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Spanish 250: A Reading Course in Spanish

Requirements || Resources || Calendar

Prerequisite

The prerequisite for Spanish 250 is Spanish 104 or 111 earned through regular course enrollment, MultiCAT Placement Test, or Transfer Credit. Spanish 250 is not open to:

• native speakers of Spanish
• students with credit for Honors Spanish 104

Note: Students with scores of 4 or 5 for AP Spanish may be exempt from Spanish 250 and eligible for enrollment in Spanish 401. Contact Tatiana Seiber at seiber.9@osu.edu for additional information.

Placement Tests

All students who studied Spanish for two years or more in high school and have used Spanish to fulfill the admissions requirement, but have not received any previous Spanish credit at The Ohio State University or another university/college must take MultiCAT (Multimedia Computer Adaptive Test). Go to 171 Hagerty Hall with your student I.D. to take the placement test.

Students who believe they can improve placement beyond the MultiCAT or beyond recent course work due to self-study or travel abroad, and native speakers of Spanish as well as bilingual students should consider taking the EM Proficiency Exam. Eligible students may seek credit by examination (EM) for Spanish 101.01, 102.01, 103.01, 104, and 401. Students can only take the EM Proficiency Exam for the class in which they are currently enrolled or have placed. Students who have audited or received a failing grade for a course in Spanish are not eligible to take an EM Proficiency Exam. Students currently enrolled in a course may take an EM Proficiency Exam for that course only during the first week of the quarter. For more information, see the Spanish Credit by Examination page.

Texts and materials

• Halty, Raquel and Angela Labarca. Convocación de palabras: Lectura y redacción. USA. Thomson/Heinle, 2006. ISBN 1-4130-0666-3.
• Fuentes, Carlos. Aura. New York: Continental, 1989. ISBN 968-4111-819. NOTE: This is the edition that will be referred to and used in class. Students who acquire a different edition will be responsible for finding text that is alluded to in class.
• Suggested: Diccionario para la enseñanza de la lengua española. ISBN 8483321114.

Course description

Spanish 250 provides students with the necessary strategies for reading original texts in Spanish, as well as opportunities to read, understand, and analyze short stories, poems, novels, and journalistic texts.

Course objectives

In Spanish 250, students will learn strategies that will help comprehension of the texts studied and of written Spanish in general, thus preparing for more advanced readings in the 400-level courses and above. Students will also broaden their vocabulary and practice spoken and written Spanish through communicative activities. The course aims at developing reading comprehension and analysis in Spanish, while also practicing other linguistic skills.

Students enrolled in Spanish 250, who wish to register for Spanish 400 level courses, must take the Spanish Listening and Reading Proficiency Exam (SLRPE). Successful completion of this exam, indicated by a score of 80% or better on each portion of the test, is one of the prerequisites for entry into our major/minor program. While 250 will help prepare for the reading portion of the SLRPE, students should also plan to read material from other sources (see the Resources page) in order to further strengthen vocabulary and comprehension in preparation for the exam.

Attendance and Class Participation

Regular attendance and participation in class activities are essential to be a successful language learner. In order for students to progress in understanding and speaking Spanish, they must hear and speak it on a daily basis. Therefore, students must prepare carefully for class by completing all assignments in advance and be ready to participate in class. Every day students will be graded on individual, pair, and group activities. The dates for all exams are clearly marked on your syllabus under "Calendar".

Makeup work will be permitted only when the instructor is presented with acceptable documentation. Legitimate excused absences include the following: participation in a scheduled activity of an official University organization, verifiable confining illness, serious verifiable family emergencies, subpoenas, jury duty, and military service. It is the student's responsibility to notify his/her instructor of any excused absence as far in advance as possible. Work must be made up in a timely manner (e.g. before the next scheduled evaluation). Documentation for excused absences must be presented as soon as possible. No documentation will be accepted after the last day of regularly scheduled classes.

NOTE: The following message appears on the “Advice Nurse” page. Did you miss a class due to an illness? Do you need to provide an excuse? If you had a visit with a health care provider they can provide you with a visit verification form. If you didn't see a health care provider but still need to document your illness you can use the Absence Excuse Form. This is NOT an acceptable excuse. You should use your four "grace days" to cover these and any other unexcused absences (work, family vacations, long weekends, undocumented illness, transportation problems, etc.)

• After two absences, each additional undocumented absence will result in a 1 point reduction of your final grade per absence, i.e., 5 unexcused absences will reduce your final grade by 5 points. For example if your overall average is 95% and you have five unexcused absences your final grade will be a 90%. Classes meeting 2 times/week: after four absences, each additional undocumented absence will result in a 1 point reduction of your final grade per absence. Absences are counted from the first day of the quarter. Chronic lateness to class will also reduce your grade.

Incompletes

An Incomplete "I" indicates that the student has completed a major portion of the work in the course in a satisfactory manner, but for reasons judged by the Language Studies Committee to be legitimate, a portion of the course requirements remains to be completed.

Academic Misconduct

"It is the responsibility of the Committee on Academic Misconduct to investigate or establish procedures for the investigation of all reported cases of student academic misconduct. The term "academic misconduct" includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed; illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with examinations. Instructors shall report all instances of alleged academic misconduct to the committee (Faculty Rule 3335-5-487). For additional information, see the Code of Student Conduct [PDF]."
Academic misconduct is defined as any activity which tends to compromise the academic integrity of the institution, or subvert the educational process. Such instances include, but are not limited to: cheating on assignments or examinations, collusion, falsification of excuses, submitting work from a previous quarter without explicit permission of the current instructor, violation of course rules contained in the syllabus or provided in class and plagiarism. Plagiarism is the representation of another's works or ideas as one's own: it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person's work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas. Plagiarism via the internet is not only dishonest; it's also liable to be caught. Paper assignments, if they are clear and course-specific, don't match well with what's available on the net, and search engines on the net make detection of plagiarism as easy as plagiarism itself. For example for a written or oral report you should use the vocabulary, grammar structures, and strategies you've learned. Paraphrase your information and do not "cut and paste" whole paragraphs from the web. For more on university policies concerning plagiarism, including information on the formal hearing process by the Committee on Academic Misconduct visit the COAM FAQ page.

Disability Services

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Students with disabilities that have been certified by the Office for Disability Services will be appropriately accommodated, and should inform the instructor as soon as possible of their needs. The Office for Disability Services is located in 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue; telephone 292-3307, TDD 292-0901.

This syllabus as well as complete information about all other elementary and intermediate Spanish language courses and requirements can be found at: http://sppo.osu.edu/spanish/courses/syllabi/syllabus.cfm