Course Syllabus

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Southern Utah University

Fall Semester 2025

Beginning Spanish I (Face-to-Face)

SPAN 1010-03

Course:	SPAN 1010-03
Credits:	4
Term:	Fall Semester 2025
Department:	FLPH
CRN:	30713

Course Description

This is a beginning course designed for students with little or no foreign language experience. The course will emphasize conversation, vocabulary building, and basic grammar. Students with extensive secondary school Spanish experience should contact an advisor or Spanish faculty member to take the placement exam. As this is a beginning elementary language course, there is no prerequisite.

Use of Spanish in the Classroom

The class will be primarily conducted in Spanish in order to provide you with maximum exposure to the language. The main focus of the class is on Spanish communication, and we strive for maximum use of the language in the classroom. This means that your instructor will speak Spanish to you during class, and you will be expected to do the same with your instructor and classmates. Should you need additional explanations or wish to discuss matters not directly related to course content, your instructor will be happy to speak to you in English before or after class and during office hours. This is a college-level language course; thus, expect to move quickly through the material.

Required Texts

Contraseña by Lingro Learning (online textbook experience).

Learning Outcomes

1. Listening: Understand and derive meaning from face-to-face conversations, routine in-class listening tasks (such as instructions and directions), and various authentic audio/video materials.

2. Speaking: Express themselves and be understood in uncomplicated communicative tasks and social situations; as well as narrate, describe, and elicit information in the present tense.

3. Reading: Comprehend the main idea of simple, authentic written materials. Develop the ability to identify contextual clues, such as cognates, in order to facilitate reading comprehension.

4. Writing: Produce simple and coherent written discourse that demonstrates knowledge of basic sentence structure, vocabulary, and verb forms.

5. Culture: Gain a deeper understanding of Hispanic cultures and develop an awareness of customs, geography, and of the differences/commonalities between traditions and dialects.

In addition, we will focus on acquiring the following areas from the SUU Essential Learning Outcomes:

1. Communication: Gain intellectual and practical skills, particularly in written and oral communication.

2. Intercultural Knowledge and Competence: Demonstrate that they possess a set of cognitive and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.

Course Outline

The course will be divided into 5 thematic units and each unit will present its respective vocabulary, grammar, culture, texts, etc. Ultimately, as a whole, the units will teach students things such as describing themselves and others, discussing tasks and daily responsibilities, describing their university, and finally, discussing who they admire.

Contraseña by Lingro Learning:

Unit 1: ¿Quién soy yo? (Who am I?)

Unit 2: ¿Quién eres tú? (Who are you?)

Unit 3: ¿Qué tengo que hacer esta semana? (What do I have to do this week?)

Unit 4: ¿Cómo es mi universidad? (What is my university like?)

Unit 5: ¿A quién admiro? (Who do I admire?)

Course Requirements

Throughout the semester, students are responsible for completing the following assignments:

Exams (4) 30%
Homework in Contraseña 25%
Participation (2) 15%
Composition (1) 10%
Oral Exam (1) 10%
Engagement activities (3) 10%

Exams: Exams can include a mixture of listening, reading, and writing comprehension. You will be tested over the various facets of each unit of study from grammar to vocabulary and so on. You will be informed of the format of each exam ahead of time. Exams will be taken in the SUU Testing Center.

Homework in Contraseña: After purchasing Contraseña you will be able to complete all online assignments and will have access to the e-book. There is a grace period of 14 days before you will be required to purchase access to the platform. After this grace period, you will need to purchase in order to continuing using it. All Contraseña assignments must be submitted by 11:59 pm on the day they are due. You will lose 10% for each day an assignment is late up to 10 days. After 10 days, you will receive a zero. Each activity will allow 3 attempts. Specific assignments for each week can be found in the Contraseña platform calendar. It is the student's responsibility to work on these assignments continuously each week. If you have doubts, issues, or questions please contact the professor.

Participation: You are expected to participate actively and consistently in the course all semester. You can earn a good participation grade by actively engaging with your professor, conversing in Spanish with your classmate(s) during group work, asking and answering relevant questions related to the course content, and actively participating during general class discussions. Students will complete a self-evaluation of their participation both at midterm and at the end of the semester.

Composition: There will be one composition in this course which will be completed individually by the student. You will complete two drafts. The second draft will address the professor’s suggested edits and changes. In this composition you will show your ability to construct a basic-level narration utilizing grammar and vocabulary from the course.

Oral Exam: The Oral Exam will be conducted at the end of the semester. You will receive the topic and all possible questions ahead of time in order to practice. The topic will come from the final unit of study. Students will complete the oral exam with a partner but will be graded individually.

Engagement Activities: You are expected to engage with the Spanish language and/or culture outside of class to work on skills such as speaking, listening, writing, or reading. You could watch movies or a T.V. series, read books/newspapers, attend tutoring and/or conversation practice, attend culturally relevant campus or community events, and/or have a conversation with a native speaker. No music this semester unless it is a full concert! For your three required activities, you can do a combination of these options, or stick with just one of the options. NOTE: You must attend Spanish Program tutoring or conversation practice for a minimum of ONE Engagement Activity assignment. A tutoring/conversation schedule will be available on Canvas by week three. Students need to submit a short summary in English (minimum of 150 words) via Canvas of their experience for each engagement activity.

Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend all class sessions and actively participate in all hours of language instruction. You must be exposed to Spanish and use Spanish in order to learn the language. For that reason, attendance will be taken on a daily basis. You are allowed THREE unexcused absences during the entire semester with no effect to your overall average. Additional absences (beyond three) are considered excessive and will be penalized by deducting 1% point per additional absence from your final grade. For example, if you finish the course with a 90% but have missed class 4 times, your final grade will be 89%.

Three late arrivals and/or early departures from class will be counted as one absence. While I do not require documentation to excuse the first three absences, I do ask for documentation if, due to your absence, you have missed an assignment deadline (this especially applies to all non-Contraseña assignments: exams, engagement activities, etc.).

Furthermore, there is a category dedicated to regular attendance and punctuality on the participation grade.

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

All assignments must be submitted by the day and time indicated. No assignments will be accepted after the due date and time without a formal written excuse (ex: a health emergency, accommodations through the Disability Resource Center, etc.). If you are planning to miss a day of class for whatever reason, please make arrangements to submit all necessary assignments ahead of schedule if, due to your planned absence, you will be unable to submit on the actual due date. Note: the only type of assignment that will still be accepted for some credit after the due date and time is the homework within Contraseña. Please see the course requirements tab above for Contraseña for specifics.

If you have a family, medical, or personal emergency that makes completing an assignment by the due date and time impossible, please be sure to reach out to me via email as soon as you are able.

Grading Scale

The following grading scale will be used for posting final grades:

A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
D- 60-62
F 59 and below

Use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Translation Tools

The use of AI (ex: ChatGPT and others) and translation tools and services is strictly prohibited in this class. Any assignment submission deemed unacceptable due to the use of these tools will result in a zero with NO opportunity for resubmission. All work assigned in this course is appropriate for the Elementary Spanish I level. As such, all assignments must be the student's own work without ANY help from these tools.

Syllabus Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

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