Indiana University

Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Spring 2016
P 135/491
09:05A-09:55A MTWR BH 241
Instructor: Vania Castro
Office: GISB 2145
I.

E-mail: vacastro@indiana.edu
Office hours: TWR 2:00-300 PM or by appointment

Course Material

1. Ponto de Encontro. Portuguese as a World Language. 2nd. Ed. 2013. Anna M.

Klobucka, Clmence M.C. Jout-Pastr, Patrcia Isabel Sobral, Malia Luci De Biaji
Moreira, and Amlia P. Hutchinson.
Ponto de encontro book website:
My portugueseLab: http://mylabs.px.pearsoned.com/Pegasus/frmLogin.aspx?logout=1&s=3
Ponto de Encontro website for practice:
http://wps.prenhall.com/wl_klobucka_ponto_1/70/17987/4604752.cw/index.html
Course ID: CRSKL8T-10034847
2. Portuguese dictionary, grammar and verb conjugation: http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/dlpo.aspx
II.
Objectives: Students will be learning basic grammatical structures of the
Portuguese language, both in written and oral skills (writing, reading, speaking and
listening), through a dynamic process of exposure to the language.

Leaning outcomes: by the end of this course students should be able to:
Talk about oneself and ones immediate vicinity
Give advice and tell people what to do
Complete a transaction (such as ordering food, making reservations, etc.)
Express doubt, emotion, and desires
Ask relevant questions about a given topic
Utilize the present, past and future tenses
Understand the difference between indicative and subjunctive moods
Be familiarized with structures expressing likes and dislikes as well as comparisons
Learn basic facts about the Portuguese-speaking countries.
Identify basic cultural products, practices, and perspectives from Portuguese-speaking
countries with focus on Brazil.
III.
Use of Portuguese: Classes will be conducted in Portuguese from day one and
students are encouraged to bring questions about any difficulties with homework
activities at any time within the class or during the office hours specified above. Written
questions can be e-mailed to the instructor at any time.

IV.

Grade Components:

Quizzes (4) 15 %

Oral exam: 10%

Homework : 10 %

Participation: 7.5 %

In-class writing assignment (2): 10%

Attendance: 7.5%

Midterm exam: 15%

Final exam: 25 %
V.
A+
A
A-

Grading Scale:
97 100
93 96
90 92

B+
B
B-

87 89
83 86
80 82

C+
C
C-

77 79
73 76
70 72

D+
D
D-

67 69
63 66
60 62

00 59

Written Exams: (40%) Students will take a midterm exam and a final exam. The Final Exam is
not entirely comprehensive but may include grammar structures learned during the first part of
course. Both exams will contain listening sections, readings, writing activities and
comprehension-based exercises on Portuguese structure. Only under the most extreme
circumstances will we provide a make-up exam. In order to obtain permission to take any
make-up exam, you must contact your instructor before the exam date (if you know ahead of
time that you will be absent), or no later than 24 hours after the missed exam. You must
present written, verifiable proof of an urgent reason (such as illness or family emergency)
for missing the exam to the instructor. For example, in case of illness, you will need a
doctors note indicating an office visit on the day of the quiz or from an earlier visit, which
indicates the need to miss school on the date of the assignment. Any make up exam needs to be
approved by the course supervisor.
The Final Exam is scheduled for Friday, May 6, from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. It is your responsibility to
ensure that you will be present for this exam. Only under the most extreme circumstances will a
make-up exam be provided. Pre-existing travel plans will not be considered a reasonable cause for
missing the Final Exam. If you know in advance of a serious conflict, you should make an
appointment to see Vania Castro, Portuguese Courses Supervisor, in SGIS 2145 (or e-mail
vacastro@indiana.edu ) to make your petition. In the case of a last-minute emergency, you must be
in touch with the Supervisor within 12 hours of the missed exam.
Oral exam: (10%) You will be examined as you interact, in Portuguese, in groups of three or, if
necessary, in groups of two or four (randomly selected by your instructor). One or two days are
set aside for the oral exams. Do not be late or you may miss your opportunity to participate with
your group. The group will be assigned a topic to discuss. You should make an effort to discuss
the ideas included on the sheet you are given during the course of the conversation with your
partners. Note, however, that you will not be graded on whether or not you finish the steps; you
are graded on the type of information you contribute to the interaction, and the way in which this
information is relayed. It is very important that you speak Portuguese and work in Portuguese

with the other group members.

