Composition #2 will be written with a partner in class on November 30.  The topic will be related to your cultural reading projects—you'll write a short article about one of the topics for chapter 3.  You will still find and read (individually) three sources relating to your topic, but you will NOT write an individual out-of-class written assignment to turn in.  (You may choose to write the assignment outside of class as practice, if you believe that that’s the best way for you to prepare for the in-class composition.)

You have two options for choosing a partner:  you could find someone who wants to research the same topic you want to do for Chapter 3, or you could choose your partner first and then agree on a topic.   You should coordinate to make sure that you end up with at least five different articles to read, and then draw upon all that information for the composition.

You also have options in preparing for the composition.  You can both read the other partner's articles so that you'll know all the information, or you can trust your partner to remember and explain his/her articles.  You will need to meet outside of class to plan what you intend to say in your composition and look up/review any facts that you're not certain about.  You need to come into class that day with a very clear mental outline of what you're going to say; you will not have time to do both the planning and the writing in class.  You will not be allowed to use dictionaries, the actual articles, notes, or any other study aid.  You may, however, have a 9-word "ficha" like the ones you used for the spoken recording in lab.  EACH partner is allowed a 9-word card.  The "words" in this case could include dates ("February 15, 1872" counts as one word) or proper names ("John Adams" counts as one word.)  In this way, your "ficha" can work as an outline rather than just a word list.

The composition topic is as follows:

Ustedes trabajan en una compañia que produce libros de texto.  Van a escribir una lectura para la sección cultural de un libro para el segundo año de español.  El artículo necesita ser de 150-250 palabras, y debe incluir lo siguiente:
 

•  Una descripción básica del tópico
•  Una breve historia del lugar/fiesta o biografía de la persona
•  Comparación de este tópico con algo que los estudiantes ya conocerán
• Una explicación de por qué el tópico es importante
•  5 preguntas de discusión que los estudiantes podrán usar en la clase para mejor comprender el tópico.

You will also each do an individual in-class presentation on your topic, following the same format and  instructions as presentation 1.  Because students have dropped the class since presentation 1, we will be able to do all of the presentations in one day (Monday, Dec. 3.) We will try to put partners in different presentation groups so topics are not repeated.