Para mis estudiantes tan inteligentes

Hola chicas y chicos,,,,,me encantan mis clases y espero que estén contentos también. I love my classes and hope you’re all happy. Assignments as follows:

SECOND YEAR — assigned homework, two blue verb sheets, guys do evens on the long one and girls do odds. also flashcards for vocab tonight please and finish the pronunciation worksheet! whew!

THIRD YEAR — vocab tonight, queridos, por favor.page 5 all words including the Cuidado! section.

FOURTH YEAR —

Fourth year – vocab this week over countries, nationalities and capitals! f/c tonight please.

Third year – enjoy a night of no homework, because it’ll be the last for awhile!

Second year – you’re off the hook for tonight, but be ready tomorrow!

All students, all classes — summer work counts as follows: each assignment 30 points if turned in within 4 days of the due dates. late work = counts for 20 points. work not done = 0 pts. there were six assignments.

si están leyendo este blog, mándame una respuesta y te daré crédito extra. quiero volver a usarlo otra vez.

PLEASE NOTE! Fifth and seventh periods — second-year — I have moved the vocab test from this Friday to next Tuesday, September 8.

All classes are going well. I am very pleased with our progress.

Note to parents — I really am so delighted to have met those of you who were able to come to Open House at Germantown High School last Thursday, and to have greeted those of you I already know. Thank you so much for your patience with my absence; we will make up for lost time, although there was plenty of meaningful work left to keep the students busy and rekindle their minds in a Spanish way.

It came to my attention while I was gone that electronic translators were used by some students in the completion of their class work. It has NEVER been my policy or that of any other GHS foreign language teacher to allow their use either at home or at school. THIS TOTALLY DEFEATS THE PURPOSE OF TRYING TO *LEARN* THE LANGUAGE. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was to have made this discovery, and I hope and trust that each of you will take these things away from your student immediately.

If I suspect that translators, either online or individual, or native speakers have assisted in the completion of work for my class, there will be an automatic zero for the assignment. We provide more than enough instruction in the language to enable students to do the work asked of them on their own. There is an enormous difference between looking up one word in a dictionary and entire paragraphs or sentences on a translator.

A word about what an IB or honors student means — it’s a student who is proud of his/her own work, enjoys learning and is concerned about the world at large; a scholar, even, who loves the acquisition of knowledge and is aware that, although his/her grades may not be the highest in the class, the utmost effort has been put forth on assignments. Accepting responsibility when it has not been possible to give 100% and doing better next time is also an important lesson that our students need to absorb.

Beginning Tuesday, August 25

1st, 2nd and 3rd — There will be two vocab tests next week. The first is review of numbers up thru millions and the review and study for this is completely on their own time at home. There will be 20-25 problems on the test. It will be on Tuesday, September 1.

Second test will be over the vocab on page five of Conexiones on Friday, Sept. 4.— If the students have their index cards, copy vocab onto them. If not, copy the words/defs onto notebook paper and do flashcards Tuesday night. Cards will be checked Wednesday — All or nothing grade. After doing vocab, they should read the review of preterite past tense on page 7, then read Aplicación on page 8 and answer all six questions in complete sentences using preterite, of course. If second period finishes, have them do ex. 1-8, not necessary to write out the whole paragraph.

The next piece is to read and study the irregular preterite – SO IMPORTANT — on pp. 9-11, 13. They then do Aplicaciones 1-10 and1-13.

Sixth Period – Please distribute the texts En español if not already done so. On page 27 (vocab page) , the students need to concern themselves with all of the right-hand column of verbs only. They need to conjugate all those verbs in present, preterite and imperfect tenses and define. They will be responsible for the spelling of all and definitions for a test on Tuesday, Sept. 1. These verbs are all review and they have a week to work on reviewing. be especially careful of the irregular verbs when they are conjugating. I will be grading for accuracy, not completion. The test will only be over the infinitive (main) forms of the verbs just as they are in the books. I always give extra credit for knowing stem changes and extra stuff.

As soon as the conjugating is completed, they need to show it to the teacher for initialing (then give it back to them so they can study) , then they need to get ONE partner and start working on pp.xxx-xxxi, The Spaniard in the United States, by practicing reading aloud EACH paragraph to their partners, taking turns. You might want to spread them out for this and it does get noisy. They need to practice at home as well because next week sometime I will grade them after I’ve had a chance to answer their questions about pronunciation (tell them to look on the backs of their alphabet pages for syllable stress). They have to practice for a good long time so they’ve each read EVERY paragraph to their partner. Then please assign each pair to translate 1 of the 2 pages, mix it up and don’t let everyone do the same page please.

Fifth and seventh periods — Will receive new workbooks Tuesday and review preterite tense, also Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will work on nouns and gender in workbooks. First vocabulary list to students on Thursday; test will be Friday, Sept. 4, over definitions and spelling! Homework August 27 is to make flashcards for all “Marcos y Diana” vocab.

