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SPANISH 317X-UX1 ONLINE: Advanced

Spanish Grammar CRN 77168 Fall 2017

Instructor: Daniel Darrow

Teaching assistant/tutor: TBA

Office: Gruening 606C

Phone: 474-7980

Email: djdarrow@alaska.edu

Office hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 2:00-3:00 pm Alaska Standard Time (AKST) or by appointment. Email during these office hours and I will go to Google Hangouts or Blackboard Collaborate to work with you.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed as to give you a deeper understanding of the Spanish language and its

more difficult grammatical structures. The course will begin with parts of speech and end with

linguistic analyses of Spanish sentences. The course will prepare students planning to take

upper-level classes in Spanish composition and literature.

COURSE GOALS

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Identify the major parts of speech and syntactic structures of Spanish. 2. Compose, review and correct short, written works in Spanish

3. Translate parts of a work of historical fiction from Spanish to English

4. Gain confidence using difficult, grammatical concepts and Idiomatic structures in

Spanish

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, students will…

1. Classify Spanish grammar terminology and compare this to English grammar 2. Identify components of the sentence

3. Promote critical thinking skills in Spanish

4. Evaluate and discuss real-world uses of Spanish grammar to the class

5. Apply strategies of writing development to prepare them for future, higher level

Spanish courses in literatures

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These outcomes will be measured by unit exercises, unit exams, a midterm exam, a final exam,

translation exercises and asynchronous discussions online. According to the American Council

for Teachers of Foreign Languages benchmarks, students in a 5th semester university course

(advanced mid to high level) will be able to:

1. Deliver well-organized presentations on concrete social, academic and professional

topics.

2. Present detailed information about events and experiences in various time frames

3. Understand the main idea and most supporting details in texts on a variety of topics of

personal and general interest as well as some professional topics.

4. Understand texts written in a variety of genres, even if unfamiliar with the topic

COURSE MATERIALS

1. Allen, T. (2014). Repase y Escriba, 7th edition. Osckosh, WI: Wiley.

2. Azevedo, M. (2009). Introducción a la lingüística española, 3rd edition. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Pearson.

3. Cortés, P. (2007). Gramática práctica del español, Madrid: Instituto Cervantes.

4. Real Academia Española: Nueva gramática de la lengua española. (2015). Edición

electrónica. http://www.rae.es

5. Iguina, Z. and Dozier, E. Manual de gramáticas: Grammar Reference for Students of

Spanish, 5th ed. Boston: Heinle, 2013.

6. Mujica, B. (1996). El próximo Paso: Gramática Avanzada, lecturas, composición.

Philadelphia: Harcourt Brace.

7. Piñol, A. (2012). Victus: Barcelona 1714. Edicions La Campana: Barcelona.

8. Spinelli, E. English Grammar for Students of Spanish, 6th ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Olivia and

Hill Press, 2007.

9. Torrego, L. (2011). Gramática didáctica del español, 10th ed. Madrid: Grupo Editorial

SM Internacional.

10. Torrego, L. (2011). Análysis sintáctico: teoría y práctia. Madrid: Grupo Editorial SM

Internacional.

11. Zagona, K. (2001). The Syntax of Spanish. London: Cambridge University Press.

12.

* REQUIRED: ONE NOTEBOOK FOR HANDWRITTEN VOCABULARY WORK (explained in Evaluation Policies below).

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The course will draw mainly from these sources. It is recommended you purchase the book

Victus (#7 above), in the original Spanish version, but this is not essential for successful

completion of the class. Email me if you have questions about this.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Internet access is vital to this course. If you do not have good internet connection at home, you will

need to use the various facilities UAF offers or other providers near you for computer/internet

access (Public library, university, UAF’s: Language Lab, the Nook, Rasmussen Library, etc.).

Specifically, you will need to be familiar with Blackboard and how to submit assignments through

this learning management system. It will be necessary to learn how to type Spanish accents, tildes,

and punctuation if you plan to continue your Spanish education at this university. Contact me if you

need help setting your keyboard to type Spanish diacritics.

