Dr. Cecilia Heydl-Cortínez       

                                                                        Fall 2003

 

Spanish 131

 

Ibero-American Civilization

 

Room 203 ISTC

Phone: 771- 4151

Office: T 8:30, M-W 11-12

and by appointment

Email: chc5@psu.edu

Web page: http://www.yk.psu.edu/~chc5/

 

 

 

Required textbooks:

Chasteen, John. Born in Blood and Fire ,  New York: Norton & Company, 2001. Esmeralda Santiago. When I was Puerto Rican  (a novel) New York: Random House, 1994

 

 

The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the Civilization of Latin America and the Caribbean. During the course, students will receive a general overview of Latin American countries and their people. We will focus on the history, demography, politics, as well as social, cultural, and religious aspects of this region. Since the area is so vast, it would be impossible to cover every country in one semester. Besides doing a historical overview of the region we will focus on some of the major countries: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, the Hispanics in the US, and students will be giving individual and group presentations on various topics and countries of their choice. Our discussions on issues of national identity, economic development, internal migration, the role of indigenous people and the treatment of women, among others, will contribute to a better understanding of the American continent.

 

The format of the class includes lecturing, group discussion on the novel, student PowerPoint presentations, discussion of reading assignments, quizzes, two exams, and a group project. Students will be responsible for daily reading assignments and are expected to come to class prepared for active participation. You may be absent three class hours (one week) during the semester. After that, 1% point will be taken off per absence from your final grade. Late arrivals and early departures may also count as absences; you are expected to come to class on time and stay for the whole period.

 There are no make-ups of quizzes or exams without a documented excuse (doctor’s note). I also need you to leave a message on my voice mail or email before a missed exam. It is of utmost importance that you are not absent the day of your individual Power Point presentation or Group project. If you’re ill and I know ahead of time I can make changes to the class schedule but you’re not allowed to just not show up when you’re responsible for a presentation. If that happens, and you do not have a documented excuse, you will receive an F for that assignment.

 

 

Grade distribution:

 

Class participation                    25%

Quizzes                                    15%

Exam 1                         15%

Power Point presentation          10%

Exam 2                         15%    

Group project                           20%

 

 

Class participation (25%):

This grade will be based on how much and how well you participate in class (asking, answering questions, making comments, joining in class discussion, watching the assigned videos and participating with your reactions to these videos). Please make sure that all cell phones and/or pagers are turned off during class. Throughout the semester I expect students to pay attention to current events in Latin America and the Hispanic population in the US. You will choose a recent 2-3 page article (from the last twelve months), summarize it, and add your personal reactions. This should be a one-page typed summary which will be handed in three weeks before the end of the semester.  Possible sources for your current event article are: The New York Times (click on International section and then select Americas), Time magazine, Newsweek, local newspapers, or search an article using ProQuest database. This is a way of keeping abreast of issues related to the region and culture we are studying. Class participation also includes writing a one-page typed summary of a reading assignment from our textbook Born in Blood and Fire.  Students will write a summary of main ideas and concepts, (this can be in bullet form), include reactions to the reading and any questions the reading may have provoked. Students will be graded on the accuracy of the summary, as well as their thoughtful questions and reactions (5% of grade).  After discussion we will be posting these summaries in our class folder on the  I: drive, so as to help prepare for quizzes and exams. In groups of two or three, students will watch a Spanish subtitled movie (list provided) outside of class and make a similar one-page typed summary, plus reactions and comments. Movie reaction and current article are worth 5% of grade. All students will be keeping a reflective journal for every class where you will record interesting facts/social issues you have learnt that session (either discussion about the novel, readings, videos, or presentations) and how these may have affected you personally. You should write at least 75 words per week but may write more if you’re inspired by something in particular. You will be handing in your journal for the first half of the semester during the sixth week and the second half is due at end of the semester (5% of grade). If you’re planning to email written assignments, send them to me ahead of time and make sure you keep hard copies. Technology failures do not excuse late work (e.g my email attachment got lost, I sent it to the wrong address, I sent a blank attachment, my email wasn’t working, etc). It is the student’s responsibility to make sure assignments are done and handed in on time.

 

 

Quizzes (15%):

There are three announced quizzes in the syllabus but I may give short unannounced quizzes on the reading assignment for the day. Quiz 3 at the end of the semester will include the material presented in group projects. Quizzes include identifications, filling in the blanks and brief questions.

 

Exams (30%):

Exam 1 will include all material taught up to that point ( Quiz 1, readings, class presentations, videos, lectures, discussions on the novel). Exam 2 will include material studied and presented after Exam 1. There is no final exam in this course. The format for exams is similar to the one used for quizzes but will also include a map and essay questions.

 

PowerPoint presentation (10%):

Students will give a presentation to the class using PowerPoint. They will choose a topic from a list provided and give a 7-10 minute presentation on that subject. Each presentation should have at least eleven slides, but may have more. Students are responsible for researching their topic, summarizing the important aspects and “teach” that topic to the class. The last slide should include a bibliography (books, journal articles and websites used). These presentations will be put in the class folder on the I: drive. You need to make sure you have tested your presentation on a computer on campus before class. At times students have brought a corrupt disk or the computer can’t read their CD. You want to avoid this frustration the day you’ll be giving your presentation. The best for you is to save your PowerPoint ahead of time in the Temp folder of our Span 131 folder on the class list. If it’s saved in the Temp folder you will have access to it from our classroom computer. You can’t do this from home; you need to be in one of the computer labs. Images take up a lot of memory so it’s recommended that you either use a zip disk or burn a CD. Your floppy disk may run out of memory when you’re half way through preparing slides for your presentation.

