Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "SPAN 101-1"
COURSE NAME: "Introductory Spanish I"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2023

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Sofia Sanz Alonso
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 11:30 AM 12:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS:
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is designed to give students basic communicative ability in Spanish. Students work on all four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading and writing.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

By presenting the language in a variety of authentic contexts, the course also seeks to provide an introduction to Spanish culture and society. Students work on all four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading and writing.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Upon completing this course, students will possess the ability to:

-satisfy a very limited number of immediate needs

- understand and convey some spoken Spanish through the knowledge and usage of familiar and memorized structures, on the most common features of daily life that require the interchange of simple and direct information.

- understand the general meaning of oral announcements and brief texts on familiar subjects with simple morphology and lexicon.

- produce one-paragraph texts with limited formulaic information by using elementary functions.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments	Format	Local Bookstore	Online Purchase
Aula Internacional Plus 1- Libro del alumno	Garmendia Iglesias, J. Agustín- Soriano Escolar, Carmen- García Rodríguez, M. Eva- Corpas Viñals, Jaime- Neus Sans, S.L.	Difusión	9788418032189			Hard Copy	Feltrinelli-Angloamerican bookshop	Amazon.it

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
2 Tests	The 2 tests are designed to evaluate the student's knowledge of the grammar, vocabulary covered, their reading and listening comprehension and written ability	20%
Midterm exam	The midterm exam is designed to evaluate the student's knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary covered up to this point, their reading and listening comprehension and written ability.	25%
Final exam	The final exam is designed to evaluate the student's knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary covered,their reading and listening comprehension, and the written ability	25%
Class participation and homework	Students are expected to come prepared to class with all the material required and participate in all activities. Active participation is crucial, since the learning process requires considerable practice. Homework and assignments must be prepared and handed (if required) on the scheduled date. Late work will be penalized. It is mandatory for the course to have and use both the students book and the workbook in paper or electronic version. You are expected to log in to the Moodle platform of the course at least two times per week, in order to follow the course schedule, to participate in class and complete all the required Moodle activities. The activity completion and the login activity will be tracked by the platform.	15%
Oral proficiency	In class activities (5%), final oral exam/oral presentation (10%). In class activities are prepared singularly and in pairs or small groups. The types of tests/activities are: conversation between the two students or the small groups, monologues, role playing.	15%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY

Active participation is crucial, since the language learning process requires considerable practice.

In consideration of the classroom experience, students with an official excuse from the Dean's Office to be absent from class will not be invited to synchronously attend classes from remote, except particular situations such as long periods of absence. In order to ensure that students who are absent, even with an official excuse, can keep up with their courses, classes may be recorded and shared with the student(s) who missed class. Notes and material used in class will be shared on Moodle and the professor will be available during office hours to help students who missed classes.

As was done in the past, if a student, due to illness, exceeds the number of allowed absences and wishes to petition for a waiver from the attendance policy (have the absence "excused" due to illness), you must submit the Petition: Exemption from Instructor's Attendance Policies. If an illness makes you miss an exam or major assignment, the student should submit the Petition: Justification for Missing Exams. The links to both forms can be found on the Registrar's page of the JCU website.

MAKE-UPS

The Midterm and Final Exam can only be made up with approval from the Dean of Academic Affairs (Please see the John Cabot University Catalogue and Student Handbook). The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam.
The same policy is applied for the Quizzes. Students who will be absent from a quiz must notify the Professor before the Quiz and individual arrangements for make-ups will be done only for students with medical emergencies or any other valid reasons.

Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Week 1 - September 5 - 7

Learn how to introduce yourself, ask questions in class and say hello and goodbye

Pronunciation: the Spanish alphabet

Numbers from 1 to 10

Resources to develop your learning abilities in the Spanish class

Week 2 - September 12 - 14 - 15

Nosotros y nosotras (Unit 1): Get to know your classmates better

Communication resources: ask for and give personal information

Grammar resources: gender in nationalities and professions, the verbs ser, tener and llamarse, personal pronouns

Vocabulary resources: numbers, nationalities professions, workplaces

Week 3 - September 19-21

Quiero aprender español (Unit 2): Talk about your relationship with Spanish and with Spanish culture

Communication resources: expressing intentions, explaining the motivations for what you do, talking about what you do in different languages
Grammar resources: gender, definite articles (el, la, los, las) and indefinite articles (un, una, unos, unas), the present tense (regular verbs ending in ar, er, ir), uses of por, para and porque
Vocabulary resources: languages, activities in language class, leisure activities

Week 4 - September 26 - 28

Cont. Unit 2 Quiero hablar español

Tuesday September 26 - QUIZ 1

Week 5 - October 3 - 5

¿Dónde está Santiago? (Unit 3): Test your knowledge of the Hispanic world

Communication resources: describing places, expressing existence and location, talking about climate and the weather

Grammar resources: uses of hay, the verb estar, the superlative, quantifiers (muy, mucho), interrogative pronouns (qué, cuál, cuántos, dónde, cómo)
Vocabulary resources: climate and the weather, geography, information about countries, cardinal points, seasons

Week 6 - October 10 -12
¿Cual prefieres? (Unit 4): Go shopping at a market

Communication resources: identifying items, expressing needs, buying in shops (asking for products, about prices, etc.), talking about preferences

Grammar resources: demonstratives (este, esta, estos, estas), tener que + infinitive, the verbs ir and preferir

Vocabulary resources: numbers over 100, colors, clothes and accessories, objects in daily use, uses of the verb llevar, combinations with the verb ir

Week 7 - October 17 - 19

Cont. Unit 4

Midterm review

Week 8 - October 24 - 26

Tuesday October 24 - MIDTERM EXAM

Tus amigos son mis amigos (Unit 5): Introduce and describe a person

Week 9 - October 31 - November 2

Tus amigos son mis amigos (Unit 5): Introduce and describe a person

Communication resources: talking about physical appearance and personality, expressing and comparing likes, dislikes and interests, asking about likes and dislikes, talking about personal relationships

Grammar resources: the verb gustar, the superlative, quantifiers (muy, bastante, un poco), posessive adjectives (mi, tu, su, etc.), también/tampoco

Vocabulary resources family, personality adjectives, music

Week 10 - November 7 - 9

Día a día (Unit 6): Discover your classmates’ habits

Communication resources: talking about habits, expressing frequency, asking for and giving the time

Grammar resources: the presents tense of irregular verbs, pronominal verbs (-se), yo también/ yo tampoco, primero/ después / luego

Vocabulary resources: days of the week, times of day, daily activities

Week 11 - November 14 - 16

¡A comer! (Unit 7): Create a set menu and chose the dishes you like

Communication resources: learning how to get by in bars and restaurants, asking for and giving information about food, talking about eating habits

Grammar resources:the verbs poner and traer, direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las), uses of de and con

Vocabulary resources: food, ways of coking, utensils and recipients typical dishes in Spain and Latin America

Week 12 - November 21

Tuesday November 21 - QUIZ 2

Thursday November 23 - NO CLASS

Week 13 - November 28 - 30

El barrio ideal (Unit 8): imagine and discover the ideal neighborhood

Communication resources: discover villages, neighborhoods and cities, talk about what you like the most about a place, ask for and give directions, express tastes and highlight aspects

Grammar resources: quantifiers (algún, ningún, mucho), prepositions and adverbs of place (a, en, al lado de, lejos, cerca..)

Vocabulary resources: services and places in cities, adjectives to discover neighborhoods and cities

Week 14 - December 5 - 7

Final review

ORAL EXAMS/PRESENTATIONS

Final examinations (date to be confirmed)