You will also need to have a UA Google account in order to use Google Hangouts. We will use

this service for office hours and any potential communicative activities necessary for the

course. Please use your UAF account in Google. (username@alaska.edu)

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS

This course is delivered completely online. THIS IS NOT A “SELF-PACED” COURSE. There are

strict deadlines so that students can finish before the semester end and receive a grade/credit

for the course. Successful students in online courses are highly motivated, can adhere to a

strict schedule, are independent, and technologically savvy. Here are two useful links from

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

If you come across technical difficulties, please do the following:

1. Switch internet browsers

2. Ask other students in the Blackboard Student Forum (someone may have had the same

problem)

3. Use your UA Google Account. Many of the Google Docs, Maps, etc. require you to use

your Google account in order to see the document.

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/6258784

4. Contact UAF’s eLearning and Distance Education (for Bb, Google, OIT issues)

https://classes.uaf.edu/webapps/portal/execute/tabs/tabAction?tabId=_39076_1&tab_

tab_group_id=_126_1

5. Contact me by email or phone.

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Duquesne University and Modesto Jr. College that goes into more depth with online learning:

http://www.duq.edu/academics/online-campus/prospective-students/successful-online-

learners and http://mjc.edu/instruction/online/readinessquiz.php

You are responsible for learning the concepts in various texts provided to you in Blackboard and

applying what you learn that will also be submitted through Blackboard or UA email.

Instructional supplements will be used to reinforce each unit. You are responsible for learning

the material- many of which have been introduced before in the 100 and 200 levels. If you have

CLEP’d out of these levels, be sure to brush up basic Spanish grammar (subject verb agreement,

conjugations, tense, mode, pronouns, noun-adjective agreement, etc.) before tackling this

material.

All unit exercises will be assigned and submitted in Blackboard or UA email. Blackboard will

serve as a “road map” for assignments, supplemental materials and grades in the course. Other

sites may be used outside of Blackboard, but all necessary links will be provided in each unit’s

folder. Contact me if you need help in finding additional review sources.

Excluding the introductory week, all exercises, quizzes, exams, vocabulary, reading and

correspondence with me should be in Spanish. Especially with the correspondence, do not

worry about being entirely correct. It’s important to me that you use the language as much as

possible. I will be happy to provide explanations to complex concepts in English if asked.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Span 317 is comprised of 7 units. Each unit will take typically 2 weeks to complete (actual hours

spent each week will vary between individuals). There will be weekly due dates to help you

keep on track to successful completion of the course. You will need to be very organized and

utilize time management skills to complete the course before the end of the semester. Even

though there are two holidays in this semester, it may be necessary to continue your work

through the holiday in order to meet the semester deadline. The tentative course schedule is

provided at the end of the syllabus.

*Any student who does not complete the introductory exercises in the first folder before

Friday September 1st, will be automatically dropped from the course.

**All due dates are listed in Alaska Standard Time (AKST). Dates are listed in American format

(month/day)

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*** The time due will be 11:59 pm AKST. No late work accepted.

COURSE POLICIES

Academic Integrity: As described by UAF, scholAKSTic dishonesty constitutes a violation of the university rules and regulations and is punishable according to the procedures outlined by UAF. ScholAKSTic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating on an exam, plagiarism, and collusion. Cheating includes providing answers to or taking answers from another student. Plagiarism includes use of another author’s words or arguments without attribution. Collusion includes unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work for fulfillment of any course requirement. ScholAKSTic dishonesty is punishable by removal from the course and a grade of “F.” For more information go to Student Code of Conduct: (http://www.uaf.edu/catalog/catalog_08- 09/academics/regs3.html#Student_Conduct)

Attendance: SPAN 317 is mostly asynchronous where real-time attendance is not required.

However, you are required to meet with me online or face to face at leAKST two times during

the course of the semester for me to gauge your progress, address issue and solicit feedback for

the course. These meetings will be included as a portion of your mid-term and final exams.

Sign up for a date/time here…

Participation: You are highly encouraged to interact with each other through the Blackboard

Discussion Forum that I set up for this class. You are not graded on how much you contribute,

but if you are serious about improving your Spanish, this is an important component of

acquisition.