 

Group project (20%):

In groups of 5, students will choose a country we haven't covered, a region, or new aspects of a country already discussed in class. A list of possible areas will be provided. Each student will select an interesting aspect of that country (major political or artistic figure, social issues, economic issues, historical period, education, etc.) and present it to the class. As an example, some topics related to Cuba could include: Che Guevara, Castro and Cuban politics, African influence in the dance and music from Cuba, Nicolas Guillén (famous Afro-Cuban poet), José Martí (revolutionary leader and writer), Santería (religion in Cuba), the US embargo, its effects and recent attitudes in Congress related to trade with Cuba. I will give students other suggestions related to the country or region chosen. Once again, PowerPoint would be a useful tool for this kind of group presentation. You need at least five bibliographical sources, and these must include books, journal articles and websites. Each group will be giving an oral class presentation of approximately 30 minutes (this means that each student's portion should be around 6 minutes long). The showing of brief segments of a video related to the topic is allowed. Each group will also be handing in a group paper to me (about four-typed pages per student, not including title or bibliography, total of 20 pages). The last page should list the bibliographical sources used by the group. Students need to make sure they include proper citation of their sources in the text following MLA style. Students will be handing in an outline with sources by the seventh week of classes, and the first typed draft is due on Nov.11. There will be a critique by peers and I will provide suggestions for the final version due the first week of December. The oral presentation to the class will be a summarized version of this group paper, highlighting the major aspects of the research, including any pertinent images.

 

Grading scale:

 

93% and above

A

 

80-82.9%

B-

90-92.9%

A-

 

75-79.9%

C+

87-89.9%

B+

 

70-74.9%

C

83-86.9%

B

 

60-69.9%

D

 

 

 

Academic integrity:

In accordance with Penn State University Senate Policy 49-20, plagiarism, cheating, submitting work of another person, and other forms of academic dishonesty may lead to lowered course grades, failure of the course or more severe measures, depending on judgment of the gravity of the individual case. See http://www.psu.edu/dept/oue/aappm/G-9.html

Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated in this course. Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, submitting work of another person. No credit will be given to any oral or written assignment not produced individually, or totally/partially taken from an external source such as published information (book, web page, etc.), produced by a translation program or work done by another person. You need to make sure that proper citation of sources is included in your paper.

 

 

University Policy on Disabilities: Any student with a documented disability who requires individualized accommodations is encouraged to make an appointment to see me or to meet with staff in the Learning Center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tentative Syllabus

 

 

DATE

ASSIGNMENT

Sept. 4

Introduction to the course. Map of Latin American countries.

Students choose presentation topics

Sept. 9

Chap. 1 & 2 First Stop, the Present, Encounter (p. 15-48)

 

Sept. 11

 

Read When I was Puerto Rican (to page 33)

Chap. 2 (48-61)

Sept. 16

 

Read novel (to page 60)

Chap. 3 Colonial Crucible (63-91)

Sept. 18

 

Small group discussion on novel

Chap. 4 (93-117)

Review

Sept. 23

 

* Quiz *

Chap. 5  Post Colonial Blues (p.119-134)

Sept. 25

 

Chap. 5 (134-147)

Read to page 104 of novel.

Hand in names of group project members and tentative topics

Sept. 30

 

Chap. 6 Progress (p.149-165)

Read to page 130 of novel.

 

Oct. 2

 

Chap. 6 (165-177)

Next novel til page 151

Discussion and Review

Oct. 7

 

* *  EXAM * *

Oct. 9

 

Hand in journal. Read til page 185 of novel.

Presentations

Oct. 14

 

Chap. 7 Neocolonialism (179-211)

Oct. 16

 

Chap. 8 Nationalism (213-243)

Oct. 21

 

Groups hand in outline and list of sources for Group Project.

Read til page 209 of novel

Oct. 23

 

Chap. 9 Revolution (245-273)

Oct. 28

 

Presentations

Read til page 240 of novel

Oct. 30

 

Presentations.

Review. Group project discussion

Nov. 4

 

* Quiz *

Chap. 10 Reaction (275-287)

Nov. 6

 

Chap. 10 (287- 305)

Finish reading the novel. Discussion

Nov. 11

 

First group project draft is due. Should be typed and handed in to instructor. Draft critique by peers in class

Chap. 11 (307-321)

Nov. 13

 

Presentations

Nov. 18

 

Small group discussion

Review for exam

Nov. 20

 

* * EXAM * *

Nov. 25

 

Presentations. Small group discussion on project

Current event summary is due

Spanish subtitled film reaction is due.

Nov. 27

 

No classes  THANKSGIVING

Dec. 2

 

Group project presentations. All groups hand in typed final draft including bibliography.

Dec. 4

 

Group presentations.

Dec. 9

 

Group presentations

Dec. 11

 

* Quiz 3 *   Hand in second part of journal