ADVANCED SPANISH HONORS
10th - 12th Grade
Credit - 1
Full Year
Prerequisite: Intermediate Spanish with teacher recommendation
This course is an accelerated version of Advanced Spanish and requires the
recommendation of the Intermediate Spanish teacher for enrollment. Students
will use the text Nuevas Vistas and will engage in a variety of activities and
projects that are designed to increase their proficiency in listening, speaking,
reading and writing while deepening their understanding of language and culture.
These activities include: reading authentic texts such as magazine articles, short
stories, excerpts of novels, and poetry; listening to conversations by native
speakers on a variety of topics; writing informal and formal compositions;
discussing, debating and presenting.
In addition, students will complete a
comprehensive review of advanced grammatical structures in Spanish. These
linguistic structures will allow students to express themselves on a variety of
complex and interesting topics. This course will be taught in Spanish.
ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS
To build an understanding of advanced grammatical structures, vocabulary and
expressions to: engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express
feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions; understand and interpret written
and spoken language on a variety of topics; present information, concepts, and
ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
To reinforce and further their knowledge of the elements of literature and
composition, through the study of these concepts in Spanish.
To demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and
perspectives of the cultures studied.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

How do I ask for and give opinions, advice and explanations?

How do I describe people, places, and situations?

How do I initiate, carry on, and conclude a conversation?

How do I discuss and analyze literature in Spanish?

How do I talk about the future?

How do discuss and narrate past experiences?

How do I express perceptions, hopes and wishes?

How do I express hypothetical situations?

How do products, practices and perspectives of the Spanish-speaking
world reflect the culture?
ESSENTIAL SKILLS

Use regular, irregular and reflexive verbs in the following tenses of the
indicative mood: present; present perfect; present progressive, past
progressive; preterit; imperfect; past perfect; future; future perfect;
conditional

Use regular, irregular and reflexive verbs in the following tenses of the
subjunctive mood: present; present perfect; past

Use the subjunctive mood in noun, adjective and adverbial clauses

Use a variety of past tenses to narrate past events

Use direct, indirect, and double object pronouns

Use “if” clauses to express possible, hypothetical and contrary to fact
ideas

Express the idea “to be” in Spanish differentiating among: ser; estar;
tener; haber

Present, discuss, compare and contrast opinions, ideas and information

Use the correct sequence of tenses in complex sentences

Use the passive voice and the passive “se”

Write a formal five paragraph essay

Use literary terms to discuss and analyze literature
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES
 Nuevas vistas: Curso de introducción textbook and ancillary materials
PREREQUISITES
 Intermediate Spanish and teacher recommendation
UNITS
1 ¡Así somos!
TIME FRAME – 6 SCHOOL WEEKS
DESCRIPTION: The reading selections, vocabulary and activities in this unit
center on the themes of personalities and hobbies. Students will: explain,
discuss, compare and contrast gender differences, personality types and use of
free time; read fiction and non fiction selections on these topics; initiate and carry
on conversations related to the topics; use present indicative and subjunctive
tenses to describe routines, preferences, perceptions and desires.
2 La niñez
6 WEEKS
DESCRIPTION: The reading selections, vocabulary and activities in this unit
center on the theme of childhood. Students will read authentic fiction selections
by Carmen Kurtz and Elena Poniatowska. They will learn the vocabulary
necessary to discuss the elements of literature; compare / contrast the
protagonists of the stories, and make personal connections / comparisons.
Students will describe and narrate past events.
3 El mundo en que vivimos
10 WEEKS
DESCRIPTION: The reading selections, vocabulary and activities in this unit
center on our world today, technology, ecology, the environment, and the future.
Students will: read non fiction selections on these topics; explain and discuss
their point of view; use the future, future perfect and conditional tenses of the
indicative and the present subjunctive to debate, persuade and discuss future
and hypothetical situations; write a formal five paragraph essay.
4. El misterio y la fantasía
7 WEEKS
DESCRIPTION: The reading selections, vocabulary and activities in this unit
center on the themes of mystery and fantasy. Students will read authentic fiction
selections by Guillermo Samperio and Carlos Fuentes. They review the
vocabulary necessary to discuss the elements of literature and learn about the
literary genre, Magic Realism, and “boom” period of Latin American fiction.
Students will read and analyze stories in terms of Magic Realism. Students will
use the present and present perfect subjunctive in noun and adjective clauses to
describe and narrate a variety of situations and events.
5. El amor
7 WEEKS
DESCRIPTION: The reading selections, vocabulary and activities in this unit
center on the theme of love. Students will read authentic fiction selections by
Laura Esquivel and Horacio Quiroga. They will make connections / comparisons
between the readings and their own experiences. Students will use a variety of
indicative and subjunctive tenses, including adverbial, adjective and noun
clauses, to describe and narrate complex events and relationships.