Español I
Primavera 2017 - Señora Jardine
Course Description and Instructional Goals
Spanish I is the introductory course in the Spanish sequence. Students will begin to familiarize
themselves with the language and acquire basic comprehension and production skills. For
students with no prior Spanish experience, this course will allow them to become comfortable
understanding and producing Spanish at a beginner level. For students who already possess some
degree of Spanish knowledge, this course will review the basics and further ingrain their Spanish
ability. In either case, students who pass through Spanish I will be able to communicate in
Spanish and will be prepared for Spanish II.
Texts
All course materials will be distributed either online or in person on paper. We will not be using
a textbook for this class.
Materials
The following information was already provided to you via the 2016-2017 School Supply List.
- EITHER a binder with looseleaf OR a notebook and folder
- pens of various colors
- notecards (any size)
- install the Spanish keyboard on your iPad:
Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Spanish
Essential Knowledge
Here just a few of the topics that you will learn in this class:
Alphabet & Phonics
Numbers
Gender of Nouns
Making nouns plural
Nouns & Adjectives together
Possessive Adjectives
Subject Pronouns
Regular, Irregular, & Stem-changing verbs in the present tense
Subject-Verb Agreement
Question words
Negation
...and even MORE!!
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Student Expectations
The two most important expectations I have of each student are respect and hard work. I expect
you to respect me, your fellow students, and the classroom environment. Respect can be
manifested in a variety of ways, but I am quite sure that I don't need to tell you that. All of you
are very nearly adults. If you haven't figured out how to respect people and things by now,
you're in for a wakeup call.
Respect is very important to me. I believe that a person is not a good person if she is not a
respectful person. Show up to class on time. Make sure you charge your iPad at home before
coming to school. Pay attention in class. Take notes. Do your work. Sit still and be focussed.
Abide by the Honor Code. Being disrespectful in any way will earn you a warning the first time,
but any subsequent problematic behavior will be subject to a dove point reduction. Please do not
be a hooligan.
Hard work is also very important to me. It should also be important to you, because your grade
in this class depends on you. I don't give grades. I just happen to be the person who does the
math and writes down the grades you earn. Bare minimum effort in this class will earn you a C,
if you are lucky. You cannot expect to just coast through this class. I'm a nice teacher for the
most part and I will hand you opportunity after opportunity to challenge yourself, display your
work effort, and demonstrate that you care about your academic career. But it's up to you to take
advantage of it. If you want an A in this class, you need to go above and beyond the call of duty.
Grading Policy
You will earn grades through a combination of homework, classwork, quizzes, projects, tests,
and of course exams. Extra credit opportunities are not available, but occasionally you might
find a bonus question on a quiz or a test. Grades will be determined using a percentage-based
system.
Homework: 5%
Your homework will very rarely be graded on correctness. Rather, your homework will mostly
be graded on whether or not you have completed it and submitted it on time. Please remember
that Assignment Hall exists.
Classwork: 5%
Any small practice assignment done inside of class will count as a classwork grade. Sometimes
these will be graded on correctness; other times, no.
Quizzes: 20%
You will have vocabulary quizzes, number, grammar/translation quizzes, and occasionally
speaking quizzes in this class. If you are absent on the day of a quiz, you must make it up. It is
up to you to remember to make up any missed quiz.
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Tests & Projects: 50%
This category consists of major projects and tests.
You will receive more details about testing procedures before your first test. I will clearly
indicate to you beforehand what material will be of most importance. I will not answer the
question (in English, Spanish, or any other language) “Is this going to be on the test?” All tests
are comprehensive. "Comprehensive" means that later tests will include material from previous
tests. For example, Unit 3's tests will require knowledge from Unit 1. It is your responsibility to
take good notes and do your best the first time, as THERE ARE NO RE-DOS, RE-TAKES,
TEST CORRECTIONS, or EXTRA CREDIT in this class.
As for projects, you will receive more details at a later date.
Exams: 20%
A quick note on your Final Exam, in particular: ALL Foreign Language classes (Spanish,
French, Latin) take what is called an End of Course Assessment at the end of the semester. You
will receive more details at a later date, but basically the final exam is massive and is divided
into more manageable sections taken over several days.
Timeline
Depending on student performance and mastery, some topics may be conquered earlier than
planned while others may be delayed to allow for additional practice on a particularly tricky
topic. There are usually three units in the first quarter and three units in the second.
Absences
You are responsible for all classwork, homework, quizzes, projects, and tests that you miss while
absent. By "absent", I mean "not in class". You are responsible for work missed even during
excused absences such as field trips or sports activities.
There are many ways to find out what you have missed during an absence. You may email me,
message me on Blackbaud, or ask another student. Make-up testing sessions are held after
school several times a week; if you do not make up a test/quiz at the soonest make-up session
scheduled, prepare to receive a zero on it. (Exceptions: See me privately if during your absence
you missed a Spanish test as well as another class’s test.)
Technology
I expect you to obey all rules laid out for you in the SSA Student Handbook as well as in the
classroom expectations listed in this syllabus. Goofing off on your iPad when you should be
working is a form of disrespect to me, and will not be tolerated. You will be warned the first
time you violate this policy, but you will be written up for any subsequent violations.
You are welcome to type notes on your iPad. However, there is strong scientific research to
support the idea that muscle memory (ie: actually writing) helps you learn more efficiently. If
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you use your iPad to take notes, I strongly encourage you to use an app in which you can write
and not simply type. Classwork and homework will utilize a mixture of both handwriting and
iPad typing.
On many occasions, I will send a message to you or to the whole class via Blackbaud. If your
email address on Blackbaud is not up to date or you no longer check it, then it is IMPERATIVE
that you update your email address on Blackbaud to one you actually check.
I allow you to listen to music via headphones while you work on individual classwork, as long as
I explicitly give you permission. You may ask for permission; sometimes the answer will be no,
however.. If you use headphones to listen to music in class without first obtaining my
permission, you will be warned once and then written up the remainder of the time.
Blackbaud
All lecture notes, classwork, homework, rubrics, and other study materials can be found in the
Topics page of Blackbaud (MySchoolApp).
Contact
Señora Jardine can be found at [email protected]
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I understand and agree to all information and policies contained within the syllabus
for Spanish I for the Spring of 2017.
Student Name (printed): ______________________________________________
Student Signature: ___________________________________________________
BLOCK: ___
Parent/Guardian Name (printed): _______________________________________
Parent/Guardian Signature: ____________________________________________
This form is due on Monday, January 9.
It will count as a homework grade.
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