Course Overview
Spanish 3 takes you into the ACTFL Intermediate Mid range of speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Our expectation is that you are forming your own sentences, are starting to elaborate, and can speak on various topics besides your own life, friends, family, and interests. You should be able to use a variety of vocabulary to discuss new topics and you should be able to describe scenarios in the present, past, future, and express events that would happen, using the conditional tense. To start this semester, we will review these tenses and then learn many more including the present perfect, past and present progressive tenses, commands, and the subjunctive mood. This course is aimed at preparing you for perfecting these tenses and learning the final few tenses in Spanish 4 before taking Spanish 5 or AP. Our goal as a department is to have you speaking in real world settings and scenarios. When you travel you will mostly be speaking. You will also read and of course listen. Although you will be expected to write in class, in the real world emphasis is on conversing. Therefore you will be expected to do so in class daily and for performance assessments.
I look forward to a lively, exciting, active, and positive language and cultural learning experience with you all this semester!
~Ms. C
- There will be weekly homework assignments meant to encourage listening and language input at home. If you are not exposed to or immersed in a language it is very difficult to reproduce and understand it.
- In the middle of each chapter there will be a vocabulary quiz. All lists are in your workbook and on this website by chapter.
- At the end of each chapter there will be a speaking, reading, writing, or listening performance assessment exam these are outlined in your workbook and will be discussed the first day of the chapter.
- Every two weeks you will assess yourselves using a class participation rubric that focuses on your participation, quality of work, if you are using the language in class, your attitude and respect, and finally if you are paying attention.
- Most Fridays we will watch a series called El Tiempo Entre Costuras and you will be expected to watch, focus, and respond to each episode with a writing or speaking assignment.
- You will receive a workbook for the entire semester, this replaces our textbook which are digitally embedded on this site. You are expected to bring it to class daily, not to loose it, and to complete the work we do in class together. All assessments, rubrics, workbook pages, vocabulary lists, grammar explanations, and listening activities will be included so that you can look ahead. You will have a grade for each chapter being completed.
- Updates, announcements, homework, and other materials will be posted on Google Classroom throughout the semester. You are expected to have the app on your phone, Chromebook, or other device. You are responsible for handing in all assignments posted on Classroom there. I use electronic rubrics and give voice feedback, therefore it is imperative you post assignments on Classroom on time or you will be docked points and will not get timely feedback.
- You will be expected to record your voices and post recordings on Classroom, you can do this using your own device or an iPad supplied in class.
- Grade breakdown: Classwork 30%, Quizzes 10%, Performance Based Assessment/ Exam 40%, Homework 20%
- Your 2 quarter grades are worth 40% each, your midterm and final 10% each.
- Academic responsibility and ethics are expected and enforced in class according to all rules in VRHS Student Handbook plus additions in your workbook. You are not to use any online translator, checker, or application that creates sentences or parts of sentences that are not your own. You cannot hand in work created by a translator or taken from someone else who wrote it and hand it in as your own work. If you quote a source you must cite is correctly with MLA format using Noodle Tools.
I look forward to a lively, exciting, active, and positive language and cultural learning experience with you all this semester!
~Ms. C