Español 2007-2008 Mahopac High School Señora Lewis Spanish 3R/H

My Foreign Language Classroom Expectations

1. Attendance/Punctuality – Regular attendance is expected; illegal absences will not be tolerated. Students must arrive to class on time and be in their seats and ready to work when the second bell rings to avoid being marked absent during attendance. Students are not permitted to leave their seats without permission until the final bell. Any students arriving late to class must bring a properly signed pass. LATENESS IS EVALUATED WEEKLY and affects your class participation grade and ability to appropriately prepare for your Regents exam. Calls home will be placed and three unexcused tardies is an automatic detention with me.

*If you are absent, it is your responsibility to get missed work from the folder and/or me (via email, web page) and turn it in within a reasonable time period. A “cut” will result in a zero for all work, tests & quizzes. All quizzes missed must be made up within a few days. All major tests must be made up within a WEEK of return to class. Work not made up by the end of the quarter will result in an “incomplete” grade or a zero for an assignment.

2. Class Preparation – Students must come everyday fully prepared for class with required materials (pen (blue or black ink only), Spanish only 5 subject notebook/binder with dividers, handouts, vocab lists, homework, pocket folder, dictionary). HALL PASSES WILL NOT BE ASSIGNED TO LOCKERS. Zeros will be given for class participation for those students who are unprepared for the day. Only language materials are allowed out during class, all others will be confiscated. *Cell phones aren’t permitted in school or in class. The use of Ipods (any other electronic device) is not permitted in class unless permission is given by me.

3. Homework Policy – Written homework/studying will be assigned daily. It will be posted on the homework board to copy at the start of class as well as on my on-line website. Students will bring homework completed to class. It will be checked/graded in class daily. Worksheets/packets will only be accepted on the day they are due and no late grades because we will use them and go over them in class the next day as part of the lesson. Homework copied or done in class will be confiscated, and graded as a zero. Students will receive a zero for a no homework. Collected homeworks/writing samples can be accepted 1-2 days late for a late grade. *A note from a parent/guardian with an explanation is required as an acceptable excuse for a missing homework assignment. Consistencies with no homework will affect the homework grade and overall average. After two no homeworks, a warning will be given and after three a call home will be made. *Answers to homeworks must be written out in complete sentences for full credit.

4. Class Work/Note Taking – It is imperative that students take good notes daily of all new material on board, PowerPoint presentations, overheads or material presented orally as well as complete all daily class work (ie: do-nows, practice exercises, etc.). Class notes will be checked periodically because students will need them for future study references for homeworks, exams and other assessments. This affects your participation grade. *Good notes make life easier and more organized for the year as we build upon our notes unit to unit. They are a great reference tool for Regents preparation! 5. Behavior/Class Participation – RESPECT is key (of yourself and others). Students will raise their hand to ask/answer questions and will listen attentively when others are talking. Students will exhibit readiness and willingness to learn and pay FULL ATTENTION during the class period. Active participation (listening and speaking) is essential in a Regents level, with emphasis on communication. Students who behave appropriately will be positively rewarded. If these rules are broken, students will face the following consequences:

1st time – verbal warning

2nd time – private conference, a phone call home, detention with me (*with writing assignment and/or student behavior contract)

3rd time – phone call home, administrative referral followed by other consequences to be determined (ie: after school office detention, community service, in-school suspension.)

*Should any disruptive behavior occur, such as fighting, that stops the learning process in the class the student will be immediately sent to his/her assigned house principal.

6. Cheating & Dishonesty – Complete your own work and take it seriously! Challenge your own knowledge and level of success and respect your classmates! This applies to copying homework, quizzes, and tests or using inappropriate aides during testing. If suspected of cheating or plagiarizing, a student will receive a zero and your parents will be notified. *Plagiarism is: copying work from a classmate or other source or improperly using a translator.

7. After School Help – Most days from 2-3 pm, except Mondays (appointment necessary). Also required by the teacher so that the student can make up a test or work missed due to absences. *Extra Regents review sessions will be held from May-June.

Contact info: email: [email protected]

screen name (only buddy list): srtacasado

school FL number: 628-3256 X535

*web page via the HS web page under teaching staff/Foreign Lang./Noelle Lewis

Grading Policy: IT PAYS TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK, PARTICIPATE IN CLASS and STUDY!!!!!

