Ellington High School World Language Department

37 Maple Street

 P.O. Box 149 Ellington, CT  06029-0149

(860) 896-2352 X 443

e-mail: acapobianco@ellingtonschools.net

Welcome to the journey of learning a second language and the   appreciation of a second culture.  I am very pleased to meet you and to welcome your willingness to begin or continue your language studies.  

I am excited to expose to you the many facets of learning another language & culture.  My teaching techniques are student-centered;  the teacher as the facilitator, and the goal of making you, the student, hopefully independent users of Spanish.

   It is expected that the student will make mistakes when creating with the language. I wholeheartedly encourage you to  communicate orally to me and to your classmates using Spanish.  The classes will be conducted in Spanish as much as possible to promote continuing proficiency with the language & culture.

Goals:

                Attempting to perform linguistic tasks with various levels of accuracy.

                Developing self-confidence.

                Expanding risk-taking in communicative situations.

                Demonstrating respect and appropriate attitude to fellow classmates, teacher or substitute.

Classroom Expectations:

Our classes begin punctually to promote consistency and continuation to learning from the previous class meeting.  Daily attendance and punctuality are extremely important for you and the class to achieve successfully. Proper behavioral & educational attitude are important for personal academic success in our room.

I encourage you to be aware of the school attendance policy; no student at the high school will receive credit for a full year course after having been absent unexcused and/or being tardy from that course more than 22 class periods during the school year. For a half-year course, the maximum is 11 class periods. Academic integrity is part of our daily learning. If you are absent, two calendar days will be given for each assignment needed to be completed. Vacations taken during approved school time excluding the vacation schedule approved by the Board of Education will prevent the student from participating and completing the planned activities during those days of absence.

Student Expectations:

Each student needs to bring a covered textbook, a separate Spanish notebook or folder for class notes, handouts and writing instruments. You are encouraged to purchase a Spanish dictionary and to hopefully have access to a home computer. You are asked to check the teacher web-page; www.ellingtonschools.org  proceed to Ellington High School and then to your teacher's name for each day's assignments and upcoming events for all Spanish II & Spanish III classes.  If you are unfortunately absent or ill, please check the web-page to alleviate falling behind with your classes.

Teacher Instruction:

a) The Spanish Language is used as much as possible by the teacher and the students.  

b) Time devoted to listening, speaking, reading, writing and culture is appropriate to classroom objectives and to the language skills of the students.  

c) Classroom activities are student-orientated and include daily oral and/or written preparation.

d) Evaluation reflects the way students are taught.

e) Students are allowed to assess their own progress. 

f)  An effective climate is established for the students to feel comfortable and to encourage them to take risks.  

g) Various assessment strategies are employed for the students to increase their skills.

h) Active classroom participation is part of the student's daily grade which includes a covered textbook, folder, notebook & writing instrument.  Excluding written assessment, students will receive a daily grade for their active participation promoting the particular goal(s) of the class.  Participation grades can range from: 

            0 (inactive, absent)

            1 (inactive without textbook, folder or writing instrument)

            2 (active)

            3 (active, participatory)

            4 (active, participatory, understands well the concepts)

            5 (very active, very participatory, concrete understanding of the concepts) 

Grading:

Students are graded daily for their active participation in class activities; oral warm-ups, class notes, written assessments, CD & DVD activities, class worksheets, workbook activities, individual speaking activities, vocabulary & grammar quizzes, unit test assessments given at the end of a unit, mid-term and final test. Any student who does not actively participate during the class period,  will lose points for the day's activity.  Each completed & graded activity will allow the student to acquire a projected amount of points.  These points will be transferred to the following scale:

Mid-term and final will be weighed as shown below so that they will count as 20% of the final grade.

1st qtr., 2^nd qtr., Mid-term, 3^rd qtr., 4^th qtr., Final =Total

              2             2                1               2           2       1      = Total   

Written Compositions:

Written activities are frequently assigned based on the unit of study and appropriation of time.  Specific rubrics will be distributed to the student prior to the completion of the activity. Evaluation will include the student's ability using correct grammar, spelling, appropriate vocabulary and syntax in Spanish.  All written documents; first, second or final copies need to be word-processed.  The final copy is to include a first and/or second copy stapled with the final copy being the first page.  All student names are to be placed on the back of the stapled copies and forwarded to his/her teacher.

Closing Comments:

All assignments are posted on the teacher web page at www.ellingtonschools.org  You are asked to check it daily.  If you need to contact me, please e-mail me at  acapobianco@ellingtonschools.net  or phone me @ 896-2352 X 443.  I will respond to you promptly.  You will be asked to forward me your e-mail address if I need to contact you when you are absent.  In closing, I thank you for your interest to continue with the Spanish language and culture and I welcome each of you to room 443. 

¡Bienvenidos!

2009-10 Teaching Schedule:

Period A: Spanish I

Period B: Cafe Study

Period C: Spanish I

Period D: Spanish III         

Period E: Classroom Study

Period F: Introduction to Spanish/French

Period G: Spanish II

Period H: Preparation 

Ellington High School prepares students to become knowledgeable, respectful citizens who value learning, integrity, personal well being, equality and diversity.

Expectations for Student Learning

Academic

EHS students will:

Listen and view with understanding.

Read and write effectively.

Reason effectively, think critically, and solve problems.

Utilize resources including media, computers, and other technologies.

Civic

EHS students will:

Meet the responsibilities of citizenship.

Demonstrate leadership and service to the community.

Social

EHS students will:

Practice moral and ethical conduct.

Affirm diversity and practice respect.

Demonstrate skills and competencies for personal well being and growth.