The following is just a little more specific description of the assignments mentioned in the syllabus. As you know, your assignments and grades are divided into the following categories:

Exams:

You have two in-class exams, a final, and five verb tests. The exams will not be very different from those you took in 507 or 508K, except that they will include more writing and very few fill-in-the-blanks exercises.  The two in-class exams will have a divided administration; the listening part will be one day and the written part the next day.

The five verb tests are designed to help you become very fluent in conjugating all forms of different types of verbs. The format of the tests will be almost identical to these practice exercises.

Oral grades:

The graded "oral activities" mentioned in the syllabus will be explained more fully as the assigned time approaches. This semester they will be combined with the reading assignments and the "rincón cultural"-- the research you do for your oral presentation will replace the "lecturas" from the book, and you won't have a separate quiz over the "rincón cultural" section (although questions about the "rincón cultural" appear on exams including the final.)

The assignment listed as "interview" on the syllabus will be an individual, semi-spontaneous presentation recorded on computer.

Participation is graded according to these criteria. [link pending] The participation grade is assigned at the very end of the course.  It's important to know, though, that "participation" doesn't mean "knowing the right answer."  One of the most valuable ways to participate is by speaking up when you're NOT sure you're right.  A thoughtful "error" is an important tool.  The way people really learn languages is by making (sometimes subconscious) hypotheses and testing them out.  Your "mistake" lets you and your classmates find out which parts of your hypothesis is right and which part needs adjustment.  There are certain things that you can only learn by trial and error.

You are also responsible for asking questions about parts of the material that you find difficult or about additional information you want to know that is not covered in the book.  This does not necessarily mean asking in class; questions made in writing or in office hours are also important.  However, don't hold back from asking a question in class because you think it's "stupid."  Usually, if you have a question, at least two or three other people in the class have exactly the same question but are too shy to ask.

Almost all of your writing assignments are graded according to the same criteria, a balance of accuracy and content.  These criteria are applied to the compositions (for which you will receive instructions a few days before you write them), the short compositions on your exams, and the end-of-semester movie review.

We will probably reverse the format of the two in-class compositions.  The first composition will be individual, and the second will be written with a partner.  This allows me to analyse levels of ability at the beginning of the semester and give you individual attention early on, and it also gives you time to get to know your classmates before you choose a partner for a major assignment.
 

Class grade:

Vocabulary quizzes: We will have two vocabulary quizzes per chapter of Punto y aparte. There are two different quiz formats. The first quiz, given at the beginning of the chapter, will be more open-ended; you'll be asked to write a short paragraph using a certain number of the new vocab words.  This type of quiz is intended to let you show that you've learned what are to you the most important parts of the list and you can use them correctly. The second quiz, given just as we finish each chapter, will have two parts; first, you'll hear definitions and have to write the corresponding word, and second, you'll do some translations using tricky words or expressions from the list. The point of the second type of quiz is to make sure you've learned ALL of the vocabulary and to prepare you for the type of specific vocabulary questions that appear on exams (including the final).   There will be only one quiz for Chapter 3.
 

Other homework and quizzes:

Rincón cultural/ Lecturas: Each chapter has a section called "rincón cultural." These are not deep cultural analyses; they are very superficial and trivial in nature. That is deliberate, believe it or not. These sections are based partly on surveys of what corporations and government agencies look for in employees with foreign language skills. It turns out that businesses with overseas operations do not particularly want people who can negotiate contracts in the language; they hire translators for that. What they want are people who can make comfortable chatter during the coffee breaks. The rincón cultural sections are meant partly as ammunition for small talk. Think about your own life; imagine that you're in New York on a business trip. You meet representatives from two companies. When you tell them you went to UT, one says, "Texas, huh? So where's your horse?" The other says, "UT-- that's in Austin, right? Live music capital of the world? World's largest urban bat colony?" All else being equal, which company gets the contract (or at least your respect?) The rincón cultural tries to give you a little bit of information about many different places, people, and events so that you have a good chance of being able to say a little something intelligent in lots of different situations.

Still, even though it can be useful, this type of detailed, shallow information is hard to learn. To make it easier, each student will read the entire section and then choose one item from it to investigate further.  You will read at least three articles about your topic and write a brief assignment about them.  (The grade on the written assignment will count as BOTH your "lectura" grade and your "rincón cultural" grade; you will not be required to do the "lectura" assignments from the book.)  For chapter 1, you'll present your findings informally in a small group in class.  For chapters 2 and 3, you'll do a slightly more formal presentation before a small group, which will count as your "oral activities" grade.  All of this should be slightly less work than doing three completely separate assignments, and since you choose your own topic and readings, it will hopefully be more interesting as well.

Manual and Supplement: Doing workbook exercises is a lot like brushing your teeth.  It's not the most exciting activity in your life, but it is a simple, basic necessity.  No one watches to make sure you do it, but if you don't, it won't be long before everybody around you starts to notice.  You won't die if you miss one day's worth, but it won't do much good to wait and do an entire semester's worth on the day before your exam (whether dental or final!)

I may call for a particular page out of the manual without warning at any time after it's assigned in the syllabus. It's equally possible that I will never collect anything from the manual. Since the answers to most exercises are in the back, the only reason for collecting those exercises is to "check up" on you.  Most teachers have decided that college students are adult enough either to do the work without being graded or to accept the consequences of not doing it.

Quizzes: We will have occasional short quizzes, especially in the first third of the course when we are focussing heavily on grammar. These are partly to encourage you to keep up with the material, but more importantly they are a diagnostic tool. If you as an individual do badly on a particular quiz, you'll know that you need to study a little more and/or get help with that topic. If the whole class does poorly, I know that I need to cover the topic again in class. Sometimes quizzes will be announced ahead of time, but there will also be pop quizzes.

Other written homework: Finally, you will have various other written assignments, usually short, assigned in the class before they are due. These may include writing out exercises from the main text, special handouts, assignments from the Web page, etc.

Remember that everything in the "other homework" category, all added together, accounts for 5% of your final grade. That's why there are no make-ups; missing one or two of these will not destroy your grade. Missing lots of them, though, will add up.