The College Board: Connecting Students to College Success

Professional DeveloPment AP Spanish Language  ® Teaching Listening Comprehension Special Focus 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 1 8/15/08 2:59:34 PM The College Board: Connecting Students to College Success The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,400 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations.Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT ®, the PSAT/NMSQT ®, and the Advanced Placement Program ® (AP ®). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities, an d concerns.For further information, visit www. collegeboard. com. The College Board acknowledges all the third-party content that has been included in these materials and respects the intellectual property rights of others. If we have incorrectly attributed a source or overlooked a publisher, please contact us. Page 14, 16: â€Å"Lluvias en Costa Rica dejan 18 muertos† from Radio de las Naciones Unidas, October 19, 2007 (http://www. un. org/radio/es/detail/6528. html). Used by permission of the United Nations.  © 2008 The College Board.All rights reserved. College Board, Advanced Placement Program, AP, AP Central, AP Vertical Teams, connect to college success, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation. All other products and services may be trademarks of their respective owners. Visit the College Board on the Web: www. collegeboard. com. 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 2 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Brant Hadzima 2. Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 ann mar 3. General Strategies for AP ® Spanish Listening Comprehension . . . . . . . . . 31 Brant Hadzima 4. Listening Strategies for Multiple-Choice Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 maria redmon 5. Listening Strategies in Preparation to Speak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Daizha Heberling 6.Listening Strategies in Preparation to Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Jill Pellettieri 7. About the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 8. About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 iii 08- 1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 3 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 4 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM Introduction Brant Hadzima Newfound Regional High School Bristol, New HampshireThe AP ® Spanish Language Examination is an assessment designed to determine a student’s overall level of fluency in Spanish. This summative language examination employs a variety of authentic assessments that require students to demonstrate competence and fluency in Spanish. Most recently, the examination has been revised to best assess authentic use of the language, and the spirit and intent of the new examination is based wholly upon assessing integrated language skills. The four essential skills required to communicate fluently in a language are reading, writing, speaking, and listening.These skills are interconnected, and therefore the AP Spanish Language Examination does not assess them separately. Virtually every aspect of the examination requires students to integrate all four of these ski lls in some form in order to perform a particular task. In preparing for the examination it is important that the teacher instruct, practice, and assess all of these four individual skills. Although ideally classes should be designed to integrate skills as much as possible, it is important to first ensure that all four skills are properly developed.One cannot simply assume that because a student can write fluently in a language, he or she can also speak it with the same level of competence. The skills may be intrinsically interrelated, but they certainly do not develop uniformly. In some instances it may be necessary to allocate more time and effort to master one specific area of competency than another. Therefore, the intent of this unit is to focus predominately on one of the four essential skills: listening comprehension. Instruction, practice, and assessments have been specifically designed to hone listening comprehension skills.This unit can be used as a full AP Spanish listeni ng comprehension unit, or components of the unit may be utilized for additional remediation in listening comprehension as needed. 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 1 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension The authors have made every effort to provide appropriate pedagogical research as well as practical suggestions for classroom strategies designed to develop listening comprehension skills. As the title states, this special focus unit is based upon integrating listening comprehension skills across the modes of communication.There are several modes of communication that are assessed in the AP Spanish Examination, and consequently the unit is separated into five sections to address these modes: †¢ Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Skills †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ GeneralStrategiesforAPSpanishListeningComprehension ListeningStrategiesforMultiple-ChoiceAssessments ListeningStrategiesinPreparationtoSpeak ListeningStrategiesinPreparationtoWrite Finall y, although listening comprehension prompts on the AP Spanish Language Examination will inevitably vary in style, format, and content, the authors have endeavored to address a variety of means in which listening comprehension can be assessed.It is the intent of the authors to provide not only research-based theory but also practical strategies that can be readily employed and also further adapted to address all styles of listening comprehension assessment. 2 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 2 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies ann mar Alamo Heights High School San Antonio, Texas The Challenge of AP ® Listening Comprehension Success on the AP Spanish Language Exam requires highly developed listening comprehension skills—skills that cannot be achieved in a one-year AP course.Success depends on vertical teaming—the coordinated work of all the teachers from the beginning levels through the AP course. To make the goals of equity and access to A P success a reality, we need to provide ALL students at every level the opportunity to develop strong listening skills. To start teaching with the end in mind, all teachers in the program must be familiar with the AP Exam, and in particular with the role listening comprehension plays on the test. Four separate parts of the test, totaling 60 percent of the score, rely to some extent upon the student’s ability to understand spoken Spanish.A description of those AP Spanish Language Exam tasks that include a listening component follows. Multiple-Choice Listening (20%) This section includes a series of short and long dialogues and narrations testing a student’s ability to comprehend the main idea, understand details, make inferences, make predictions, and infer social relationships. The test consists of 30 to 35 questions and lasts around 30–35 minutes. Formal Writing (Integrated Skills) (20%) One of the three sources students must incorporate in their formal essay i s an audio recording, which is played 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. ndd 3 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension only once. Students must take notes and refer to the source in their essay, synthesizing rather than merely summarizing. Informal Speaking – Simulated Conversation (10%) Students participate in a conversation, creating 5–6 responses of 20 seconds each to audio prompts. Students follow a functional script, reacting to the recorded stimulus. The task requires real-time processing for immediate response; the thread of the conversation may include unexpected twists requiring accurate listening comprehension and quick thinking.Formal Oral Presentation (Integrated Skills) (10%) One of the two sources for the formal oral presentation is an audio recording played only once. Students must take notes and refer to the source in the oral presentation, comparing rather than only summarizing. There are additional challenges. The listening passages include a broad variety of regional accents and cover a wide range of academic, social and cultural topics. The recordings may include background distractions such as music or ambient noise, and may have a rapid rate of delivery as is normal in radio news. Pre-AP StrategiesTo start preparing students for these challenges from the start, I have outlined 10 strategies that teachers of beginning and intermediate levels can use to build students’ listening skills starting at the beginning levels. The strategies, sample activities, sources, and rubrics proposed here are meant to contribute to the lively exchange of ideas and experiences among teachers. I encourage teachers to try these and other strategies and share your successes and difficulties via the AP Electronic DiscussionGroup,anddepartmentandprofessionalmeetings. Principles for Building Listening ComprehensionStrategy 1: Teach in Spanish and teach about the Spanish-speaking world. Strategy 2:Getthemostoutoftextbook liste ning materials. Strategy 3: Design listening activities that provide evidence of engagement, including note taking. Strategy 4: Use authentic materials, with scaffolding tasks. Strategy 5: Develop generic tasks for listening, and use them often. 