University email and Blackboard: You need to have access to your University of Alaska

Fairbanks email account (username@alaska.edu.) We will use the UAF email to communicate

with you on many important matters. Email is often the only way some information is

distributed, so it is important that you regularly check your university email address or forward

mail from your UAF address to an address you check frequently. The university automatically

assigns each student an official UAF email account when the student enrolls. You are

responsible for knowing -- and, when appropriate, acting on -- the contents of all university

communications sent to your official UAF email account. You are also more than welcome to

forward your university account to your personal email account, but please realize that

Blackboard will automatically format any announcements from us in such a way that they are

sent to your University email account. Please take the time to make sure that you can access

Blackboard without any difficulty. If you want to receive university communications at a

different email address, you need to forward email from your assigned UAF account to an email

address of your choice. You can easily do this online here.

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Due Dates and Late Work: All assignments are due weekly, Sunday’s at 11:59 pm AKST. LATE

HOMEWORK IS NOT ACCEPTED. If you have an emergency or circumstance preventing your

completion of the assignments, you need to notify me as soon as possible and before the

deadline. Pay attention to your time zone! All times I list are in Alaska Standard Time (AKST). I

keep a world time zone on my Google Calendar for when I have meetings with students across

the states or colleagues abroad. Click here to see ways to add time zones to your Google

Calendar. I use #2 in the link above.

Time Management: A tentative schedule for SPAN 317 is provided at the end of this syllabus.

There may be some deviation to the schedule, but the due dates will remain. It is your

responsibility to keep up with your work and ask questions if you need help.

EVALUATION POLICIES

We will use the following resources to measure the expected learning outcomes:

A. PRÁCTICAS (20%) Doing the weekly exercises is important for learning Spanish grammar. It’s

where you put your independent learning into real-world practice. You are responsible for all

readings in the unit and will put that learning into practice through these exercises.

B. VOCABULARIO (25%) This is one of the most important facets of your grades. Each unit will

have an extensive vocabulary list. You must use your assigned reading and any other available

internet resource to give a definition, drawing, example or anything in your own words (Spanish

or very little English) to help you remember the concept. In order to assist you to commit this

vocabulary to memory, I require you to hand write it in your notebook (the only required

purchase), scan or take a picture of it and submit it through Bb for grading/comment.

C. PRUEBAS (10%) This is an in-depth assessment of your independent learning. There is a test

after unit. You must complete the unit exam before moving on to the next unit. Unit exams

due dates are included with your weekly assignments (Sunday’s). They will typically be

assigned every two weeks.

D. FORO (15%) We will use the Bb Discussion Forum for map exercises, translation activities,

and general discussions about the course. There will be a thread created for students to help

each other out, but discussion in this thread is not graded. I will specify in the unit folder what

needs to be discussed for a grade. We will draw heavily on Victus within the discussion forum

for translation and grammar exercises as well as map exercises (graded).

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E. MID-TERM (15%) The mid-term exam is a spot check of all the material covered up to Unit 4.

It will also give you an idea of how the final exam is arranged. The mid-term will be available on

Bb during the week of 10/29-11/5 and due on 11/5 at 11:59 AKST. As a portion of this exam,

you are required to sign up for a meeting with me online or face to face. I will post a sign up on

my Google calendar the week prior.

F. FINAL EXAM (15%) The final exam is cumulative and will be found in a special folder under

Contents in Blackboard. The final will be available on Bb during the week of 12/11-15 and due

on 12/15 at 11:59 pm AKST. As a portion of this exam, you are required to sign up for a

meeting with me online or face to face. I will post a sign up on my Google calendar the week

prior.

Components of the final grade and weight by percentage

Prácticas 20%

Vocabulario 25%

Pruebas 10%

Foro 15%

Mid-term 15%

Final exam 15%

DEPARTMENTAL GRADING SCALE

(% of grade earned according to the

weighted categories)

Faculty Senate Meeting #171: C-shall be the minimum acceptable grade that undergraduate

students may receive for courses to count toward the major or minor degree requirements, or as

a prerequisite for another course. http://www.uaf.edu/files/uafgov/Info-to-Publicize-

C_Grading-Policy-UPDATED-May-2013.pdf

Pacing expectations

Beyond the three hours you would spend in a face to face class during the week, you can expect

to add an additional 3-4 hours working on content and coursework beyond a face to face class

time. Although actual hours spent each week will vary between individuals, students should

expect to spend an average of 10 hours per week in this 3-credit online course.

