French 1 (Period 2)

Welcome to the Foreign Language program here at Mira Costa High School.  These courses are designed to introduce you to spoken and written French or Spanish and to French and Francophone or Spanish and Hispanophone cultures.  You need two years of Foreign Language to graduate from High School and to apply to most universities.  Most Universities expect you to complete at least three years and accept only grades of C or higher. All language programs at Mira Costa offer the option of taking the AP exam at the end of your FL career here.

Requirements:

1. ATTENDANCE:  these courses move at a brisk pace.  A new topic with associated grammar and vocabulary will be introduced at each session.  Every hour will bring something that you cannot afford to miss.  In addition, your class participation and classwork grades are directly linked to your attendance.  Don’t be absent.  Don’t be tardy.  Absences can add up quickly and keeping up is always easier than catching up.

2. CLASSWORK / PARTICIPATION:  Much of your grade will come from the points you earn doing oral and written work in class.  Your comprehension and performance can only improve with practice, so we will practice at each session.  Keep the conversations going as long as you can and take risks with language. 

3. HOMEWORK:  homework will be assigned at each session and monitored or collected at the next.  Often, homework will be used in our classwork, not doing it, will cost you not only homework points, but classwork points as well.  You must do your homework. 

4. MATERIALS:  bring your materials each day.
5. Textbook, covered with a brown paper bag.
6. Dedicated standard size spiral notebook, NOT a composition book, for use only in this class. This will be collected and reviewed periodically. More on this later.
7. Loose leaf paper and a pocket folder for handouts and work to be turned in at the end of class.
8. Two black or blue ink pens and/or pencils and erasers for assignments, and a red pen for correcting and marking your work. (Four color pens are awesome)
9. Positive Attitude, I know you can’t always have one, but do your best. 

Grading:  You will be graded on a points system.  Though the value of assignments will vary, in general, homework and classwork assignments are worth about 5 points daily.  Various projects and assignments will be worth more.  Mini Quizzes are worth 5 points and lesson quizzes are worth10 points each.  Tests are worth 20 points and Midterm and Final Exams are worth 20% of the final grade. 

The Mira Costa HS grading scale applies.

Late work:  'Credit no credit' assignments turned in after the due date will be accepted on a case by case basis.  There is no guarantee that late work will be accepted.  Any work submitted after the due date will be given a low priority, and will be assessed and recorded at the convenience of the instructor.  

Graded assignments and assessments that are submitted on time, will generally be afforded the opportunity for resubmission for higher grades.  Assignments turned in late are not awarded this consideration.  The grade earned is final.  Again, the assessment of late work will take lower priority to current assignments and will be graded and recorded at the instructor's convenience, and subject to the instructor's judgement.

How to be successful in this class. 

It’s simple, Follow The Rules:  You are of course expected to follow the rules of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, Mira Costa High and of common decency.  In addition you must follow Meyer’s rules.  Luckily, they are simple.  Ne m’embêtez pas!  Don’t bug me.  If you are bugging me, I’ll let you know.  Once.  Then, you will stop.  If you continue to bug me, you’ll be asked to leave or will be otherwise dealt with.  Maybe that’s vague, so here are a few guidelines.

1. Respect all people.  Their heritage, gender, sexual orientation, beliefs and ideas.  I will not tolerate slurs of any kind or in any context in this classroom. Period.  Use one and you will leave.

2. Do your own work.  Cheating of any kind will not be tolerated.  Plagiarism us the use of other people’s ideas or words without acknowledgement of the source.  This is forbidden, and I take it personally.  Students who are found to be cheating will receive a zero on the assignment in question and will not be permitted to do ANY extra credit or points saving until the next grading period.

3. Use class time effectively.  We have little time together each week and a lot to learn.  Find something constructive to do with your time here.  Don’t waste it.  Start the warm up right away.  Stay on task and keep others on task.  Keep your cell phone and other devices silenced and hidden away.  If your electronics interrupt learning, you will lose them until a parent comes to pick them up, at my convenience.  Do not groom, gossip or otherwise embarrass yourself in this classroom. 

4. Follow all instructions.  Remember, I am your guide and fearless leader.  Most of the time, I really do know what I’m doing.  Do not talk back to me, defy me or otherwise disrespect me, your classmates, or yourself.

5. Take advantage of opportunities to improve your grade. I want you to be successful. If you do poorly on a quiz, take it home, or bring it to office hours, and go over it with your red pen, explaining the correct answers. Then come take it again during office hours. Yes, the same quiz. Yes, for full credit. Your corrections and notes are your ticket to retake any quiz you do poorly on. “Poorly” is a subjective term. That could mean a D to some people it could mean missing one to another. Fine. Retake the quiz.

Do your work. All of it. Even if you think you’re doing a lame job or making a mistake, do it. It is a lot easier for me to see what you don’t understand when I see your mistakes. We can always work it out. Just do it.

Do extra credit. Extra credit is available to you, so long as you don’t cheat or do something awful in class. Even then, it is available to you in the next grading period. Extra credit is just that: EXTRA. It is not a deal. You don’t come to me and say, “I want ten points, gimme a worksheet or something.” You should find ways to expand on what we are learning, atch a movie in the target language, read your horoscope, change your little sister’s Disney Princess DVDs language setting to the target language, write up a paragraph about your experience and woo hoo, points! How many? I don’t know until I see what you did! Don’t ask me what you should do unless you bring me some ideas. If you’re absent, and lose in class skills points, do extra credit, if you screw up an assignment, do extra credit. If you just can’t get a decent score on that quiz no matter how many times you take it, do extra credit. And do extra credit if you’re feeling just fine. Put it in the bank. Just do it, do it consistently, and the points will come.

Tutor or get tutoring. Work with a study group. Don’t go it alone! Language is for communicating, not dissecting. Find some friends and work together! You can even use office hours.

Speaking of office hours, come see me. Bring your questions.

So… there, you have it. Come to class. Come ready to learn.  Be on time.  Bring your materials, take good notes, review your notes, participate, do your work, take pride in it, study, learn from your mistakes, help others out, have an awesome time learning something new. It’s really not that hard. 

This year you will master intricacies of the French Language by learning and applying new skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing.  You will also learn about the customs and cultures of France and the French speaking world.  I look forward to working with you and to a productive year!