Spanish I:  2006-2007:      Parent Notes

• Course goals:  during Spanish I the student will learn basic vocabulary (greetings, how to ask and answer basic personal information such as telephone number and age; numbers, colors, days and dates, family members, etc.) and basic language structure (how to form the plural, how to handle verbs in the present tense.)  
• Attendance:  even though we have a textbook, most of the material is presented orally and the student tasks are oral.  Please encourage your son or daughter to be present and on time every day.  Absences are very harmful, and multiple absences (DMC and AEP) make success in Spanish nearly impossible.  Please attend every day and arrive on time. 
• There are 4 teachers who teach Spanish I:  Mrs. Price, Mr. Cisneros, Ms. P and myself.  We plan together, give the same tests, and the same final exams.
• The text is Exprésate, and they will be issued during the first weeks of school.
• It is the student's responsibility to keep the text covered at all times, and to bring it to class every day.
• Class supplies:  in addition to the usual pencils, black/blue pens and paper, the Spanish I student should have an ample supply of 3x5 index cards to make flashcards, scissors to cut them in half, rubber bands and a pencil bag to keep them organized.  The student also needs colored markers.
• At the beginning of every unit, the students will be given a list of daily tasks for that unit.  In Spanish I the majority of the tasks are oral.  Students will (for the most part) have multiple opportunities to complete the task, but they must complete it perfectly before they get credit.  The deadline for the checks is (usually) 3 pm the afternoon before the test.  I do not give the students a daily grade during the unit because I give them multiple opportunities to complete the tasks.  Students are responsible for keeping the task list until the end of the unit, and parents can monitor their son or daughter's progress by asking to see the task list.    [See info on parent connect here]
• Tests:  the first semester, most of the tests are oral.  For some students, this is very difficult because they are nervous when speaking in public.  Therefore, I will make this "deal":  IF a student completes ALL the daily tasks for an oral test, and if the student freezes during the test and does not perform well, then that student may re-take the test that afternoon, after school, with no grade penalty.  [My rationale is that the student obviously knows the material from the daily tasks, so if they do poorly on the test, it's mostly a matter of nerves.  Other students - who have not completed the daily tasks - probably do not know the material, and for them it's not a question of nerves if they do not do well on the test.]
• District policy is to weight tests and major projects as 60% of the report-card grade, daily work (tasks, quizzes) as 40%.  The semester exam counts as 20% of the semester grade.
• If the student fails one semester but passes the other with an average of 70 or more, and if the student does not absence fail either semester, the student earns credit for both semesters.