Description and Objectives

Spanish is the third most-spoken language in the world, with 500 million speakers worldwide, and the second most-spoken language in the United States. Knowledge of the language can open many doors to cultural understanding, new friendships and job opportunities, as well as provide insight and appreciation for the structure of your own native language and its origins. The aim of this course is to build a strong base in vocabulary and grammar while instilling confidence in the ability to initiate and maintain a basic conversation in Spanish.

Textbooks

Curso tercero, Second Edition. Wasserman and Wasserman ISBN 0-87720-541-8

Momentos Hispanos, Second Edition. Cabat and Cabat ISBN 978-1-56765-467-7

In addition to these texts, there will be handouts, verb charts, vocabulary lists, newspaper articles, and short stories.

Course Requirements

80% of a student’s grade will be based on how well they perform on homework, quizzes, and tests, and the other 20% will be on spoken Spanish used in class. If a student gets a 100% on every written assignment but does not practice his speaking at all, the best he can get in the class is a B-.

Students will have a daily quiz on vocabulary and/or grammar, which will require about 10 minutes of study time each night. In addition, once a week there will be a presentation in Spanish, in which the students are expected to improve each week, implementing the grammar and vocabulary accumulated over the course of the year. Every two to three weeks there will be a test based on the text from the book.

Grammar covered:

• The present tense to express the near future
• The present tense using verbs with special meanings in the Preterit
• The imperfect tense
• The future tense to express probability in the present
• The conditional to express probability in the past
• The compound tenses: Present perfect; The pluperfect; The future perfect; The conditional perfect
• The present participle (El Gerundio) and the progressive tenses
• The subjunctive
• Nouns and articles
• Adjectives and adverbs
• Expressing possession; Possessive adjectives and pronouns
• Comparisons
• Expressing “To Be” in Spanish
• The passive voice
• Pronouns
• The infinitive
• Commands
• Interrogative and relative pronouns

Successful Students

• Bring their textbook and notebook to every class
• Study their vocabulary each night at home for a minimum of ten minutes
• Make sure that they correct any and all mistakes in the workbook in order to efficiently study for tests
• Prepare in advance for their presentations
• Schedule time outside of class to work with Mr. Sushinsky on any questions or doubts about material or assignments
• Email Mr. Sushinsky anytime they are absent in order to prepare adequately for new assignments and not fall behind. Students who do not stay in touch when they are absent and do not make up the work at the first available opportunity will receive a zero for that grade.

Additional Resources

It is highly recommended to practice Spanish whenever possible. This includes speaking in Spanish with friends or relatives, listening to the radio or watching tv in Spanish, reading a Spanish newspaper, watching movies in Spanish, etc. There are a plethora of podcasts and websites that can help you with this.

Summer Assignment

Advanced Spanish Summer Assignment

You are expected to know all the conjugations for the regular verbs Hablar, Comer, and Vivir(with the exception of the preterit perfect indicative, the future subjunctive, and the future perfect subjunctive). There will be a test on the first day of school. Attached you will find a blank copy for Hablar, so you know exactly what you are expected to fill in on the test. Spelling and accents must be perfect in order to receive a perfect score.

Hablar test

The conjugations to hablar, comer, and vivir can be found in many places, including:

Verb Conjugations

Questions can be directed to Sr. Sushinsky at dsushinsky@heights.edu