Quizzes: There will be a total of 4 quizzes given during the semester. Quizzes are given in the
beginning of the class and are designed to test grammar, vocabulary and listening
comprehension. There will be no make-up quizzes unless approved by the course supervisor.
In-class writing assignments (ICW): (10%) Students will write for 30 minutes. The
assignments will be graded in terms of content, correct use of language and vocabulary, and
the general organization of ideas.
Homework: (15%) The instructor will assign homework after each class meeting and will grade
it daily. Homework will be due by 11:59 pm of the night before the next class meeting.
Homework will consist of practice exercises from the Brazilian Student Activities Manual
(BSAMO) through Pearsons MyPortugueseLab, and/or any other homework assigned by the
instructor. Students are responsible for consulting the course syllabus daily and completing
tasks on the assignment calendar at
http://mylabs.px.pearsoned.com/Pegasus/frmLogin.aspx?logout=1&s=3 daily.
Attendance: (7.5%) Since regular exposure to Portuguese is absolutely critical for developing
communicative abilities in the language, class attendance is mandatory. Any absence represents a
valuable classroom experience lost, which no written work can replace. However, it is understood
that certain circumstances (illness, family emergencies, funerals, job interviews, etc.) may prevent
class attendance. Therefore, you will be allowed a total of four (4) absences, which will not count
against your attendance grade. These are not free days; they should be used wisely. Students who
miss no more than four days will be well rewarded: those students communicative skills will
undoubtedly improve, and their grades will be credited with the full 7.5% allotted for attendance.
However, any absences in excess of those four, regardless of the reason, will result in a lowering
of the attendance grade. When the 7.5% allotted to attendance is used up (after a total of 14
absences), then the final course grade will be lowered by 1 point for each additional absence.
Students with such an excessive number of absences should consider withdrawing from the
course and taking it when circumstances allow regular class attendance.
Note: Absences for the following reasons will not affect your attendance grade and will not be
applied towards your four allowed absences: 1) mandatory participation in university-sponsored
activities, such as intercollegiate athletic competitions, artistic performances, R.O.T.C. functions,
academic field trips; 2) participation in religious observances. Students missing class due to a
religious observance can find the officially-approved accommodation form by going to the Dean
of Faculties website (http://www.indiana.edu/~deanfac/holidays.html). For any of the abovementioned activities, official documentation is required and ideally it should be submitted to your
instructor by the end of the second week of the semester.
Late arrivals and/or early departures disrupt the flow of class, for both instructor and
fellow students. You are expected to arrive on time. Repeated tardiness will result in a lower
attendance grade and a lower participation grade. Three (3) unexcused late arrivals or early
departures will count as one (1) absence.
Participation (7.5%): Being prepared for and participating in class activities is one of the

most important means of attaining the goals of this course. Your involvement in classroom
discussions and activities will be evaluated by your instructor on an on-going basis. You may
consult with your instructor at any time for feedback on your participation and for suggestions
on how it might be improved.
VI.

Tentative Schedule of Classes*

01/11

Course Introduction.
Preliminar: Apresentaes; Saudaes, Despedidas, pp. 4-7

01/12

01/14

Identificao e descrio de pessoas; pp. 10-12

O que h na sala de aula?Onde que est? pp.13-15
Os nmeros 0-99, Os meses do ano e os dias da semana
As horas, Expresses teis na sala de aula.
Lio 1: A universidade. Subject pronouns.

