Instructions for the AP Summer Assignment
¡Hola estudiantes!
Aquí tienen una descripción de la tarea de verano.
AP Spanish Summer Assignment
Catherine (Haney) Paz
Dear Future AP Student,
¡Felicitaciones! I am glad that you have chosen to continue
your study of Spanish through the AP level. We will work hard but we will also
have a good time and learn a lot together.
The AP
Spanish exam will test all of the major language skills: reading comprehension, writing skills,
speaking ability, listening comprehension, and general cultural knowledge of
the Hispanic world. Since the exam
includes so many different aspects, you will need to continue to practice over
the summer. These assignments will not
take too much time each week, but the work should be spread out throughout the
summer rather than trying to cram everything into a few days. You already know that cramming does not work
with a language. I see you out there, procrastinators! Therefore, you will be
creating a blog over the summer that will time stamp the different posts you complete
so we can see that your work is spread out. It works out to about one post per
week on average so you should be sure to space the posts and keep in mind any
scheduled vacations you have which may impact your ability to post. If you do
not have access to technology over the summer or if you know that you will not
be able to create a blog you need to come see me before you leave for
summer vacation or contact me immediately upon enrolling in the course. You
should not wait to inform me of problems until the end of the summer. There are
also opportunities for extra credit on this summer assignment, which will most
likely be the only opportunity for extra credit throughout the year.
Students are
required to abide by an honor code that forbids them from cheating, lying, and
stealing within the academic world and as members of the general society. I expect this commitment from you. This means that I expect you to complete all
assignments on your own, without consulting other native-speakers or
translation devices of any kind.
Your work should represent what you are capable of doing using your mind, grammar books, notes and a
dictionary. I would rather see
mistakes in your work and see your learning progression so I can help you
during the school year over seeing someone else’s work. Translation devices or
services are prohibited at all times.
Anyone found in violation of these policies will be subject to loss of
credit for the assignment and/or disciplinary action.
Thank you
for choosing AP Spanish and I hope you are as excited as I am to see you in the
fall!
Sincerely,
Sra.
Paz
Assignment:
#1:
Familiarize yourself with the exam (*This should be your first post!)
Become
familiar with the AP Spanish Language exam by reading the content on the two
webpages listed below. After you have read both webpages, write a short summary
( approx. 100 words) in English or Spanish of what you learned from the
reading about the format of the exam and what things you should expect for the
test. Include some ideas of how you will
need to study over the course of this summer and next year. You can also include your hopes, plans, areas
of concern, etc.
*All other
blog posts can be posted in any order that you wish.
#2:
Reading practice (minimum 3 posts)
Reading is
an important part of the AP Spanish exam.
To strengthen your Spanish reading comprehension and writing skills, you
will post 3 different entries on your blog about news articles. You should
select a news article in Spanish from any source that you would like. After
reading it, you should summarize it in Spanish (approx. 250 words) and include
a short list of 3-5 vocabulary words from the article in Spanish with a Spanish
definition at the end of your summary. The vocabulary words you choose can be
words that are new for you or they can be words that you already know but you consider
good examples of elevated vocabulary. Each
current event should be a separate blog post. Your news articles can be about
any topic but you should choose a variety of different topics. For the purposes
of this blog, sporting events do not count as current events!
You may find
news articles at these websites:
#3:
Listening practice (minimum 3 posts)
You will
need to spend time listening to authentic Spanish this summer. You will
complete 3 separate blog posts on listening activities. Each listening activity
should include a written summary of listening to approximately 30 minutes of
Spanish. In the blog post you should first reference the website/source where
the audio came from first and then your written summary of what it was about in
your own words in Spanish (approx. 250 words). You may listen to anything that
comes from one of the websites below for these posts. You should use active, not passive,
listening. Find something that interests you.
At the beginning, it may be hard to understand the first time, so you
may listen to it more than once if you can/need. If listening is a skill where
you struggle, you are required to complete these 3 blog posts but you may do additional
listening activities. For example, if you would like to actively listen to a
movie or music in Spanish, it will improve your skills! Feel free to do as many
(optional) additional blog posts to the required three to receive a few extra
credit points on your grade. The optional blog posts should cite where the
audio came from and provide a minimum 100 word written summary of what you
heard.
