TR 10:30AM-11:45AM T121 Professor: Esperanza Román Mendoza Telephone: 993-1232 E-mail: eromanme

Department of Modern and Classical Languages George Mason University Office: Thompson 235A Office hours: TR 12:00-1:00PM and by appointment

• Course Description
• Objectives
• Materials
• Attendance
• Assessment
• Tentative program

Course description

SPAN 300, a decisive course to begin studying Spanish at an advanced level, has been designed for students who have completed two years of instruction in Spanish (or can demonstrate an equivalent level of proficiency) and plan to continue studying the language.

Objectives

• To develop reading skills in Spanish so that students can understand all different kinds of texts and interact with other readers about their content.
• To learn how to use different types of reference material, such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias, in both printed and digital formats.
• To incorporate the reading abilities learned during the course into class discussions, daily conversations and creative endeavors.

Materials

• The Oxford Spanish Dictionary. New International Edition. Spanish-English/English-Spanish. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996 (Please do not purchase any other dictionary).
• Long, Villar & Meuser. Hacia la literatura. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
• Selection of readings prepared for the course.
• E-mail account and experience in using it. If you are not familiarized with e-mail, UCIS and the university libraries offer free workshops on how to use PINE and other Internet-related applications.

Attendance

You must be exposed to Spanish and use Spanish in order to learn it, so you really want to be in class and benefit from it. Class discussions, presentations and activities provide the kind of interaction in Spanish that you cannot get at home. For this reason, there is no substitution for attendance. You are expected to attend all classes and be on time.

If you arrive late you are being disruptive and you may also miss some important information given at the beginning which cannot be repeated every time a student is late. Make sure you get the phone number of at least two classmates:

Name________________________ Phone_____________

Name________________________ Phone_____________

You are responsible for all material covered in class. Keep in mind that irregular attendance will severely affect your learning process and, consequently, your final grade in this course.

If you have to miss a class, you have to notify your instructor ahead of time (either by e-mail or a written notice left in mail box). In case of an emergency, you are expected to let your instructor know about it as soon as possible.

Assessment

The progress made by students in this class will be evaluated by the following criteria:

1. Class preparation: 15%
2. Tests: 40%
3. Paper: 10%
4. Class presentation: 20%
5. Portfolio: 15%

1. Participation and class preparation

Participation means active involvement in the class. Students are encouraged to contribute in class discussions and are expected to speak only Spanish.

The participation grade includes:

1. your contribution in Spanish in regular class sessions, in group activities and in electronic discussions,
2. the grades of all collected assignments,
3. your cooperation and leadership in group and pair work, and
4. your respect and attitude towards your peers and the class.

In order for you to actively participate in class, you need to read the material assigned for each class and do the activities assigned by the instructor. Assignments will be collected regularly. Homework submitted for a grade has to be typed double-spaced. Late assignments will not be collected.

2. Tests

There will be two written tests in this course: a midterm and a final exam. These exams will evaluate the students’ ability to interact with a text using the strategies discussed in class. The midterm exam will be administered on Tuesday, October 20^th, 1998. The final exam will be administered on Thursday, December 17^th at 10:30 am.

3. Paper

Students will submit a paper on a semantic field assigned by the instructor. The first draft of the paper is due on Thursday, October 15^th. The final version will be posted on the WWW in class on Thursday, October 22^nd. More details on the paper in class.

4. Group presentation

The group presentations will be based on a selection of texts. There will be two separate grades for the presentations: the first one will be based on the oral performance of each student. The second grade will be based on the content presented by the group. More details in class.

5. Portfolio

Students will compile a portfolio in which they will include all their homework, the materials used for the presentations, and a collection of different kinds of texts according to the text taxonomy seen during the course. More details in class. The portfolio will be turned in on Thursday, December 10^th, 1998.

HONOR CODE: Exams, presentations and assignments must be done independently. Consult the GMU Honor Code for information.

Programa provisional SPAN300 - Semestre de Otoño de 1998
Fecha	En clase	Tarea
Martes 1 sept.   Jueves 3 sept.	Introducción al curso, materiales   Adivinanzas y trabalenguas (p. 189; p. 193)	Activar cuenta de correo electrónico. Leer adivinanzas y trabalenguas.
Martes 8 sept.   Jueves 10 sept.	Afiche conmemorativo… (p. 161)   Bilingual sestina (p. 10)	Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Afiche conmemorativo…   Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Bilingual sestina
Martes 15 sept.   Jueves 17 sept.	Cuando era puertorriqueña (p. 17)   Grafitis en un bar de estibadores (p. 87)	Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Cuando era puertorriqueña   Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Grafitis en un bar de estibadores
Martes 22 sept.   Jueves 24 sept.	La botella de chicha (p. 99)   Oda al Tomate (p. 79)	Leer y hacer ej. Lectura La botella de chicha   Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Oda al Tomate
Martes 29 sept.   Jueves 1 oct.	Continuidad de los parques (p. 142)   El restaurante (p. 72)	Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Continuidad de los parques   Leer y hacer ej. Lectura El restaurante
Martes 6 oct.   Jueves 8 oct.	La aurora (p. 120)   Fallo positivo (p. 177)	Leer y hacer ej. Lectura La aurora   Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Fallo positivo
Martes 13 oct.   Jueves 15 oct.	Colombus Day   La cruzada contra el SIDA (p. 183)	Entregar primera versión del trabajo
Martes 20 oct.   Jueves 22 oct.	Examen parcial   La clase será en el laboratorio informático (T227)	Entregar versión final del trabajo
Martes 27 oct.   Jueves 29 oct.	Textos periodísticos   Anuncios por palabras	Ejercicios sobre los periódicos I   Ejercicios sobre los periódicos II
Martes 3 nov.     Jueves 5 nov.	EcoHumor (p. 137)     Texto científico	Leer y hacer ej. Lectura EcoHumor. Traer chistes en español   Leer el texto científico
Martes 10 nov.   Jueves 12 nov	Texto administrativo   Origen del río Amazonas (p. 216)	Leer el texto administrativo   Leer y hacer ej. Lectura Origen del río Amazonas
Martes 17 nov.   Jueves 19 nov.	Presentaciones en grupo   Presentaciones en grupo	Ejercicios sobre las presentaciones
Martes 24 nov.   Jueves 26 nov.	Presentaciones en grupo   Thanksgiving	Ejercicios sobre las presentaciones
Martes 1 dic.   Jueves 3 dic.	Presentaciones en grupo   Presentaciones en grupo	Ejercicios sobre las presentaciones   Ejercicios sobre las presentaciones
Martes 8 dic.   Jueves 10 dic.	Presentaciones en grupo   Presentaciones en grupo	Ejercicios sobre las presentaciones   Entregar portfolio
Jueves 17 dic.	EXAMEN FINAL (10:30 am -1:15 pm)

©1998 E. Román