FLS 212 Spanish: Language, Technology, Culture

Instructor: James McConnell Office 307 Withers Hall Telephone 515-9291

Email: mcconnellfls212@gmail.com ← This is the only email address you should ever use for me

Moodle: https://moodle.wolfware.ncsu.edu/login/index.php

Suggestions for success:

Online courses are a great way to obtain information and truly learn at your own pace. However, an obstacle that many

people encounter involves organization and time management. In order to succeed in a course of this nature, it is

imperative to create a schedule to make certain you are completing work in a timely manner. An added benefit of taking

this course will be that by its completion, you will have gained the ability to evaluate your learning style which you can

then apply to other courses or situations you may encounter in the future. Additionally, if you find you are having

difficulties accomplishing a task, try to look at it from a different perspective and if you are unable to complete

something, contact me in advance of the assignment due date so I can assist you in solving the problem.

"Is an online course appropriate for me?" It is if you can answer ALL of the following:

I am a very organized individual

I am able to work well within specific time parameters

I have excellent time management skills

I require little to no personal guidance in order to complete assignments

I am competent with my computer skills

I troubleshoot problems and think outside of the box for answers

I anticipate problems / difficulties and am proactive with solutions

I am able to schedule my exams through the DELTA testing center (You can click that to schedule exams)

This survey should be completed to confirm your eligibility for the course: http://harvest.cals.ncsu.edu/surveybuilder/wrap/form.cfm?testID=10130

Course Materials: The course materials can be purchased at the NC State bookstore or online through Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble

or the store of your choice. Please make sure you purchase each book based on the ISBN (International Standard Book

Number) if you choose to buy it locally or from a separate site. Expedite the shipping so they arrive on time please.

Grammar Text: The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice by Ronni L Gordon, David M Stillman. 2nd

edition.

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Spanish-Practice-UItimate-Reference/dp/0071744185/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

The ISBN is: 978-0071744188

Technology Textbook: Marshall Brain's More How Stuff Works

http://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Brains-MORE-STUFF-Works/dp/076456711X

The ISBN is: 978-0785824336

Grading: 10% Listening Assignments

30% Exams, Homework, HSW (How Stuff Works) assignments

30% Final exam – not cumulative.

30% Culture – Technology Project

Exams: All exams will be proctored either through DELTA or remotely through someone they approve. You should

schedule all of your exams within the first two weeks of the course. Any exams you miss because you did not schedule

them within this time frame and are unable to procure a time slot will not be allowed to be made up.

Homework and Late Assignments:

Follow the syllabus and turn in all assignments before 7 pm on the appropriate date. Grammar, HSW, listening

exercises, and culture exercises are all due on the same day. Any and all late assignments will be reduced by 10% for

each day late. Example: an assignment turned in at 8 pm on the assigned day will be considered late and reduced by

10%. You are welcome to turn in your assignments early. If Friday is a holiday, your work is still due on that day. The

assignments will be submitted in Moodle to keep everything together. You may email me only if Moodle is down.

Academic Integrity: Students are expected to work within the letter and spirit of the NC State Code of Student Conduct. Read the following

carefully by the end of the first week of class - Code of Student Conduct. For an academic integrity violation:

there will be a zero for the assignment, final grade will be reduced by one letter grade, and a report will be filed with/ the

Office of Student Conduct. For a second violation: the student will automatically fail the course and a second report will

be filed with the Office of Student Conduct. It is also a violation of the code to use any form of translator to complete

your assignment – specifically the final project. It is acceptable to look up individual words but using Google translator

or having a tutor or friend translate your work will result in your materials being submitted to Student Conduct and

failure.

Disability Policy:

Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. Please register with the Office of

Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653. For details, please see:

Office of Disability Services for Students. If you already have an accommodation letter from DSS, please schedule an

appointment with me during the first week of class to discuss.

Diversity Policy:

This course fosters free and open dialogue, the acceptance and discussion of different opinions, and mutual respect

among class members. Please consult NC State Policies on Non-Discrimination.

Listening Assignments: Listening assignments will consist of a short paragraph involving your feedback on the exercise itself and should include

the following: what you liked / did not like about the exercise, whether or not you feel it was beneficial (you can be

honest here), and what you would suggest as an improvement to the exercise. At times I may ask specific questions

about the exercises to make sure you are completing them.

