Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Course Overview:
This one year of immersion in the AP Spanish Language Program is going to provide students not
only with the necessary tools to improve their skills in reading, speaking, writing, and listening, but
also with a general knowledge of the Hispanic countries, their culture and principal global problems
that affect those countries. Therefore, at the end of the year, students have to be able to
communicate in an effective and acceptable form in writing and speaking, and to work and
understand critically authentic written materials in Spanish; besides, the cultural immersion is
going to enhance students’ humanist thoughts of many global problems that affect the Hispanic
world.
The AP Spanish Language course is taught completely in Spanish. We encourage all students
throughout their Spanish studies to practice the target language consistently with their teachers
and peers. They should be able to use the Spanish language to understand conversations,
lectures, oral presentations, newspapers, letters, instructions, internet articles, and short stories at
a level of one year college; express themselves orally by convincing, arguing, inquiring, and
describing. Therefore, students are going to develop the following skills: reading and listening
comprehension; writing essays, translating from English language to Spanish and vice versa, and
knowing and applying grammar structure. Students have to be able to speak Spanish fluently
and correctly and to identify the grammar structures more used in Spanish. Likewise, students
will be exposed to selected works of the most famous and representative Hispanic writers.
As prerequisites to be admitted in the AP Spanish Language Course, students must have taken
Spanish during their freshman and sophomore years, except that they can show a level 3 of
proficiency in Spanish on a placement exam applied by the teacher. In any case, students’ level 3
of proficiency and professor’s recommendation would be obligatory requirements to be
registered in the AP Spanish Language Course.
According to the AP Spanish Language style of assessment, students will be evaluated in the
four basic skills of the language development: listening comprehension, reading comprehension,
writing, and speaking by intertwining these skills. In addition, cultural and historical issues of the
Hispanic world will be assessed as well.
Writing Skill:
- Students must write different kind of texts at each chapter, such as letters, emails, narrative
essays, poems, legends, newspaper articles, and other texts related to the studied topic. In
those texts students will intertwine the language skills and information obtained at reading or
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listening activities with the writing process, developing students’ capability of thinking
critically.
Speaking Skill:
- Students will make an oral report of a previous- selected topic; teacher would advise students
on the topic and its relevance for the taught themes and its possible connation with other
social-humanistic disciplines. Likewise, students have to be able to summarize and report
orally information obtained from aural and reading sources. Furthermore, students will
simulate dialogues or conversation with their peers and the professor.
Reading Skill:
- Students will be exposed to authentic reading materials and different types of texts such as
poems, newspaper articles, and narrative essays, integrating the development not only the
passive skill of reading but also the active skill of writing and speaking. This kind of
evaluation will combine multiple choice and essays questions.
Listening Skill:
- During this course students will be exposed to authentic aural materials from different
Spanish Language media sources in order to improve the students’ listening skills and
general knowledge. These audio activities will be intertwined with reading, speaking, and
listening activities.
School Assessments:
Resources:
Books:
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Díaz, J. M., Nadel, M., & Collins, S. (2007). Abriendo Paso ( Lectura & Gramática). Boston:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Hiller, J. F. (2007). Spanish Four Years: Advanced Spanish with AP Component, Second Edition.
New York: Amsco School Publications, Inc.
Marquéz, S. (2000). La Lengua que Heredamos, 4th Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons,
INC.
Valdés, G., Teschner, R. V., & Enríquez, H. M. (2008). Español Escrito, Sexta Edición. Upper
Saddle River: Pearson Education.
Web Pages:
http://www.cnnenespanol.com/
http://www.washingtonhispanic.com/
http://www.abc.es/ (ABC)
National Broadcasting:
- Univision 23
- Telefutura 69
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- Telemundo 51
- CNN EN ESPANOL
- America TV
- Mega TV
Curriculum:
Theme 1: La Diversidad de los Grupos Hispanos en los Estados Unidos (The diversity of
Hispanic Groups in the US).
Reading:
Writing:
Grammar:
Orthography:
rules of using C
Reading:
“El Flamenco: vínculo de inmersión de los gitanos en la vida cultural y política de España”, a
narrative essay.
Writing:
Grammar:
Review the main cognate words in English and Spanish; diphthong and tritongos and division of
words in syllable.
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Orthography:
Readings:
Grammar:
Orthography:
Readings:
- Letter to a friend about the importance of the last names for Hispanic
- An oral report about the immigration issues in the US.
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Grammar:
Orthography:
Readings:
Grammar:
- Cognate words
- Accentuation of monosyllables
- Uses of capital letter
- Uses of diminutives
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Orthography:
- Homophones: S and Z
Readings:
Grammar:
- The verb
- The infinitive
- The gerund and the past participle
- Irregular and regular verbs
- The auxiliary verb HABER
- The indicative mood and irregularities in the present
- Other rules of accentuation
Orthography:
Theme 7: El papel de la música y el arte en la sociedad (The role of the music and art in
the society).