4 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 4 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Strategy 6: Vary the evaluation of listening tasks making it appropriate to the purpose of the task. Strategy 7: Develop your skill at finding appropriate listening materials on the web.Strategy 8:Getstudentsspeaking with native speakers early on, and use technology to share their conversations with classmates. Strategy 9: Teach and practice component skills like recognizing cognates, listening for gist, etc. Strategy 10: Create a culture of listening in your classroom and program. Strategy 1: Teach in Spanish, and teach about the Spanish speaking world. From Spanish I onward, use Spanish to teach. Teach and use the words and expressions neede d for classroom routines right from the start. Classroom instructions and interaction is authentic communication, and is comprehensible, because it is â€Å"here and now. Established routines help minimize the need for English explanations. Team with your whole department to educate administrators, counselors, and parents about your approach. Praise and grant occasional random rewards for attentive students who immediately follow instructions given in Spanish. The more students know about the countries, cities, regions, physical and human geography, history, art, conflicts, challenges, and traditions, the better equipped they will be to understand authentic listening passages produced in and for the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.Throughout the program, we need to build students’ knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world. Assign students a country, and then periodically ask them to report to the class about that country, regarding the topic at hand. For instance, in a unit on the environment, students report on the park system, endangered species, or environmental challenges of â€Å"their† country. In a unit on careers, have them research and report on two or three large employers in the country, or an aspect of the economy of the country. In a unit on food, each student can provide details of the national cuisine.This type of reporting can begin at the earliest levels, with research in English, Spanish, or both. Strategy 2: Get the most out of the textbook listening materials. Use the listening activities in your textbook, then reuse them and recycle them. Consider having â€Å"listening quizzes† or â€Å"listening tests† separate from other elements to emphasize its importance. Include easy, short passages and longer, more difficult 5 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 5 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension ones.On tests, sometimes you can use listening passages you have done previously in class, but with different questions. This will reward students for paying close attention during practice activities that are not for a grade. When the textbook provides â€Å"listen along† audio recordings of reading passages, start the activity by listening to a minute or two without looking at the written text, just to let students see how much they can â€Å"catch† without reading. Have students jot down the words they hear on a piece of paper, then share with class, writing a list on the board.Then read along, and do textbook reading activities. Then go back over the list. Praise the class on how much they could hear, and note to them how their skills improve throughout the year. The next day, listen again without looking, and see if they feel they understand more. The goal is to build students’ confidence in their ability to improve their listening skills. Strategy 3: Design listening activities that provide evidence of engagement, including note taking. Student s should DO something while listening in order to provide evidence of engagement.Ideas for types of evidence follow: †¢ notefamiliarwords †¢ writedownallnumbersyouhear (good for weather reports, sports news, economic news) †¢ checkwordsheardoffalist(prepare the list ahead of time, or have students predict words they might hear) †¢ fillinachartwithinformation †¢ fillinapartialscript(leave out cognates, familiar words, or numbers, etc. ) †¢ writedownanswerstobasicwho, what, when, where, why questions †¢ answerpreparedtrue/falseormultiple-choicequestions †¢ useâ€Å"thumbsup†orâ€Å"thumbsdown†toansweryes/noquestions Attachment A (p. 3) provides a simple chart students complete as evidence of engagement while listening to a series of interviews with native speakers found on a University of Texas Web site. Strategy 4: Create scaffolding tasks to help students to approach authentic materials from the start. Use authentic listening pas sages, full speed right from the beginning levels, but scaffold the activity by at first providing tasks that support, rather than test, students’ understanding. To make the listening more accessible to students, choose 6 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. ndd 6 8/15/08 2:59:35 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies passages on topics you are working on in your textbook. You can pair authentic listening passages with short written texts on the same topic, providing background knowledge, especially if the material or setting is unfamiliar to students. Provide students with unusual names of people, organizations, or locations mentioned in the passage, as these names are especially difficult to catch. Use a listening process, analogous to the reading process, including the following steps.A. Prelistening activity Activate prior knowledge of vocabulary or the topic; make predictions based on a headline, photograph, or theme; personalize by relating to students’ experience ; connect to studies in other classes. Tell students the topic, encourage brainstorming of known vocabulary, then offer to preteach five vocabulary words they don’t know but think they’ll need to understand the program. You could get the class to make a list of 10 words, and then you could translate the 5 words they decide they need the most. B.Have students listen with a purpose, providing concrete evidence of their comprehension. Focus student attention on specific elements, and require each student to show evidence of what was heard. Build in opportunities to hear the listening passage more than once. Provide extension tasks for those who have completed the first task on the first listening, letting others continue to focus on the basic skill. At times, provide transcripts to follow when listening, to help students recognize words they know when they see them, in the stream of speech. C. Cooperative listeningAfter students provide some evidence of what they hear the mselves, have students share their results ORALLY with a partner, noting the partner’s answers in another color, for instance, using a green pen. This will allow you to distinguish what was gathered independently from the details students got from a classmate. Be sure to require all students to note or check off what their partners heard, even if the students already wrote down what they themselves heard. On a final listening, or with a transcript, students can verify what was actually in the recording. D. Apply/connectHave students use the information gained in listening in another task such as writing a summary, making a comparison, making a prediction, 7 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 7 8/15/08 2:59:36 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension connecting to personal experience, reflecting on the learning process, writing about strategies, etc. Attachment B (p. 14) illustrates scaffolding by using the listening process in a simple â€Å"Checklist† activity. Novice-level students can successfully listen to an authentic source to develop the ability to recognize known vocabulary in the stream of authentic speech.The students simply listen to a passage and check words they hear, and skip words that are not in the passage. Then they compare lists with a classmate, listen again, and finally check their work against a script. The checklist and two colors of pens will allow the teacher to evaluate each student’s engagement in the activity, independent and cooperative listening skills, and the ability to extend or apply what was learned. The sample activity in the attachment was designed around a Radio Naciones Unidas report on torrential rains in Costa Rica. Strategy 5: Develop generic listening tasks and use them often.Many Web sources have high-interest audio news and information with accompanying written information. When the files are available to download and save on a computer, teachers can develop activities around these sound files, and keep them for future use. But it is difficult to find the time to prepare specific questions about today’s news each week, and many great Web sites have audio files that are not availablefordownloadingandthatmaynotbeavailableforreusenextyear. Generic tasks cut down preparation time and allow the listening task to become routine, which will help build confidence.Attachment C (p. 18) Pesca las palabras can be used to engage novice listeners in any authentic listening source. The sample activity in attachment C was used to listen to a BBC Mundo report on domestic workers in Latin America in a Level 2 class. Attachment D (p. 21) is a generic form to use while listening to any audio or video newscasts, and is based on the journalistic questions who, what, when, where, why, and how. For interest, vary the prelistening task and the application task according to the topic of the newscast you choose. The video news broadcasts found on the Web site Univision. om provide a we alth of short listening segments to use with this form. Strategy 6: Vary the evaluation of listening tasks, making it appropriate to the purpose of the task. WhenBUILDINGlisteningskills,useaprocess-orientedrubricsuchastheFormative Listening Comprehension Evaluation rubric (Attachment E, p. 22). This rubric evaluates four areas: 8 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 8 8/15/08 2:59:36 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Engagement Independentlistening Cooperativelistening ApplicationofinformationgainedthroughlisteningThis formative rubric recognizes the importance of attention to the whole listening process. It can be used to assess any of the listening tasks involving the listening process outlined in Strategy 4. WhenEVALUATINGlisteningskills,teachersshouldusemoreobjective measures, such as multiple-choice questions. Alternatively, students can take notes and answer open-ended questions or summarize. Then teachers can use a more product-oriente d rubric, evaluating the students’ ability to capture the main idea, understand most details, make predictions and inferences, and use linguistic cues to infer social relations.WhenINTEGRATINGskills,teachersshouldcreatetasksthatrequirestudents to listen, then use the information the students hear in writing and speaking tasks. Strategy 7: Develop your skill at finding appropriate listening materials on the Web, and share your findings with others. Work with your technology department to ensure that all teacher and student computers at school have the necessary software to view and listen to Web-based materials. With one teacher computer and speakers, all students can hear sound files on one computer. If you have the ability to project onto a large screen, you can share video clips from your computer with students.Encourage the library and computer resource center to make headphones available for students to borrow, so they can do their listening there. If you have a teacher W eb site, include links to Web sites with audio. Many Web page programs also allow you to upload audio files to your site. Some excellent Web sources for listening follow: Radio Naciones Unidas http://radio. un. org/es/ This is an excellent source, since files are not copyrighted, the archive is searchable, many programs have transcripts, and files can be downloaded to your computer. Click on Abrir archivo to view a list of recent short news items.Click on the title ofthenewsitemtoseethetranscript. RIGHTCLICKonthefilebuttonandclick on â€Å"Save Target As,† then navigate to the folder in which you want to store the 9 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 9 8/15/08 2:59:36 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension file. The actual sound file should download onto your computer’s hard drive, or to a flash memory stick if you so indicate. You can then play it off your computer, burn a CD, etc. The archive is searchable, so you can enter a