PLEASE DON’T FORGET, SECOND YEAR! — to bring your plain manila folders next Monday, August 31, to class. If you made the preterite/imperfect folder last year with Señora Killebrew, it should be in your binders. We will finish them next week together.

No bellwork on Tuesday!

Spanish III Honors
2009-2010 PARENTS PLEASE READ
Señora Diana Morales

¡Bienvenidos, clase! Welcome back after what I hope was a refreshing summer.
I am so sorry that I can’t be with you the first few weeks of the year, but Mrs. Fleet will take good care of you and make sure you’re doing the review activities so when I get back we can move on to learning new material. We will be using the textbook En español this year, along with the Amsco workbook, which many of you are familiar with. Please have your cash or check for the workbook ($15.00), along with your supplies, by this Friday, August 14. Please wait until you have ALL your supplies AND your money before you show them to Mrs. Fleet for a homework grade. If you have everything by Wednesday, I am sure she’ll be happy to take a grade early.

Make up day this year will be Thursday after school and mornings by appointment. Grading will be on the same scale as last year. That is, tests and classwork count 25% each of your final grade, quizzes and participation are each worth 20%, and homework is worth 10%.

I will maintain my blog, http://senoramorales.edublogs.org to enable students to keep up with missed assignments and other class information. Students, write this url in your agenda books AND bookmark it on your home computer. Parents, please DO NOT HESITATE to contact me via email at dmorales@scsk12.org whenever you have concerns about anything regarding your student.

Students are expected to take their missed exams/quizzes/etc. on the first Thursday following their absence. Students are allowed two days per day of absence to turn in missed work; if an assignment of any kind has been made before the student’s absence, the student is expected to turn in that assignment or take the previously – assigned test when it’s due. I do not accept late work except in case of absences.

I am including a list of supplies which are due no later than Friday, August 14, along with class fees and signed documents.

I am looking forward to renewing acquaintances with some of you and getting to know those of you I’ve never taught before. And remember, I’m the teacher who loves you to speak Spanish in the classroom, so get ready!! ¡Es fenomenal!

Español IB-SL
2009-2010 PARENTS PLEASE READ!
Señora Diana Morales

¡Bienvenidos, clase! Welcome back, and felicitaciones to those of you who managed to get your summer work done on time. I hope you had a great vacation, or at least a restful one and got the batteries recharged, because we have a busy year planned!

We will be piloting the 2010 edition of Conexiones, the most cutting-edge of advanced textbooks that provides an integral support for the International Baccalaureate philosophy of globalism and community service. We are fortunate to have these brand-new texts provided us; please treat them with care. The books will not be arriving until just after Labor Day, so we will spend the first few weeks reviewing grammar, introducing new vocabulary and working on our writing, in several different formats (letters, interviews, reviews, essays, etc.). These exercises will come from the IB materials I brought back from training last year, are creative and will do each of you a world of good, even the “experts!”

Unfortunately, I cannot be with you for a few weeks as I shall be recuperating from surgery, but we know one another well enough that I do not have to go over expected behavior in my absence. I deeply regret having to miss more time but hopefully it will be worth it for all of us. We would be reviewing regardless of whether I were with you or not, and I will still be grading your work, so stay on your mental toes!

Make-up days will be Thursdays after school this year or mornings by prearrangement. My grading policies will remain the same: weighted categories just lik¬e last year with tests and classwork each worth 25%, quizzes 20%, homework 10% and participation 20%. No late work will be accepted unless by excused absence.

I will be maintaining my blog, http://senoramorales.edublogs.org just as last year in order for you to keep up with your assignments when you’re absent. Please write the url down in your agenda books or bookmark it on your computers. Parents, don’t hesitate to contact me via email with concerns – dmorales@scsk12.org. and I will get back to you within a couple of hours. Please make sure you include your email address in the space provided on the back of this sheet.

Finally, I just wish to say what you already know – that you are the most wonderful classes and I look forward to sharing another challenging year with every single one of you. Keep in mind how important it is to use Spanish as much as possible in the classroom.

You inspire me. ¡Adelante!

Lista de compras (shopping list) FOR ALL CLASSES!

3-ring binder, 2” 4 highlighters (diff colors)
notebook paper blue/black pens (or other dark colors)
dividers (7) 2 red pens
colored pencils 1 large binder pencil case
white-out 2 packs index cards, color of choice
colored markers cash/check (CHS) $36.00 in envelope with your name and class on the outside — HONORS 2 ONLY

Spanish II Honors/PreIB
2009-2010 PARENTS PLEASE READ!!!!!!
Señora Diana Morales

Honors II might just be the most intensive year in our accelerated Spanish Honors/IB program at Germantown High School, as more verb tenses, grammar and vocabulary are practiced than in any other single year. That said, I would like to think that Honors II is also the most fun year, as well! The very nature of your student’s character and ability makes it so, and I am really looking forward to getting to know each and every one of them as we challenge one another in our voyage of discovery through the beautiful Spanish culture and idiom. I hope to incorporate National Spanish Exam and the University of Memphis Foreign Language Fair into the curriculum this year, as well as a second-semester project.