Homework and quizzes: Homework and quizzes will be submitted through Moodle: https://moodle.wolfware.ncsu.edu/login/index.php You

should familiarize yourself with the site and when submitting, make sure everything you have cut and pasted has entered

properly. If the site is down you may email me the work but that is definitely not the preferred method.

HSW Assignments: The HSW assignments will consist of you reading the appropriate articles and then emailing me 5 vocabulary words

related to the technology aspects of the article and then use all 5 of them in sentences in Spanish. You may not be able to

find the words in a standard dictionary but an online translator may help. Please email me the vocabulary words in both

English and Spanish. As the semester progresses, some articles will be available in Spanish through a link.

Final Project: Culture / Technology / Society: Research an engineering design that reflects some aspect of

Spanish culture. It should focus on someplace in Spain, not in Latin America. The idea is to exhibit culture and

technology working together and even possibly how this form of technology has influenced the culture. While writing

your paper, please answer the following:

What is its function?

What societal needs guided its creation?

Who uses it?

What does it reveal about its culture?

What engineering innovations were used?

What fields of engineering may have been involved?

How does it work?

What purpose does it serve?

How does it reflect the culture that created it?

Explain the basic engineering concept in designing it.

You will have a lot of freedom with this and can begin at any point during the semester. By June 8th

for Summer I and

July 16th

for Summer II you should email me your idea for your project. View the sample paper and presentation on

my website but do not feel compelled to follow them to the letter because I would like to see what you can create.

Examples from the past include the change from the peseta to the Euro and people’s response (negative response and the

actual making of the coins), food and cooking, Spanish dancing, incorporation of the AVE in Spain and transportation,

Formula One Racing and how it’s advent is starting to change Spanish culture.

Prior Presentation Ideas:

Mosque in Córdoba

Toledo swords

Solar power plant in Toledo

Renaissance armaments

Gothic cathedral in Segovia

Olive Oil Production

Cathedral in Toledo

Coins: history and fabrication

Textiles: fabrication and in painting (e.g. Velázquez) / literature

Wind Power in Spain

Art Restoration

Two topics I would prefer you not to do are bullfighting and the Segovia Aqueduct

To return to me before the course deadline:

Produce a visual for presentation in Spanish. It can mimic the paper but it should be in Spanish, not English and

it should include a works cited page giving credit to both information and photos. Power point is a great tool but

you are welcome to use another method as long as it can easily be viewed and does not involve purchasing

additional software. Other options would be Picasa Web, Prezi, PDFs or any other “slide show” type of program.

You may also choose to be creative and use a program like axmag to create a magazine out of your program.

Information can be found here: http://axmag.com/ You should have a minimum of 10 slides and there should be

visuals in addition to text. Since you will not actually present it to me in person, you should make the power

point explain everything. There is a place in Moodle to upload the presentation. If Moodle is broken, email me

the project, send me a disc through the U.S. mail, use Dropbox or bring a copy to my office. Please reduce the

file size if you will be emailing the project; preferably below 1 Mb. Pictures do not need to be large file sizes in

order to get your point across in a power point: 75 kb is fine. Send the email to mcconnellfls212@gmail.com.

Written (typed) report – four full pages in English or two and a half pages in Spanish

Include a Works Cited page and cite your quotes so I know where you obtained your information.

2012 Summer Session I and II (SSI & SSII) - FLS 212: Weekly Schedule / Horario Semanal Date

SSI /

SSII

Chapter

(Cap.) (Tópicos del libro

de texto) Gramática leer y

escribir More How Stuff

Works (MHSW)

leer:

Cultura

Comprensión Auditiva

23 de

mayo /

2 de

julio

1 y 2

El Presente del

indicativo

Ser y estar

3-14: D, E, I, R

15-24: A, F, G, H

Video Game Systems

p. 12-13.

