SPAN 2311 (Web) Syllabus
INTERMEDIATE SPANISH I
Midland College
Summer 2011
Instructor:
Whitney Purvis, Adjunct Professor, Midland College
PhD Candidate, University of New Mexico
Email:
wpurvis@midland.edu
Phone number:
432.686-4800 x 2053
Office Hours: Because this is an online course, I answer questions as needed and do not have set office
hours. Please email me at any time with questions, problems or issues.
Course Description:
This is the third semester of lower division Spanish courses. You are expected to have completed three
semesters of instruction in Spanish prior to this one, or display an equivalent level of proficiency. This course is
designed to increase fluency in Spanish through grammar presentation and review, and through reading,
writing, and one oral assignment. Prerequisite: SPAN 1412 or equivalent.
Text, References and Supplies:
Mastering Spanish Vocabulary by José María Navarro and Axel J. Navarro Ramil, Barron\'s Educational Series,
Inc., Second Edition
Spanish Verb Tenses by Dorothy Richmond, NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, First or Second Edition
English Grammar for Students of Spanish by Emily Spinelli, The Olivia and Hill Press (This text is
optional/suggested)
Additional explanations and practice exercises will be available on the website.
A voluntary discussion board will be available so that you can practice your Spanish with other students.
System Requirements: Students are responsible for meeting the hardware and software system requirements on
the Midland college website at http://www.midland.edu/blackboard/web-requirements.php
Learning Outcomes:
1. Use approximately 750 new vocabulary words.
2. Describe things that may have happened, will have happened, or would have happened, using the appropriate
perfect tenses.
3. Express time and space relationships with common prepositions.
4. Express volition, emotion, doubt, denial, and nonexistence with complex sentences using the present
subjunctive.
5. Use the imperfect subjunctive in certain types of complex sentences.
6. Describe contrary to fact situations, using hypothetical \"if\" clauses.
7. Understand and explain certain aspects of Hispanic culture.
Course Goals/Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to do the following:
1. Translate vocabulary words from English to Spanish and write them correctly.
2. Use the present perfect subjunctive, pluperfect subjunctive, future perfect and conditional perfect correctly
at least 70% of the time on written evaluations.
3. Use common prepositions correctly at least 70% of the time on written evaluations.
4. Distinguish between the present subjunctive and present indicative verb forms and use them correctly in
sentences.
5. Use the imperfect subjunctive correctly 70% of the time on written evaluations.
6.
Make sentences with hypothetical \"if\" clauses.
Student Contributions and Class Policies:
In a web class, the student must accept the responsibility for keeping up with the material on a daily basis. This
is particularly important in a language class. You need to assimilate one concept and practice with it before
going on to something new. If you try to wait and do the assignments for several days at once, you will
probably get confused and frustrated. Therefore, you should be willing to commit a minimum of one hour a day
to studying Spanish (or two hours during a summer session).
Attendance: Each student is expected to access the website daily to keep up with assignments and
announcements.
All assignments will be due at 7:00 p.m. (Central Time), but they should be submitted before the day they
are due.
Policy on Plagiarism: The Midland College Student Handbook defines plagiarism as \"the appropriation,
buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means another\'s work and the unacknowledged submission or
incorporation of it in one\'s own written work offered for credit.\" A more detailed explanation can be found on
pp. 64-65 of the Midland College 2006-2007 Catalog and Handbook. According to the handbook, the instructor
has the right to enforce any of the following penalties for plagiarism:
1. Failure of assignment
2. Failure of course
3.
Recommendation for disciplinary action, including institutional suspension or dismissal
Lab/Practice Exercises:
Regular second-year classes are expected to spend one hour a week in the language lab. The web students will
meet this requirement by doing practice exercises available on the website.The practice exercises will be scored,
and they will be counted as part of the grade average. The exercises are specifically geared toward helping
students prepare for quizzes and exams, so those students who do them correctly usually make much better
grades on tests than those students who do not.
Class Activities, Assignments, and Exams
1. In this class, we will focus on the mastery of the constructions as presented in the texts and other exercises.
We will be dealing with vocabulary building, verb usage, and grammar, all to be presented within the
framework of explanation and subsequent reinforcement with cue/question response drills and sentence
translation.
2. You will have two major tests and a final exam. You must use Firefox as your internet browser to prevent
a very annoying glitch when taking tests and quizzes. They will be offered online and will be very strictly timed
so that you will need to know the material well in order to finish. There will be a date when each test is due,
and you must submit it before the due date in order for me to grade it and give partial credit and/or restore credit
for any correct answers that the computer has counted wrong. (To get partial credit on verb forms you must
have the correct verb and the correct ending, but there can be some problem with the stem of the verb.) All tests
will be due at 7:00 p.m., Central Time. You are expected to take every test before the day it is due. Sometimes
a computer problem causes a test to lock up, in which case you will need to contact me to unlock it for you. If
you wait until the last day, you may not be able to contact me in time to unlock the test before it is due. When
you complete a test, check your grade right away in the Tools (Herramientas) section of the website. If there is
a lock symbol where your grade should be, or if it says that your exam is \"In progress,\" it means that I did not
receive the test, and you must e-mail me immediately so that I can re-set it.
