HONORS SPANISH IV Course Overview Honors Spanish IV further develops students' oral facility in the language. The course concentrates on select readings from Spanish and Spanish-American literature, as well as current articles pertaining to cultural topics. Students will read works from various literary genres; novels, plays, short stories, poetry, etc. The emphasis will be on listening, reading, speaking and writing. Selected advanced topics dealing with the culture of Hispanic countries will be discussed. Upon successful completion of this course, students may enroll in Advanced Placement Spanish with departmental approval.Language class is taught completely in Spanish except for the occasional grammar class. In this class we learn how to use the language in a variety of contexts and skills to discuss themes and topics in class.
“Honors 4 is designed for students with some previous experience of the target language. In this course, students further develop their ability to communicate in the target language through the study of language, themes and texts. In doing so, they also develop conceptual understandings of how language works, as appropriate to the level of the course. [Students} describe situations, narrate events, make comparisons, explains problems, and state and support their personal opinions on a variety of topics relating to course content.”
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
Understand formal and colloquial speech spoken at a native speaker's pace and with a native's pronunciation.
Converse actively in the target language with the teacher and students, exhibiting appropriate pronunciation, intonation, and inflection.
Comprehend and discuss the content and significance of selected works of Spanish literature, dialogues, essays, and other select reading passages.
Organize and write guided and creative compositions, summaries, and other types of expository prose in Spanish.
Demonstrate comprehension and mastery of selected cultural topics dealing with people, places, and events in the Spanish-speaking world.
Develop increased awareness of the richness of the culture of Spain and Latin America and of the global contributions of Hispanics.
Demonstrate comprehension and mastery of advanced grammar topics, new vocabulary, and idiomatic expressions.
The students are encouraged to develop in the following skills:
Description
Receptive Skills Students understand a range of written and spoken authentic personal, professional and mass media text on topics of interest. They understand descriptions of events, feelings and wishes; they understand comparisons and recognize a straightforward, linear argument. They use context to deduce the meaning of sentences and unknown words and phrases.
Productive Skills Students write texts for a variety of purposes and make oral presentations on topics of interest. They write descriptive texts and personal correspondence; they make comparisons, narrate stories, provide detailed accounts, and express their thoughts and opinions on abstract or cultural topics.
Interactive Skills Students initiate and maintain the flow of conversations and discussions. They express and respond to opinions and feelings on a variety of topics. They use and understand clear speech on a variety of topics relating to course content and the culture(s) of the target language. Students use a variety of strategies to negotiate meaning and foster communication.
The course is based around 5 general themes that are not connected to specific assessment components. Those themes are: Experiences, Identities, Human ingenuity, Sharing the planet, and Social organization. The studying of these themes should help students develop intercultural awareness and international-mindedness by focusing on the target culture while developing their linguistic competence in the target language.
Conceptual understanding has been brought to the forefront as students will be asked to consider five concepts throughout the course: Audience, Context, Purpose, Meaning and Variation. Students should recognize how these concepts shape any written and/or spoken piece and demonstrate understanding of different concepts when determining the overall purpose of a text, for example, or choosing a text type to respond to a written production prompt.
Listening comprehension will be officially tested; it will be included as part of the assessment of receptive skills in Paper 2. Students at both Higher and Standard level will listen to 3 spoken texts and be required to answer listening comprehension questions.
The Higher Level internal assessment will be based on a literary extract of approximately 300 words, taken from one of the two literary works studied in class. Students are required to focus their presentation on the content of the extract itself, discussing the event(s) in the extract, and focusing on the main idea(s) or message(s).
Interactive oral activities will no longer form a part of the internal assessment. However, they are good learning tools and should be used in the classroom to help students improve their speaking skills. (Oxford University PresSEQUENCE AND ALIGNING OF THEMES AND TOPICS (Subject to change)The language B syllabus approaches the learning of language through meaning. Through the study of the themes, plus two literary works at HL, students build the necessary skills to reach the assessment objectives of the language B course through the expansion of their receptive, productive and interactive skills.
Theme and Topic Sharing the Planet Peace y Conflict (Subtheme: racism, prejudice & discrimination)
Experiences Migration
Human Ingenuity Artistic Expression
Social Organization Women’s Role & Family Identity