The department creates an environment that motivates students to talk in the
target language to teachers, to classmates, and to others outside of class and in the community.
Students frequently interact during extra curricular activities, in the hallways, on the telephone, in
cyberspace, and during field trips.
The Foreign Language department will organize a weeklong interdisciplinary unit around the time
of MAFLA's designated Foreign Language Week (International Week). The theme of the unit will
be related to language learning and language use. The week will include speakers in the foreign
language classes who will discuss either a cultural aspect of their country or the use of other
languages in their profession. Other activities will include presentations of a cultural nature and
interchanges with the Memorial School. The Foreign Language department will try to include every
other department in the week by inviting them to presentations and by helping other departments to
create language related classes.
HABITS OF MIND:
1. Learn set phrases and use them in a conversational setting.
2. Do homework on a nightly basis and be organized.
3. Keep an open mind.
4. Be persistent and practice the language in and out of class.
5. Share knowledge; learn cooperatively.
6. Take a risk and have fun.
COURSE OUTLINE
Course Planner
Text: Abriendo Puertas, 2 vols. Evanston, Ill. McDougal Little/Nextext, 2003.
First Quarter (September 1st-November9th)
The general theme of the first quarter is “Lo
real y lo fantástico”
Summer Reading Review
The works chosen for the summer reading are chosen for their simpler style and easier
independent accessibility. “El hijo” by Horacio Quiroga and “Mi caballo mago” by Sabine
Ulibarrí offer a glimpse of hard reality in “El hijo” and an introduction to the sometimesfuzzy line between reality and fantasy with “Mi caballo mago.”
Works of the First Quarter (Lo real y lo fantástico)
Anónimo
Cortázar, Julio
“Romance del Conde Arnaldos”
“Continuidad de los parques”
Borges, Jorge Luis
García Márquez, Gabriel
Allende, Isabel
Cervantes, Miguel de
Fuentes, Carlos
Palma, Ricardo
Lorca, Federico García
Vodanovic, Sergio
“La noche boca arriba”
“El Sur”
“La muerte y la brújula”
“Un hombre muy viejo con unas alas enormes”
“El ahogado más hermoso del mundo
“Dos palabras”
Don Quijote, Parte I, Capítulos 1-5, 8
“Chac Mool”
“El alacrán de Fray Gómez”
“Romance de la luna, luna”
“Romance de la pena negra”
“La monja gitana”
“Prendimiento de Antoñito el Camborio en camino
a Sevilla”
“Muerte de Antoñito el Camborio”
“Romance sonámbulo”
El delantal Blanco
Works of the Second Quarter (El teatro, la prosa peninsular y el cuento
sociopolítico)
Téllez, Gabriel
Lorca, Federico García
Manuel, El infante don Juan
Anónimo
Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Nuñez
Larra, Mariano José de
Márquez, Gabriel García
El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra
La casa de Bernarda Alba
El conde Lucanor: Ejemplo XXXV
Lazarillo de Tormes: Tratados I, II, III yVII
Naufragios
Vuelva usted mañana
Un día de éstos
La prodigiosa tarde de Baltazar
La viuda de Montiel
Works of the Third Quarter (El cuento de la sociedad y la poesía)
Rulfo, Juan
Márquez, Gabriel García
Alas, Leopoldo
Bazán, Emilia Pardo
Gaite, Carmen Martín
Anónimo
de la Vega, Garcilaso
de Argote y Góngora, Luis
de Quevedo, Fransisco
Heredia, José María
de Espronceda, José
No oyes ladrar los perros
La siesta del Martes
¡Adiós, Cordera!
Las medias rojas
Las ataduras
Romance del rey moro que perdió Alhama
Soneto XXIII (“En tanto que de rosa y azucena”)
Soneto CLXVI (“Mientras por competir con tu cabello”)
Salmo XVII
Enseña como todas las cosas avisan de la muerte
En una tempestad
Canción del pirata
Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo
Martí, José
Darío, Rubén
Machado, Antonio
Neruda, Pablo
Guillen, Nicolás
Rima IV
Rima XI
Rima LIII
Versos sencillos, I
Dos patrias
A Roosevelt
Canción de otoño en primavera
Lo fatal
Soledades, II
Galerías, XXV
Proverbios y cantares, XXIX
Poema 15, de Veinte poemas de amor y una canción
Desesperada
Walking around
Oda a la alcachofa
Balada de los dos abuelos
Sensemayá
Works of the Fourth Quarter
(La poesía de la voz femenina y la generación de 98)
de la Cruz, Sor Jauna Inés
Storni, Alfonsina
de Burgos, Julia
Castellanos, Rosario
de Unamuno, Miguel
Quéjase de la suerte: insinúa su aversion a los
vicios, y justifica su divertimiento a las Musas
Sátira filosófica: arguye de inconsecuencia el gusto
y la censura de los hombres que en las mujeres acusan lo
que causan
Tú me quieres blanca
Peso ancestral
A Julia de Burgos
Autorretrato
San Manuel Bueno, mártir
METHODOLOGY FOR ACHIEVING COURSE GOALS:
1) Most days the class begins with a reading check quiz of some sort. It may take the
form of an individual quiz where students will be asked to recall several key points to
the previous night’s reading. They may be asked individually or in groups to respond
to a quote from the reading that they were assigned. They may do a small group
activity where they are asked to agree or disagree with a point that the teacher has
written on the board and to give textual evidence to support their opinion. They may
even be asked to draw a picture capturing three specific details of the reading, etc.
