Syllabus for Spanish 101 – Section 2 Spring 2015
Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) T-TH– 9:10 a.m. – 10:50 a.m., M249

Instructor: Jorge Grajales-Díaz Office: Dickinson 212 Office Phone: (434) 961-5364
Email: Jgrajalesdiaz@pvcc.edu Office Hours: M-W: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.; 3:00 p.m.-4:00p.m. TU-TH: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.; 3:30 p.m. -4:30p.m. Or by appointment

Texts:
Puntos de Partida, 9th ed. Knorre, Dorwick, et al. McGraw-Hill, 2011. Bookstore package contains all the material: textbook, including access code to the online Workbook and Lab Manual.

Additional Supporting Material:
Online Language Dictionary: http://www.wordreference.com/
A reliable Spanish-English dictionary. I recommend the Oxford Spanish –English /English-Spanish Dictionary. Course Description and Purpose: Spanish 101 is the first course in a two-semester sequence of beginning Spanish. It is designed for the student with little or no prior knowledge of Spanish. The purpose of the course is for students to use their newly acquired skills to communicate in Spanish in a realistic and culturally appropriate fashion with emphasis placed on speaking, listening, reading and writing. The following objectives describe the range of tasks and functions that you will be able to carry out in the target language by the end of the course.

Objectives for Spanish 101:
SPEAKING
to ask and answer questions and participate in simple conversations on topics related to everyday necessities such as food, shopping, your daily routine, time and the weather to communicate basic information such as who you are, what you do, what you like, to talk about your family, house and school, and to describe your immediate environment

LISTENING to develop sufficient comprehension to understand simple conversations based on school/work requirements and social situations, and conversations or narrations related to course topics;

READING to be able to read with sufficient understanding to follow sequence of events; to extract information; and to identify main ideas in a variety of texts;

WRITING to produce short, highly accurate descriptions or summaries of simple events;

CULTURE to broaden awareness of and increase sensitivity to Hispanic culture, and to embark on an appreciation of the geography, history, politics and literature of the 21 Spanish-speaking countries of the world.

Method of Evaluation: Homework 15% Chapter Tests 35 % Participation and Attendance 10% Final Written Exam 15 % Writing Assignments (Journals) 15% Final Oral Exam 10% Grading Scale: The grading scale for our Spanish 101 class is as follows:
A: 90-100% B: 80-89% C: 70-79% D: 60-69% F: below 60%

Chapter Tests: (35% of the final grade) There will be eight (8) chapter tests during the semester. Make up tests will be given only in exceptional circumstances. The instructor must be notified of the absence ahead of time, save for emergencies, in which case the instructor should be notified in a timely fashion. Test dates appear on the calendar in this syllabus. Each student’s lowest test score will be dropped (including a zero earned on a missed test), and the remaining three (7) averaged. Please check tests dates carefully to avoid foreseeable conflicts later.

Written Final Exam: (15% of the final grade) THE FINAL EXAM is comprehensive and will be on Tuesday, May 5, 8 :00 .m. – 10 :15 a.m.

Oral Final: (10% of the final grade) The Oral Final Exam will be given during the last week of class. The oral final is designed to evaluate the speaking and listening skills practiced throughout the semester. More detailed information about the