Spanish I

Course code: SPA100

Semester and year: Fall2023

Day and time: Tuesday and Thursday 09.30h-11.00h

Instructor: Beatriz Bacarizo

Instructor contact: beatriz.bacarizo@aauni.edu

Consultation hours: Daily by appointment

• Course Description

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the necessary tools in order to communicate in written and oral form and to complete the level A1.1 of Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This course has been designed for absolute beginners in Spanish. 

The course main objectives are to:

• Introduce students to the language of the Spanish speaking countries.
• Promote the development of students' communicative competence of oral and written Spanish.
• Develop students’ intercultural competence and understanding. 

• Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand and use very elementary vocabulary and phrases to satisfy basic needs.
• Interact using everyday expressions in basic formal and informal situations.
• Introduce themselves and others and provide personal information such as nationality, age and preferences.
• Understand and fill in basic forms, as well as understand and write short texts such as postcards or letters.
• Interact with others in a simple manner provided a sympathetic speech partner who, speak slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

•  Reading Material

Required Materials

• Textbook: “Aula Internacional Plus 1. Libro del alumno” + CD. Corps, J. Difusion. 2020. ISBN 9788415640097.

You can purchase the textbook in Oxford Bookshop, Neo Luxor Knihkupectví and major bookshops in Prague. It is also available online in www.megabooks.cz and http://www.difusion.com.

Recommended Materials 

• A Spanish-English Dictionary of your choice or online dictionary:  www.wordreference.com
• Glossary Spanish- English: http://www.difusion.com/uploads/telechargements/catalogue/ele/aula/aula_int_1_glosario_es_en.pdf 

• Teaching methodology

We will follow a communicative approach in our course. The fundamental aim of this approach is to help the student learn to communicate in Spanish within a variety of contexts and situations. With this purpose in mind, we use a method which is based on carrying out tasks and projects from the very first day of class and this will allow the student to manage personal and public situations successfully.

• Course Schedule

• Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)

*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3= Effective and Responsible Action

• Detailed description of the assignments

[Final task 1]: Poster Mi mejor amigo

You are going to make a poster using information about a classmate. Add a photo, drawing, etc. 

Assessment breakdown

[Final task 2]: El español y yo.

You will create a video in Voki to speak about your relationship with the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.

Assessment breakdown

[Final task 3]: Mi ciudad

Make a video of your city: ¿qué hay?, ¿dónde está?, ¿cómo es?

Assessment breakdown

[Final task 4]: Presentación o video Mi familia

Imagine you can invite someone you know to class (a relative, friend, etc.). Introduce this person to the rest of the class. Your classmates will listen and then choose the person they want to meet. They might ask questions.

Assessment breakdown

• General Requirements and School Policies

General Requirements

All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar with the academic rules available in the Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work. 

Electronic Communication and Submission

The university and instructors shall only use students’ university email address for communication. It is strongly recommended that any email communication between students and instructors take place in NEO LMS.

Each e-mail sent to an instructor that is about a new topic (meaning not a reply to an original email) shall have a new and clearly stated subject and shall have the course code in the subject, for example: “COM101-1 Mid-term Exam. Question”.

All electronic submissions are carried out through NEO LMS. No substantial pieces of writing (especially take home exams and essays )can be submitted outside of NEO LMS.

Attendance

Attendance is required. The university recommends, as a minimal policy, that students who are absent 35 percent of the course should be failed (or administratively withdrawn from the course if the absences are excused).

Absence Excuse and Make-up Options

Should the student be absent from a class for relevant reasons (illness, serious family matters), s/he needs to submit an Absence Excuse Form supplemented with documents proving the reasons for absence to the Assistant Dean. Should a student be absent during the add/drop period due to a change in registration this will be an excused absence if they submit an Absence Excuse Form along with the finalized add/drop form. The form and documents must be submitted within one week of absence. If possible, it is recommended to inform the instructor about the absence in advance. 

Students whose absence has been excused by the Dean are entitled to make up exams they missed provided that the nature of the exam allows for a make-up. The students are responsible for contacting their instructor within one week from the date the absence was excused, and for making arrangements with the instructor about make-up options as necessary.

Late work: No late submissions will be accepted – please follow the deadlines.

Electronic devices

Any electronic devices (phones, tablets, laptops…) may be used only for class-related activities (taking notes, looking up related information…). Any other use will result in being marked absent and/or being expulsed from the class. No electronic devices may be used during the exams.

Eating is not allowed during classes.

Cheating and disruptive behavior

If a student engages in disruptive or other conduct unsuitable for a classroom environment of an institution of learning, the instructor may require the student to withdraw from the room for the duration of the activity or for the day and shall report the behavior to the Dean.

Students engaging in behavior which is suggestive of cheating (e.g. whispering or passing notes) will, at a minimum, be warned. In the case of continued misbehavior the student will be expelled from the exam and the exam will be marked as failed. 

Plagiarism and Academic Tutoring Center

Plagiarism is “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.” (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd Edition, Random House, New York, 1993)

Turnitin’s White Paper ‘The Plagiarism Spectrum’ (available at http://go.turnitin.com/paper/plagiarism-spectrum) identifies 10 types of plagiarism ordered from most to least severe:

1. CLONE: An act of submitting another’s work, word-for-word, as one’s own. 
2. CTRL-C: A written piece that contains significant portions of text from a single source without alterations. 
3. FIND–REPLACE: The act of changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source in a paper. 
4. REMIX: An act of paraphrasing from other sources and making the content fit together seamlessly.
5. RECYCLE: The act of borrowing generously from one’s own previous work without citation; To self plagiarize. 
6. HYBRID: The act of combining perfectly cited sources with copied passages—without citation—in one paper. 
7. MASHUP: A paper that represents a mix of copied material from several different sources without proper citation. 
8. 404 ERROR: A written piece that includes citations to non-existent or inaccurate information about sources 
9. AGGREGATOR: The “Aggregator” includes proper citation, but the paper contains almost no original work. 
10. RE-TWEET: This paper includes proper citation, but relies too closely on the text’s original wording and/or structure.

As the minimum policy the types of plagiarism from 1 through 8 results in the failing grade from the assignment and must be reported to the Dean. The Dean may initiate a disciplinary procedure pursuant to the Academic Codex. Allegations of bought papers and intentional or consistent plagiarism always entail disciplinary hearing and may result in expulsion from AAU.

If unsure about technical aspects of writing, students are encouraged to consult their papers with the tutors of the AAU Academic Tutoring Center. For more information and/or to book a tutor, please contact the ATC at: http://atc.simplybook.me/sheduler/manage/event/1/.

Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities are asked to contact their instructor as soon as possible to discuss reasonable accommodation.

• Grading Scale

* Decimals should be rounded to the nearest whole number.