Mr. Giraldo - High School Spanish

SPANISH 2, 4

2021-22

Welcome Back to UA. I hope you have had a restful summer and you feel energized to begin this academic year. I look forward to be your Spanish teacher and have fun learning while being challenged. I understand the challenges ahead of us as we learn online but together we are stronger. We are UA!

I come from Colombia and I have taught Languages (Spanish, English, French) since 2004 . I have been working at UA since 2010. I have been coaching sports since 2000. I speak and write fluent French, English and Spanish and I worked a couple of years for a French chef in Colombia. I am passionate about cooking, sports and outdoor activities. I love tennis, biking, camping and soccer. I enjoy helping people and spending quality time with my family and friends. I have a beautiful family and my oldest son Thomas attends UA. My youngest son is Juan Miguel and my wife is Elizabeth.

Spanish 2

This Spanish course is a continuation to the study of the target language and its culture. It allows students to perform some novice high functions of the language. The emphasis is placed on the development of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) with special attention given to speaking skills. The context focuses on the adolescents' lives, needs, and experiences and includes an exposure to everyday customs and lifestyles. Grammar is integrated throughout and is selected according to the language needs. Some topics include: Irregular and stem changing present tense, regular and irregular preterite, imperfect, reflexive verbs and all type of pronouns. Vocabulary topics such as routines, clothes, bedroom, habits, childhood, places, tourism among others.

Spanish 4

This Spanish course allows students to use Spanish for communication in real life tasks at a high intermediate through advanced level with a focus on developing Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational skills. This course has a rich cultural content based on a variety of authentic resources including but not limited to movie clips, songs, news, podcasts, literature and television. Vocabulary and grammar are developed through contextualized study.

In Class expectations:

llegar a tiempo y tener materiales. (Come to class on time and prepared to learn)
The first 5 minutes are crucial in my class. You will have a conversational warm up that will help your Spanish skills grow and solidify the grammar structures. No bathroom breaks or locker is allowed in the first 20 minutes.

Escuchar y respetar a las personas. (Listen to instructions and respect each other in turn and opinion)
Our class is conversational, enjoy speaking spanish but please listen to others as well, you will be surprised to see how much you learn from your peers repetition.

Usar Español (Students are expected to use Spanish and participate in class)
My classroom will be the only place where most of you will listen to and speak spanish daily for 1 hour. Let’s make this time valuable and engage in all activities.

I anticipate having a wonderful a year and maintain a respectful relationship with you. If I need you to improve something, I will do the following:

1st time - Verbal warning
2nd time - Relocation if needed and/or an individual agreement
3rd time - Parent contact
4th time - Written Referral

Grading Policy:

Spanish department uses the following categories for grades. All graded work will be posted on CANVAS.

80% Assessments

Grammar/vocabulary quizzes

Skills assessments on speaking, writing, reading, listening.

Projects that measure writing or speaking skills

Final tests

20% Classwork

Any work including but not limited to exit tickets, online classwork, worksheets, use of Spanish, etc.

Spanish department uses a “Standards –Based” grading system for skills . This scale is accordance to the HS learning framework and the North Carolina Standards . This means that students will be graded on how well they can perform a skill of the language in a qualitative way (see rubric below). As we learn a new structures students will have repetitive practice and feedback in order to achieve the expected level of proficiency. The following rubric will be used to grade speaking and writing skills assessments:

	Language Level	Description
90- 100 (4)	Mastery	Student performs at proficient level and always expands with minor to no errors Student masters the topic or concept.
80-89 (3)	Proficient	Student uses required vocabulary, grammatical structures, and spelling/pronunciation correctly most of the time. Student understands the topic or concept.
70-79 (2)	Developing	Student demonstrates the skill, but errors are common. Inconsistent use of vocabulary, grammatical structures, and/or spelling/pronunciation impedes communication. Student needs assistance to understand the topic or concept.
60-69 (1)	Little Evidence	Student shows low skills. Errors are common and shows lack of required vocabulary and/or grammatical structures. Student struggles to understand the topic or concept.
50-59 (0)	No evidence	No evidence of mastery/ no course credit

Union Academy High School Grading Policies

Graded assignments are required to be submitted on time. At the teacher’s discretion, students who initiate communication regarding extenuating circumstances may be given grace for late work.
Failure to submit graded work will result in an incomplete/no credit for the course.
Students who fail to submit graded work by the deadline will be required to report early the following morning to complete the assignment each day until it is submitted. Failure to do so will result in administrative intervention.
Students are expected to earn at least a 50 on all graded assignments. At the teachers’ discretion, students will have opportunities to re-do graded assignments and retake assessments. Students will be required to take advantage of the morning flex period to receive additional help from their teachers.
Assignments that are classified as opportunities for practice and development will not be graded nor will they count towards a student’s overall grade in a class. Teachers will document student performance in these areas and use the data as part of their collaboration with students and parents. Work will not be graded for completion.