LS 123
Conversaciones
Primavera de 2010
These conversations take the form of a 10-15 minute conversation in Spanish with your professor and one
other student. You and a classmate will prepare a 5-minute conversation that you should memorize and
practice. Your professor will listen to this conversation without interruption and will then ask questions
based primarily on the information covered in your conversation.
The topics for the conversation are as follows:
Examples of possible questions.
Datos personales............................. ¿Cuál es tu dirección? ¿Cuántos años tienes?
Personal información
¿Cuál es tu apellido? ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
La familia ........................................ ¿Cómo es tu familia? ¿Tienes hermanos? ¿Cómo es tu
Family
pariente favorito?
Las personas ................................... Describe a otro estudiante en la clase de español. ¿Cómo
People in general
es tu mejor amigo?
La universidad................................ ¿Cuántas asignaturas tienes? ¿Cuál es tu clase favorita?
The university
¿Qué clases tienes los lunes?
El tiempo libre ................................ ¿Qué haces los fines de semana? ¿Qué tipo de música
Free time
te gusta? ¿Cuáles son tus pasatiempos favoritos?
Los planes ....................................... ¿Qué planes tienes para las vacaciones? ¿Adónde piensas ir
Plans
y qué quieres hacer allí?
La casa............................................. ¿Cómo es tu casa? Describe tu cuarto favorito. ¿Qué tienes
House and home
en tu dormitorio?
La comida ....................................... ¿A qué hora almuerzas? ¿Qué comes y bebes para el desayuno?
Food
¿Qué comida no te gusta? ¿Cuál es tu plato favorito?
You need to include all of these topics in your scripted conversation. It is strongly recommended that you
create a conversation that makes sense to you. Don’t try to memorize something that you don’t
understand as, if you forget your lines, you are likely to panic. You should be comfortable enough with
the information so that you can improvise if necessary.
You and your partner should also anticipate some of the questions your professor might ask and should
practice answering these. Be prepared to respond to specific questions – like “¿Cuántas asignaturas
tienes?” – or more general instructions and questions – like “Cuéntame de (Tell me about) tu familia.” or
“¿Cómo es tu hermano?”
The interview will take ten to fifteen minutes and, to receive an A, you will need to do the following:
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•
•
•
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Use no English during the conversation. You can ask for help by describing the context of the
word you are looking for and having your teacher provide you with possibilities. For example:
– No sé la palabra. Es una clase. Estudiamos como son las personas.
– ¿Es una clase de psicología o de sociología?
– Sí. Es la clase de psicología.
Listen out for your mistakes. It is perfectly acceptable to correct any errors you may make. We
use self-correction all the time in English.
Demonstrate that you are comfortable with the vocabulary. While you may not remember one or
two words, you must have enough vocabulary to talk about the topics listed above in some detail.
Be prepared to use full sentences. Practice with words like pero and también, so that you can
formulate complex sentences. Practice replying in detail, with more than one sentence.
Demonstrate familiarity with the verbs that we’ve studied. Specifically: the present tense of
regular AR, ER, and IR verbs, irregular verbs like ESTAR, SER, TENER, IR, stem-changing
verbs, first person irregular verbs, the verb GUSTAR.
While it is acceptable to ask your teacher to repeat something – we all get nervous – you must
demonstrate familiarity with the questions practiced in class.
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Pronunciation counts so make sure you practice out loud. The words must be intelligible.
Pausing for a moment to think is natural. However, long pauses between words indicate that you
are not really comfortable with either the grammar or the vocabulary and will not get you an A.
Here follows a breakdown of how your grade is decided. All aspects will be taken into consideration
with special emphasis on your ability to communicate your ideas in Spanish.
A
B
C
D
F
Language
Spanish only
May use 1 or 2
words of English
Uses a few
English words
Requires English
to communicate
most ideas.
Vocabulary
Comfortable
with vocabulary
related to all
topics, or will
use
circumlocution.
Good grasp: only
occasional errors
in conjugation or
agreement. Able
to self-correct.
Unable to
remember or
describe 1 or 2
words.
Unable to
remember or
describe several
words.
May use a
several words in
English or a
sentence or two
of English.
Unable to
discuss 1 or 2
topics for lack of
vocabulary.
Fair grasp:
occasional errors
in conjugation or
agreement. Able
to self-correct
many, but not all
errors.
Makes many
mistakes in
conjugation and
/ or agreement.
Able to selfcorrect a few
errors.
Able to respond
in detail on most,
but not all topics.
Does attempt to
use full
sentences. Short,
natural pauses
for thought.
Good
Uses full
sentences but
not usually able
to respond in
much detail.
Occasional
lengthy pauses.
Occasionally
able to conjugate
verbs correctly.
Demonstrates
some
understanding of
subject/verb,
gender and
number
agreement
Some attempt to
use full
sentences. Not
able to offer
much detail.
Occasional
lengthy pauses.
Fair
Poor
Good: Many
mispronounce
the occasional
word.
Fair: unable to
pronounce
several words
Poor:
pronunciation
occasionally
hampers
understanding
Grammar
Fluency
Able to respond
in detail using
full sentences.
Short, natural
pauses for
thought.
Comprehension
Excellent
Pronunciation
Excellent
Unable to answer
more than one or
2 questions on
each topic for
lack of
vocabulary.
Shows little
ability to
conjugate verbs
or to control
subject/verb,
gender or
number
agreement
Little detail.
Occasionally
able to construct
full sentences.
Many lengthy
pauses which
impede
comprehension.
Unable to
understand most
of instructor’s
questions.
Pronunciation
frequently
hampers
communication.
These oral interviews will take place on March 4th and 5th . Your professor will pass around a sign-up
sheet so that you may select a time and date that is most convenient to you. Please write down the date
and time you have selected. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are present.
And finally, in addition to having what will surely turn out to be a very interesting and enjoyable
conversation, this is a chance for you to really show off the Spanish you’ve mastered. If you put some
effort into the preparation, you’ll be surprised by just how much you’ll be able to communicate.
¡Buena suerte!