Course+Descriptions

FL Course Descriptions 2014-2015


 * // Foreign Language //**

Students satisfy their graduation requirements in a foreign language through successful completion of two years in the same language. Christchurch offers Spanish and Chinese languages for its students. The Foreign Language Department has organized it’s courses in two distinct levels. The first level (Beginning and Intermediate) is meant to achieve linguistic competence, and can take up to two years. The second level courses are dedicated to applying that linguistic knowledge in specific areas, expanding the types and complexity of language production, and incorporating the language skills into the large context of the school and the world.


 * // Spanish I //** is a year-long course thatbuilds the foundations for communicating in the target language using simple sentences and phrases. Students learn to sustain brief oral and written exchanges in concrete social and commercial contexts and to understand spoken and written information based on familiar topics. They study the vocabulary and grammar structures necessary to describe themselves, their families and others, interests, school, recreational activities, and personal belongings. The course emphasizes control of the present tense. All communicative objectives are taught within the context of cultural practices.


 * // Spanish II //** is a year-long course which allows students to build proficiency in the language to permit them to communicate with greater accuracy, to initiate and sustain oral and written exchanges using familiar and recombined phrases and sentences, and to understand language based on new topics. They work to combine learned and original language in simple sentences and paragraphs reflecting present as well as future and past time that ask and answer questions about themselves, others, the immediate environment, plans and events, feelings, emotions, directions, and locations. Students gain increased understanding of the perspectives, customs, and contributions of the target cultures to the world community.


 * // Advanced Grammar //** is a semester course designed for students who have completed Spanish I and II. This course is both to review learned grammar and expand into a study of advanced grammar. By the end of the course, students will have a general understanding of the grammar topics covered, write at an appropriately advanced level, discuss grammatical aspects of Spanish and provide basic descriptions of them, and develop a more complex understanding of how to overcome any challenges normally faced in language acquisition. Part of this study will be to review the preterit and imperfect, ser and estar, por and para, future, and conditional tenses as well as learn the subjunctive. (Spring and Fall Semesters)


 * // Advanced Conversation //** is a semester course designed for students who have completed Spanish I and II. The focus is on developing speaking and oral comprehension skills, increasing proficiency in dialogue and developing knowledge of Spanish-speaking cultures. It is designed to expand and deepen the student’s ability to narrate, describe, discuss, and react to given topics in all time frames. The students will learn frequently used idiomatic expressions and grammatical structures. They will expand their vocabulary in a wide range of contexts through reading, written exercises, and conversation in specific and varying contexts. In addition to practice in small groups, there will be formal presentations, debates, and topic specific tertulias. Speaking skills will be assessed in private oral interviews, evaluated in class based upon speaking performance, and by the individual and group oral projects. The primary objectives of the course are to stimulate the comfortable and spontaneous use of spoken Spanish in a conversation, develop the student’s ability to sustain connected discourse on a broad range of topics, and achieve improved pronunciation and aural comprehension. (Spring and Fall Semesters)

**//Advanced Writing//** is a semester course designed for students who have completed Spanish I and II. In this class, students will learn to use writing to accomplish specific tasks in Spanish. We will maintain blogs, publish a weekly newspaper, write a communal novel, create web pages, write advertisements and complete a variety of other projects utilizing the written word. Students will create and maintain a file of problematic grammatical issues, which we will work on individually, with other classes, and with outside specialists. Part of the class will involve writing in conjunction with partner schools in Hispanic countries, and part of the class will involve an international writing contest. (Spring and Fall Semesters)

//**Advanced Reading**// is a semester course designed for students who have completed Spanish I and II. In this class, students will perfect their inductive skills in Spanish by reading and discussing a variety of materials written originally in Spanish. We will read newspapers, periodicals, magazines, scripts, poems, short stories, and a short novel. Each student will be required to participate actively in discussions on the readings, maintain a reading journal, comment actively on classmates public journal entries, and contribute a piece of writing from an outside source to the class syllabus. (Spring and Fall Semesters)

//**Honors Spanish Seminar: Food and Culture**// is a course that will investigate the different culinary traditions of major Hispanic Cultures. It is a one-semester course designed for students who have completed Advanced level courses in the department. It will focus on four main culinary traditions: Argentina and the Southern Cone, The Caribbean, Mexico and the US, and Spain. For each segment, we will look at the sources of ingredients and the reasons behind the importance of those ingredients, the confluence of cultural traditions encapsulated in food, and the connections between national and international culinary traditions. Students will be expected to maintain a food diary during the whole semester in Spanish, to create and perform a series of presentations related to each one of the areas of study, and to create for the class one whole meal that ties into and/or expands one of the culinary traditions we are investigating. We will have a series of outside speakers coming to aid in the creation of the food, including local and regional chefs, specialists in Hispanic culture, and Hispanics living in the area to talk to us about their traditions related to food.(Spring Semester – Offered on a rotating basis)

**//Honors Spanish Seminar: Historia y sociedad del mundo hispano//** will study the major historical, social and cultural transformations of Spain and Latin America in 20th and 21st centuries. Students will explore the roots of the issues facing modern Hispanic society, and the relationships between those societies and the United States. Specific references will be made to issues that affect the lives of our students, including the drug trade, immigration, dictatorship and democracy, the US role in development, and other issues of currency. (Fall Semester – Offered on a rotating basis)

