Download the document called "AP Course Outline Syllabus" which you will find scrolling down to the very end of this page. Print and read the ENTIRE document CAREFULLY so you will know what this course requires in more detail. With this information, it is a good time to have a discussion at this point with your parents about this class and whether or not you should take it, given the rigors of the course. If you are sure that you belong to this class and should take it, sign the contract and ask your parent or guardian to read and sign it and initial the Parent Agreement as well. There is also a contract to use Spanish exclusively in class. Sign that too.
Now let's turn to the subject of the AP Examination itself which you will take in May 2013. To know more about it, download the file "AP Spanish Course Description" below. Make sure you read
the information provided by the College Board in this document, look at the format of the exam and the sample questions so you have an idea what this challenging exam is like even before we start the course.
Study Skills: You would not have gotten this far in your Spanish language studies if you didn't already have some good study skills. Scan through these sites on study skills and see if there is anything new that might help you with the level of intensity this AP Spanish course is going to demand of you. Click on these links to access the sites.
Next, go on the message board (found on this page, right above "Upcoming Events and Homework) and click on the subject "Discussion Question 1". Click on "add reply" (DO NOT start a new topic) and post a comment answering the discussion question below. Your post should be in Spanish, have a minimum of 50 words and observe rules of grammar and orthography. (NOTE: to put the accent marks on the computer, click here: Spanish accent marks).
Discussion Question 1: After exploring the different components of the AP Spanish exam, which areas of the test do you think will be the hardest for you? What study strategies do you plan to incorporate for bettering yourself in these areas? What study strategies would you offer to your classmates as they identify areas of difficulty for themselves? Read two other posts and respond to at least one. If there are no posts to respond to yet, wait a day or two.
Now, based on what you've learned so far about the AP course and the AP Spanish Language exam and after spending some time discussing it, evaluate your skills at this point going into the course. Go to the "articles" section on the right side of the home page and click on "Sondeos (Polls) and answer the survey. Now, download and print out the "Encuesta" document at the end of this section and fill it out in as much detail as you can (this one you can do in English).
This activity is aimed at improving your Spanish vocabulary.
1.) Read the article on "Amplia tu vocabulario" (found on the right-hand corner of the homepage under "articles") thoroughly. With the information from the article, reflect on your vocabulary level going into the this AP class and think about how much vocabulary you have to acquire personally to help you prepare for this class.
2.) Download the document called "Vocabulario", print it and do the activity to help you further in your vocabulary acquisition skills.
3.) Buy a vocabulary notebook (decide on what kind but it should have enough pages to hold the long lists of words you will have at the end of this course). Start jotting words down as soon as you start doing these activities as you encounter new words and expressions. Use the suggestions outlined in the article you read. This vocabulary notebook will be collected and checked on the first day of school and should have all the new words you've learned during the summer (these word lists will vary according to each student's vocabulary level)
The AP Spanish curriculum assumes that the student already has a high level of proficiency in grammar. The AP course will build on this and introduce some more advanced structures so it's very important that you review all the grammar you've learned so far before the start of the course. Relative to English, they say that the three most challenging grammatical elements in Spanish are ser and estar, the preterite and imperfect tenses and the subjunctive and they need to be mastered at the AP level so that's a good place to start although you may have others you still struggle with.
Go to the websites below to work on as many specific grammatical points as you need to review. Some of them offer tutorials, clear grammar explanations and self-correcting exercises that you can do (choose the ones that don't require you to have an account):
Ejercicios de gramática Bowdoin University
Spanish language and culture by Barbara K. Nelson
Afterwards, download and print out the grammar review log document below and fill it out according to what you have done. Now you can proceed to the next activity.
This second grammar activity consists of verb conjugations. To do this activity, click here:
Once on the page, click on the verb "abrazar" and you will the see verb conjugated in every possible way. Quickly skim the different forms of this verb. This is technically what you are expected to be able to do with any verb in Spanish (except for the pretérito anterior form) on the AP level. This activity affords you a bird's eye view of all the verb forms you have learned so far and is very useful for preparing for the course.
Here is a list of 20 different verbs you will now need to conjugate in ALL the forms (SKIP the futuro perfecto AND pretérito anterior forms, they are rarely used so don't bother with them) according to the verb charts. Some of them are very basic verbs that you are familiar with, others are not:
agradecer, añadir, caber, conseguir, comenzar, convertir, cubrir, despedir, destruir, divertirse, dormir, eligir, equivocarse, establecer, incluir, medir, producir, recoger, reír, vencer
Download the document "Formas verbales" below and print or photocopy it 20 times to use it for this activity. Write the forms by hand. When you're done, check the correct conjugation of each verb by clicking that verb in the same site: Spanish verb forms to see the right forms. Make note of these corrections and patterns that you observe in the conjugation of these specific verbs
This next homework combines your listening, reading and summary-writing skills, which is an important feature of the AP Spanish Language Examination. It is especially useful for practicing listening to authentic native speakers, speaking with different accents at a natural pace (not slowing down for an audience of language learners) which is another challenge of the AP Exam.
