Hyde School- Woodstock Foreign Language Department
Syllabus: Spanish IV- Advanced Grammar 2010-2011
Ian Matthew Harrington imharrington@hyde.edu
860.963.4716
Syllabus #:314199v1
The Advanced Spanish Grammar course aims to develop and hone students’ communicative skills in Spanish by consistent and thorough practice in and out of the classroom.
This course, conducted completely in Spanish, provides students ample opportunities to integrate the 5C’s of language acquisition: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and
Communities. It will build the ability to synthesize written and aural materials. Additionally the students will develop proficiency with formal writing, interpersonal and presentational speaking and writing, and aural comprehension through quality level appropriate media. Authentic literature and current events from Spanish-speaking sources including official websites, newspaper and magazine articles, literary texts, and other non- technical writings will develop students’ reading and comprehension abilities, while supplemental discussion and in-class activities fortify and broaden the academic experience and connection to the Spanish world.
Regular assessments containing both free response and multiple choice questions help prepare the students for the AP Spanish Language class in the coming year. These assessments will include readings, presentations, current events and authentic language use. Multiple choice sections contain analytical questions, while free-response questions require the student to make comparisons or synthesize information from both audio and written sources. The speaking portion of the exams (mentioned below) will consist of reading a short excerpt about a controversial or cultural topic (depending on the thematic focus for the unit) and extemporaneously forming commentary on it for approximately 2 minutes. This portion is graded on their ability to demonstrate understanding of complex and simple sentence formation as well as command of vocabulary including idiomatic expressions.
1.
Recognize and summarize the main points and significant details and make appropriate inferences and predictions from a spoken source, such as broadcast news report or a lecture, on an academic or cultural topic related to the Spanish-speaking world.
2.
Identify and recapitulate the main points and significant details and predict outcomes from an everyday conversation on a familiar topic, a dialogue from a film or other broadcast media, or an interview on a social or cultural topic related to the Spanishspeaking world.
3.
Categorize and summarize main points and important details and make appropriate inferences and predictions from a written text, such as a newspaper or magazine article or a contemporary literary excerpt.
4.
Compose cohesive and coherent analytical or persuasive essays in reaction to a text or on a personal, academic, cultural, or social issue, with control of grammar and syntax.
5.
Describe, narrate, and present information and/or persuasive arguments on general topics with grammatical control and good pronunciation in an oral presentation of two or three minutes.

6.
Use information from sources provided to present a synthesis and express an opinion.
7.
Recognize cultural elements implicit in oral and written texts.
8.
Interpret linguistic cues to infer social relationships.
9.
Communicate via formal and informal written correspondence.
10.
Initiate, maintain, and close a conversation on a familiar topic.
11.
Formulate questions to seek clarification or additional information.
12.
Use language that is semantically and grammatically accurate according to a given context.
1.
Listening: Students are given a range of listening activities taken from the internet, practice exercises provided by Diaz AP Spanish and Aventuras Literarias audio CD. The goal is always to listen for controlled information while taking notes.
● Once a week students listen to a current news announcement that is from the same topic of their weekly written news article assignment. Most selections are taken from www.un.org/radio/es ; www.rtve.es
; and www.podcast.net/tag/spanish . After we have listened to the audio excerpt, we have an open discussion about the topic using information gathered from both the written article and the audio selection.
● Students are introduced to well known Hispanic authors like Martí, Borges, Marquéz,
Storni, Neruda and many more by listening to excerpts of their work accumulated in
Aventuras Literarias. They practice their listening skills by listening to the story or poem on a CD while reading along. Each one has a theme that act as prompts for the students to comment on orally with a peer, in front of the class, or in a short written essay. Use of the written materials is not always allowed as they need to practice listening and taking notes. At the beginning of the year students are allowed to listen to the selection twice with the end goal of playing the selection only once, without a visual text.
● Biweekly, students are given audio practice activities from “AP Spanish: Preparing for the Language Examination” that are tailored to help the students prepare for this section of the exam.
● Students will watch a movie and be required to write a personal review that they present to the class, as well as an informative essay, relating the movie to its country of origin’s historical significance of the time and social and cultural aspects. Movies include “La historia official”, “El laberinto de Pan” and “Machuca”.
● Students will view a selection from one of the “Cantinflas” films. This adds humor to the classroom environment as well as some cultural content.
2.
Reading: Students are provided with a wide range of authentic materials for reading.
Excerpts are taken from the internet, newspapers, magazines and textbooks.
● Once a week, students are expected to read a news article in Spanish and write a brief summary of what they read in Spanish using the Cornel note taking format. This activity is typically accompanied with a listening activity described above or a verbal sharing of what was read.
● Students will be given 2-3 different selections from newspapers, magazines or internet resources no longer than 500 words and asked to create a synthesis of the common theme in a 2-3 page essay, appropriately citing the material.