3. You will have a number of short quizzes, which you will take online. You must use Firefox as your internet
browser to prevent a very annoying glitch when taking tests and quizzes. The quizzes will have a time limit, so
you will need to be careful to keep up with the time when you are taking a quiz. There will be a date when each
quiz is due, and you must submit it before the due date in order for me to grade it and give partial credit and/or
restore credit for any correct answers that the computer has counted wrong. (To get partial credit on verb forms,
you must have the correct verb and the correct ending, but there can be some problem with the stem of the
verb.) All quizzes will be due at 7:00 p.m., Central Time. You are expected to take every quiz before the day it
is due. Sometimes a computer problem causes a quiz to lock up, in which case you will need to contact me to
unlock it for you. If you wait until the last day, you may not be able to contact me in time to unlock the quiz
before it is due. When you complete a quiz, check your grade right away in the Tools section of the website. If
there is a lock symbol where your grade should be, or if it says that your quiz is \"In progress,\" it means that I
did not receive the quiz, and you must e-mail me immediately so that I can reset it.
4. You will have two reading assignments. You must submit them by the due date in order to receive full
credit. The reading assignments will be submitted through Blackboard.
5. You will write one short research paper on a cultural topic (two pages, in either English or Spanish).
There will be a due date for the paper, and you must submit it by the due date in order to receive full credit. Ten
points per day will be deducted from the grade if the paper is submitted late for any reason. (This includes
weekends, holidays, and vacation days). Since there is a ten point per day late penalty to the grade, any paper
not submitted within nine days after the due date will receive an automatic zero. Remember that one day equals
24 hours. Therefore, if your assignment is due at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the first day after the due date ends
at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The paper will be due at 7:00 p.m., Central Time, and you should submit it before the
day it is due. (If the paper is submitted at 7:01 p.m. on the due date, it is late.) The paper will be submitted
through Turnitin, and the time of submission will be the time that the paper is sent.
6.
You will also have an oral assignment which you will record on my voicemail.
7.
The final exam will be comprehensive. It will count 20% of your total grade.
Time Zones:
All tests, quizzes, and composition are due at 7:00 p.m., Central Time. If you are in a different time zone, you
will need to be aware of the time difference and submit your work before 7:00 p.m. in Midland, Texas.
Official Midland College Policies Regarding Cheating:
The following statements on cheating come directly from the Midland College Student Handbook:
Scholastic Dishonesty and Academic Misconduct: Midland College encourages high academic standards,
including student responsibility for original work. As a part of this stance, Midland College endorses the
following definitions and guidelines regarding scholastic dishonesty and academic misconduct of another?s
work, including the area of cheating, plagiarism, and collusion.
Academic Misconduct: Academic misconduct is the actual or attempted tampering or misuse of academic
records or materials such as transcripts and examinations. Examples are: stealing, buying, or otherwise
obtaining all or part of an unadministered test or academic exercise; selling, buying, giving away all or part
of an unadministered academic exercise or any information about it; changing or altering a grade book, test,
?drop form,? or other official academic record of the college; unauthorized entry into a building or office for
the purpose of changing a grade or tampering in any way with grades or examinations.
Cheating: Cheating is defined as the deliberate use of unauthorized materials and/or actions or fraudulent
acquisition in order to obtain information for an examination or assignment.
Collusion: Collusion is defined as the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written
work offered for credit or collaboration with another person to commit a violation of any section of these
rules on scholastic honesty. A student commits collusion if he/she:
1) Allows someone else to edit papers or correct assignments, without the instructor?s knowledge or
permission. It is scholastically dishonest for students to employ tutors to correct, edit or modify papers or
assignments in any substantive fashion. The same reservations and restrictions apply, within reason, to any
outside assistance a student may receive from a parent, friend, roommate, or academic tutor. Any changes,
deletions, rearrangements, additions, or corrections made in papers or assignments should represent the
student?s own work. (Midland College provides a diverse range of tutorial services. Tutors in these college
facilities offer advice without editing or completing the requited work.)
2) Reveals test information to another student enrolled in the same course.
Penalties: If a student has any questions or doubts about the way he/she is employing sources or assistance
in any given assignment, he/she is advised to consult the instructor before handing in the assignment. The
penalties for any type of scholastic dishonesty described in this statement can be severe and can adversely
effect the student?s permanent academic record. The instructor has the primary responsibility for
recommending the penalty in cases of academic dishonesty after consultation with the Division Dean and
student. Students may seek review of decision or redress of grievance related to their participation in college
programs or activities.
The instructor does have the right to enforce any one of the following penalties for scholastic dishonesty at
his/her discretion and in response to each particular case:
1) Failure of assignment
2) Failure of course
3) Recommendation for disciplinary action, including institutional suspension or dismissal.
