WELCOME TO SPANISH 1300
BEGINNING SPANISH CONVERSATION
Houston Community College Southeast Campus
Crystal Hetrick, instructor [email protected]
Welcome to Beginning Conversational Spanish! Studying a language
has many great benefits!
This course progresses rapidly. You will be responsible for completing 11 sections
(episodios). If you do not have your book on the day classes start, it is best if you
drop the course and take it when you can be fully prepared.
The book information is listed below. This course is completely on-line
The course progresses rapidly and there are many components.
REQUIRED MATERIALS: . Hola ¿Qué Tal? ISBN 978-1-60007-981-8
Student Edition w/ Supersite Code bound inside
http://vistahigherlearning.com/students/store/spanishprograms/hola-que-tal-1.html
You can purchase a new text online at or you can purchase the textbook at HCC
campus bookstores; not ALL campuses carry the text for this course. If you are paying
out-of-pocket, the website above is the less expensive than the bookstores. All DE
textbooks are ordered and shipped for purchase at the Central Campus bookstore.
This is the best place to find the book in-stock.
It is important that you have your textbook within the first few days of the semester. If
you order your book late (after classes start) and your book arrives late, you will NOT be
able to make-up missed work.
When you redeem your code for the textbook website (called the Supersite)
www.vhlcentral.com, to find your course section you will need to choose HCC
Southeast. There is a 2-page “How do I get started?” instructional sheet in Eagle
Online which you will be able to access on the first day of the course.
Do not buy a used textbook. New textbooks come with a code that is required to do your
graded work for this course; Used textbooks will NOT come with a supersite code and the
code cannot be purchased separately.
In our efforts to prepare students for a changing world, students may be expected to
utilize computer technology while enrolled in classes, certificate, and/or degree
programs within HCCS.
What is needed to take an online language course?
 EAGLE ONLINE 2.0– Students will need to be able to access EAGLE online in order
to obtain grades, handouts and post to discussion boards.
 On-line books – Students have an online e-book and accompanying workbook and lab
manual. It is housed in a separate learning management system known as vhlcentral.
Students must be able to access Connect daily.
 Audio recordings - Students are going to be required to make audio recordings within
vhlcentral and will need access to a microphone.
 Audio files - Students will need to download and listen to audio files both in vhlcentral
and outside of vhlcentral. It will be necessary to have speakers and/or headphones.
 Webcam – Students are going to need a webcam to complete the oral midterm exam.
Email Distance Learning o Students need to have an email address to register their
online workbooks. Within the class, students will be expected to use the in-class mail
feature (HCC) as the primary mode. o You are automatically assigned your official email address when you enroll in an HCCS course. Students will be required to use their
college-issued email address to communicate with their instructors (secondary mode),
so faculty will easily be able to distinguish a student’s e-mail from spam. o Instructor’s
email response: Allow 48 hours to get an answer from your instructor. Emails sent on
Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Holidays will start to get answered the following Monday or
Tuesday. (Note: I am not online 24/7)
Important things to know
 You have to have reliable, high -speed internet access and a microphone to record
your voice.
 Students do not have to go to any HCC location. Everything is done online.
 All work must be done in Spanish. Any assignment with English or any other language
besides Spanish will be given a 0 (zero).
 The https://www.vhlcentral.com/ website will grade most of your work as soon as you
click “Submit”.
 Your Professor grades what the website does not, for example: speaking activities and
writing assignments. Participation: ¡IMPORTANTE! Online classes are flexible, but
require daily attention – even
What do I need to know about Beginning Spanish Conversation (SPAN 1300) DE?
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There is no work on Eagle Online (EO), so this course uses a website that is very
different from Eagle Online. Eagle Online will be used as a communication tool for
emailing between you and the professor. Grades will also be posted in the gradebook in
EO after each due date.
In EO, there is an instructional video on how to use the Supersite and how to
successfully complete your assignments. The professor will show you what to do first
to get started and how to be more successful in the course.
There are NO extensions for this course on ANY due dates for ANY reasons. It is
important that you work ahead of schedule and complete work on a regular (daily or
semi-daily basis)
You will have about days 5-6 days finish each during an 8-week summer session and
there are 10 lessons in total plus a grammar review lesson at the end that counts as a
final-exam grade. If you choose to wait until the day of, or the day before, the day
assignments are due and have an “emergency” (sickness, family death, computer
problems, child care problems, a busy schedule) then that is the choice you make and
you must accept the consequences if your work is not completed on time. What I mean
by this, is that you should never have a complete ZERO on a whole lesson if you manage
your time and work slowly. If problems do arise (such as the ones mentioned above)
then you may not finish the last of your assignment in one lesson. Doing NO work in a
lesson means that you have let several days pass without working and then tried to
complete them at the last minute.
Successful students are skilled at using computers and internet technology, selfmotivated to learn the language, able to work independently, meet deadlines, and
comfortable without in-class teacher contact. Students must decide if their study habits
are at this high level.