term such as arte, comida, Peru, etc. , to help find material on topics you are studying. BBC Mundo http://news. bbc. co. k/hi/spanish/news/ The site contains a wealth of text, multimedia, video, and audio materials, much of it organized by topic. Studio 834 provides interviews with speakers from all over the Spanish-speaking world, and many interviews include scripts. Use this resource to familiarize students with regional variations in accent. Radio nuevos horizontes http://www. nuevoshorizontes. org This site has a searchable archive of programs on a variety of culture, traditions, health, immigration, arts, literature, and personal finance topics. Free downloads of audio only; CDs available for purchase, with transcripts.Langmedia http://langmedia. fivecolleges. edu/collection/lm_spanish. html. Students can view short videos of native speaker interaction, from a variety ofcountries. Goodfornovicestudentsforcomprehensionandodeling,andfor comparing accents from a variety of countries. Uteach proficiency exercise s http://www. laits. utexas. edu/spe/siteindex. php Here students can view short videos of native speakers doing performance tasks on a variety of topics at the novice, intermediate, and advanced levels. Language Acquisitions Resource Center at San Diego State University http://larc. dsu. edu/voces. VideotapedinterviewswithwomenfromGuatemala and Mexico present students with a variety of voices and experiences. The worksheet available at nflrc. hawaii. edu/voces provides a good example of showing evidence of engagement. Univision http://www. univision. com Enter â€Å"videos† in the â€Å"Uniclave† window and for a searchable collection of videos of one to eight minutes’ duration with news, entertainment, and more. Radio Caracol de Colombia http://www. caracol. com. co/ Has an audio archive link on the left-hand menu. 10 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 10 /15/08 2:59:36 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Strategy 8: Get students to interview and reco rd native speakers, and share their recordings with classmates. Across the country, students in more and more communities today have the opportunity to use Spanish outside the classroom. Students can consider interviewing neighbors, parents’ co-workers, school personnel, etc. Handheld cassette recorders, microcassette recorders, digital voice recorders, certain mp3 players, computers, digital cameras, some phones, and iPods and other devices can be used to record voices.If your department can invest in even five digital voice recorders, you can lend them to students to do their interviews. Have your beginning students interview a native speaker, write a transcript of the conversation, and share the audio recording withclassmates. Keeptheinterviewssimpleatfirst,focusingonthetopicofthe current chapter or unit. For example, in a chapter on foods, the class can come up with a short questionnaire, for example: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ ?Cualesunacomidatipicadetupais? ?Cuales sonlosingredientes? ?Comoseprepara? ?Cualestucomidafavorita? Reflect with classmates on accents, regional vocabulary, and other haracteristics and how they effect pronunciation. At the intermediate level, include in your planning learning the language needed to call to request the interview, set up an appointment, and write a thank-you letter in Spanish. See attachment F (p. 23) for sample materials for an interview project from a Level 2 unit about jobs. Strategy 9: Target component skills for listening. Focus your listening activities on component skills and strategies for listening. Here are some suggestions: skill Discourse type task type gain familiarity with regional variations interviews with people from various countries (BBC Mundo Estudio 834)Mark a transcript where regional differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, verb forms, etc. , are evident. news and information check list activity recognize familiar vocabulary in the context of speech intended for native speakers â⠂¬Å"Pesca las palabras† 11 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 11 8/15/08 2:59:36 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension skill Discourse type task type recognizing cognates in the stream of speech news and information texts Prepare a cloze passage by eliminating cognates; students listen and complete. The topic of health often has many cognates. Students listen and note as many cognates s they can. inferring social relationships from linguistic clues recorded interactions between native speakers such as those on the Langmedia Web site Note and discuss the linguistic clues. listening for main idea, detail news and information texts Prepare a T chart on the board, with â€Å"Main idea† and â€Å"Supporting detail. † Listen, and then ask what students understood. Have class decide where each piece of information should go. comprehending specific information news and information Complete charts, fill in blanks, write numbers heard, and answer prepared multipl e-choice or open-ended questions. dvertisements Strategy 10: Create a culture of listening in your classroom. â€Å"Tweak† your classroom oral activities so they require students to listen actively to each other. For instance, expand your â€Å"Think – Pair – Share† activities to make them â€Å"Think – Pair – Share – Compare. † Have students share what the partner said, not what the student reporting said. Then after hearing from several students, ask another student to compare. For example, on Monday morning, students think about what they did on the weekend, pair with a partner to say what they did, and report to the class what their partner did.After hearing four to six students’ activities, ask another person which two students had the most similar weekends or which two had the most different weekends, or what all the students had in common. This activity, in addition to providing evidence of listening comprehension , practices the comparison and synthesis skills so important to the formal essay and formal oral presentation tasks. Tune into the mp3 generation. Encourage students to include Spanish music on their digital music players, and seek out Spanish language podcasts.As technology allows, create your own podcasts of lessons, explanations, or poems you are studying, andencouragestudentstoputthemontheiriPods. GarageBand(forMac)and Audacity (a free download for PCs) allow you to make your own audio programs. Even ifyouhaven’tlearnedthetoolsyet,manyofyourstudentshave. Getthemtoshow you, and start listening! 12 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 12 8/15/08 2:59:36 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Attachment A: Provide evidence of engagement – Fill in a chart Listening source – University of Texas Spanish Proficiency Exercises http://www. laits. utexas. edu/spe/beg06. tml Preparacion:Conunapareja,escribeunalistadetrabajos,oficiosyprofesiones en espanol. †¢ Ahoraescuchaalasseispersonashablardeltrabajodesuspadreso parientes. Usatuboligrafoparaanotarlosqueescuchas. nombre lo que hace el padre lo que hace la madre Ejemplo simplificado Nativo hablante Beatriz Luna Torres Alejandro Ernesto Madgits Regina Ruiz Maria Angeles Fernandez Fernando Camacho Apuntes para MI presenacion oral †¢ Hablacontucompanero. UsatuboligrafoVERDEparaanandirinformacion queescuchotucompanero. †¢ Escuchaotravezparaverificartutrabajo. †¢ Aplicacion:EscribelostrabajosdedospersonasqueTUconoces.Luego describe sus trabajos oralmente (graba la descripcion para tu portafolio). 13 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 13 8/15/08 2:59:36 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension mi nombre lo que hace lo que hace Attachment B: Sample â€Å"Checklist† activity based on the Radio United Nations news piece Lluvias en Costa Rica. Transcripcion–reportedeRadioNacionesUnidas,19deoctubrede2007. http://www. un. org/radio/es/detail/6528. html Nombre Fec ha: A. Preparacion.? Quetiempohaceaquihoy? B. Escucha. UsatuboligrafoAZULymarcaconunapalomita(v)azullas palabras que escuchas. C. Lee tus palabras a tu companero.Escucha las palabras de tu companero. Marcasuspalabrasconunapalomita(v)verde. Palabra Yo escuche v mi companero escucho v en verde leimos en el texto sol calor lluvias nieve dias anos nacion aguas mas menos ayuda rios 14 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 14 8/15/08 2:59:37 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Palabra Yo escuche v mi companero escucho v en verde leimos en el texto institucion agencias comunicacion necesidades emergencia D. Anota numeros que escuchaste en el reporte. E. Anota5palabrasqueescuchastequeNOestanenlalista. F. Leelatrascripciondelprograma. Marcaenlaultimacolumnalaspalabrasque estanenelpasaje. G. APLICACIONComparaeltiempoenCostaRicaconeltiempoaqui. Engagement Independent listening Cooperative listening Application 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 15 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 15 8/15/08 2 :59:37 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension Lluvias en Costa Rica Dejan 18 Muertos T ranscript for Checklist Activity – Reporte de Radio Naciones Unidas, 19 octubre de 2007. http://www. un. org/radio/es/ detail/6528. html r eal Descargar imPrimir LaslluviastorrencialesdelosultimosdiasenCosta Rica,handejado18muertosycuantiosasperdidas materiales. El Coordinador Residente del Sistema de la ONU enesanacion,JoseManuelHermidas,describiolos fectos adversos que han tenido las aguas sobre el territorio costarricense. â€Å"Hanhabidoinundacionesseverasenvariaspartesdelpais. Todoellitoraldel PacificoestaafectadoytambienenelValleCentral. Delos81cantonesenCostaRica, 65 se han visto afectados. † Los danos provocados en las cosechas y las redes viales han sido estimados de manerapreliminar,enmasde70millonesdedolares. SegunelRepresentantedel PNUD, las agencias de la ONU en Costa Rice se encuentran listas para ofrecer la ayuda que pueda requerirse. â€Å"Hemosestadoene strechacomunicacionconelentenacionalresponsablepara atenderlasemergencias,queeslaComisionNacionaldeEmergencias.Hemosidoa unareunionconellos,ademasdelascomunicacionescontinuasportelefonoy noshan dadounalistadelasnecesidadesmasurgentes. HemosinformadoaOCHAconuna solicitud, de parte del coordinador residente, para poder acceder a fondos para poder, entre otras cosas, comprar algunos de los requerimientos mas urgentes que segun la comisionnacionaldeemergenciasoncamillasymantas. † El representante de la ONU en Costa Rica, dijo que las necesidades de alimentos delosdamnificados,estansiendoresueltasporelgobiernoycompaniasprivadas. Attachment B: Teachers’ Notes ObjectiveIdentify familiar vocabulary in the stream of authentic speech. Prelistening–Askstudents? Quetiempohacehoy Lluevemuchoaqui? Discuss a bit about weather, at students’ level. Then pass out paper, and have students write about today’s weather. 