Students are encouraged to read and understand all portions of this Scholastic Dishonesty Statement.
My own policy regarding cheating:
1. All words, verb forms, grammar forms must be the same as those that appear in the text, or in my lists
or presentations. Synonyms (spelled correctly or incorrectly) that are not in the text(s) or presentaciones
are not acceptable for credit on any graded activity. This includes dialectical forms. Never cut and paste
whole words of phrases into a test or practice, because I will know when you do.
2. Do not have another person do your work for you. That is also all too obvious to me if you do, and it
would not be difficult to prove.
3. If you do either 1 or 2 above, I will do one, and very likely all, of the three actividades which I describe
below:
-- I will restore no credit to any test, or other assignment.
-- I will list your grade as zero for that assignment.
-- I will report you to the dean, and that includes the deans of schools other than Midland College, and
request that you be withdrawn immediately from the course.
Grading:
I will generally grade everything within 72 hours of the time it is submitted. All quizzes and tests will be
computer graded. However, the computer grade you see if you submit the item by the due date will usually not
be your final grade. I review all quizzes and tests in order to give partial credit and restore credit for correct
answers that have been counted wrong by the computer. You will need to recheck your grade about 3 days after
you take a quiz or test to see the true grade. Then you should contact me if you have any questions. You can
view your grades at any time by clicking on the Tools (Herramientas) button on the left hand side of the class
web site and then clicking on My Grades.
E-mail guidelines:
1. Each student must maintain a single e-mail address for this class. You need to be sure that the address is
entered into your personal information in Blackboard. If you change your address during the semester, you need
to enter the new address into Blackboard so that I can contact you if necessary. You are fully responsible for
any problems resulting from your failure to maintain a current email address in Blackboard or from your failure
to check email.
2. E-mail messages that I receive before 5:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday will generally be answered the
same day. Messages sent at night or on weekends or holidays may not be answered until the next workday. If
you send me an e-mail message requiring a response, and you do not receive a reply within 24 hours, or on the
first day after a weekend or holiday, it is your responsibility to send me a follow up e-mail message in a timely
manner.
3. Students must always give their full name and the course number (2311) in the subject line of an e-mail
message. Messages without this information may get lost in the shuffle, and I want to get back to you right
away.
Evaluation of Students:
10%
Reading Assignments
5%
Research Paper
5%
Practice Exercises (Lab)
30%
Vocabulary and Grammar Quizzes and Oral Assignment
30%
Major Tests
20%
Final Exam
89.5% - 100% = A
79.5% - 89.4% = B
69.5% - 79.4% = C
59.5% - 69.4% = D
Below 59.5% = F
There will be no extra credit work in this course. In order to receive credit for the class, students must
do the work that is assigned.
We will cover the following grammatical topics, in addition to the vocabulary units:
-The Present Progressive
-The Preterit Tense
-The Imperfect Tense
-The Past Progressive Tense
-\"Se\" and the passive voice
-The Future Tense
-The Conditional Tense
-Present and Past Perfect Tenses
-Formal and Informal Commands
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:
Instructor: Whitney Purvis, PhD Candidate, American Studies
E-mail: wpurvis@midland.edu
Voicemail: 432-686-4800 x2053
Division Information:
Dean: Mr. William Feeler
Secretary: Lula Lee
Division Office: 137 AFA
Division telephone: 432-685-4624
VERY IMPORTANT: If you have an emergency, you should contact me by e-mail, not by phone. I check
my e-mail frequently throughout the day and will respond quickly if you have a problem. If you leave a
phone message, I will probably not receive it in time to help you. Also, I require that all requests for
anything be submitted in writing. I keep copies of all correspondence in order to have a written record of
everything that occurs. If you call me to make a request, I will ask you to e-mail your request, and my
answer will also be sent to you via e-mail.
BLACKBOARD LOGIN DIRECTIONS
http://blackboard.midland.edu
User ID:
VCT – 1st initial of first name + first 3 letters of last name + last 3 numbers of telephone
number. (Example: John Doe; 485-123-6789: VCT-jdoe789)
Please note there is a hyphen after “VCT.”
Password:
Phone number with dashes. (Example: 485-123-6789)
Note: Student must use telephone number submitted at registration with host college.
After login, access the Tools bar > Personal Information > Change Password > verify or revise e-mail address >
Submit. The student must consistently use the same e-mail address to facilitate communication between student
and instructor.
The course (http://www.midland.edu/blackboard) will be accessible to the student at 8:00 a.m. on the first day
of class instruction. If the course is not accessible, contact the Midland College webmaster by clicking on the
“Blackboard Online Help Request” link at http://www.midland.edu/blackboard/index.html.
Contact the Midland College webmaster if experiencing difficulty logging into Blackboard. Click on the
“Blackboard Online Help Request” link at http://www.midland.edu/blackboard/index.html.