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    SPANISH THREE, MR. VAN SLOOTEN

     

     

    COURSE RATIONALE-   Spanish is now spoken by approximately forty-five million people in the United States, primarily in the southwest, but also in other parts of this nation.  The study and mastery of Spanish has a number of possible uses that can help you both professionally and educationally.  It will vastly improve your chances of success in any job where you have to deal with large numbers of people, and will also help you to get into a number of colleges, many of which require at least two years of a second language for admission.

     

     

    COURSE OBJECTIVES- this course is designed to build on some of the reading, writing, and speaking basics from Spanish One and Two, with some of the essential grammar and vocabulary of the Spanish language, as well as some the culture of the Hispanic world.  A number of different means will be used to reach these objectives, such as reading, written drills, note-taking, review games, speaking activities, listening activities and video assignments, to name the most common.

     

    SUPPLIES-  The texts are Descubre 2, which we will use for part of the first semester, and we will transiton later to Descubre 3; you need the online versions and you may have a hard copy text as well.

     

    NOTEBOOK-   For Distance Learning, your class Notebook will be done in either MS Word or Google Docs, and will be submitted online at the end of each semester to be checked for completeness.  It will have three sections: a Table of Contents, a notetaking section and a warm-up section.  The Table of Contents will be at the front, and will have any title for each assignment and a corresponding assignment number. The following illustration helps shows an example:

     

    Table of Contents

     

    Assignment -                                                    Number -                                                                         

     Intro. Vocab . 1                                                          1

     

     

     

    If you are absent, it will be your responsibility to get any missed notebook work from me or from another class member.

     

    BONUS POINTS-  Certain activities will provide bonus points, which are put into your grade only at the end of each semester.  These may provide a boost of up to 2-3% max, but if you are on the border between grades, this may make the difference between two letter grades.

     

    Assignments- Homework will normally be assigned on the online calendar, about which you will be informed. The cutoff time for homework is normally right before class starts; if it is done later than that, it will normally only get half credit.  Additionally, if I find that you are racing through the homework and merely hitting the “submit” button with no real effort -either by leaving answers blank or by answering with gibberish, the homework will be given a “zero.” If you are absent, homework will be due no later than the class day after you return from an absence, and you should email with a short explanation as to why it is late.  It is your responsibility to e-mail me about missing quizzes or tests to set up a make-up date.  I will normally post upcoming quiz and test dates on Google classroom, so check these announcements daily.  For most quizzes and tests, we will be using Google Forms.

     

    GRADING- the following system will generally be used:

          A= 90-100

          B= 80-89

          C= 70-79

          D=60-69

          F=0-59

     

    GRADE WEIGHTS- The following percentages are used to weight grade categories: homework, 10%; Notebook, 10%; quizzes, tests and other quality graded work, 45%; oral prompts, 15%; and the Final Exam, 20%

     

    CLASSROOM PROTOCOLS

     

    1)follow instructions; if you have any objection to something you are asked to do, please discuss it with me later.

    2)Chromebooks will be used in class, but I-phones should be tucked away at all times.

    3)Keep microphones off unless you are asking a question OR I call on you speak.

    4)Your camera should be kept on at all times during class, unless I instruct otherwise.

     

    Setting up VHL account- (The following link is also in Google Classroom)

     

    In order to ser up a VHL Central account, use the following link: https://support.vhlcentral.com/hc/en-us/articles/214565097-VHLCentral-HELP-TOPIC-Brief-Registration-Instructions-for-Students

     

    Note: make sure to go look for “Spanish One, 2020-21” (The text will be Descubre 3), and then your period.