Spanish 311: Oral and Written Communication I

Fall 2008

HISP 311-01A

Professor:           Christina Mougoyanni Hennessy
Telephone:            (320) 363-5658
Office:                    Ricarda P 21 (CSB)
Office hours:          2:15-3:00 am (days 1, 3 & 5) or by appointment
E-mail:               chennessy@csbsju.edu

Required Texts:

1.  Iorillo, Nino R., Andrés C. Díaz & Dennis L. Hale.  Conversación y controversia: Tópicos de hoy y de siempre, 5th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2004

2.  Eleanor Dozier, Zulma Iguina. Manual de Gramática,Grammar Reference for Students of Spanish, 4th edition. Boston: Thomson/Heinle                                                          

3.  Diccionario de la lengua Española (Real Academia Española or Larousse are good choices)

4.  Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA style manual. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1998 (available in both Libraries, Reference Collection)

I. Course Description

The main goal of this course is to help students improve their command of written Spanish in preparation for upper division courses in literature, culture and linguistics. Written assignments are based on a step-by-step approach to the development of writing skills through rhetorical strategies. Writing topics are related to short literary and cultural readings as well as films and other media. These materials are incorporated thematically using descriptive and narrative writing modes, and providing practice in summary, review and reaction assignments. To support the development of writing skills, the course provides a systematic review of Spanish grammatical structures, integrated with the material studied in class. In addition, the course includes practice in oral expression through oral presentations and discussion. Prerequisite: 212

II. Course Objectives

Through writing assignments based on works by contemporary Hispanic authors and journalists, students should do the following:

1) become aware of writing strategies and modes to further develop writing skills.
2) develop writing as a process through regular practice while engaging in revision through the production of multiple drafts, thus encouraging students to learn from their mistakes.
3) use knowledge from previous language courses to closely examine sentence structure and word function to convey meaning.
4) affirm previously learned vocabulary and acquire new words by using them in context.
5) explore the social and cultural realities of the Hispanic world through reading, research, writing and discussion.
6) approach course readings from the unifying theme “The Human Dilemmas of Today’s World: a Historic and Futuristic View of the Hispanic Peoples”. This topic examines controversial issues that the human race faces as well as those of the Hispanic peoples. It will give them the opportunity to analyze such dilemmas from a historical and future perspective.
7) apply analytical skills to develop critical thinking in preparation for more advanced courses.
8) continue to practice speaking and listening skills to enhance proficiency level through presentations and discussions.

III. Course calendar. The course syllabus and calendar is available to you at the following address on the campus network:

     http://www.csbsju.edu/hispanicstudies/curriculum/courseinformation.htm

IV. Course Policies

Attendance: University policy requires that students attend classes on a regular basis. Learning a foreign/second language, in particular, requires constant practice; therefore, regular attendance is mandatory since it is crucial to the attainment of course objectives. You may miss up to three (3) classes for reasons such as medical excuses, religious holidays, job interviews, weekend trips, etc. However, you MAY NOT miss any scheduled evaluations, presentations, and/or homework.

After three absences, your participation grade will be lowered by 3% for each missed day, except for emergencies.. You are also expected to be on time for class. Only a five (5)-minute OCCASIONAL late arrival will be accepted.

V. Grade distribution:

1. Oral grade:                                        
          a. Oral presentations                                          10%      
          b. Class preparation and participation                    10%
          c. Movie discussion and activities (2)                     10%
2. Quizzes (at least 3, maximum 5) on
 readings, grammar & vocabulary                                 20%
3. Writing assignments, 3-4 in total
 (70%borrador, 30%version final)                                 30%                         
4. Speaking Tests (midterm & final, 10%each)                20%
                                                                                               100%

VI. Coursework

1a. Oral presentations: There will be small group (at least two students) and/or individual presentations during the term. Presenters must prepare the topic well; that is, they should be able to find an appropriate reading text, and at least three days in advance, send the website address or the text through email to their classmates so they can read and prepare the readings for the next class. Presenters may find it useful to choose an unpopular point of view to provoke their peers into real controversy.  The selected topics will come from Conversación y controversia or the movies that we will watch during the term. When giving a pair or a small group presentation, make sure you distribute duties fairly among group members. Grades on presentations will be individual.

Presentations—group or individual-- will be structured as follows: 

• Phase I: Summary of the text (article, movie excerpt, document). 
• Phase II: Group or personal reaction to the content of the text
• Phase III: A set of focused, provocative questions/statements that will invite class discussion/debate. The presenting group or individual student will act as moderator(s).

