En �sta p�gina se incluyen las preguntas m�s frecuentes de estudiantes y padres.
Your grade is three-quarters tests, quizzes and oral reports. Tests count three each, orals normally count two, quizzes count one. The other quarter of your grade is homework. This is extremely important. Failure to do homework will adversely affect the grade, oftentimes to a great degree - many times it's the reason for failure.Back to Top
What about those funky bonus points? You know - on the blackboard.
Aha! Yes, you have asked the magic question. There's a reason it says "Abandon English, All Ye Who Enter Here"over the door. When you speak extemporaneously (look it up!) in class, in Spanish - understandable Spanish - you receive a point. "Speaking" means a sentence; "gracias", "de nada", "por favor", "salud", "hola" etc. don't count (c'mon, we are advanced students!) Speaking English in class without asking permission ("Puedo hablar en ingles?") means a point is subtracted. Now, what are these points added to and subtracted from? Well, to somewhat simplify the calculator-rich procedure, the points are added to, or subtracted from, the final quarter grade before division - i.e., it almost counts as extra points on (or takes away from) the test or homework average. Ten points in either direction starts to make a difference in grade level. I.e., if you had a 75 and spoke in Spanish fifteen times, and in English five times, you would receive 10 bonus points and your final grade would be closer to a 78 - a C to a C+. Yes, it's complicated - so just remember: don't speak in English. Speak in Spanish. Remember, this feature has helped students do very well. It has also helped those of the large (English-speaking)mouthes take very good grades and put them into the dumpster!Back to Top
You are now beyond the level where all the words you'll want for compositions - or understanding readings - are in the back of your textbook.Back to Top
Don't hate it. Although I must say the cracking of it is quite annoying, I have no problem and have been known to enjoy a stick or two of Dentyne myself. But the reason we have a Wad Squad is because it affects your pronunciation. Besides, it always ends up where it shouldn't, like on the floor or under desks. Everybody hates that kind of gum.Back to Top
What's that extra-points date/name deal?
On every quiz or test you are expected to write the full date out in Spanish: day of week, number of day (written out), month, year. If you don't, or if there are errors, you lose one point. If it's there and correct, it's a bonus point. An extra bonus point is forthcoming if you write your name in Spanish.Back to Top
The Spanish name system: two apellidos, or last names. This consists of your first name, your last name and your mother's maiden name. We've discussed what to do if your name doesn't fit this exactly. This would be your legal name in a Spanish-speaking country, where forms you fill out will ask for "apellidos" - both of them - as well as your first name.Back to Top
Any day but Wednesdays, usually. Check first. If you need more regular help, see me about a tutor - sometimes we can find people who are able to do this, if their schedule and yours intersect. Remember that help is for students who need that extra boost - and no one who is not doing homework, or studying, or working to the best of their ability needs a boost from anyone else - you just need a boost from yourself first. If you still need the extra boost, then ask for help.Back to Top
Why do I have to redo the compositions?!
Your compositions are redone according to the Correction Code. Your second version should be better and your grade, an average of the two, should rise accordingly. When you correct, use a highlighter and go line by line and highlight each error as you fix it. If you find that certain errors keep showing up, concentrate on fixing those errors. For example, if you always have a lot of careless agreement errors, proof especially carefully for those types of errors before you hand in your first copy. Your work should improve consistently during the year!Back to Top
No, unless there are extenuating circumstances, and that's rare. Homework is assigned and is to be produced when requested, not later. Joe Schmoe or Suzy Schmoette figure if he or she leaves the paper in the locker, under the front seat of the car, or if the dog ate it, because it was done, it counts if it shows up (yes, even the dogeaten copy) late. It does NOT. Either it's there when we go over it, or it's not. There will be no running to the locker in the middle of class to get it. It's not there. It's NOT THERE. Late! Unacceptable! Now, one note: now that I have a dog, and he is a puppy, and he likes attention, sometimes he will gnaw at papers I am correcting if he can reach them. SO, a few times, you may get back papers and I have to say that my dog ate your homework. Sorry.Back to Top
What's that weird list hidden in the podium we see you mark once in a while?
Rules! No gum, have all your books and a pencil, paper... If you come without something or get caught with chicle, I put down a mark for one or the other. The first four infractions are warnings, on the fifth, you start level two of the Discipline Program (leaving room), and it goes from there. See chart on the wall.Back to Top
What's your favourite Spanish-speaking country?
Hard to say. But Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica would top the list, probably in that order. You should visit them all someday.Back to Top
Maybe someday. We 've done it before. Our last trip (to Spain) was in 1999. We are looking at some other destinations.Back to Top
What's the big ol' deal with using translators?
Ah, there is so much wrong with that question. I think thatpeople actually think that translators are like using dictionaries or asking a Hispanic pal for one word - they help learning. But they're like asking your Hispanic friend to write the whole comp for you: Basically, why would you be in a Spanish class (which is NOT required, remember) if all you want to do is use a machine to produce the language, not yourself? You are NOT LEARNING ANYTHING, not progressing. Imagine this: you want to learn to, hmmm....play the bassoon. So you get a friend to do it, and you're sitting there listening to his oomps and his pahs, and you say, wow, I am SOOO good at this! Well, that's what it is...like wanting to learn to play guitar or basketball or ride a bike, and then getting someone else to do it for you. YOU are not producing anything, the machine is. It is not your work; it defeats the purpose; it is cheating, also. Now, if that philosophically, ethically tuned answer isn't practical enough for you, here's a more practical one: it rarely works. Most translating programs don't work well...the machine can't think, and can't gauge the ways words should be used (people have trouble with it, so imagine what a machine does).Certain types of grammar and vocabulary errors are dead giveaways that you used a translator. The programs that do work satisfactorily often choose odd words you would never choose, or find in a dual-language dictionary, so the fact you used them is also a dead giveaway (even if you only used them to look up one word). If you yourself misspell or mistype a word it throws the translator (of good or bad quality) off, another dead giveaway. If you can't put a simple sentence together well in class, on quizzes and tests, and then you hand in a comp that does it all - or, even if you do wonderfully, you start using complicated syntax and grammar we've never had...DEAD you-know- what. Let's face it, since the consequences are a zero for any work utilizing a translator, and the smoking guns to dead giveaways are sooooo numerous, let's not even try it. BY THE WAY: if you don't believe most translating programs are useless for you, check out my web quest (also available on the faculty page for the Law web site). It's in Spanish, but there is a link that lets you translate it to English. Click it. Now do you really think I would use English that way? Would you? Would your five-year-old cousin? And the good sites? A friend at Yale emailed me a message in which she said something like "Thank your class for singing Happy Birthday to me." The site translated it perfectly, but as "Thank your class for singing a traditional American song sung at birthdays to me". See what I mean, people? Dead giveaway. DOn't even try it. (If you still do, after all of this, I will have to conclude certain things about your risk-taking potential, as well as your sanity and self-preservation instincts!)Back to Top