Cuentos Infantiles y Fantàsticos

DEPARTAMENTO DE  ESPAÑOL 

Course Title: Fantastic Stories for Kids

Instructor: Josè L Lòpez Espinosa

Duración del curso: January -2016/ June- 2016

Extra Help: Mondays 3 to 4 p.m or by appointment.

Descripción del curso: Welcome to Cuentos Infantiles y Fantàsticos! The tittle  means Fantastic Stories for kids.This is a level one class. This course will cover a lot of basic and not so basic vocabulary that kids use. We will focus on the traditional and typical stories for kids not only in the Hispanic culture but also in the US culture and cultures around the world. The course will focus on practical memorized conversations(questions and answers)  improve pronunciation, accuracy and the ability to communicate in Spanish telling short and easy stories for kids. This course will also provide an opportunity, at the student’s skill level, to speak Spanish during class increasing vocabulary in every single class. Students will also work on fluency, listening and Spanish idioms.

It is important that you make a commitment to speak Spanish during class as much as possible and allow me as a teacher to help you comprehend and communicate in the language. The ideal methodology is 100% Spanish, but you are allowed to ask questions in English if you need to. I’d like to challenge you, not to frustrate you. There will be an allotted time each class to exclusively play games and speak Spanish ,  engage in small and class conversations, and informal teacher/student chats.

Cuentos Infantiles y Fantàsticos Learning Goals and expectations:

1. Engage in oral, listening and written exchanges of learned material to socialize, provide and

obtain information.

2. Demonstrate understanding of simple, clearly spoken, and written language presented in kid’s stories, games, lots of questions and brief conversations.

3. Present information using familiar words, discrete sentences and phrases.

4. Demonstrate understanding of the kid’s stories vocabulary 

6. Master common and some specialized vocabulary terms.

7. Listen for meaning in Spanish videos and music and read, write, and speak about them.

8. By the end of the semester each student will be able to tell a 2 minute story for kids in Spanish.

Recurring Assessments:

-Free-writing or Sketch Journaling: You will be asked to start creating stories for little kids in which you can decide the topic. Sketch journaling is a fun way to increase vocabulary in Spanish. You will need to draw first anything related to the topic covered in class, then write sentences about it. You will include posting your literature and recording of your voice reading your creation in your Digital Portfolio as a way to record progress during the semester.   

Daily Work: In addition to homework, there will be a variety of activities that will be done in class to improve your speaking skills and understanding of the language.

Work Habits will be graded on a regular basis and after you complete each assignment/update your Digital Portfolio. 

Honors:  Honors in Spanish is an opportunity to challenge yourself and enrich your experience in this class. It is open to all students, but there is commitment involved. Honors students will be expected to lead small-group discussion activities and help to keep a “Most of the class in Spanish ” environment. In addition, Honors students will have to:

- Organize and lead one Cuentos Infantiles y Fantàsticos class (Conversational games, activities, Power Point Presentations, Nearpod activities, come up with ideas and present them to me)

- Organize and teach a class alone or with the teacher’s help.

  Looking forward to a successful semester: Señor Lopez Espinosa.