16 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 16 8/15/08 2:59:3 7 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Listening Instructstudentstolistencarefully,andCHECKinBLUEorBLACKpen,any words on the list that they hear. Ask if they want to listen again, and repeat. Pair students and tell students to read the words they checked. Tell partners to useaGREENPENtocheckthewordstheirpartnerheard.DO NOT let them look at each others’ papers. This is the cooperative listening part—they listen to their partners’ answers and record. They should check all words the partner heard, even if they think the word wasn’t there. Then tell them they will listen again, and they should check to see if this time they hear words they didn’t last time. These should be circled in green pen. Post-listening Pass out the transcript so students can read and see which words in fact were there. Application Even beginning students can make a basic comparison with words like tambien, pero, mas, and menos.Students staple their paper to their par tner’s paper and pass both in. You score on the rubric in Attachment E, which includes Engagement (followed directions and completed all listening tasks), Independent listening (how accurate student was on the first listening, indicated by checks in blue or black ink), Cooperative listening (includes the green checks, which generally correspond to partner’s paper and circled words, showing the ability to recognize the words once alerted to their presence), and Application (the post-listening Reflections task). 17 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 17 /15/08 2:59:37 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension Attachment C: Generic Listening Task ?Pesca la palabra! Tema: Notasdelapreparacion Yo escuche mi companero escucho Conclusiones 4. clearly meets expectations 3. meets basic expectations 2. approaching expectations 1. Does not meet expectations Engagement Independent listening Cooperative listening Application 18 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 18 8/15/08 2:59:37 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Attachment C: Pesca la Palabra – Lesson Guide Long-term goals (claims): †¢ Recognizefamiliarvocabularyinthestreamofspeech. Comprehendspeechintendedfornativespeakers. Specific objective: †¢ Recognizedfamiliarvocabularyandcognateswhenheardinthestreamof speech in authentic sources. Level: †¢ Novice(Spanish1and2) Teacher preparation Find an authentic listening passage relating to a current chapter theme or topic. Prepare the link on your computer, or download the file. Select a one- to twominute â€Å"chunk† of the program to focus on, noting the time marker in your media player for easy access. Select chunks with a good variety of words students have studied, as well as cognates. Photocopy the generic ?Pesca la Palabra! handout, filling out the theme and pre- and postlistening tasks prior to photocopying the form, if you wish. Once students are familiar with the procedure, they can create their own forms on notebook paper. Classroom procedures Prelistening: Chose an appropriate selection of prelistening strategies: †¢ Readthetheme/titleofthepresentationandaskforpredictionsaboutthe program. †¢ Showaphotoorobjectrelatedtothetopicanddescribeit. †¢ Predictcontent. †¢ Brainstormknownvocabulary. †¢ Offertopreteachfivevocabularywordstheydon’tknowbutthinkthey’ll need to understand the program.You could get the class to make a list of 10 words, then pick only 5 to translate for them. †¢ Hacerpredicciones-? Quevanaescuchar? 19 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 19 8/15/08 2:59:38 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension Usetheâ€Å"Notasdelapreparacion†forstudentstoshowevidenceofengagement in the pre-listening activity. Instruct them to write a description of the picture, or list the vocabulary the class brainstormed, or write their predictions of what will be in the passage. Listening Students listen and jot down words they comprehend in column 1; they can listen twice if they wish.Pairing: Pair students. Students take turns reading words from their list. †¢ Ifyourpartnersaysawordthatisalreadyonyourlist,putacheckbyit. †¢ IfyourpartnersaysawordthatisNOTonyourlist,writeitinthesecond column. †¢ IfyourpartnersaysawordthatISonyourlist,putacheckbytheword,in the second column. Listen again If you hear a word your partner said, put a check by it in the first column. Postlistening The generic form has a place for conclusions. Depending on the difficulty of the passage and the level of the students, create a closing task. †¢ SummarizeinEnglish(orSpanish) †¢ Personalize(e. . ,Describeeltiempoennuestraciudadhoy) †¢ Reflect(Wastaskdifficultoreasy? Why? Observationsontheaccentof speaker, etc. ) Evaluation – Use the rubric in Attachment E. 20 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 20 8/15/08 2:59:38 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Attachment D GenericlisteningactivityforNewsProgram. F orexample,usewith Univision. com video segments. Noticias de la semana Antes de escuchar Fecha Fuente Pais Titular ?Quesabessobreeltema? Apuntes ?Quien? ?Que? ?Cuando? ?Donde? ?Como? Resumen/comparacion/personalizacion/opinion 21 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 21 /15/08 2:59:38 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension Attachment E Formative Listening Comprehension Rubric, evaluating the listening process Have Pairs staPle PaPers togetHer anD turn in. graDe on tHe ruBric. 4 . clearly meets expectations 3. meets basic expectations 2. approaching expectations 1. not meeting expectations Written evidence and teacher observation provide evidence of full engagement throughout the listening activity. Notes and teacher observation show evidence of engagement; attention may wander, at times. Notes and teacher observation show artial evidence of engagement; off-task behavior or lack of attention detract from engagement. Notes and teacher observations show evidence of sporadic engag ement in listening activities. Independent comprehension clearly meets expectations for level. * Provides some evidence of independent comprehension; relies on classmates and total class discussion for some information. Provides little evidence of independent comprehension; relies heavily on partner work and class discussion for information. Prevents very little to no evidence of independent comprehension; may attempt to opy classmates’ work. Cooperative listening Shows clear evidence of sharing, listening, and note taking during pair interactions. Shows some evidence of sharing, listening, and note taking during pair interactions. Shows partial evidence of engagement in cooperative listening tasks. Contributes little to cooperative listening activities; may be off task and may distract classmates. Application Creatively and accurately uses information from listening in concluding tasks. Uses information from listening to complete concluding tasks. Uses minimal information fr om listening n completing concluding tasks. Provides little evidence of listening in completing concluding tasks. Engagement Independent listening *Expectations vary by task and level. 16 100 10 70 15 95 9 65 14 90 8 60 13 85 7 55 12 80 6 50 11 75 22 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 22 8/15/08 2:59:38 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Attachment F: Interview Activity As designed, this activity is appropriate at a Level 2 or higher. Goals †¢ Usesimple,familiarphrasestocommunicatewithSpanishspeakersinthe community. †¢ Toobtainspeechsamplesfromavarietyofnativespeakersforin-class listening. TolearnaboutjobsthataredonebySpanish-speakingcommunity members. †¢ Tocomprehendavarietyofnativespeakervoicestalkingaboutafamiliar topic. Procedures Preparation: †¢ Teachandpracticequestionsneededtogetinformationaboutanadult acquaintance’s job (see handout below). †¢ AssignstudentstofindaSpanish-speakingcommunitymemberto interview and record. Technology not e – Many students have digital cameras, digital video cameras, phones, microcassette players, laptops, iPods with the iTalk microphone, mp3 players with voice recording capability, or other technology for recording the conversations.Our department has purchased a limited number of Olympus digital voice recorders (at around $70 each), which are lent out to students for one night if they have no other means of recording the conversation. Students are given a week or two to get the interviews to allow for technical problems. The following Web site has information on Olympus digital voice recorders. http://www. olympusamerica. com/cpg_section/cpg_voicerecorders. asp Project: Students record their interviews and transcribe them on the ENTREVISTA handout. 23 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 23 8/15/08 2:59:38 PM Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension Sharing: In class, students share their interviews. Classmates fill in the chart with details about each conversation they hear . Evaluation: Based on completion of interview, accuracy of transcript, and note taking during the in-class sharing. Thanks to Lucinda Salinas, Alamo Heights High School Spanish 2 teacher, for sharing this activity. Used with permission. CreatedtouseinconjunctionwiththeHolttextbookExpresateLevel2. 24 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 24 8/15/08 2:59:39 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies Mi entrevista con †¦ Ud. Clase, quiero presentarles a Ud:? AquesededicaUd.? o? QueclasedetrabajorealizaUd.? El o Ella: Ud.? Quetipodepreparacionsenecesitaparaestaprofesion? (Fui a – I went to) El o Ella: Ud.? Comoleayudaelespanolensutrabajoosuvida? El o Ella:: Ud.? Otra pregunta, UD. escoja. ? El o Ella: 25 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 25 8/15/08 2:59:39 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension i salinas – alamo HeigHt HigH scHool – 2007 nombre de su companero ?vecino, amigo de la familia,etc†¦? el oficio Dime algo†¦ 26 08-1442. AP. SF. Span ish. indd 26 8/15/08 2:59:39 PM Pre-AP ® Listening Comprehension StrategiesAttachment G: Lesson Guide Goal–Familiarizestudentswithregionalaccents. From level one, engage students in listening to diverse voices. 1. Preparation †¢ Copythescriptsforthreeinterviews. Suggestedsourceis BBCMundo’s Estudio 834 †¢ http://news. bbc. co. uk/hi/spanish/programmes/estudio_834/ †¢ JavierZanetti,soccerplayerfromArgentina †¢ SaraBaras,flamencodancerfromSpain †¢ WillieColon,musicianfromNewYork(PuertoRicanancestry) 2. Materials Photocopies of scripts; highlighters. 3. Procedure †¢ Prelistening. a. Provide name, profession, and country. b. Ask for predictions about what students might hear. c.Students scan transcript to check on predictions, and find words they understand. †¢ Listening. Have students listen to each sample while following on their copy of the transcript. They should highlight any words or sounds that seem â€Å"different† from w hat they are used to hearing. Compare impressions and listen again. 