MODES OF
COMMUNICATION:
WHAT CAN I DO WITH THE LANGUAGE?
Tasks that you will prove that you should be able to do by the end of
Spanish II.
Novice Low
Self
Family & Friends
Pets/Animals
Calendar/Time
Colors/Shapes
School/Classroom
Weather/Seasons
Greetings/Take Leave
Novice Mid
Clothing
Food/Beverage
Home/House
Leisure/Activities
●Can describe self: body, eyes, hair, etc.
●Can describe what you like, don’t like
●Can talk about what you do at home, in school, sports, (play/don’t play)
school activities, etc.
●Can talk about what you do before, during, after school.
●Can describe your best friend in physical detail, and to include
personality, likes and dislikes, age.
●Can describe your family members by title (hermano, gemelo, tío, etc.) in
detail.
●Can talk about animals, what they look like, what they do (fly, swim, run,
etc.)
●Can list the season, months of the year.
●Can describe the difference between the seasons and months based on
activities, weather, what you like/don’t like.
●Can tell time accurately in Spanish using half, quarter, hour, minute,
second, and at the…
●Can list all the colors and several objects that are of the color
●Can identify shapes such as triangle, circle, box, ball, etc.
●Can list several items in a classroom including people
●Can describe a classroom
●Can talk about differences between U.S. and Latin American school
systems.
●Can accurately describe the weather as a Spanish speaker using ‘hace’,
‘tiene’, etc. as it happens per month/season.
●Can say hello and good-bye in several ways
●Can greet a Latino/Latina in an appropriate way.
●Can list several articles of clothing and the different uses:
-winter, summer, spring, fall
-for female, for male
-formal for church, prom, etc.
-types of shoes and boots
●Can shop for clothes using accurate numbers
●Can use words such as help, try on, too big/small, etc.
●Can talk about foods by meal, b/l/d/s.
●Can talk about the kitchen using names of items
●Can describe a healthy, unhealthy diet
●Can describe random photos of foods
●Can talk intelligently about the differences between the US diet and the
Latino diet.
●Can list the rooms of the house.
●Can list the furniture of the different rooms.
●Can talk in detail about your bedroom, clean/dirty, organized/dis-, items,
etc.
●Can talk about the chores that people do in a house.
●Can talk about what you do after school, on week-ends, during summer
for fun or earning money.
●Can talk about planning for and taking a vacation.
●Can talk about making reservations, taking a flight (ticket, arrival,
departure, etc. purchases, activities)
●Can plan a party; decorations, foods, gifts, activities, etc.
Places/Geography
●Know names for town, city, state, country, river, mountain, valley, nature
such as trees, sky, lakes, etc.
Numbers – 1,000
Novice High
Community
Institutions/Offerings
(library, post office, police,
etc.)
Shopping/Stores
●Know by sight, by sound, and can produce easily
Daily Routine
●Can describe your community in detail, businesses, schools, places of
entertainment such as cinema, parks, etc. AND activities for each. What it
has, does not have, size, etc.
●Can ask for items, pay for items, search for items in a Supermarket, Mall,
Department Store
●Can talk about hygiene habits (shower, brush, etc.)
●Can identify hygiene items (soap, shampoo, towel, brush, etc.)
●Can talk about different parts of the day (morning, day, evng. Nght)
Where will you score?
Novice: Can use limited, memorized material in simple statements or questions such as in naming
/ identifying objects, people, places, using formulaic expressions. Expresses one’s self with a few short
sentences / phrases at a time. Makes several to few errors L1 / L2 errors. Shows some understanding of
how L2 works, as in talking about one’s self (yo), versus another person, and persons.
Intermediate: Can create with the language. Can make up own sentences not limited to very
familiar or memorized material. Can participate in short conversations. Can ask and answer questions.
Can get into, through, and out of simple survival situations. Can talk about what happened and what will
happen. Can transfer current learned material to new situations / contexts. Beginning to narrate about
what happened/was happening/would happen. Produces short sentences that are in sentence strings to
create meaning. Makes few L1/L2 errors. Shows clear understanding of how L2 works by using a variety
of language to talk about self, other person, and other people.
