Span3Honors

•Bienvenidos a Spanish 3 Honors! You are in the right place at the right time doing the right thing! Your ability to learn Spanish will be magnified and improved if you raise your hand in class and ask questions, practice your homework verbally and consistently and complete your assignments punctually. You will need to follow the Schedule of Lessons to keep up with the accelerated pace of class.

•Please contact me via email at: Jim_Powell@fc.mv.k12.ma.us, or set up an appointment during my office hours in the World Language office. Homework assignments will be listed on the board as well handed out in class. My phone is 508-693-1033, ex.#204. I love Spanish and want you to enjoy class! Help us both by communicating.

•This class prepares you to go out and enjoy the Spanish world! Jump in and get ready to go. Vamanos! You will have to study harder than you have before because the pace is more intense than previous years. Classes are conducted mainly in Spanish. If you have travelled to a Spanish-speaking country or plan on it, please let me know. I'd like you to share your travel experiences with us in class.

•This year will be pivotal in your refining of your gramatical skills as we review the present, preterite and imperfect tenses from your first and second year coursework. Then, we will move forward and add more verb tenses (subjunctive, present perfect, commands and conditional) through focused, paired and sustained readings, verbal and written exercises. You will have Powerpoint presentations to design, develop and display in class. You will be expected to spend more time memorizing vocabulary lists outside of class to meet the increased work demands.

•Your ability to speak, read and write in Spanish will be evaluated and assessed in different ways. Everyone learns differently and I will vary the assessments depending on your learning style and the content of the learning unit.

•I will expect you to spend more time and read through articles and tell me verbally what they mean. You will be expected to memorize verb conjugations that we are covering in a unit. You will be paired up with your classmate to read separate components of articles, share your understanding and then explain the article in class.

•You will write narratives of unit subjects, multiple-choice, autobiographies, background reports on selected topics and develop understandings of the Spanish-speaking world around us. Analysis of information in a video format will add a sense of immersion into the Spanish-speaking world. You will learn to share opinions in Spanish.

•Rubrics provided at the beginning of a project give direction and clearly give parameters of my expectations. Rubrics used by me and your classmates help ascertain the process that you went through to learn and what specific information you conveyed. There are different types of rubrics depending on what I am checking on to ascertain your understanding of key concepts and specific information.

•Role-playing of short skits will develop your skills in group dynamics, personal responsiblility and self-confidence as well as test your ability to pronounce Spanish correctly in the proper verb forms. It will add a fun dimension to class, develop your fluency as well as develop your creativity.

•We'll be learning about some really cool subjects! The Mayan ruins of Centra America, Spanish art and Culture,Spanish Cuisine, Television Broadcasting, City versus Country Living. You will have the opportunity of participating in presenting plays based in children's stories to demonstrate your verbal, musical and artistic skills. Students have built stages out of refrigerator boxes by painting them and performing Dr. Seuss's immortal classic "Huevos Verdes Con Jamon". "Ferdinando", "La Oruga Hambrenta" and others!

•Paso a Paso 3 textbook is going to be one of the main reference books, but we will be using articles from the Internet, Destinos, Abriendo Paso and biographical readings, short stories, poems, lyrics and videos of Spanish authors, poets, musicians, pop-culture figures and movie personalities. Audio CD's of native speakers will test your skills in understanding Spanish with a realistic level of fluency and comprehension.

•If you fail to complete assignments or tests, they will count against your grade. You must complete them in a timely fashion if you are absent according to school policy in the student handbook. Points will be deducted for everyday that an assignment is late.

•I love extra credit projects. I will encourage you to share your extra interest beyond what we are studying in class, but not as a substitute for core class unit work. Extra credit doesn't substitute for tests, quizzes or projects required to complete a unit.