Students are responsible for the reading of these texts. In general, instruction time is
not spent reading the works aloud as a class. Students need to foster independence
away from teacher lead reading of the works in order to be able to tackle the intense
reading involved in the AP Literature Exam.
2) After that pre-class activity, students are usually working together in small groups to
discuss and answer focus questions that I have put on the board about the reading.
After that group work is done, and students have had a chance to help each other to
clarify and to better grasp the reading, we will usually bring all of the class together in a
full class discussion regarding the work. This small group, student-to-student
interaction is crucial to the class in order to develop the skills of supporting opinions
with textual evidence. Here students can gain the confidence to make their own
connections to and revelations about the works they have read. This skill of expressing
and defending an opinion is also essential to the AP Literature Exam.
3) Throughout the course, students are given a cultural context for the works being read
in the form of lecture either before or during the students’ work with a particular piece
of literature.
4) Students are given vocabulary quizzes on the more difficult words of certain works that
they are reading, and grammar is reviewed by giving five to ten minute review lessons
on grammar points, and then having that specific grammar point be a “focus area of
correction” on a reading check quiz.
5) Students are asked to write almost daily with the pre-class quizzes. Students will also
write several AP question style essays both for homework and in class under test taking
conditions. At the beginning of the year, students are asked to write several essay
introductions for homework, which may be viewed the next day by the whole class and
checked for correct structure. Students work toward expressing their opinions about
literature in a well developed and organized essay format. The organization of a
persuasive essay is another crucial skill for the AP Literature Exam.
6) Another area of writing routine occurs while students read at night. As they read, they
are encouraged to be “active readers.” That is to say that they must read with a pencil
or pen in hand. Writing “marginalia” as they read allows them to engage more fully or
“actively” with the text. This skill is also helpful in reading the passages found on the
AP Literature Exam. Students are rewarded with extra credit on reading checks if the
teacher can see that the entire class has “actively” read.
7) The acquisition of literary terms takes place throughout the year. Students are given a
packet with one hundred literary terms along with their definition. During the course,
students will take ten quizzes on a group of ten of those words. As terms arise during
the discussion of the works we are reading, the class reinforces their understanding of
that term.
8) Several projects also take place during the year including: the writing of a sonnet, an
artistic rendering of “Romance sonámbulo,” a videotape of the most essential scene in a
work as acted out by a group of students, etc.
ASSESSMENT OF CURRICULUM
The Foreign Language team on a yearly basis will assess the curriculum. Weekly and even
daily formal and informal departmental meetings will maintain the meta-curricular
evaluation. The department has standardized its grading and homework policies and is in
constant dialogue about standards, students, new ideas, creative activities and professional
development. Teachers who teach the same section of a class strive for consistency of
material covered, assessments performed and standards and expectations between different
levels of the same course.
As a department, we are striving to make our program less grammar-based. We believe in a
six-part approach to teaching language and its assessment must therefore have six parts. The
six parts are speaking, listening, reading, writing, culture, and grammar and vocabulary. To
this end, the department continues to develop various assessment tools or rubrics for each
skill to move away from the grammar-focused program that we once followed.
Internal and external validations will also be performed. The latter will possibly include the
National French and Spanish Examinations for all students and the Achievement and AP
exams for juniors and seniors. The former will include all teacher and departmental written
and oral examinations shared and compared from year to year.
RESOURCES
Students use the text series Abriendo Puertas, which is divided into two tomes. The well
thought through text series gives good scaffolding for students as they read all of the required
works from the reading list. The text highlights more difficult vocabulary and defines it in
Spanish. Biographical information on each of the authors and focus questions for discussion
are also provided before and after each work. The text series also has a wide variety of on
line activities for students to complete and use to supplement their understanding of the
works read.