4. Debrief Avoid generalizations like â€Å"in Spain, they speak like this,† or â€Å"Cubans pronounce it like this. † There is a great deal of regional and personal variation within countries. Make comments and observations about the ways the students hear THIS particular speaker pronounced at this particular moment.The goal is to increase the students’ comfort with variations, not to teach the specific characteristics of specific regional accents. (That could well be a different lesson at another level). Students write one or two sentences about each speaker’s pronunciation, and how easy or difficult the speaker was to understand. 27 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 27 8/15/08 2:59:39 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension 5. Evaluation Based principally on engagement as evidenced by notes taken on prelistening, highlighting on the transcript, postlistening conclusions, and t eacher observation of participation in classroom discussion.Attachment G T ranscripts of segments from BBC Mundo Estudio 834 (4/7/06, 6/2/06, 4/21/06) Sara Baras – bailarina de flamenco HablaconBBCMundodespuesdehacerdosobrasdebaile,â€Å"MarianaPineda†y â€Å"Juanalaloca. † BBC: ? Queaprendistedespuesdecasi,segunentiendo,800representaciones entrelasdos? Sara Baras: Puessi,pasamoslasmil. Fueronmasdequinientas representacionesdecadauna,oseaqueaprendimuchisimo. Elhechodetrabajar al lado de directores tan importantes como Luis Pascual y Luis Olmos, ha sido algo que me ha llenado de cosas nuevas, de cosas de teatro, no solamente de baile.Yahoraescomosiapreciaramuchomasunquejido,ohacerdemimisma, porque el hecho de meterte en el personaje de alguien te va acostumbrando a expresarte siempre pensando en alguien. Cuando de repente no tienes nada que contar, sino simplemente bailar es algo muy diferente. El haber hecho â€Å"Mariana Pineda†yâ€Å"Juanalaloca† creoquemehaensenadomuchomasdeloqueyo pensaba,nosoloaniveldeespectaculo,sinopormibaile. BBC: Ydosmujeresexcepcionalesenesosdosespectaculos†¦? Queesparati unamujerexcepcional Cualesserianlosatributosdeunamujerque,comotu, esexcepcionalenlosuyo? Sara Baras: Muchas gracias†¦ risas) Yo creo que una mujer excepcional, por ejemplo, es mi madre. Creo que una buena persona, una persona con inquietudes,inteligente,generosa,unapersonaquedaalgomas,? no? Creoque sobre todo las madres me parecen mujeres excepcionales. El amor que puedan dar no lo comparo con nada. Willie Colonseconsiderauncreadordelasalsa. NacioenNuevaYork,nieto de puertorriquenos. Tengo entendido que el 2006 es el ano de tu retiro, que estaspensandoenguardardefinitivamentetutrombon. Queriapreguntartesi realmenteteretirasoseguirasenlastarimashastaqueelcuerpoaguante. 28 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 28 8/15/08 2:59:39 PMPre-AP ® Listening Comprehension Strategies W. C. : (Risas)†¦ No es exactamente un retiro, teng o algunos proyectos a los que quiero dedicarme y no puedo hacerlo mientras estoy de gira con la orquesta. Ahora estoy en el proceso de grabar un LP, puede ser mi ultimo y yo creo que me mantendriasiempreapegadoalamusica,laproduccionylacomposicion. Son cuarenta anos de viaje†¦ al final de este ano puede ser. BBC: Muchosdicenquelaedaddeorodelasalsanovolverayqueinclusono faltamuchoparaquedesaparezcacomogenerorentableenelnegociodela musica. Comolovestu,? lasalsaestamuriendo,seestatransformando,esta cambiandoaotrogenero?Colon: Bueno, esa es la ley natural, pero yo tengo confianza que algo viene, todoloviejoesnuevoydelonuevounosecansadespuesdeunrato. Yocreo queesunciclo,especialmentecuandolatecnologiahacambiado,quese puedegrabarunbuenLPenelsotanooenelgarajeconunacomputadora quenoestancara. Esovaapermitirquedenuevo,comoenmiepoca,surjan productores independientes porque uno de los problemas ha sido que las grandes corporacioneshanidoadquiriendotodoslossellos(discograficos)pequenos, ent oncesmatanlacompetenciaytambienlahonestidadylarazondeserdela musica, una musica que nace de la esquina del barrio.En verdad no entienden la esenciayelporquelamusicaeratanrentableyestanimportante. Javier Zanetti juega futbol profesional en Italia, pero es de Argentina. El estableciounafundacionparaayudaraninospobresenArgentina. BBC: ? QuesignificaPupi,dedondevieneesenombre? Javier Zanetti: PupiesunsobrenombrequemepusieronLopezyCaballero cuandocomenceajugarfutbolenelclubargentinoBanfield. Despueslepusimos esenombrealafundacion. Hacecuatroanosquecomenzamosysinceramente hemoshechomuchisimascosaspararecaudarfondosparaestoschicos:partidos a beneficio, calendarios, pulseritas con los colores de Argentina, etc.Todo esto para ellos, para seguir fomentando y haciendo crecer los proyectos que tenemos en mente. BBC: Segun tenemos entendido son unos cien los ninos que reciben asistencia diariaenlafundacion†¦ Javier Zanetti: Si,enestosmomentoshaymasdecienchicosdetresacinco anos — los que nos estuvieron acompanando durante estos cuatro anos, ahora 29 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 29 8/15/08 2:59:40 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension tienensiete,ocho-ademastrabajamosconloshermanosdeestoschicosycon lospadres. Queremosunpococerrarelcirculo,paraayudaratodaslafamiliaen lasdistintasproblematicasquesepuedenpresentar. BibliographyHumbach,J. ,Smith,S. ,andMadrigalVelasco,S. ,Expresate Spanish 2. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2005. 30 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 30 8/15/08 2:59:40 PM GeneralStrategiesforAP ® Spanish Listening Comprehension Brant Hadzima Newfound Regional High School Bristol, New Hampshire Introduction Teaching and assessing listening comprehension are perhaps the most challenging components of the AP curriculum, due in great part to the many variables that affect a student’s ability to comprehend spoken Spanish: the physical classroom environment and school equipment, learning styles, note-taking skills, regional dia lects, etc.Many teachers may assume that they are assessing â€Å"listening comprehension† when in fact they are assessing listening and cognitive reasoning skills. Listening may be part of the exercise, but the inevitable tasks of reasoning, critical thinking—even the kinesthetic connection to writing—are factors that can drastically affect the outcome. In essence, two of the major obstacles in solely assessing listening comprehension are first determining which factors may impede a true assessment of listening comprehension, and then making every effort to offer students the opportunity to mitigate these variables.This will help to provide a true baseline for students, and teachers will have a better understanding of whether they need to remediate listening or focus more on reasoning and critical thinking strategies. Teachers must know what students hear in order to then address how to analyze and synthesize the information presented orally. 08-1442. AP. SF. S panish. indd 31 8/15/08 2:59:40 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension Eliminating Variables Although it may appear to be obvious, there are several issues that the classroom teacher must evaluate and address prior to administering a listening comprehension assessment.First and foremost, it is imperative that students are provided with the best possible equipment and physical space for listening comprehension. If no language lab is available, a classroom should be optimized for a listening environment: Students should be provided with headphones and a listening center, the room should be quiet, comfortable, and free from distractions such as PA announcements and hallway activity. (I can vividly recall an adept AP Spanish student who performed poorly on one of the practice listening comprehension assessments for no particular reason.I evaluated the listening comprehension segment, tried to determine if the regional accent was overwhelming, and even took the test myself. Exasperated, I finally asked the student why he did so poorly. His response: â€Å"I was watching the garbage truck picking up the dumpster outside the window. † By simply drawing the blinds, his scores improved remarkably. ) Once the classroom space and physical environment has been evaluated and addressed, it is important to know and understand each student’s learning style. Most people tend to rely heavily on visual references in order to supplement auditory comprehension.An example might be how teachers themselves process information at a faculty meeting. If the principal states an outline and a deadline for a project with no visual reference whatsoever, it is more probable that the staff will misinterpret and/ or forget the information stated. Although we have developed coping skills such as taking notes and asking clarifying questions, it is more likely that the request will be taken seriously and acted on in a timely fashion if it is written as well. Another exa mple is when teachers are assigning homework.If teachers state what the homework will be without writing it on the board, there will inevitably be confusion for some (if not all) students. Of course there will be some who will diligently write down the assignment and ask a question if confused. Others, however, will remain silent and may not understand or remember the assignment. Therefore, one essential preassessment that should be done early in the school year is to have students determine their learning style. There are many assessments readily available, and one particularly detailed assessment is the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) developed by Richard M.Felder and Barbara A. Soloman of North Carolina State University. The Web site address is www4. ncsu. edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/ public/ILSpage. html, and it provides a free, 44-question Web-based assessment for students to determine their learning styles. Students should use this information 32 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 32 8/15/08 2:59:40 PM GeneralStrategiesforAP ® Spanish Listening Comprehension to better understand how they learn and process information, and teachers should discuss in the classroom how to best prepare for listening comprehension with the understanding that each student learns differently.Once the teacher and students understand their learning styles, the next step is to help auditory learners further hone and process their listening skills, and to provide the more visual learners with coping skills necessary to compensate for their discomfort with being assessed for listening comprehension. A student who â€Å"doesn’t like† listening comprehension and who â€Å"performs poorly† on these assessments may struggle due to personal learning style—and not due to Spanish language aptitude. We all have students who can read and write very well in Spanish, but who are not proficient in listening comprehension and/or speaking.It must be surmised that the se students do not have a deficiency in Spanish, but rather in processing auditory information. Teaching more Spanish will not make them better listeners. On the contrary, teachers must make a conscious effort to help students develop coping skills and to help the students feel more at ease with the style of assessment. Pretesting Listening Comprehension After addressing physical space and learning style, it is important to give a comprehensive listening assessment in Spanish to obtain a baseline and to observe student test-taking strategies.It is best to utilize assessments that model what will be tested on the AP Spanish Language Examination, and AP Spanish–style listening comprehension assessments with resource kits are readily available for purchase and do quite well for student preparation. AP Central ® has audio files available and sample assessments as well for teacher use in the classroom. Regardless, teachers should pretest listening comprehension with short dialog ues and narratives, and also medium-to-long narratives and dialogues. I recommend giving students an overview of how they will be pretested, and to recommend that students take notes when necessary.During the actual pretest it is a good idea to observe student behavior. Perhaps more valuable than the data from the pretest is the observation of student test-taking skills;i. e. ,whichstudentstookthoroughnotesandwhichonesjustlistened? What didthenoteslooklike—weretherelists,graphicorganizers,andothervisualaides? Whichstudentswereeasilydistractedand/orwereunabletofocus? Didstudents simply look for words written in the multiple-choice answers that were said in the dialogue (â€Å"word recognition†), or did they first interpret the information and then use processofeliminationtoselectthebestpossibleanswer? 