01/18
01/19
01/20
01/21

No class. MLK day

Some regular AR verbs; Question Words.
Lio 2: Entre amigos.
Verbos SER and ESTAR with adjectives;

01/25
01/26
01/27

Possessive adjectives. Horizontes

Lio 3: Diverses populares and A comida
Present tense ER, IR verbs, Present tense of IR; Expressing future actions.
Present tense of TER; Numbers above 100; Usos de POR and PARA.
Quiz 1; Horizontes

01/13

01/28
02/01
02/02
02/03
02/04
02/08
02/09

Assignme
nts
Myportug
ueselab.co
m

QUIZ 1

Lio 4: A famlia e os parentes. Para conversar

Present tense: stem changing verbs; Present tense of dizer, fazer, trazer,
sair and pr; Adverbs
Faz/H with expressions of time; Mais um passo (preterit of regular verbs
and of IR), Horizontes
Lio 5: A casa e os mveis e as tarefas domsticas

02/10
02/11

Present Progressive; Expressions with ter, estar com and ficar com.
Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; Present tense of dar, ler, ver and
vir.
Saber and conhecer; Some reflexive verbs and pronouns.
Quiz 2; Horizontes

02/15
02/16
02/17
02/18

Lio 6: A roupa e as compras;

Preterit tense, Direct object nouns and pronouns; Mais um passo.
Lio 7: O tempo e os passatempos
Direct object nouns and pronouns (cont.); Indirect object pronouns

QUIZ 2

02/22
02/23
02/24
02/25

Some irregular preterits; The imperfect; The preterit and the imperfect.
H and faz meaning ago; Horizontes
ICW-1
Review for midterm exam

02/29
03/01
03/02
03/03

Midterm Exam (Preliminar lio 7)

Lio 8: Festas e tradies; Outras comemoraes
Comparisons of inequality; Comparisons of equality and the superlative.
Pronouns after prepositions; Reflexive verbs and pronouns; Horizontes.

03/07
03/08
03/09
03/10

Lio 9: O trabalho e os negcios; A entrevista

Se as impersonal subject; More on the preterit and imperfect
Giving instructions: Commands (The Imperative)
Quiz 3; Horizontes

ICW 1

Midterm

Quiz 3

Spring Break
03/21
03/22
03/23
03/24

Lio 10: A comida.

The Present Subjunctive to express wishes and hopes.
The Present Subjunctive with expressions of doubt.
More on commands; Horizontes.

03/28
03/29
03/30

03/31

Lio 11: A Sade e os Mdicos;

The Present Subjunctive with expressions of emotions.
The Equivalent of the English Lets; Relative Pronouns
Por and Para; Horizontes

04/04
04/05
04/06
04/07

In-class writing 2
Lio 12: As frias e as viagens; Expressing affirmation and negation
The indicative and the subjunctive in adjective clauses.
The indicative and the subjunctive in adverbial clauses.

04/11
04/12
04/13
04/14

The past subjunctive.

Practice for oral exam; Horizontes
Oral exams
Oral exams

Oral exam
Oral exam

04/18
04/19
04/20
04/21

Lio 13: O Meio Ambiente

The future tense and the conditional
The future subjunctive
Quiz 4

Quiz 4

04/25
04/26
04/27
04/28

Diminutives e augmentatives (pp. 550-551);

Review for final exam
Review for final exam
Review for final exam

ICW 2

Final Exam: 8:00-10:00 a.m., Fri., May 6

* This is a tentative schedule. The instructor may make changes to it in order to accommodate the class needs.
Changes will be announced in class and/or by e-mail. Students are expected to check their e-mail daily for
important class assignments and/or announcements.

VII

Final Observations:

Academic Integrity: All written work you turn in must be your own. Remember that
representing someone elses work as your own is an infraction of academic integrity and as
such may result in serious academic sanctions.
Incompletes: Only under the most extreme and exceptional circumstances will the
Department of Spanish and Portuguese consider a petition for an incomplete. Please note that
a low grade in the course is not sufficient rationale to assign an Incomplete.
Evaluation criteria for assignments and participation are available at the course website.
*Last day for students to drop a course or withdraw from all courses with an automatic
grade of W is Sunday, March 13, 2016
Final Exam: Friday, May 6, from 8:00 to 10:00 AM. Place TBA
Portuguese Coffee Hour (Cafezinho): Students are encouraged to attend the Portuguese
Coffee Hour, which occurs every Friday at the IMU Gallery (by the Starbucks Cafe) from 4
to 6 PM. The first cafezinho meeting is scheduled for Friday, January 22. See you there !

Course Supervisor: Vania Castro (e-mail: vacastro@indiana.edu)

Office: School of Global and International Studies (SGIS), room 2145
Office number: 812-855-6691
Office hours: E-mail course supervisor to schedule an appointment