Explanation of NB, I and W grades

This course adheres to the UAF regarding the granting of NB Grades: The NB grade is for use only in situations in which the instructor has No Basis upon which to assign a grade. Because

A+ 97-100

A 93-96

A- 90-92

B+ 87-89

B 83-86

B- 80-82

C+ 77-79

C 73-76

C- 70-72

D+ 67-69

D 63-66

D- 60-62

F 0-60

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students are required to complete the 1st contact assignment or be automatically withdrawn, the NB grade will not be granted. Your instructor follows the University of Alaska Fairbanks Incomplete Grade Policy: “The letter “I” (Incomplete) is a temporary grade used to indicate that the student has satisfactorily completed (C or better) the majority of work in a course but for personal reasons beyond the student’s control, such as sickness, he has not been able to complete the course during the regular semester. Negligence or indifference are not acceptable reasons for an “I” grade.” Successful, timely completion of this course depends on committing yourself early and maintaining your effort. To this end, this course adheres to the following UAF eLearning Procedures:

1. The first contact assignment (Introducción al curso folder) is due one week after the first day of instruction. Failure to submit this assignment within the first two weeks of the course could result in withdrawal from the course.

2. The first content assignment (Lesson 1) is due one week after the first day of instruction. Failure to submit this assignment within the first two weeks of the course could result in withdrawal from the course.

3. Failure to submit the first three content assignments (Assignments 1, 2 and 3) by the deadline for faculty-initiated withdrawals (the ninth Friday after the first day of classes) could result in instructor initiated withdrawal from the course (W).

HOW TO SUBMIT ASSIGNMENTS

Assignments will be submitted through Bb, UA email, or other means specified by the instructor

in your content folder for each unit. Please pay attention to each unit’s folder!

HOW TO CHECK YOUR GRADE

Blackboard will be the place to go to check your actual grade. I strive to keep all scores up to

date in Bb (weekly if possible).

SUPPORT SERVICES

Language Lab. Gruening 609, open 8am-5pm. There are computers with internet for foreign

language students. In addition there are language-specific tutors who can help you with your

work, or act as conversation partners (hours found on the lab door). You can use the computers

in the language lab and receive help from student tutors with your assignments. This lab is a

good resource especially if you are experiencing computer problems at home.

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Student support services. UAF is committed to equal opportunity for all students. Students

who are the first in their families to attempt a four-year college degree, or students whose

incomes are low, have opportunities for tutorial and other forms of support from the office of

Student Support Services. Please make an appointment with Student Support Services at 474-

2644.

DISABILITY SERVICES

UAF makes appropriate accommodations for individuals with disabilities who have been

documented by the Office of Disability Services (203 Whitaker Building, 474-7043). Students

with learning or other disabilities who may need classroom accommodations are encouraged to

make an appointment to obtain the appropriate documentation if they do not have it. Please

meet with me during office hours so that I can collaborate with the Office of Disability Services

to provide the appropriate accommodations and support to assist you in meeting the goals of

the course. Students must submit the appropriate Disability Services form to the instructor in

order for him to make accommodations.

For more information, please visit http://www.uaf.edu/disability/forms/

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Tentative Course Schedule Introducción al curso Fecha

limite Semana 1 Prueba de sílabo; presentaciones en mapa; organizar

sistemas de UA (email, Blackboard…) 9/1

Unidad 1

Semana 2 Clases de palabras y artículos Semana 3 Sustantivos 9/17

Unidad 2

Semana 4 Adjetivos Semana 5 Pronombres 10/1

Unidad 3 Semana 6 Adverbios y conjugaciones Semana 7 Cuantificaciones 10/15

Unidad 4 Semana 8 Preposiciones Semana 9 Formación de verbos y MIDTERM 10/29

Unidad 5 Semana 10 Verbos (irregulars, cambios de raíz,

imperfecto/pretérito, futuro)

Semana 11 Verbos (subjuntivo) 11/12 Unidad 6

Semana 12 Sintaxis 1 (sintagmas) Semana 13 Sintaxis 1 (identificación) Thanksgiving Break…if you

are travelling, be sure to do your assignments well before the due date.

11/26

Unidad 7 Semana 14 Sintaxis 2 diagrama arboreo Semana 15 Sintaxis 2 diagrama arboreo 12/10

Examen final Semana 16 Final exams can be taken between December 11-15 12/15

*One due date per unit.