Presenter(s) should include appropriate visual stimuli: pictures, statistics, cartoon, etc. Well structured power point presentations will constitute a plus.  Visual stimuli will help you organize your talk better and will aid your audience in taking notes as you present

1b. Class preparation: During the course of the semester, students will engage in the reading/analysis of various types of texts (essays, films, songs etc.), which will be the basis for writing in the descriptive and narrative and review discursive modes. As part of their preparation for class, students will often be required to answer questions and complete short assignments on the assigned text. Students will also be asked to complete grammar exercises inside and/or outside of class. All these homework assignments will earn students points toward their preparation grade. If you are absent from class, you are responsible for turning in homework on the day it is due by sending it via e-mail BEFORE THE FOLLOWING CLASS SESSION.

Class Participation. It reflects students’ contribution to in-class conversation/discussions, based on your homework after careful daily readings of the texts indicated in the syllabus; it includes a self-evaluation of small-group work. The following scale will be used:

A          100-95   always                          C         79-75                rarely
AB        94-90    almost always                 CD        74-70                only if asked
B          89-85    often                            D          69-65                almost never
BC        84-80    sometimes                     CD         64-00                never

1c. Movie viewing and discussion:  Movies constitute a wonderful source for the analysis of language and culture of people. Therefore, you will be required to watch two movies outside of class and prepare for class discussion by doing the activities in the movie-viewing guide writing comments as you watch, etc. Your professor will send you an e-mail with more information about the title of the movie, the day and time of the showings.

Sources Internet Web Sites:  Below you will find some sources that may be useful for consultation. By accessing the Hispanic Studies Department Web Page,  www.csbsju.edu/hispanicstudies/curriculum/courseinformation.htm, you can search for information in newspapers, journals and magazines.  You may also want to check out different search engines like Google, and Yahoo in Spanish. We now have RealAudio link through the Net that allows you to listen to radio stations from around the world. Here are some locations you can try:

• Radio Exterior España: www.rtve.es/rne/ree
• BBC Mundo:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/news/
• Radiotower: www.radiotower.com/?c_code=ES&h_i=0&h_r=20
• OndaCero:www.ondacero.es/OndaCero/OCNoticias.nsf/NewHome?ReadForm&Comunidad=12&

2. Quizzes: To assess how much you have progressed during the term, you will periodically take quizzes that will help us assess whether or not you have assimilated the chapter vocabulary (in Conversación y Controversia and in the other texts that have been assigned) and language functions and structures.  Make sure you find a good system that will help you remember vocabulary better.

Some useful advice:

• As you find new vocabulary in a text, underline it and  write it down in a glossary of your own
• First, try to guess the meaning of the word. Consult your monolingual dictionary as a last resort.(on line: www.rae.es)
• Use the word in a sentence of your own.  Often times, associating the word with something that relates to your personal experience will help you remember better.
• Use every opportunity at your disposal to incorporate the word in a conversation and in writing.

3. Writing assignments: 3-4 total, 2-4 pages length

The “composiciones/ensayos individuales” will have the following modes:

1) descripción 2) narración 3) reseña: resumen and 4) reseña: reacción.

As this course treats writing as a process, individual essays will involve three phases:

a.    Bosquejo—a preliminary outline that presents the structure of the essay. This is the planning stage.
b.    Borrador—a first rough draft of the essay, worth 30% of the final grade. This draft must be peer edited before it is turned in to the professor. This is the developing stage.
c.    Versión final—once the professor has corrected the borrador, it will be returned with grammatical, structural and stylistic commentary. The final version of the essay must address these corrections and suggestions. This is the revising stage. It is worth 70% of the final essay grade. Students must schedule a meeting outside of class to go over their corrections of each individual essay. The Borrador should be turned in with the final version.

4. Speaking Tests (midterm & final): You will take a 30-minute midterm and final speaking test inside and/or outside of class time. This will help us assess whether you have (or not) reached the course goals. The exam will consist of three parts:

• a monologue: you will summarize a text (reading, movie, etc.). The exam written texts will be new and will relate thematically to the issues discussed in class.
• answer questions based on the text you summarized and/or react to the content of the text.
• a debate/discussion with a classmate

There will be NO MAKE-UP quizzes, compositions, and/or Speaking tests.

NOTE: Assignment submission

You will receive further information on each individual item’s description and evaluation. All written assignments should be in Spanish, typed (Times 12 or equivalent) and 1.5-spaced (handwritten and single spaced assignments will not be corrected). You must write your name, the class name and the title and date of the assignment, on the left margin on top of the page. LATE WORK WILL REDUCE GRADE INCREMENTALLY.

VI. Grading Scale:                                            

100-93               A
92-88                AB
87-83                B
82-78                BC
77-73                C
72-68                CD
67-60                 D
59-0                   F