While we use the textbook adopted by the Shelby County Schools system for standard Spanish classes, this series does not begin to sufficiently tap the abilities of our Honors/IB Students. Therefore, this year I am implementing a pedagogical method called TPRS Storytelling to enhance our curriculum. Honors II/IB will be reading four novellas in Spanish, each written at a level appropriate for our course work. Each novel is priced at $6.00; we will also be purchasing a grammar workbook for the students for $12.00. If your child does not have a Spanish-English dictionary, we strongly urge you to purchase one; a notebook-style version is easier to keep track of. Honors II/IB fees – $36.00. Please make checks out to Germantown High School.

I will maintain my blog, http://senoramorales.edublogs.org to enable students to keep up with missed assignments and other class information. Students, write this url in your agenda books AND bookmark it on your home computer. Parents, please DO NOT HESITATE to contact me via email at dmorales@scsk12.org whenever you have concerns about anything regarding your student.

My make-up day this year will be Thursday after school and before school by prior arrangement. Students are expected to take their missed exams/quizzes/etc. on the first Thursday following their absence. Students are allowed two days per day of absence to turn in missed work; if an assignment of any kind has been made before the student’s absence, the student is expected to turn in that assignment or take the previously – assigned test when it’s due. I do not accept late work except in case of absences.

My grading system is weighted by category; tests and classwork 25% each; quizzes and participation, 20%; and homework is worth 10%.

I am including a list of supplies which are due no later than Friday, August 14, along with class fees and signed documents.

Finally, I thank you for the very special gift of your child in my classroom.

Guidelines for Correct Classroom Behavior:

1. Pencil sharpening, disposing of chewing gum, bathroom breaks and visiting with friends will be accomplished BEFORE the last bell rings.

2. Students will refrain from getting out of their seats at will, but will request permission from Señora Morales when necessary.

3. Ladies in particular — Please find another venue for hairdressing other than my classroom.

4. Each day you pack up early to leave before the bell has rung, you will be counted tardy for the next day.

5. If you’ve borrowed books, scissors, markers, or anything else of mine, please RETURN THEM TO THEIR PROPER PLACES at the end of class.

6. It is hoped that students will try to speak to Sra. Morales and one another IN SPANISH!! It’s fun! ¡Es fenomenal!

Note: Generally, treating others with the respect and kindness you yourself appreciate is the guiding factor in my classroom. This applies to other students and to the teacher. I have high expectations of my students in terms of academic performance and classroom behavior. I am delighted to have each of you in my class and look forward to establishing a pleasant relationship with all of you.
However, there will be consequences for failure to abide by the Guidelines. Detention, extra homework (TAREA), and other meaningful and “fun” experiences are the repercussions for infractions of the rules.

________________________________________________________________________
Student Signature Parent Signature

Date_______________________________________________________

parent email______________________________________________________

PLEASE RETURN SIGNED BY FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2009

Spanish IV/IB
2009-2010 PARENTS PLEASE READ
Señora Diana Morales

¡Bienvenidos, clase! Welcome back after what I hope was a refreshing summer.
It should come as no surprise that I’ve combined these two classes in the hope that the two groups will inspire one another and provide a more fertile and dynamic atmosphere in the classroom this year. While the IB students have been exposed to a few more grammatical concepts than Fourth Year, I firmly believe that the best way to learn is to teach, and in helping fourth, IB will enhance their own knowledge as well as that of Fourth Year. In addition, Fourth Year brings very motivated students, as well as at least one native speaker, so I foresee nothing but advantages in this situation. Anything less will not be viewed with appreciation!

We will be using Conexiones again as our text this year, supplemented by its ancillaries and many IB materials. The emphasis this year will be on globalism, modern living and community service, and the many different ways of expressing our thoughts and feelings about these topics. Students will be doing quite a lot of writing in many diverse formats: letters, interviews, critiques, applications, essays, stories and so on. It is imperative that they learn the tone and proper language implemented in each style, both in written and spoken Spanish. Ideally, there should be very little formal grammar study in the IB year, as it should already have been learned in the first three levels. However, we will do what we need to so that the students may achieve well.

It is my hope that the students will again participate in the National Spanish Exam, as well as attend the University of Memphis Foreign Language Fair for the first time.. Much will depend upon the students themselves and whether or not they are where they should be in terms of their examinations. I don’t want to overload them with unnecessary assignments when the real goal of the IB year is to pass their written and oral exams; if an assignment/project enhances our abilities to achieve our goals, then we will participate.

Make up day this year will be Thursday after school and mornings by appointment. Grading will be on the same scale as last year.

Finalmente, estudiantes, insisto en que toda la conversación en la clase sea en español, por favor. Es absolutamente necesario para que alcancemos nuestras metas de aprender el idioma y tener éxito en los exámenes, ¿no?