● From the AP Reader textbook, students will read interactively in class works by
Quiroga, Paz, Jiménez and Inés de la Cruz. These texts also have vocabulary lists built in to help enhance the students’ vocabulary. Students are expected to be able to articulate on the themes and topics read from these selections. Class discussions are prompted by note cards, PowerPoint, and games played in class. After completing the reading and questions from the text, students will be assigned a 2-3 page paper that involves research on a cultural, political or historical topic that was mentioned in the text.
3.
Writing: Students use the textbook “Una vez más” for their grammar lessons and review. Most grammar tests are given in the form of a take home test.
● Daily journaling assignments are used to help students develop a more meaningful and personal response to prompts. Students are asked to write formal and informal responses to thematic, controversial, comparative, or informative prompts. They are given 10 minutes at the beginning of each class to perform this exercise. Journaling assignments are graded once a week with the student present so that they are able to help recognize and correct mistakes. Intermittently students will be asked to peer edit their responses, encouraging attention to grammatical detail.
● Some of the writing prompts come from Rita Goldberg’s Spanish resources on her website, current events, culture and themes from the unit currently taught, idiomatic expressions, reflective questions and short stories to practice using a particular verb tense or mood.
● Students are periodically given written exercises that are thematically related from 2 different resources; either both written or one audio and one written. The themes are related to current Hispanic politics, culture or other controversial topics. Students are given 7 minutes to read the material and approximately 3 minutes to listen to the audio selection. Students are then given 5 minutes to plan their responses, usually set up in
Cornel note taking format, after which they will have 40 minutes to write their essays.
Peer editing is always encouraged after these types of activities.
● Other styles of writing focused on throughout the year are dialogue, formal and informal letter writing, speeches, research projects and poems.
● Students will enhance their vocabulary comprehension by forming a glossary on each topic and theme discussed throughout the academic year. This information will be solidified through traditional vocabulary games such as Jeopardy, Recall and
Scattegories.
4.
Speaking: Communication skills are enhanced through in class exercises using prompts primarily from the internet. Students use a combination of both audio and written prompts for oral activities in order to help them to become familiar with what will be required on the AP exam.
● Dialogue activities, similar to the one present in the AP exam are performed once a
Week. Handouts are given outlining one speaker’s lines of discourse, while the student contributes to the conversation filling in the blanks. This exercise is also done with listening prompts as well using Langmedia or pre-recorded prompts.
● Oral presentations are given twice per term. These may include research projects, roleplays, speeches, and debates.

