IACS

Spanish Department

Year-Long Plan for Spanish II

                                                                        and by appointment.

“Quien mucho duerme, poco aprende.”- Spanish proverb

Philosophy and Overview

The High School Spanish program at IACS is grounded in two core beliefs about language education:

1. Contact with authentic spoken and written language is essential: all assessments and class activities aim to put you in contact with Spanish as it is used in real life. This means that speaking activities are done "full speed" from day 1 and students are constantly put in contact with language features and vocabulary beyond their reach. Students are consistently stretched beyond their capacity so that they can learn strategies for coping with gaps in understanding that they will surely encounter in real-world situations. As such, the majority of each class will be conducted entirely in Spanish, though English will be used to clarify instructions and in other situations as needed.

2. Learning language requires breaking down barriers: barriers of culture, of anxiety and of misunderstanding. The best way to break those barriers down is through humor, fun, and learning at a pace that accommodates every student.

To put students in contact with authentic language and to break down students’ resistance to speaking in Spanish, the Rassias                 Method (known in class as “prácticas”) is used regularly in class to provide students with an opportunity to practice listening and speaking Spanish correctly. The method uses theater and humor to help all students speak Spanish in a low-risk, supportive environment.

Spanish 2 assumes that students already have a basic grounding in the fundamentals of Spanish and pushes students to grapple with Spanish on its own terms. Our slogan throughout the year is “Spanish is not English”: students will see that learning a foreign language means not just internalizing a new set of vocabulary for naming the world but rethinking everything from what a syllable is to what and what a “d” sounds like to what order words go in a sentence. Learning a foreign language means opening eyes to what language is, often for the first time, and beginning to accept new and different ways of doing things. Throughout the course, students will be engaging with authentic Spanish materials and learning important elements of history and culture from the Spanish speaking world. Each day, the majority of drills and activities will be conducted in Spanish, though English will continue to be used to help give and clarify instructions and to present particularly complex material.

Assessment Strands

Students will be assessed with regards to four different strands of abilities: conversation, interpretation, presentation, and work habits.

Conversation: 

Conversation assessments ask students to use Spanish to communicate as effectively and extensively as possible. In spoken and written conversation assessments, students are assessed on the length and complexity of what they communicate, not on the correctness of their Spanish. Spoken assessments will consist of students speaking with the teacher. Written conversation assessments will consist of a series of back and forth emails between teacher and student. Conversation assessments will be held throughout the semester. Conversation assessments could include:

• Formal and informal discussions with teacher or peers

• Focused “simulations” with peers in which students must complete a communicative task

• Email correspondence in Spanish

Interpretation:

Interpretation assessments ask students to understand authentic spoken and written Spanish. Unlike conversational assessments, which are in real time, interpretation assessments allow students time to re-read and re-listen. Interpretation assessments consist of readings or audio recordings, followed by a series of questions prompting student response. The majority of interpretation assessments will happen during class time in a “test-like” environment (listening or reading). Listening assessments could include:

• Listening to a Spanish conversation and answering comprehension questions

  Reading a short poem in Spanish and answering comprehension questions

  Following printed or spoken directions to create a drawing or map

• Writing and performing a skit

• Memorizing and reciting a poem in Spanish

• Writing and sharing longer compositions

Work Habits:  

The work habits grade represents the habits and practices that make an effective Spanish student. These include:

• Participation in prácticas and other class activities
• Speaking in Spanish in class
• Completion of homework
• Studying vocabulary and grammar
• Timely completion of all steps on major projects
• Persistence and good humor in challenging situations (interpretation assessments, conversations, etc.

Content Units

Note: content units will center around particular content and contain projects that focus on that area. The majority of the school year, we will be engaged in project-based learning around these projects. However, there will also be interludes in which we will be focusing on a variety of language and skill-based work without a clear content focus.

El recreo y los deportes

In this unit, we will take a look at the world of sports and recreation in both Spain and Latin America, which in addition to being a diversion has also historically been a way of dividing people between generations and political affiliations. We will discuss topics such as the importance of baseball in Caribbean countries, the mania for soccer (fútbol) and its political overtones, and the historical importance of bullfighting, which has been steadily declining in recent years.

La música
This unit will begin with a study of contemporary popular music in the Spanish-speaking world. We will examine the historical roots of Spanish flamenco music (known by some as the “Spanish Blues”) as well as other genres such as bachata, merengue and son. From there, we will look at contemporary Cuban music, specifically the group “Orishas”, a Cuban hip-hop group that works from the sounds of son.

La inmigración y la política

Using the music and nationalist lyrics of “Orishas” as a bridge, students will study several aspects of immigration between the United States and Latin America. We will read several personal testimonials of immigration and debate in an open forum several questions related to contemporary immigration from around the world. In addition, students will learn about the Cuban revolution, Cuba’s relationship with the U.S., and the widely divergent views of the country today.

La guerra civil española

Shifting the view of our class to Spain exclusively, students will be learning about the Spanish Civil War through the lens of the poets and artists who lived it. To understand the cultural forces at play in the conflict and the human costs of the conflict, students will be looking at photography, artwork and poetry produced before, during and after the way. In addition, the class will be watching “La lengua de las mariposas”, a movie about education under the Republican government and the Civil War.

La comida: el intercambio colombiano y la comida de hoy

In this unit, students will be studying the extremely varied cuisine of Spain and Latin America. By focusing on those ingredients that crossed the Atlantic with Columbus, we will look at the foods that emerged from the blending of European, American and African cuisines. In this unit, students will produce an informative and entertaining cooking show in which they highlight an ingredient or dish of their choice.

Grammar Targets

Introduced	Reviewed	Prerequisite
Direct and indirect object clitic pronouns Irregular preterit verbs Past participles (ado/ido) The imperative (commands) The perfect tenses (antepresente, antepasado) Complex sentences (subordination, use of infintivites, translation errors)	Regular present tense Irregular present tense verbs Regular preterit endings Tú / Usted distinction	Present tense Stem-changers & basic irregular verbs Number and gender agreement