Practice Tasks
1. Look at the Can-Do statements and attempt to do them:
a. make a list of words and phrases you need
b. write paragraphs to complete the task
c. read to and talk about your paragraphs with another person
2. Follow this guide. Exam Preparation: Writing and Speaking
You must use the rest of the class time, after you finish the Reading portion of the STAMP, to
get ready for tomorrow. Use this website you help you prepare:
http://123teachme.com/learn_spanish/programa_de_estudios_principiante_n1
OR
Go to http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html
Words to think about for tomorrow to talk about yourself:
Yo, Mi, Mis, Soy, Estoy, Me llamo, Tengo, Quiero, Me gusta, Me gustan, Mi favorito, Mi favorita,
Puedo, Pienso, Mi nombre es,
Other important words and phrases: hay, entonces, porque, pues, uff!, es importante, pero, no sé, qué
chido, qué guay, a veces, siempre, nunca, jamas, proximo, luego, entonces, ahora,
Complete these tasks in writing – also be prepared to speak about them – as a way of practicing the tasks I
gave you in the last email. Remember the process, brainstorm the words and phrases, research the
grammar (you, me, they, we, etc. and singular/plural, and masculine/feminine, por/para, and others) and
remember to try to “think” in Spanish first, not simply translate exactly from English to Spanish.
1.
For your first day at your new school in Spain, your teacher has asked you to fill out a blank note
card with as much information about yourself as possible. Using Spanish and with as much detail as
possible, write a description about yourself, including:
• your first name or a nickname you like to be called
• how old you are
• where you are from
• a few words to describe yourself
• at least one thing that you really like or that is special to you.
2. Select at least two rooms of a typical house. Write the name of the room in Spanish, and
describe at least 3 of the things that you would expect to find in the room, and at least 2
activities that people would do in those rooms. Include as much detail as you can.
3. Your friend from Costa Rica is staying with you, but going to a different school. Your
schedule during finals week is different each day. She wants to know what time you get
home from school each day so that she can meet you. Write out a note, in Spanish, that
details at least five days of the week and what time you get home each day. Be sure to
write out/spell out the numbers for the time. Include any other details that she may need
to know about your schedule and activities.
4. While you are living in Peru on a study abroad program, you are taking an art history
class. Tomorrow you will be leaving on a three-day trip to visit many museums and some
local artisan communities to explore the topic. Write a note to your host mother
explaining the reason you will be leaving for three days. Then, ask her to help you pack
your suitcase and find at least t five articles of clothing that you will need on this trip.
Also let her know what other things you might need to get ready for such a trip. Be as
detailed as possible with your description of the clothing articles. (In the mountains of
Peru it gets a bit cold.)
5. You are going to have a party at your house and would like to invite a few of your friends from
your class. Write an email invitation to all of them in which you announce:
• the party
• the day and time (write out numbers)
• the location (your house)
• at least five things you’ll have at the party (food / drinks / music / dancing / decorations / etc.)
•activities that you’ll have such as dancing, games, etc.
6. You’ve been living in Spain for a few months, and your birthday is coming up. As part of the
celebration, your host family has offered to make anything you want for dinner. Write a message
to your host mother to let her know of at least 4 things you would like to eat/drink on your
birthday. Be as detailed as possible and write in complete sentences. (American brand names such
as Pepsi, Oreos, McDonalds, etc. will NOT be accepted.)
7. Talk/Write about a healthy and then an unhealthy diet. List the meals of the day, including snack
(la merienda) and the foods you can eat, both saludable and malsana, and the times of the
day/night you eat.
8. Be able to talk about your family members in detail. Make a list of all possible members, child,
grandparent, brother, cousin, etc. List all possible physical and personality characteristics,
including ages, likes, dislikes, activities, jobs, chores, etc.
9. Talk about your home life, activities, chores (quehaceres), likes, dislikes, etc.
10. Describe an ideal vacation, where you would travel (viajaría), with whom, how would you get
there, what activities.
11. Be able to talk/write about what happened. Review Preterit on the website I gave you above.