Readings:
Grammar:
Orthography:
Theme 8: Los derechos civiles y políticos de las minorías (The Civil and Political Rights of
Minorities).
Reading:
Grammar:
- The subjunctive mood: forms of the present, irregularities in the present of the
subjunctive; the imperfect of the subjunctive.
- Sequence of verbal tenses.
Orthography:
- Homophones: B and V
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Reading:
- A report about the importance of sports in the society and as a mean to contribute to
peace among states.
- An investigation about civil wars in the West Hemisphere, making an oral and written
report.
Grammar:
Orthography:
Theme 10: La importancia del legado de las culturas de la antigüedad (The Importance of
the Legacy of Ancient Cultures).
Reading:
- A brief oral report about the pre-Columbian civilization in the West Hemisphere.
- Why it is important to preserve our ancestor ruins? Students will report and know what
international and national institutions are in charge of preserving the historical legacy left
by the Pre-Columbian civilizations.
Grammar:
- Other cognates
- Part of the sentences
- Impersonal sentences
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Orthography:
- Uses of D
Reading:
Grammar:
Orthography:
- Uses of H
Theme 12: La protección del medio ambiente, reto o necesidad (The challenge of protecting
the environment).
Reading
- Students will analyze an ecological problem in our community or in the world, getting
the most relevant details in order to write a letter to the pertinent authority whereby they
describe the problem and possible ways of solving it.
- Students will investigate and make a report about the possible relationship between
analphabetism and poverty or underdevelopment.
- Students will express their ideas about the arm race in the world.
Grammar:
Orthography:
Theme 13: El comercio como mecanismo de paz y armonía entre las naciones (The
Commercial Activity or Trade as a mechanism to bring peace and harmony among the
nations).
Reading:
- Students will discuss the hardest topic of colonization and sovereignty. Making an oral
and written report. Furthermore, they will email the UN Council of Decolonization to
encourage these institutions to act in favor of the few colonies or oppressed nations.
Grammar:
Orthography:
- Uses of R and RR
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Theme 14: Las artes plásticas como reflejo de los vicios de nuestra sociedad (The plastic art
as mirror of many social problems).
Reading:
- Students will investigate El Greco style of painting and compare it with Botero’ style.
They will prepare an oral and written report.
- To describe some Botero’s paintings in order that students can appreciate social problems
and concerns on Botero’s paintings.
Grammar:
Orthography:
- Uses of G and J
Reading:
Grammar:
- Practice of accents
Orthography:
Reading:
- Students will report about the different and necessary ways used by the Ecuadorian
government and UNESCO to protect and preserve the Archipelago of Galapagos.
Grammar:
Orthography:
- Uses of LL
Theme 17: La corrupción, una de las mayores infamias de políticos en la sociedad. (The
Corruption as one of the worst infamy of politicians in our society).
Reading:
- Make a survey in the school or among your family members in order to get their
definition of being successful. The results of the survey will be exposed to the whole
class, plus a written report.
Grammar:
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Orthography:
- Uses of Y
Theme 18: Las diferencias entre idiosincrasia y nacionalidad. (The differences between
idiosyncrasy and nationality)
Reading:
- Students will be able to understand the cultural, symbolic, and ritual differences among
the different people that integrate the Hispanic world. An oral and written report will be
indicated to cover this topic.
Grammar:
Orthography:
- - Practice of accentuation
Reading:
- Students will look information in the Hispanic newspaper about the Dictatorship of
Pinochet, they emphasize in stories of people who disappeared during the dictatorship.
This information would be the base for an oral report.
Grammar:
- Adverbs
- Adverbial phrases
Orthography:
- Practice of accentuation
Reading:
Grammar:
- Prepositions
- Uses of Por/Para
Orthography:
- Practice of accentuation
- Homophones: LL and y
Reading:
- Discuss about the dangers that people can affront at the cities
- Write a short story that includes elements of the reading
Grammar:
- Conjunctions
- Uses of pero, sino, and sino que
- Clauses with si
- The commercial mail, its basic elements
Orthography:
- Practice of accentuation
- Parónimos
Theme 22: El Baile como expresión de los sentimientos humanos (The dance as a form of
human expressions).
Reading:
- Discuss and know the different dialects spoken in Latin-America. Students will do a
research of them and make an oral and written report of them; besides, they will include
their opinion about the necessity of preserving or eliminating those primitive dialects.
- Make an interpretation of the meaning of the tango “Cambalache”
Grammar:
- Interjection
- A review of the most used slangs or idiomatic expressions
Orthography:
- Practice of accentuation
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