3 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 33 8/15/08 2:59:40 PM s Pecial focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension Most likely, the students who performed the best in the assessment were the ones who were taking notes, who were focused, and who concentrated on understanding and interpreting the information instead of just attempting to recognize words that matched the ones in the answers provided. Obviously, basic proficiency in Spanish is essential, and a student who does not have the proper skill base from prior classes will be at a complete loss.However, assuming that students have had the proper prior training (for more information, please refer to the AP Vertical Teams ® and Pre-AP publications on the AP Web site), the issue at hand will be to teach students to be better listeners. Teaching Listening Skills Once a baseline for listening comprehension has been established, the task of honing listening skills and forming coping mechanisms begins. The first step is to help students create their own system for listening.I have found it very helpful to model good test-taking skills as a way to broach the topic of how to tackle the listening component. After t he students take the initial pretest in listening comprehension, I take the test myself in front of the class. I copy the answer key onto an overhead transparency, and we play the test out loud. As the dialogues are played, I take notes on the overhead or the board, and create links and graphic organizers. I then model the answer selection on the overhead using the process of elimination, and explaining why certain answers are wrong while referring to my notes.Often students will start to discuss the thought process, and it becomes an interactive class where students generate ideas and discuss what they did for that particular dialogue or narrative. At times students will volunteer to direct the next dialogue, and I allow them to model their thought process for the class. The essential component to that particular lesson is that students see how to process information that is presented verbally, that they observe and evaluate techniques that worked (and didn’t work). At that point, they should begin to develop a routine for listening comprehension that works for them.I finish the lesson by having students tell me what they intend to do differently next time to perform better. For the next listening comprehension activity I eliminate the variable of the multiple-choice questions. This gives students the opportunity to focus directly on the dialogue or narrative and to employ their personal listening strategies. The class begins by brainstorming various note-taking techniques. Next, students are asked to listen to a 10-minute narrative and to take notes on the essential information.When the narrative ends, students are allotted 15 minutes to summarize the narrative in 34 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 34 8/15/08 2:59:40 PM GeneralStrategiesforAP ® Spanish Listening Comprehension their own words (in Spanish). We then read our summaries out loud, and by sharing we realize what may have been missed, what was truly essential, and what impeded our understand ing. Students should begin to realize that deficiencies in vocabulary, perhaps dialects, the rate and speed of the speaker, and background information may be impediments for comprehension. PracticeWhen students understand the impediments to comprehending a dialogue or narrative, the task then becomes practicing, and learning by trial and error. Unlike writing or grammar, there is a limit to skills that can be taught for simply listening. Essentially, once distractions have been eliminated, the format of the assessment is familiar, and note-taking skills have been instructed and reviewed, the only way to improve is through continual practice. Practicing listening comprehension should be frequent, varied, authentic, and routine in order to truly prepare students for the examination.In reality, there should never be an AP Spanish Language class where listening is not an integral component of the class itself. It is important to note that not all listening activities have to be assessed formally, but it is important that they be assessed in a variety of ways. Visual Versus Nonvisual Although there are many ways to present listening, it is best to separate listening comprehension activities into two categories: those with a visual aid and those without.The listening activities that allow for a visual reference may be easier for many students, as they provide a frame of reference and therefore some level of comfort. Using segments from Spanish television, a podcast, or watching a PowerPoint presentation can function as a less threatening form of integrating listening into the daily classes. It is vital to ensure that these activities be varied so that students do not get too accustomed to a particular dialect or vocabulary base.If utilizing segments of Spanish television is part of the class routine, make sure to access different programs and channels whenever possible. Have students â€Å"prelisten† by presenting the title or some background on the segment, and discuss what they could expect to hear. Most importantly, however, assess what they have heard. Assessments can range from a quick student synopsis to a formative written assessment to a class discussion. The assessment piece is essential nevertheless, and 35 08-1442. AP. SF. Spanish. indd 35 8/15/08 2:59:40 PM

Newtons Laws Relating to Car Safety Devices Essay

Ever since cars were invented in the early 20th century, there have been road fatalities. Advances in car safety technology have seen a diminishing exponential curve in casualties suffered on the road. The first invention was the seatbelt, by George Cayley in the late 1900s. The next major advance was with the airbag, by John Hetrick in 1952. A patent for the design was marketed for automobiles in 1967. The combination of all safety devices located in cars contribute to the wellbeing of the driverThe idea of a seat belt is simple, but it harnesses technology that shows a lot of ingenuity. A seatbelt is designed to keep one fastened in their seat in the event of an abrupt stop. It is essentially a piece of tough fabric that goes around the user. It combats the effect of the separate inertia on ourselves, by making us a part of the car. Inertia refers to an objects tendency to maintain its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by a force. Sir Isaac Newtons First Law of Moti on revolves around Inertia. When the car is in motion, inertia wants it to keep going at that speed, but there are several forces acting on it, such as friction and air resistance. The engines power compensates for this energy loss. Anything that is in the car but not attached to it has its own inertia, and this is evident when the car is accelerating, decelerating and in the event of an abrupt stop. When in uniform motion, one cannot feel the effects of the cars inertia as separate to oneself, but the separate inertia is shown when the car is stopped suddenly. In a high speed collision, each car comes to a stop rapidly. Occupants not wearing their seatbelt will continue at the original speed of the car (as per the Law of Inertia) until acted upon by a force. An unrestrained occupant will then move at a high speed until:Colliding with the car interior or other occupants, stopping faster than the car itself, most of the time over a distance of several centimetres. Crashing through the windscreen. This concentrates an amazing amount of momentum [(momentum=mass x velocity)(M=70kgx90km/h)(M=6300)] on one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. Impulse is defined as the product of the force and the time interval over which it acts. It is equal to the change of momentum. With a seatbelt on, one will change their momentum slower and therefore spread out the force acting on them. This significantly increases the chance of survival. An occupant with a seatbelt will have the same inertia of the car, & therefore stop with it. The rate of change of the momentum of a restrained occupant is much less than that of an unrestrained person. This means that the net force on the restrained occupant will be less. As well as increasing the time interval over which the wearer comes to a stop, a properly fitted seatbelt spreads the impact force over a larger surface area of the body, in particular the pelvis & ribcage. Seatbelts are an extremely effective means of saving lives. Car accident researchers in Australia estimate that seatbelts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat occupants by 45 per cent and the risk of serious injury by 50 per cent. Airbags are designed to increase the time interval during which the drivers momentum decreases during a head on collision, therefore reducing the net force on the driver, particularly from the steering wheel & dash board. It also acts to cushion our precious head during impact. An airbag consists of 3 parts which all assist in slowing the passengers forward motion:The bag made of a thin nylon fabric, which is compressed in order to fit into the steering wheel etc. The sensor The device that tells the airbag to inflate, in the event of a collision. The sensors receive information from an accelerometer built into a microchip. The inflation system Reacts with sodium azide with potassium nitrate to produce nitrogen gas. Hot blasts of nitrogen gas inflate the airbag. When an airbag is deployed:15 20 milliseconds after impact: The crash  sensors & control unit determine the severity of the collision. This decides if the airbag will be deployed or not. 25 milliseconds: The pad covering the airbag splits in strategic weak places & begins to inflate. 