● Students are expected to be able to fluently question, explain, analyze and comment in
Spanish. Spanish is the only language used in class.
● Each exam contains an oral section where students are required to read a short excerpt about a “controversial” topic and comment on it for about 2 minutes. This part is graded on their ability to show off their understanding of complex and simple sentence formation as well as command of vocabulary including idiomatic expressions.
www.nuevoshorizontes.org/ www.un.org/spanish/ www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/news/ www.lopaisa.com/glosario.html www.lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/environment www.askoxford.com/languages/es/spanish_letters www.langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/lm_collection.html www.auladiez.com/dele-superior/lince.mp3 es.wikipedia.org/
www.todotango.com es.movies.yahoo.com
Texts:
Aventuras Literarias, McDouga www.cervantesvirtual.com www.gutenburg.org www.cnn.com/espanol/ www.elmundo.com/ www.elpais.com/global/ lomastv.com/home.php lab.chass.utoronto.ca/rescentre/spanish/ wordreference.com/ www.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/newgr/ats/ www.teachertube.com/ l Littell. 1995:
The most useful part of this selection is its audio component that will help students to develop their listening skills. Stories are told in a variety of voice, speed, dialect and accent. This resource also provides a variety of themes that accompany each literary selection and familiarizes students with famous Hispanic authors with short biographies.
Couch, et al., Una vez más. Segunda edición:
This text will be the primary resource for grammar review and practice.
Díaz, et al., AP Spanish: Preparing for the Language Examination; third edition:
This text will provide as supplementary material in order to help the students appropriately prepare for the AP language exam. Activities will focus on listening comprehension that focuses on dialogues and narratives, reading comprehension, writing (paragraph completions, formal and informal) and speaking (simulated dialogues and formal presentations).
Guilianelli, Elisabeth, Lecturas Avanzadas: AP Reader: AMSCO School Publications, 2002.
A useful source of contemporary literature as well as vocabulary building. This source will challenge the student to contextualize literature and provide useful historical background to prompt research projects and critical thinking in Spanish.
Zayas-Bazón, Conexiones: Comunicación y Cultura; 2006:

With this thematic basal, students will be able to develop language skills and cultural awareness through an effective sequence of instruction and the active use of art, music, and literature from around the Spanish-speaking world.
*Each term the student will be required to give an oral presentation, accompanied by a written paper on a given theme.
**Three movies are viewed over the academic year and will be viewed in sections accompanied by written questions and activities to help the students organize and recognize themes, main points, context, linguistic cues and social relationship.
First Trimester
Themes: Country research project: Culture, history, famous leaders in art, literature and politics, celebrated national holidays.
Movie: “La historia oficial”
Grammar: Ser and estar, Gerund, past participle, passive voice, imperative, present perfect, preterit, imperfect, pluperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive mood.
Texts
Zayas- Bazón
Díaz, et al.
Una vez más
AP reader
Aventuras Lit.
Unit 1
Chapter 1
Lesson 1
“A la deriva”,
Horacio Quiroga
Unit 2
Chapter 2
Lesson 2
Unit 3
Chapter 3
Lesson 3
Unit 4
Chapter 4
Lesson 4
José Martí,
“Versos sencillos”
Second Trimester
Themes: Music. Students will hear samples of and research background of the meringue, salsa, cumbia and tango and be asked to give an informative oral presentation on one of the styles of their choice. The oral presentation will be accompanied by an audio and visual component.
Movie: “El laberinto de Pan”
Grammar: nouns and article agreement, pronouns, adjectives and demonstrative pronouns, interrogative questions, exclamations, relative pronouns.
Texts Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4
Zayas- Bazón
Díaz, et al.
Una vez más
AP reader
Chapter 5
Lesson 5,6
Chapter 6
Unit 1
Lesson 7
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “Contra las injusticias de los hombres al hablar de las
Chapter 7
Lesson 8
José Martí,
“Mi raza”
Chapter 8
Unit 2
Lesson 9

mujeres”
Aventuras Lit. Alfonsina Storni,
“Hombre
Pequeñito”
Alfonsina Storni,
“Cuadrados y
ángulos”
Third Trimester
Themes: Students will select a “controversial” topic and write a persuasive essay either for or against the topic. The oral presentation will be in a debate format.
Movie: “Machuca” or a selection from “Cantinflas”
Grammar: indefinites and negatives, adjectives, adverbs, comparatives, superlatives, prepositions, conjunctions.
Texts Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4
Zayas- Bazón
Díaz, et al.
Chapter 9
Unit 3
Chapter 10 Chapter 11
Unit 4
Una vez más
AP reader
Aventuras Lit.
Lesson 10
Francisco
Jiménez, “Cajas de carton”
Lesson 11
Octavio Paz,
“Máscaras mexicanas”
Gabriel García
Márquez,
“Un día de estos”
Lesson 12
Chapter 12
Review AP practice exam
Lesson 13