SPANISH 2
Teacher: Señorita Griffin
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 402-443-4332 ext. 3216
Twitter: @MsG_33
Quizlet username: cassgriffin
Course Description
The first year of Spanish is a time of exploration for students. They will learn a lot of
vocabulary and the basic grammatical structure of the language. Students will also be
introduced to Hispanic culture: where Spanish is spoken, Hispanic holidays and
traditions, family customs, and popular pastimes and sports. Organization and practice
are the two cornerstones for success in this class.
Topics Covered:
• regular and irregular -AR, -ER, -IR verbs
• adjective agreement
• present progressive
• prepositions
• commands
• vocabulary related to the following themes: weather, sports, pastimes, travel,
family and adjectives, house, TV/movies and food
Materials Needed
*notebook/paper
*binder/folder
* dictionary
*iPad (optional)
* pen/pencil (blue or black ink or pencil ONLY)
Tocatimbres
This is the Spanish term for "bellwork." Tocas will be given every day at the beginning of
class. Students will be expected to begin working on the toca immediately, silently and
individually. They are required and graded!
Course Organization
Homework:
Students will be given practice activities frequently (3-4 times a week); most
assignments are scored on a completion basis. Most activities should take no more than
15 minutes to complete. Approximately 2-3 times a week, students will be given a
graded assignment; these may be written, oral (speaking) or projects. Classroom time to
get started will generally be provided for longer assignments. When no homework has
been assigned, students should study vocabulary instead. Vocab lists will be available
each week on Quizlet.
Quizzes & Tests:
Vocabulary quizzes are given weekly, usually two per week. Unit tests are given every
3-4 weeks. Quizzes are typically worth 10-12 points, and tests are worth 100 points.
Late Work/Makeup Work:
(From the WHS Student Handbook)
Homework and daily work are very important concepts of a student's learning process at Wahoo
High/Middle School. Students are expected to complete homework in order to reinforce, practice and
enrich class content. As an on-going effort to improve student achievement, teachers and administrators
will use intervention strategies as necessary to encourage homework completion. Students that have
missing work recorded on their academic record will be required to stay after school to remediate and
complete that missing work. The student will be required to stay until 5:00 p.m. on the day the missing
work is recorded. The student will report to the teacher of which the work is missing and/or the after
school study room. Parents will be notified via the automated voice, text, and email system on the day their
child is to stay. It is the parents’ responsibility to pick up their child from school at 5:00 p.m. should they
have to stay.
Since most daily work (ie: vocab) is scored on a completion basis (done/not done), and we go
over the answers immediately in class, no late grades on these types of assignments will be
accepted. Projects or larger assignments that are turned in late will have points deducted for each
day the assignment is late (typically 10% deducted per day late). All late work will need to be
completed outside of class. If a student misses class due to a school activity or other expected
event, any work missed should be taken care of before the expected absence. Failure to do so
will result in no credit. If a student misses due to illness or other unexpected events, the student
will need to find out what notes/assignments were missed by either checking with a classmate or
Ms. Griffin. Please do this before or after school, NOT during class time! All tests and quizzes will
need to be made up either before or after school only. Ultimately, it is the student's
responsibility to make up any missed work.
Grading Scale
A+
98-100
A
95-97
A93-94
B+
B
B-
90-92
87-89
85-86
C+
C
C-
82-84
79-81
77-78
D+
D
D-
75-76
72-74
70-71
Behavior Expectations
! Be on time and prepared for learning – bring materials to class every day!
! Complete assigned tasks on time.
! Strive for academic success!
! Use work time appropriately.
! Demonstrate respect for people and property.
! Respond appropriately to teacher directives.
Technology Expectations
During class time students should use iPads only for teacher-approved classroom
activities such as note-taking, as a dictionary, specific apps, projects, and other
appropriate online material related to the daily topic. In the Spanish classroom, iPads
should NEVER be used for social networking, games, picture-taking, music or similar
activities as determined by the teacher.
Other Miscellaneous Items
◊ no iPods, mp3 players, headphones, or cell phones are to be used in the
Spanish classroom at any time, unless approved by Ms. Griffin
◊ NO food is allowed in the Spanish classroom at any time, unless they are
provided by Ms. Griffin.
◊ NEVER sit at Ms. Griffin’s desk (this is private, personal space)
Essential Learnings
Spanish 2
Speaking:
♦ Students will apply phonetic knowledge of the Spanish language to
pronounce words correctly.
♦ Students will be able to engage in a conversation in Spanish at a basic
level (ie: greetings/introduction, common courtesy and basic needs).
Listening:
♦ Students will recognize common Spanish words/phrases and respond
appropriately.
♦ Students will be able to identify context clues to determine meaning when
hearing native or near-native speech.
Reading:
♦ Students will be able to extract and construct meaning from a passage
written in Spanish.
♦ Students will be able to determine the meaning of unfamiliar Spanish
words through the use of context clues.
Writing:
♦ Students will be able to construct simple Spanish sentences.
♦ Students will understand the concept of verb conjugation and how it
applies to different subject nouns/pronouns.
♦ Students will be able to conjugate and use a variety of regular –AR, -ER &
-IR verbs in the present tense.
♦ Students will be able to conjugate and use a few irregular verbs (boot, “go,” irregular) in the present tense.
♦ Students will understand and be able to use in the correct context other
forms of the present tense (present progressive, formal commands).
Vocabulary:
♦ Students will recognize and know the meaning of specific vocabulary
words presented in thematic units throughout the year.
♦ Students will use their understanding of cognates to make connections
between English and Spanish words.
Culture:
♦ Students will have an understanding of and appreciation for cultures other
than their own, with particular focus on Hispanic culture throughout the
world.
Contact your child's building principal if you are seeking more information about curriculum at Wahoo Public Schools.