Automated Teller

Machines

p. 38

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain#Cult

ure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_

in_Spain

Diagnostic Test

Situación de “Pablo

Torres…” SURVEY

29 de

mayo /

5 de

julio

10, 15

Los Gerundios y

tiempos

progresivos

Los Infinitivos

129-138: A, C, D, I, L

195-204: B, C, I, J

Oil Refining

p. 42-43

Oil Drilling

p. 76-78

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Acad

emia_Espa%C3%B1ola

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_ar

t

Situación de “Claudia

Galindez…”

Situación de “Alejandro

Salazar

1 de

junio / 9

de julio 14, 22

Los Mandatos

Las Preposiciones

181-194: A, C, D

303-322: A, C, H, M

Hurricanes

p. 80-81

Rainforests p. 98-99

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_lit

erature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_ar

chitecture

Situación de “Un

Mensaje…”

Situación de “Una

Conversación…”

Examen 1: Entregado antes de las 7, el 1 de junio

Examen 1: Entregado antes de las 7, el 9 de julio

5de

junio /

13 de

julio

7, 4 Los Reflexivos

El Pretérito

87-106: A, D, F, H,

M

41-46: B, F, G, K

The Sun

p. 109-111

Light Bulbs

p. 140

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_

Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of

_Spain

Situación de “Mateo

Salinas…”

Situación de “Daniel

Ortiz…”

8 de

junio /

16 de

julio

5, 6

El Imperfecto

El Futuro y El

Condicional

57-74: A, J, L, M

75-86: B, D, J, L

Semiconductors

p. 146-147

Solar Cells

p. 149-150

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_c

uisine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_

Spain

Situación de “Laura

Sánchez…”

Situación de “Ana

Laforet…”

Idea para su proyecto de cultura y tecnología entregado antes de las 7, el 8 de junio – en inglés

Idea para su proyecto de cultura y tecnología entregado antes de las 7, el 16 de julio – en inglés

12 de

junio /

20 de

julio

9, 8

Los Tiempos

Perfectos

Las

Construcciones

Pasivas

115-128: A, J, K, M

107-114: B, G

X-Ray Machines

p. 174-175

Magnetic Resonance

Imaging

p. 177-180

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_hol

idays_in_Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segovia_A

queduct

Situación de “Los

Hermanos Vargas…”

Situación de “Ana María

Vega…”

Examen 2: Entregado antes de las 7, el 12 de junio

Examen 2: Entregado antes de las 7, el 20 de julio

15 de

junio /

23 de

julio

11, 12

El Subjuntivo: Presente

y Pres. Perfecto

El Subjuntivo: El

Imperfecto

139-156: C, D, H

157-170: C, D,

E, G

Plasma Displays

p. 218

CD Burners

p. 238-239

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra

Situación de “Felipe

Maldonado…”

No hay comprensión auditiva

19 de

junio /

27 de

julio

13, 28

EL Subjuntivo:

Cláusulas Adverbiales

Errores Comunes

171-180: A, C, F,

H

385-393: A, B,

C, G

Instant Messaging

p. 246-247

Remote Entry

p. 257-258

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andalucia

No hay comprensión auditiva

No hay comprensión auditiva

Proyecto de cultura y tecnología entregado antes de las 7, el 22 de junio

Proyecto de cultura y tecnología entregado antes de las 7, el 30 de julio

Examen final: debido antes de las 7, el 26 de junio

Examen final: debido antes de las 7, el 2 de agosto

STUDENT NAME

MODULE #

DATE

* Please place everything in Moodle. If you must email me because Moodle isn’t working, in the subject line of

the email please use your last name and the module number. Example: “McConnell Module 1”

PLEASE USE THIS PAGE AS A TEMPLATE FOR YOUR HOMEWORK

Gramática – 2 points per exercise

Ejercicio D

Ejercicio E

Ejercicio I

Ejercicio R

Technología - 1 point per vocabulary word WITH sentence

Video Game Systems

5 vocabulary words in English and Spanish and then used in sentences.

Example:

English Spanish Video game = videojuego

Palanca = controller

Pantalla = screen

1. Los videojuegos son más divertidos que juegos de mesa.

OPTIONAL: 2 or more words in one sentence.

2. Se usa una palanca para mover su personaje en la pantalla cuando uno juega un videojuego.

You should not use a generic definition where any word could be substitiuted. The following is BAD:

3. Una palanca es una cosa.

Comprensión Auditiva – dependent on the exercise. Include the answers for all the exercises

1. B

2. D

3. C

4. A

You will also need to include your opinion / reflection on the listening activities.

Cultura - 2 points

There will be questions on the website modules for you to answer, regarding the Wikipedia links you will read.