//**Honors Spanish Seminar: Hispanic Film**// is a semester long, on-line course dedicated to understanding a series of films from the Hispanic World. The course will be open to any students who have complete Advanced level courses in the department or have equivalent skills. This course will also be offered to alumnæ and parents. It will be a bilingually presented course, with credit being given only to those students who complete the Spanish language version of the course. It will investigate the following films: Pan's Labyrinth, Spirit of the Beehive, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All about my mother, Camila, Nueve Reinas, Fresa y Chocolate, El Norte, Habana Blues, Tortilla Soup. We will investigate questions of film and history, the role of women in film, national identity, and music and film. Each student will participate in an on-line discussion for each film, and each student will be expected to moderate one on-line session. Lectures will be on-line and downloadable, and each film will have a research page associated with it for further information including reviews, analyses, and scholarly commentary. At the end of the course each student will have produced a blog or journal commenting on each film, moderated an on-line discussion, and created a research paper or 10 minute documentary film about a director, actor, filmic tradition, or other scholarly topic. (Fall Semester – Online course)

//**Honors Spanish Seminar: Environmental Issues in the Hispanic World**// will include intensive work in oral expression through focusing on practical situations and contemporary environmental issues the Hispanic world faces. It will develop the student’s ability to use more complex language structures and express abstract ideas with reasonable fluency through those issues. As they analyze real-world situations, students will be required to locate and use authentic resources in Spanish news programs, newspapers, magazines, film, and the Internet to broaden their understanding of how broad environmental issues are playing out in the Spanish speaking world. The expectation will be for the class to communicate main ideas, opinions and support details orally and in writing on a daily basis. The class will also produce and explain opinions and responses to the issues explored. As a part of gaining cultural perspective, the class will discuss how the viewpoints of people from Spanish-speaking countries are reflected in the different forms of media used. (Fall Semester– Offered on a rotating basis) //**Honors Spanish Seminar: Hispanics in the US**// will explore the following themes through literature, film, current events and personal interviews: History of Hispanics in the United States, Diversity of Hispanic cultures in the Unites States, Chicano history and culture, Current Hispanic issues in the U.S., and Hispanics in our community. Students will read, speak and write in the target language, as well as exploring “Spanglish” texts. Emphasis will be on Chicano history, literature and culture but other Hispanic cultures will be explored as well. This course will help students to understand the relevance of learning Spanish and offers them the opportunity to become more culturally literate about the largest minority group in the United States. Vocabulary will be taught within the context of reading texts or films. Structure will be reviewed or taught as needed. (Spring Semester– Offered on a rotating basis) Honors Spanish Independent Study may be available to students who wish to expand their study of Spanish language and culture further. Upon approval by lead teacher, students will work to develop an independent study project centered on elements of Hispanic culture and civilization of interest to them. This course is available only to seniors. Enrollment will be limited to five. Students wishing to undertake an independent study must confer with the head of the Foreign Language Department before registering for the course. (Spring or Fall Semester)

//**Chinese I**// builds the foundations for communicating in the target language using simple sentences and phrases. Students learn to sustain brief oral and written exchanges in concrete social and commercial contexts and to understand spoken and written information based on familiar topics. They study the vocabulary and grammar structures necessary to describe themselves, their families and others, interests, school, recreational activities, and personal belongings. The course emphasizes control of the present tense. All communicative objectives are taught within the context of cultural practices.

//**Chinese II**// allows students to build proficiency in the language to permit them to communicate with greater accuracy, to initiate and sustain oral and written exchanges using familiar and recombined phrases and sentences, and to understand language based on new topics. They work to combine learned and original language in simple sentences and paragraphs reflecting present as well as future and past time that ask and answer questions about themselves, others, the immediate environment, plans and events, feelings, emotions, directions, and locations. Students gain increased understanding of the perspectives, customs, and contributions of the target cultures to the world community.

**//Honors Chinese III//** builds the skills to communicate about various topics, using more complex structures, moving from concrete to more abstract concepts. Students work to comprehend the main idea of authentic materials read or heard and to be able to identify significant details when the topics are familiar. They learn to express their own opinions and wishes, participate in more sustained exchanges, and relay detailed information. The target language is used more predominantly in the classroom as students develop the ability to discuss historical and contemporary events and issues and the literary and artistic contributions of the target culture.

**//Honors Chinese IV//** builds and consolidates the skills to communicate about various topics, using increasingly more complex structures, moving from concrete to more abstract concepts. Students work to comprehend the main idea of authentic materials read or heard and to be able to identify significant details when the topics are familiar. They learn to more clearly express their own opinions and wishes, participate in more sustained exchanges, and relay detailed information. In addition, students will recognize and produce more of the written language, analyze advanced grammar and sentence structure and engage in more substantial investigation of the culture and society. The target language is used predominantly in the classroom as students develop the ability to discuss historical and contemporary events and issues and the literary and artistic contributions of the target culture.

Course Proposals for 2012-2013
Here are the draft descriptions of the courses for 2012-2013. Please download this document and rename it with your name at the beginning and then the same filename. For example, if I downloaded it, I would rename it "Little 2012-2013 course proposals". Once you have written comments or edits (preferably in a different color from the original text) I will incorporate those changes and load the course descriptions here, after approval.




 * __Classes we may teach in the future__**

=
Subject oriented courses: Hispanic Film, The Rainforrest, Hispanic Cultural Studies, History and Civilization of the Hispanic World, Culinary Arts of the Hispanic World, Music of the Hispanic World, Hispanic Art History======