Websites
where you can find audio:
#4:
Speaking practice (minimum 4 posts)
You will be
required to submit 4 posts where you record yourself speaking. Each post should
include a an uploaded video that lasts between 2-3 minutes of you speaking in
Spanish about important experiences you have over the summer. We will share
some of these videos with the class in the first weeks of school. Think of this
portion of the summer assignment as a video. Take us on a fun video trip of
your summer! The video can be of you speaking directly into the camera or they
can be videos you take where you are speaking about the places, etc. you are
showing in the video. The topics of the videos can be vacations, a TV show or
movie you saw over the summer, an important event you attended, an interview
with a native-Spanish speaker where you ask them questions in Spanish about any
topic you would like, etc. These videos
should be spontaneous speaking (i.e. do not write out a script). You can
look up a few vocabulary words before you record though, if needed. Remember, it’s
speaking practice, not writing practice. Feel free to do more than the required
4 blog posts if you would like for some additional points to your grade, as
well. **IMPORTANT: Be aware of the sound quality of your videos! In order for
you to receive credit, I have to be able to hear you speak and be able to
distinguish what you are saying.
*If you do
an interview, it must be with a native-speaker for the required 4 posts. Extra
posts can be with anyone.
*If you are
filming other people in the video, be sure they are aware you are recording and
you have their permission to record!
Optional Extra Credit Posts: Grammar Review
You will
help yourself immensely if you review and refine your grammar skills prior to
the beginning of the school year. It will
also come in handy to have your own record that you can come back to during the
year that covers information on grammar topics. You should post on any grammar
topic that you feel you need to review. Choose topics that will be most useful
to YOU! If you select a topic that is very basic and not something that you
need to review, you may not receive the extra credit for the post. Keep in mind
that you should be creating your own commentary. Be sure to stay away from copying
and pasting someone else’s work. You should be taking information and
synthesizing it in a way that is useful to you so that it becomes your own
work.
List of
some common difficult grammar topics that you may want to consider reviewing.
*Not a complete list!
Preterit
tense
Present
perfect/Pluperfect
Ser vs.
Estar
Progressive
Tenses
Present
Perfect Subjunctive
Imperfect
Subjunctive
Pluperfect
Subjunctive
Commands
Future/Conditional
“Si” clauses
ESCAPA and
Subjunctive with adverbial clauses
Accentuation
Rules
These sites
are good for general grammar practice and information.
The number of required posts works
out to about one post per week so be sure to keep up with spreading them out
appropriately over the summer.
Good luck and have a wonderful summer!
How To
Set Up Your Blog
Please complete this step before leaving
for summer vacation so you can get any help you need, if possible.
Steps:
1. Set up a Gmail account and sign in.
(You may want to consider setting up a separate school account from your
personal account). We will continue to use this throughout the year.
2. Open the Google Apps and click at the
bottom where it says “More”. When it opens up the list of other Apps, click on “Blogger”.
3. Click “New blog”.
4. Give your blog the name “First Name Last Name AP Spanish 2017-2018”
(i.e. “Catherine Paz AP Spanish 2017-2018”) and create a unique web
address. Then choose a theme you like and click “Create Blog”.
5. Click “No thanks” when the dialog box
opens asking to connect to a Google Domain.
6. Your blog should be set to “Public”.
(You can check by clicking on “Settings” in the left hand column, then “Basic”,
and scroll to the bottom.
7. Email me the link to your page so
that I can follow your blog!
Now you have your blog and you can
begin to post! J Feel free to play with the design until you have the colors
and decorations that you like. As long as I can find the required information
on your blog, you can be as creative as you like! If you would like to see an
example of a blog, go to www.srapaz.blogspot.com
to check out my example.
Email me over the summer if you have
any technical difficulties so we can work them out together. Do not wait
to address technical difficulties until the end of the summer.
*If you do not have access to technology over the summer vacation, you
need to come see me individually before leaving for summer vacation or
immediately upon enrolling in AP Spanish so that I can give you the appropriate
directions for what to do.
Summer
Assignment Rubric:
_____/10:
Blog Set-Up/Shared with Sra. Paz appropriately
_____/10:
Blog is neat and visually appealing
_____/10: Post
#1: Description of the AP Exam is present and complete
_____/30:
Required Listening Posts are present and complete
_____/30:
Required Reading Posts are present and complete
_____/40:
Required Video Posts are present and complete
_____/10:
Links present, content embedded, and/or sources cited appropriately in all
posts
________:
Additional points awarded for Optional Grammar Posts (up to 15 allowed)
________:
Additional points awarded for Optional Listening/Speaking Posts (up to 15
points allowed)
_______/140 possible points =
_______%
*Actual total point value in Phoenix for
this assignment is TBD so that it appropriately reflects the amount of work
that is required and is not significantly more or less than other similar
assignments that will be scheduled for the first quarter. It will be based upon
the value of any other possible required assignments for the first quarter in
addition to the assignments scheduled by the teacher, which may have yet to be
announced. The actual total point value will be announced the first week of
school. Whatever the total point value is, the student will earn the
appropriate amount of points such that it equates to their earned percentage in
accordance with the rubric above. (Questions about this calculation or point
value may be directed to Catherine.haney@lcps.org).
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