First, watch some video clips in Spanish proficiency exercises from a University of Texas at Austin site (http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html
) and listen to what different native Spanish speakers are saying on a variety of topics. As you watch and listen, try not to read the accompanying text yet. The clips are arranged according to level so you may want start with clips from the beginner's level and see how much you understand. Progress on from there and listen to a couple more clips from the higher levels. As each clip gets harder to understand, you can repeat it, reading the transcript on the right, so you can see the words as they are being said. Make sure at this point that you are making note of some new words and trying to guess the meaning of each using contextual clues. Only use a dictionary (Spanishdict.com or Reverso.com online, for example) if you can't guess the meaning.
Now, go on to http://teresasanchez.biz/podcast/
This is a site with podcasts by Teresa Sánchez. For this activity, choose five (5) of these podcasts to listen to. These are from Spain and are longer than the ones from the other site. Do the same thing here, listening without looking at the words at first. Then if it gets harder, read along as you listen.
As a summary-writing exercise, write a summary of the 5 podcasts you have chosen according to what you know is a good summary. To remind you what a good summary is, download the PDF file called "Summary writing tips" below and read it to guide you in your writing.
For the AP course, it is important to read authentic materials from various sources. For this activity, you will read and write a summary of two (2) articles from a newspaper or magazine about a subject that interests you. Summary writing requires you to understand the text thoroughly and therefore doing it in a foreign language makes it doubly hard so first make sure you have 100% comprehension of the text before writing. Also make sure to continue to jot down words you are learning in your vocabulary notebook as you work on these articles.
You may use the largest Spanish daily, El País (http://elpais.com/
) or click on the following link to find other periodicals from other countries:
Again, refer to the document "Summary writing tips" to guide you as you write your summary.
When you hand in this summary on September 6th, you will also need to hand in a printed copy of the article you have chosen.
In this AP class, you will also have the opportunity to read literary works, most of them short stories. For this activity we turn to a short story written by Argentinian author Julio Cortázar to practice reading comprehension of literary texts. It's a short but challenging text with an interesting plot twist so you will have to stay with it (read a couple of times) before you get to an appreciation of what it is about. Remember that reading literature is different from reading journalistic texts because of the figurative language used and it can be frustrating for a language learner. But read it for pleasure as well as it's a finely crafted short story.
So go to this link to read this short story entitled Continuidad de los parques:
Read it once through. Now go back to parts that are difficult to understand and use contextual clues to guess the meaning of words and phrases. Only use the dictionary as a last resort. Make sure you are jotting down words that you have learned from the reading.
Now you can have the story read to you by clicking here:
Play it and enjoy the story-telling. You may replay it for more listening comprehension practice.
To view 2 dramatizations of the story on Youtube to enhance your understanding of the story, copy and paste these in your browser:
Now post your reaction to this short story on the message board clicking on the subject "Continuidad de los parques". Again, your post must be in Spanish with at least 50 words and must observe rules of grammar and orthography. NOTE: to put the accent marks on the computer, click here: Spanish accent marks)
Read two other posts and respond to at least one. If there are no posts to respond to yet, wait a day or two.
Now let's turn to the importance of cognate words for building vocabulary. Your ability to recognize cognates (words that sound alike in both English and Spanish) depends on your English vocabulary. Learning more words in English will help you feel more comfortable in Spanish! And many Spanish cognates come from words that have almost dropped completely from conversational English, so learning Spanish words will expand your English vocabulary too.
Check out this English site about Cognates: (take notes)
Now search the Internet using Google español for another travel/tourist site about Peru and read it.
You're now ready to post another comment on the message board clicking on the subject "Discussion question #2". Post a comment answering the discussion question below:
Discussion Question #2: Briefly discuss the different types of tourists (world travelers) there are throughout the world and then explain (in a paragraph) which one you think is the best type of tourist and why. Read two other posts and respond to at least one.
Explore the BBC site regarding Guernica: 70 years later. (If you are unfamiliar with Guernica, please do some research on your own first.)
Be sure to read the written articles and interviews, listen to the audio clips, and view the video clip.
Now go to the message board one more time and click on the subject "Discussion question #3". Post a comment answering the following question:
Discussion Question #3: How is the atrocity of Guernica similar/different from atrocities committed by a modern day dictator? Be sure to include in your comparison perceptions of participants in the events as well as perceptions of the events by the world community. Read two other posts and respond to at least one.