45 milliseconds: The airbag is fully inflated while the occupant is still moving forward. 60 milliseconds: The occupant makes contact with the airbag, which immediately begins to deflate. Up to 100 milliseconds: The occupant continues to sink into the airbag, cushioning the head & chest while deflating. Momentum is the product of mass multiplied by velocity. Unless an outside force acts on an object, it will continue to move at its present speed & direction. If loose objects in the car are not restrained, they will continue moving at the same speed as the car, even if the car is stopped in a collision. Therefore by reducing our velocity using the airbag, one will have less momentum, & therefore a greater chance of survival or serious injury. Air bags do not just cushion your body in the event of an impact, but they also spread the impact over a larger area. By doing this, the force is not all concentrated in one small area of your body. This in turn will cause the seriousness your injuries to be reduced because the force you feel is spread out. A study stated that the number of lives saved by airbags is 600 per year. It also indicate that airbags reduce fatalities by 8% when worn in conjunction with a seatbelt. Airbags also reduce the risk of dying in a frontal crash by 30 %. Wearing both a seatbelt and having an airbag fitted car deeply increases the  survival rate in the event of a crash. Crumple zones are deliberate weak spots the car engineers place in the structure of a car. Consider a head-on collision into a concrete wall. Before the crash, the car & its passengers move together at the same velocity. With a car posing a rigid body, an impact will cause both automobile & occupants to halt very quickly. This immediate stop creates a large amount of force on the passengers. [(F=ma)(F=75kg x -30km/h-2 )(F=2250N)]. By increasing the impact time, the force on the occupants is dramatically reduced, because of this cushioning effect. Newton’s first law (a body will continue its state of motion unless acted upon by a non-zero net force) is another law that explains how crumple zones work in the face of an accident. As your car moves west at 60 km/h, not only is it your car that is going that fast but it is your own body that is travelling that fast also. If your car hits a solid wall and comes to a stop immediately, your body will want to continue going west at 60 km/h because of inertia. As the car strikes the wall, the front part crushes together. As the front of the car is absorbing the impact, energy from the impact is given off in the form of heat and sound. Because the front of the car acts as a cushion, it slows the time it takes for the car to come to a complete stop; this will apply less of a force on you. The graph above illustrates how force changes as time changes with the use of crumple zones. The better the crumple zone, the more effective it is in increasing the time of a collision.†Collapsible steering wheels also aid in ones survival chance in the event of a collision. It reduces the risk of impaling the driver by folding away when force is acted on it. When the body is thrown forward by the effect of inertia, the steering wheel becomes less of a deadly obstacle. Luggage restraining barriers help, in the event of a crash, by stopping the  luggage that will move forward because of its own inertia. http://www.explainthatstuff.com/airbags.htmlAccessed 1/7/09http://www.k12.nf.ca/gc/Science/Physics3204/Projects2003/SlotA/ProjectA2/index1.htmAccessed 2/7/09http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/newton/airbags.htmlAccessed 2/7/09http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/mmedia/newtlaws/cci.htmlAccessed 4/7/09http://www.scienceperspectives.com/Sir-Isaac-and-Seat-Belts.htmAccessed 4/5/09http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/HFrame.htmlAccessed 4/5/09http://www.howstuffworks.com/airbag.htmAccessed 4/5/09http://midsouthrescue.org/id7.htmlAccessed 4/5/09http://www.gm.com/experience/education/9-12/technology/physics.jspAccessed 4/5/09http://www.k12.nf.ca/gc/Science/Physics3204/Projects2003/SlotA/ProjectA2/link20.htm4/5/09http://www.k12.nf.ca/gc/Science/Physics3204/Projects2003/SlotA/ProjectA2/link20.htmAccessed 4/5/09http://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-crumple-zones-work-7112.htmlAccessed 4/5/09http://auto.howstuffworks.com/crumple-zone.htmAccessed 4/5/0 9

LPN -BS TRANSITION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LPN -BS TRANSITION - Essay Example There are three basic aspects that can be used to distinguish between these two levels of nurses: education, the amount of salary paid and their responsibilities. In terms of education, each level requires different educational approach from the other. Even though both RNs and LPN requires basic BS, the duration for completing the program differs. In United States of America, most institutions take between one and one and half years to train LPN nurse. On the other hand, it takes from two to three years to train RN nurse. Upon completion of the training, the RN nurse graduate with professional nursing degree while LPN nurse graduate with practical nursing degree. Therefore, both training results to an award of BS but it is clear that RN is advance more than LPN. The reason why RN training takes more time as compared to LPN training in universities and colleges is that RN has additional courses such as community health, biology as well as administrative courses (Sherri, Jean, Kathryn, & Katherine, 2012). Consequently, any student with an intention of becoming a RN must devote an additional studying time as opposed to LPNs. However, there are differences between RN and LPNs as far as responsibilities are concerned. Broadly, the RN supervises the operations of the LPNs. It is the responsibility of the LPNs to undertake the basic nursing roles of reporting to both the RN and doctor. In particularly, LPNs perform the following roles: administration of the basic nursing care, supporting the patients both socially and physically, reporting to supervisor any changes in a patient, and passing any information regarding treatment to a patient. It should be noted that LPNs are not allowed to perform certain duties such as initiation of IV in certain jurisdictions. Depending on the state, there are different strategies and legislations that

Service Project Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Service Project - Case Study Example The primary contact for the conference was Maurice Hoover. As far as planning of the conference most of it was already completed when we arrived, after we were informed as to where the various sessions would take place, all that was required was to help direct people and attend the lectures, which was quite interesting and very helpful. We also assisted in setting up chairs and other minor logistical issues. At the end we did help clean up and we left at around 5:30. The name of the conference where our service project took place was called "Equanimity: Maintaining Balance." The conference itself gave me much insight into the nature of Buddhism at least as it is practiced in the United States. Our classroom preparation on Buddhism gave me some familiarity with some of the terms they used, such as the sangha and the types of meditation. I was also aware, through my previous classroom experience, the deference paid to the leaders of the conference. In this reflection paper I will try to explain what I learned during this service project not only about Buddhism as a religion, but the way in which religion is understood and practiced and I hope to explain what I learned about myself as well. One thing I immediately learned is how different religions adjust to the culture in which they are practiced. For example one of the speakers the Venerable Bhante Kassapa Bhikkhu engages in a number of practices such as Sunday Services, and youth ministry. He is also the Chaplain to Buddhist inmates at a federal corrections facility in Texas. Furthermore, in the description of Kassapa they refer at one point to his close collaboration with an abbot. All of these practices and institutions are primarily Western in character, the abbot is a position within a Christian church and many of the other elements are also Christian in nature. This blending of religious practices is a common feature of religions, and in fact most religions undergo some level of syncretism. What is interesting in this case, is how seamlessly the blending of various practices seemed to be. One might expect that certain religions, especially ones that derive from a completely different tradition to be resistant t o these kinds of formal structures from other religious traditions. However, they have managed to do so and still recognize the authenticity of their traditions. The central concept during the panel discussion was about Equanimity. The Pali term for this is called Upekkha. Upekkha or Equanimity is very important concept in Buddhism for both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions. It is one of the Four Enlightened States and serves as a stepping stone to reach nirvana or sati. It is a part of the spiritual development process and is often considered the last-identified. In English equanimity refers to one's ability to be undisturbed mentally during periods of stress or trouble. This is not unrelated to the way upekkha is understood in Buddhism. It is important to note and as was emphasized during the panel

Brief Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Brief - Assignment Example The plaintiff argued that the defendant negligently injured the recurrent laryngeal nerve. However, the defendant claimed that the laryngeal was not severed. The rule of identifying negligence in this case is through expert opinion. The doctors argued that the method used by the plaintiff was appropriate. The trial court directed verdict on the defendant on specific negligence issue. The plaintiff illustrated the applicability of res ipsa loqoitur doctrine. The defendant claimed that the second foundation fact involving res ipsa loqoitur is absent due to the fact that it doesn’t lie in laymen’s common knowledge. This is in reference to injury occurring during cervical fusion surgery, because of inadequate care. The trial court refused to submit it; there wasn’t basis for the application of res ipsa loqoitur. The defendant claimed that there was adequate evidence on the issue of trespass or battery. She alleges that four vertebrae were fused, together with the defendant’s assurances and inability to warn her on related hazards. However, the defendant claimed that the defendant was given adequate advice on her health problem and the scope of the corrective surgery. The trial court found out that the trespass theory in this case is inadequate to the applicability to the surgery in which the patient did not consent. The trial court maintained the motion of the defendant for directed verdict. The trial court held that there was insufficient evidence to defend jury consideration of the case based on the four pleaded theories. Will the defendant continue the treatment of the patient, given that other medical services providers have refused to accept plaintiff as their patient? Is the refusal by hospitals like Herrick and Alta Bates to offer medical services to the patient amount to refusal to offer emergency medical services? A medical practitioner, who has provided the patient with adequate notice of termination, is not obliged to

