This assignment is required if you intend to take AP/IB Spanish 5 or Spanish Seminar (6th year) starting fall of 2011. As an advanced Spanish student, you will be asked to sign a Spanish Only pledge at the start of next year's class. In the interest of preparing you to be an active participant in the IB/AP Spanish 5/Spanish Seminar class, you will be required to do the following summer assignments to help build your reading and listening comprehension skills and to inspire you to use your Spanish from day one.

Assignment #1 

Choose five articles from Spanish-speaking newspapers or magazines, either online or hard copy. The length of each article should be a minimum of six paragraphs, not counting paragraphs of one or two sentences. Here is an example of the length:

http://www.elsiglo.com/mensual/2010/12/14/contenido/310978.asp

Each article should be on a different theme. For example, technology, health, entertainment, immigration, travel, politics, environment, etc. Print or photocopy each article. Complete the provided worksheet, which includes a list of five to ten key vocabulary words per article. In September, you will be asked to choose one of your articles to present orally to the class, using no more than your limited list of key words. You will also be asked to turn in to your teacher a folder with all five articles and your completed worksheets.

Useful websites for locating articles online include:

http://www.spanishnewyork.com/spanish-newspapers-in-spanish.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo

AP/IB Spanish 5/Spanish Seminar Summer Assignment Worksheet (Assignment #1)

Assignment #2

For practice listening to a variety of native Spanish speakers talking about a broad range of everyday topics, such as their favorite movies, hobbies, and interests, etc. go to:

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/siteindex.php

On the opening page of the site, you will find a pull-down window option for a variety of speech levels. They range from beginner to superior level. If you scroll all the way over to the right after you select a topic to listen to, you will find vocabulary help, useful phrases, grammar notes, and podcast options should you want to transfer the interviews to your iPod! As you watch the short videos and listen to different people discussing the same topic, in the upper right-hand corner you will see three boxes, S E N, which give you the option of reading the interview in Spanish, English, or Not at all. Try practicing first without reading any text. Feel free to watch and listen to as many of the interviews as you like as much as you like. It's fun! Minimally, listen to five different interviews of five different native speakers at the Advanced Level. Keep a record of which interviews you listen to on the provided worksheet. Include this worksheet in the folder with the assignment #1 material. Now it's your turn! Choose one of the topics at the Intermediate or Advanced Level to discuss with the class without notes in September.

Other fun and useful websites which give you the opportunity to practice your Spanish year round are:

http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo (the premise of this site is learning Spanish through pop culture. It's full of music, videos, puzzles, movie trailers, current events, etc.)
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/index.php (has a wealth of interactive grammar review exercises, culture capsules, reading comprehension, and vocabulary-building exercises)

AP/IB Spanish 5/Spanish Seminar Summer Assignment Worksheet (Assignment #2)

If you should have any questions about this assignment, please contact Jane Dunlap, Head of Language Department at jane_dunlap@georgeschool.org.