SPANISH LEVEL II – SYLLABUS
SRA. Walters
Tutoring: Wednesdays from 7-7:30am in Room 151 or by appointment
Email: bwalters@muncysd.ord
Phone Number: 570-546-3127 X3020
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Course Description: Spanish II builds on previously learned skills and emphasizes increased
accuracy. Students will continue their progress toward mastery of the present and preterit
tenses, as well as begin to work with the imperfect, perfect, future and subjunctive. The
emphasis on vocabulary expansion and more advanced writing, listening and reading tasks
will enable the students to better negotiate communicative tasks. Spanish is the primary
vehicle for classroom communication.
My Goal: This will be a productive and challenging year of learning, growth and fun. I am
here to help you learn Spanish, but this won’t come without earnest effort on your part.
Commit yourself to constant learning and you can succeed!
“¡En español!” Class is conducted primarily in Spanish. Students should speak in Spanish, both with teacher
and classmates, to the maximum extent possible. When it comes to speaking, you are being evaluated for effort
more than accuracy. Do not worry about making mistakes. Get the gist across in Spanish and I will assist as
needed. Research shows there’s a kind of judge in our heads called the “Monitor,” or editor, who helps polish our
writing. If the Monitor gets too pushy, however, he interferes with our ability to speak, making us feel selfconscious. Like a bully, he gets bigger the more you worry about making errors or what other people think.
Point taken – use the Monitor when you write, control him when you speak.
Grading Scale:
A
B
C
D
F
95% – 100%
94% – 85%
84% – 75%
74% – 70%
Below 70%

A NOTE REGARDING THE
GRADING SCALE
The grade you receive is the grade you
earned. I will not round up if you are on the
border between two grades at the end of
the marking period (i.e. 89.4%).
Extra Credit: Apart from extra credit question(s) on quizzes and tests, no other extra credit opportunities
will be made available.
Exams and Quizzes: Tests and quizzes include matching, multiple-choice sections, analogies, fill-in-the-blank
sections, and short answer or paragraph responses. A final exam will be given at the end of the year. Students
will be made aware of all quiz and test dates.
Projects and Written Assignments: Projects will be assigned throughout the year and writing assignments
on a regular basis. In most cases you will be given time during class to work on and peer edit projects and
sometimes writing assignments. Students should begin work and seek teacher support, if necessary, shortly
after receiving these assignments in order to ensure quality work is produced in a timely manner. Any students
using an online translator (any online source in which you place phrases or sentences in the native language to
have them translated in the target language) will result in a 0. The only acceptable tool online is
www.wordreference.com.
Homework and Project Policy:
Regular Textbook/Workbook Assignments: There will be work assigned throughout the year in the
online “cuaderno,” or workbook, and textbook. Students will be responsible for completing this work at
home and each homework assignment completed is worth 10 points. There is no partial credit for
incomplete homework assignments.
Projects: Projects are assigned during class and often you are given ample time to complete it during
class. Projects can included many different components including oral and written communication. All
projects will be accompanied by a rubric. All projects are due on the assigned date, ½ credit is given for a
project that is one day late. Any projects handed in after earn the grade of 0.
Active, Engaged Participation: Participation cannot be underestimated! Participation means more than
simply answering the teacher’s questions. It entails:
- volunteering to ask/answer questions
- helping others learn (especially your partner and/or group members!)
- taking responsibility for your own learning
- communicating in Spanish for the entire class period to the maximum extent possible
- taking notes
- involvement in whole class, group, pair and independent activities
- coming to class prepared and ON TIME
Materials: We will be learning from the Descubre textbooks this year. Each student will have access to a
textbook that is located under each individual desk. Other copies may be signed out throughout the year and
you will also have access to your textbook online. You will also be introduced to the SUPERSITE provided by
Descubre.
Helpful Hints for Success in Spanish 2:
1. Come to tutoring with Srta. Walters!
- Wednesdays before school in room 151, other days by appointment
- Work on homework, peer edit, review test mistakes and clarify confusion
2. Use the Descubre 2 Supersite:
- Vocabulary lists and reinforcement
- Virtual grammar tutorials and practice
- Listening and reading practice
- Practice tests and quizzes

All SuperSite activities provide the
student with instant feedback!
3. Use my school website:
- Class PowerPoints, notes, games and handouts
- Links to online grammar games and enrichment
Strategies for Increasing Proficiency at Any Level
1. Set electronic devices to Spanish – Facebook, email, cell phone…even your computer’s operating system!
2. Memorize song lyrics! EXCELLENT karaoke-style website: http://lyricstraining.com/
3. Use Livemocha. It’s like Skype for language learning, connecting you with native speakers.
4. Watch Spanish television and movies, if possible, with Spanish subtitles for reinforcement.
5. Use proficiency building strategies. Some suggestions:
- Study the triggers for the various tenses and practice integrating them into your writing and speaking
- Examine the roots of unidentified words to deduce the meaning
- Play online vocabulary and grammar games to brush up on old and current material
- Stay current by reading the news in Spanish. Grab Chicago’s free daily reader “Hoy!”
- Write out conjugation tables for retention
- Highlight and rewrite notes
- Make flashcards for vocabulary and have a parent or friend quiz you orally
- Study words incrementally; don’t cram the day before a test!
- Repetition aloud
- And lastly, avoid English to Spanish direct translation, ESPECIALLY when dealing with colloquial expressions
Internet Resources
Descubre level 2 Supersite
Online grammar practice
StudySpanish: grammar exercises and explanations
Variety, really anything you could need!
Verbix: conjugate verbs in Spanish
Spanish language, culture and grammar exercises
StudyStack: StudyStack displays a stack of "virtual
flashcards" you can review at your own pace, discarding
the ones you've learned and keeping the ones you still
need to review. When you enter the data, it can be
displayed as flashcards, a matching game, a word search
puzzle, and a hangman.
Grammar exercises organized by concept
http://vhlcentral.com/
http://www.languageguide.org/espanol/grammar/
http://www.studyspanish.com
http://www.uni.edu/becker/Spanish3.html
http://www.verbix.com/languages/spanish.shtml
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/index.php
http://www.studystack.com/java-studysta/frames.jsp
http://www.ver-taal.com/gramatica.htm