How does the electronic medium require different tactics for effective Essay

How does the electronic medium require different tactics for effective marketing communications - Essay Example Electronic marketing establishes new avenues for junior businesses favouring them since only a modest budgeting is required to ensure that access to possible customers is made easier. Compared to any other form of marketing, e-marketing has a wider scope, enabling the marketers to interact with consumers in extensive range of manner. (Phelps et al., 2004) E-marketing offers an opportunity to provide quality and adequate information on a variety of services and products of a company or a business enterprise. Besides offering product and service information e-marketing elaborates on management, public relations, sales and customer care. Furthermore, e-marketing facilities exchange of information directly between customers and companies. This can be seen as two way communication system that enhances quality improvement through customer feedback and evaluation. E-marketing has an impressive degree of immediacy, it takes only a few minutes to express interest of purchase through simple step of clicking button to make an order or book a ticket. In other words electronic marketing is in operation all day the whole week and throughout year. There is little time difference between posting information about a product and consumers expressing interest of purchase (Phelps et al., 2004). Electronic marketing has proven to be effective and a good marketing strategy since many people has access to internet today than before. Electronic medium requires a number of tactics to enhance effective marketing communication (Martin, 2010). In order to realize the goal of electronic marketing which is having access to a larger number of customers in the shortest time possible as well as initiating difficult free business transactions, there are several tactics of marketing employed. Search engine marketing is one of the most frequently used electronic marketing. These search engines include

Public Sector Concerns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public Sector Concerns - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the debate on categorizing user fees, user charges, and license charges as taxes has been well established within the society, moving to the court level in some states for clarification. It is important to note that as much as both the taxes and these user charges and fees contribute towards the government revenue, there is a significant difference between them. One of the most significant differences between the user charges and taxes is that the user charges are paid primarily for the sake of regulating the welfare of the target population or in other cases; they are charged a fee for services of the same value, offered by the government. Contrary to this, the taxes are mainly aimed at raising the government revenue and do not involve a direct reciprocating service in respect to the value of the amount paid. Another important point to note is that user charges are mainly required of the particular individuals that a government servic e is directed to, or towards off-setting an incurred regulatory burden. This is unlike tax that is uniformly applied to the district in which it implemented. Lastly, the funds gained from the user charges are directed towards catering for the cost of regulation or the cost of service providence for the involved fee payer. On the other hand, funds gained from general taxes are directed towards the benefit of the public.

Dante in 2011 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dante in 2011 - Essay Example This blogger uses the same religious structure as Dante, creating circles of hell which are like the circles in Inferno, but rather than filling them with tortures that would be terrible with anyone he shows how hard it is to live with an atheist in society today. Dante’s structure, based on hell, purgatory and heaven are not a big barrier to people in our modern/postmodern world liking Dante, nor do they make it out of date. Everyone still knows what hell, heaven and so on are, and can understand the structure very well, and as this blogger shows can still make very funny content that fits into that religious structure. The first non-religious blogger talks about the fact that he thinks the Divine Comedy is â€Å"the most overrated book in history.† He says that he understands the political situation of the time, understands why people are where he put them and so on. But the problem is that understanding is not the same thing as actually getting the cleverness of work . When someone has to explain a joke to you, you can understand why it is funny after they have explained it but that does not mean that you will ever actually find it funny. For instance, if someone from Italy today made a joke about the prime minister of Italy suffering from the punishment of having to run from one beautiful naked woman to another for all eternity without ever being able to reach them, but still having to make each one of the beautiful women a senator, an Italian person would probably think it was clever or funny because they would know that the Italian Prime Minister has a habit of sleeping with models and making them senators, and would understand immediately why the punishment was clever. To someone from Mexico, however, the joke would not make any sense at first, and once it was explained the person could still understand it but would no longer find it funny or clever. So even though the blogger â€Å"gets it† because he kind of understands the politica l situation and has read short explanations of how each punishment fit each person, he will never truly understand how clever it would have been to the people who lived in Dante’s time. A good example of this problem can be found in Purgatio. In Purgatory, Dante meets a person, Omberto Aldobrandeschi, who is overly proud and that is why he was put in purgatory. He was very proud because of his descent, saying â€Å"I was Italian, son of a great Tuscan: / My father was Guiglielmo Aldobrandesco† (Canto XI). For someone today to understand why this is funny or representative, they would have to understand things like the reputation of both Italians and Tuscans, and how much pride they took in their parents and family. Even once this is explained, someone can â€Å"get it† without it truly seeming clever still. If, however, one wrote a book today about Paris Hilton being in purgatory because she was too proud of her family history, everyone today would understand it and think it is clever immediately. This type of satire just does not age well, and one must accept while reading it that they will never truly enjoy it in

Legal, Policy and Ethical Aspects of Prescribing Essay

Legal, Policy and Ethical Aspects of Prescribing - Essay Example Are nursing laws, ethics, and policies solely sufficient in making medical prescriptions? This paper will therefore analyze nursing laws, ethics, and policies about prescription. The paper will also evaluate the significance of each factor in making of prescription by nurses. Just like any other practice or professional, nursing is subject to the law. The constitution is the supreme law of a country and this indicate that nursing practice is under the country’s constitution (Adams, 2004). This implies that a self-sufficient nurse needs to know the laws that pertain to prescription. A prescription nurse is also expected to have a good knowledge on over the counter medicine (OTC) and the implication of the concerning them (Graham, 1995). For instance, while administering OTC a nurse should ensure that the prescription order from the doctor matches with the label of dispensed medicine. The rightful user of the medicine should be identified. Correct dosage administered concerning age, body mass index, dosage form, symptoms among other factors. Correct timing should be done. Failure to adhere to one or several of these guidelines leads to legal or ethical implications. A nurse is expected to have knowledge of the statutory law that apply to prescription (Funigiello, 2005). Accurate or lawful prescription of drugs requires the knowledge of manufacturer’s guidance literature. Making prescriptions in accordance to this literature can protect prescription nurses from the consequences of the law following a complaint from a patient According to the law, misappropriate prescription can be judged as a criminal law or civil case under the law of torts (Bodenheimer, & Grumbach, 2005). Nurses have the obligation of patient education whereby supportive guidelines on the correct use of prescribed medication is given. The guidance or briefing should be accurate and should consider enlightening the user on potential dangers. The patient or user of the medication sho uld be able to understand all the instruction. When the patient is suspected to be lacking in understanding of the information given, then their guardians should be briefed instead. This helps the nurse to avoid most torts, which may arise from wrongful prescription guidelines (Purtilo, 2005). It is also a requirement of the law that a patient’s medical and prescription information be held with confidentiality to avoid ethical issues. Although the laws provide the nurse with important guidelines in the nursing practice, the law is bound on internal hospital environment matter implying the need for more analytic principles. Nursing ethics are the accepted codes of conduct in the nursing profession, these codes of conduct provide nurses with important guidelines required during prescription. Nursing ethics are based on human conscience that is based on accepted wrongs and rights (Borkowski, 2005). A nurse is therefore expected to make prescription decisions based on the expecte d outcome of a patient. The committee of safety on medicine (CSM) provide guidelines to nurses that fit well as nursing ethics. Most of the times, cases of disability, mental health complications, critical illnesses and age of patients will demand careful approach especially at times of emergency. Nurses should act at the best interest of the patient whilst following legal and ethical guidelines at the same time. Nursing ethics also provide practising nurse with the