Malden High School
AP SPANISH LANGUAGE 2011-2012
Teacher: Diane Brookes
**AP EXAM: Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 @ 8:00am**
Classroom: J266
Office hours: Tuesday 2:15-3:15pm (or by appointment)
Email: dwade@malden.mec.edu
AP Spanish Language
Introduction
Me alegro mucho de que Uds. hayan decidido tomar esta clase. Después de tomar esta clase,
estarán listos para tomar el examen de AP y para participar en la mayoría de situaciones que podrían
encontrar en el mundo hispano. Vamos a estudiar en detalle varios aspectos de la gramática, cultura, y
literatura hispana.
The AP Spanish Language course is designed to provide advanced students with the tools and the
guidance they need to continue learning and using Spanish in meaningful, practical, creative, and engaging
ways. The course is designed for students whose experience with the Spanish language takes place mainly
in the classroom. Students are required to take the AP Spanish Language exam in May.
Overview
Our AP Spanish Language course is conducted almost exclusively in Spanish. All students are encouraged
to practice Spanish in a variety of settings, through a variety of tasks. The four main skills (listening,
reading, writing and speaking) are stressed on a regular basis through all of our classroom activities. AP
Spanish students should be able to use the Spanish language to:
1. Understand dialogues and conversations, oral presentations, lectures and narratives, newspaper
and Internet articles, formal and informal letters, and short stories from a variety of authors
2. Express themselves orally through persuasive arguments, debate, circumlocution, asking
questions and accurate, detailed description.
3. Write in a variety of styles, for different audiences.
The following over-arching themes will be explored through the study of smaller themes:
● Global Challenges
● Science & Technology
● Contemporary Life
● Personal & Public Indentities
● Families & Communities
● Beauty & Aesthetics
Course Materials
Our AP Spanish Language Course uses:
●
Una Vez Más (Couch, McCann, Rodríguez-Walter & Rubio-Maroto, Prentice Hall, 2007, Third
Edition)
● Triángulo (Gatski & McMullan, Wayside Publishing, 2006, Fourth Edition)
● ABRIENDO PASO: LECTURA, Cuentos Y Ejercicios (Díaz, Collins, Prentice Hall, 2001)
● A variety of materials/sources for authentic target language activities:
● BBC - www.bbcmundo.com
● Radio Naciones Unidas - www.un.org/radio/es/
● El País, España - www.elpais.es
● Noticiero Telemundo
● CNN en español - www.cnn.com/espanol/
●
Other texts, stories, and materials as necessary.
Malden High School
AP SPANISH LANGUAGE 2011-2012
Course Outline
Each unit (1 chapter in Triángulo, 1 lesson in Una Vez Más) spans 2 full, 7-day rotations of classes, or 12
total classes.
Quarter 1:
Unit Themes:
Grammar themes:
El Hogar
present tense, present progressive, past tense,
imperfect tense
La Salud
imperative, past voice, perfect tenses
El Medio Ambiente
future, conditional
Additional Readings: Cajas de Cartón, ¡Nosotros, No!, Una Carta a Dios
Possible Project/Presentation: Problemas en el medio ambiente – Students choose and research specific
problems in the environment. Students produce a report with their findings, offer solutions, and create a
visual related to the topic, and present the main focus of the report to the class for discussion.
Quarter 2:
Unit Themes:
Grammar themes:
El Turismo
Subjunctive mood
El Ocio
nouns, articles, object pronouns, reflexive pronouns
Los Deportes
possessive and demonstrative adjectives
Additional Readings: Se fue por clavos, El Avión de la bella durmiente, Un Oso y un amor, artículo
deportivo
Possible Project/Presentation: Un viaje al extranjero – Students create a travel agency brochure for a 1
week trip to the Spanish-speaking country of their choosing. Brochure must include all details of the trip,
(logistics, food, lodging, important sites, costs, traveling within the country). Students present their trips,
and students individually choose which trip they would purchase.
Quarter 3:
Unit Themes:
Grammar themes:
La Escuela
interrogatives and exclamations
El Comercio
comparatives, superlatives, prefixes, suffixes
El Prójimo
relative pronouns, indefinite and negative words
Additional Readings: Al Colegio, artículo financiera, Una Semana de siete días
Possible Project/Presentation: La escuela perfecta – Students research differences in the high school and
college level, brainstorm ideas, and in groups of 3, design their “perfect school”. Students are permitted to
incorporate anything that they wish, but they must be able to justify its existence. Students must create a
model/plan of the school and present their reasoning to the class.
Quarter 4:
Unit Themes:
Grammar themes:
De Todo un Poco
prepositions, conjunctions,
Comedias/El Teatro
La Amistad
Additional Readings: Sala de espera, La Amistad en Norteamérica, Dos caras, poesía, otras lecturas
Possible Project/Presentation: La Amistad – using films, readings, and other research, students will
develop a creative piece of writing and an oral presentation demonstrating positive and negative aspects of
friendship.
Charlas
Everyday we will have 2 short presentations called “charlas.” You will be given a topic in advance, and
you will have to prepare a brief, 2-minute presentation on that topic. The purpose is to get more
comfortable speaking Spanish spontaneously in front of other people. Charlas will not be graded for
accuracy; however, it does count toward your class participation. The date of your charla will be assigned
in advance.
Malden High School
AP SPANISH LANGUAGE 2011-2012
Written Assignments
We will be doing many writing assignments over the course of the year. These assignments may be
Interpersonal Writing (in the form of short essays, emails, letters) or Presentational Writing (longer
essays that require you to synthesize information from written and oral sources in order to respond to a
given prompt). These are all assignments that you may see on the AP Exam in May.
Oral Assignments
We will also be doing many oral assignments in preparation for the AP Exam. These may be
Interpersonal Speaking assignments (simulated conversations) or Presentational Speaking (synthesis of
an oral and written source).
Distribution of quarterly grading components
● Quizzes, projects, required readings = 30 %
● Written assignments, journal entries, presentations = 30 %
● Homework = 20 %
● Daily Participation = 20 %
Total = 100%
Homework Policy
The foreign languages department considers homework as an essential extension of the student’s classroom
experiences and it will reinforce, strengthen, and enrich the student’s skill and knowledge. Students should
expect to have approximately 30 to 45 minutes of foreign-language related homework each night. Students
in Honors or Advanced Placement courses may have more challenging, lengthier assignments. Of course,
each individual student may take more or less time to complete his or her assignment. However, all
students are expected to complete their homework regularly, hand it in when assigned, and complete it to
the best of their ability. If you are absent, you are expected to turn your homework in the day you return.
Email me for assignments or call a friend!
Late homework will not receive credit.
Reminder: Homework is 20% of your final grade!
Participation includes:
Getting to class on time and beginning your Hacer Ahora (Do Now)
Coming to class with writing utensils, notebook, binder, textbook, and completed homework
Not interrupting teacher and/or classmates when they are speaking
Limiting side chatter
Actively raising your hand in class to ask/answer questions
Actively taking notes during lessons
Repeating after the teacher during repetition exercises
Not chewing gum or eating in the classroom
Limiting bathroom/nurse trips (*Remember, as per school policy, if you’re out of the room for more than
15 minutes, it’s considered an absence. Trips to the nurse are NOT considered excused absences.)
Responding promptly when teacher asks you to do something
Many other things!
Reminder: Participation is 20% of your final grade!
Extra help:
It’s better to get extra help when you first don’t understand something rather than waiting until the end of
the quarter or the day before a test. If you don’t get it, ask for help!
I am always available for extra help if you need it. See me after school on Tuesdays (or any other day)! I
don’t bite!