40% = TESTS/PROJECTS = TEST x 4.0

30% = QUIZZES/COLLECTED HMWK = QUIZ x 3.0

20% = HOMEWORK = 100 – 5 PER NO HW/CLASS WORK = x 2.0

10% = CLASS PARTICIPATION = GRADE x 1.0 Homework/Testing Policy and Expectations:

Homework is assigned to organize your studying and to reinforce good study habits. It reinforces class lessons and helps you learn the language more efficiently. It also prepares you for classroom activities the next day, that will keep you better prepared and enhance your foreign language acquisition and Regents success.

Preparedness = success

 Students are expected to complete all assignments on time and if not done, expected to complete them.  They are expected to spend at least 20-30 minutes a day studying/memorizing vocab from class and completing homework.  An additional 10-20 minutes of daily studying/review is essential to prepare for weekly quizzes/tests and proper Regents prep.

*Quizzes are given weekly on vocab and/or grammar structures.

*Tests are given at the end of every chapter. It is a cumulative chapter test, incorporating new and old material.

*Alternative Assignments may be given throughout the unit or at the end. They may include: oral and written presentations with visual components based on the theme of unit of study. Oral presentations graded daily may include: dialogues, question/answer, interviews, etc. All types of assignments are graded based on a standard rubric.

Criteria for Evaluation for Class Participation in a Foreign Language Class:

1. Being prepared daily for class with proper materials and homework

2. Following along in class to instructor’s lesson, directions and other classmates.

3. Willingness to volunteer to ask/answer questions, dialogue and to be involved in classroom activities (*Learning a foreign language means taking risks! Try things out and don’t be afraid to make mistakes; this will help you learn and remember!)

4. Demonstration of effort in all classroom endeavors and evidence of self-motivation

5. Good or acceptable pronunciation in the target language and effort to correct mistakes

6. Good attendance and getting to class on time Sra. Lewis’s educational goals for

Spanish 3R/H:

*3R Prerequisite: Must have completed and passed Spanish levels 1R & 2R.

*3H Prerequisite: Must have completed and passed Spanish 1H and 2H or have appropriate teacher recommendation from last year.

This course is conducted primarily in Spanish to enhance communication skills. It will include a thorough review of vocab, grammar and language skills necessary for success on the Regents exam. Students further develop/refine their speaking, reading and writing skills by using Spanish realia (newspaper articles, magazine articles, ads, Internet research, short stories, poems, etc.) and other visuals that will enhance their ability to learn vocabulary in context. There is a continued emphasis on speaking and writing and students will produce dialogues, essays and other creative writing samples. Students will complete the study of Spanish grammar for checkpoint C. They will also learn about Spanish culture through primary resources and individual research. This class prepares students to take the New York State Regents exam in June. A department midterm is given in January.

*The honors course will move at a more accelerated pace with additional expectations for vocab and writing. Differentiated exams will also be given.

Thematic topics covered include: The course is taught thematically incorporating old and new vocab and grammar along with culture to explore such units as: a review of Personal Identification, Family/House and Home and Daily Routine/Leisure, Earning a Living/Community and Public and Private Services, Health and Welfare, Shopping, Environment and Travel with a review of the Food unit. Old and new grammatical topics include: review of regular and irregular present tense, stem- changing verbs, present progressive, near future, reflexive verbs, preterit and imperfect past tenses, formal and informal commands, conditional and very simple subjunctive.

*We will use various textbooks in class as resources for readings and activities but will follow a Sígueme (Proficiency Press Level 2) book for vocab, themes, readings, assessments. For grammar we will use a Nassi, Spanish Two Years and an Amsco, level 3 book. We will also supplement short readings for additional vocab and reading comprehension by theme from the book Aventuras en La Ciudad.

*All vocab and Power Point presentations for notes, vocab and grammar will be posted to my website. Regents Grading:

Speaking: 24 pts.

2 speaking tasks will be selected at random and you must have 6 exchanges per task in an appropriate dialogue with your teacher. (12 pts. per task)

Listening: 30 pts.

15 listening passages in Spanish with questions and answers in English (#1-9) and in Spanish (#10-15)

Reading Comprehension: 30 pts.

1 long reading passage in Spanish with five reading comprehension questions in Spanish; 5 shorts ads in Spanish with English comprehension questions, 1 long reading in Spanish with 5 English comprehension questions

Writing: 16 pts.

Choose 2 out of 3 writing tasks (including letters, short essays, picture) and write a logical and complete response in Spanish.