SUNY CORTLAND SPA 529

June 26 - July 10, 2004
Universidad Veritas, San José, Costa Rica

Dr. Jean LeLoup, Professor, Spanish, SUNY Cortland (NY)
Dr. Barbara Schmidt-Rinehart, Professor, FL, Ashland University (OH)

1. To provide a short-term immersion experience for Spanish teachers that will improve language skills and cultural knowledge.

 
2. To provide in-depth experience in addressing the National Standards goal area of Culture (products, practices, and perspectives) in participants’ individual curricula.

 
3. To enhance effectiveness of classroom teaching by integrating authentic materials and technology in lesson plans.

 
4. To increase technology skills of inservice teachers and instruct them in the incorporation of technology in the foreign language curriculum.

COURSE FORMAT

The daily class schedule follows a two-tiered format:

• For two hours each day, participants will practice their language skills.  Taught by native speakers, the classes will concentrate on grammatical structures, conversational skills, and cultural issues. Class size will be approximately 6-7 per class.

 
• For two hours each day all participants will attend the FL methods workshop.  The classes will consist of presentations by Professors LeLoup and Schmidt-Rinehart; discussion of the Culture goal area with products, practices, and perspectives; samples of authentic materials collected by the participants; and small-group work in class.  Participants will also spend time outside of class interviewing native speakers about cultural topics, gathering materials for lessons, and creating these lessons.

• Participants will be expected to participate in threaded discussions based on an assigned text and complete assignments and activities.
• Participants must also write a reaction paper on an article to be read relating to the original course themes.

COURSE REFERENCE MATERIALS

1. Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice.  Patrick R. Moran, 2001. Boston, MA: Heinle. ISBN 083846676-1
2. Culture Shock! Costa Rica. [New expanded edition] Claire Wallerstein, 2003.  Portland, OR: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company. ISBN 1-55868-692-4
3. National Standards for Foreign Language Learning
4. State Foreign Language Standards
5. Authentic materials collected in Costa Rica
6. Articles from professional journals
7. Textbook used by the Spanish teacher at his/her home school
8. Tape recorder and/or video recording equipment

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Attendance and active participation in every class meeting.
2. “Homework”
• Collect authentic materials on a daily basis.
• Interview NSs regarding products, practices, and perspectives of Costa Rican culture.
• Reading assignments.
3. In-country Project:  Development of lesson plans.
• Using authentic materials as the point of departure, each participant will develop three lesson plans, each of which follows a model presented in the course.
• Costa Rican culture (products, practices, and perspectives) is the main underpinning of each lesson.
• Skills addressed should include the following: grammar, reading or listening comprehension, and speaking.
• All lessons must include the use of technology.
4. In-country reading material: Culture Shock! Costa Rica. [New expanded edition]. Participants must read this book prior to arriving in Costa Rica.  This book will be used on a daily basis in the FL methods course in-country.
5. WebCT Project:  After returning to the U.S., the remainder of the course will be carried out using WebCT. Outside readings and WebCT discussion, critique of a germane article from a professional journal, final submission of lessons to online database of FL materials.
6. WebCT reading material:  Through this medium, each participant will lead an online discussion pertaining to the assigned readings in the text (Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice) as well as provide an abstract and critique of a professional journal article. Participants will submit completed lessons (begun in Costa Rica) to the FLTEACH online database of FL materials.  These lessons will be made available on the Internet and will serve as models to FL colleagues.

LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Please follow the lesson plan template provided here for all lessons created for SPA 529.

GRADING RUBRIC

The grading rubric for the course SPA 529 can be found here.