ORIENTATION: There is a mandatory orientation for the course. The week before classes begin, you will receive an email to your CCSF Google Mail account from the instructor offering two times, one in the evening on a weekday and another on Saturday morning. Students can complete an online version of the orientation instead, but it must be done by the day of the second in-person orientation. The objective of the orientation is to advise students about the Insight home of the course and to help students decide whether or not to purchase the Access Code/Book Key for the iLrn Heinle Learning Center site for Plazas.

General description: This is a beginning course for students who have studied little or no Spanish. Because it is online, students have all the responsibility for being active in the course. This situation makes for an intense, self-disciplined experience. But, it is fun to see your progress. Sí, puedes hablar español.

SPANISH 1: Spanish 1A and Spanish 1B constitute Spanish 1. Spanish 1 is a transferable course that is applicable to many degree programs. See the CCSF catalog for more details.

ARE YOU READY FOR ONLINE? Taking an online foreign language course requires students to study about nine hours every full week of the semester, and no student should take an online course for the first time without taking the technical and student skill quiz at "Are you ready to learn online?" After you read the rest of the course description, come back and click on this link.

TEXTBOOK AND WEB SITE ACCESS KEY: The online Spanish 1A and 1B courses use Plazas, lugar de encuentros as the textbook, which has a multi-media internet site referred to as iLrn Spanish or as the Heinle Learning Center. Students purchase the Access Key with or without a textbook; refer to the textbook page for more details . In Spanish 1A, the preliminary chapter and Chapters One, Two and Three are covered. Chapters Four, Five and Six are covered in Spanish 1B. Most students would benefit from having access to the iLrn site, but many students can do well without it. The access code is expensive, just under $100, but that is cheaper than many textbooks.

The final exam is a mandatory, in-person exam in a classroom at CCSF. Alternates times and details for the final exam will be posted in the course. There is some scheduling flexibility, but the exam must be taken in person with the instructor.

Please note that the practice exercises, while quiz-like at times, are not quizzes. Students should have their textbook and notes available while doing the online exercises.

Students who join the course late, will need to complete the orientation online, and catch up with the course content in time to take the first chapter test with the rest of the class members.

GOALS: Students study to development cultural awareness and understanding, to improve their reading, writing, listening comprehension and speaking skills in Spanish. Vocabulary growth occurs in two areas: approximately 500 new words and the improved ability to recognize dozens of cognates in cultural readings. Good pronunciation and intonation are important to the improvement of speaking skills. Grammar lessons are part of a larger communicative goal. For example, one learns the grammar of the verb gustar in order to express likes and dislikes. Cultural readings and video presentations focus on countries and various aspects of life in the Spanish-speaking world.  There are listening activities that include comprehension checks. It is essential for students to find a way to make Spanish a part of their daily activities in order to retain the lessons they are studying.

OBJECTIVES: Each chapter's objectives vary and are specific to the content. However, most students will have these objectives, also.

Improve memorization skills: Primarily vocabulary and phrases in Spanish, but also grammar rules.

Improve reading skills in Spanish: Focusing on word groups, rather than reading word by word. Recognizing cognates (e.g., independencia, libertad, comunismo...) more quickly.

Improve listening skills: Listening to course materials and level-appropriate materials on a regular basis in order to stop translating from Spanish into one's mother tongue. It is possible to understand without translating.

Improve speaking skills: Expand the number of topics about which you can converse at a basic level and deepen your ability to communicate about your personal areas of interest that are reflected in the course content.

ONLINE TEST TAKING POLICY: Students are on the honor system when taking the online quizzes. They promise to not use a dictionary or other reference materials, not use their textbook, and not ask other people for help. The face-to-face final exam counts much more than the online tests, and it serves to validate the student's average from the online testing.

ORAL QUIZZES: Students are given explicit directions to complete a set of interview questions. They are to practice answering, rehearse their answers, then make a recording using the Wimba recording tool in Insight. In conclusion, their speech should demonstrate their best pronunciation and intonation. Answers to interview questions that sound as if they are being read have poor intonation by definition.

GRADING POLICY: 50% of the overall semester grade is based on the final exam, which is written and oral. 35% of the overall average is based on quizzes taken online and on oral quizzes. 15% of the overall average is based on completion of the homework assignments and participation in all other aspects of the course: postings on discussion boards, and any other assignments not mentioned here.

INTERACTION WITH INSTRUCTOR AND CLASSMATES: Some assignments will ask the student to email their instructor, some will instruct them to make a posting to a discussion board, and others will tell them to read postings and respond. There will be a general discussion board for technical troubleshooting and user tips. Insight has many technical resources, also.

OFFICE HOURS: The instructor's office in on the Ocean Campus of CCSF in A203-B. See the MAIN PAGE for current hours. We can confer on the phone, or we can confer in a chat room inside the Insight course site. If you wish to confer in the chat room, please call and direct the instructor to the chat room. The phone number is (415) 452-5053.

FINAL GRADE: CCSF posts the final grades online in your WebSTARS account; just log into your account at www.ccsf.edu a couple weeks after the final exam.