GENERAL INFORMATION
French at Ukiah High School
Mr. Porter
707-463-5253 ext. 1403 http://www.kentporter.net

GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The three guiding principles behind the procedures in this class are....

•Respect for the importance of quality education to all of our futures.
•Respect for the right of every student to learn without disruption.
•Respect for the duty of the teacher to teach as best he can.

LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Learning a foreign language involves speaking, listening to, reading, and writing that language, but it also involves the study of the cultures of the language. We will do all five in French class. Foreign language learning is a steady, day-by-day experience. It requires diligence and a willingness to be patient. Because of the way human beings acquire language skills, studying a foreign language is a cumulative process. In other words, you build on top of previously-studied material to learn new material. It is therefore important for you to keep up with the rest of the class and to get extra help when you fall behind. Much of your French class will be conducted in French. You should become a part of the “French atmosphere” by trying to speak in French whenever possible while you are in the classroom. If you are actively engaged in learning (you do the written work, you pay attention in class, you participate by speaking in French), your efforts will be rewarded through your new ability to communicate in a foreign language.

NOTEBOOK REQUIREMENT AND DAILY CLASSROOM MATERIALS
You are required to keep an organized notebook containing paper, a section for daily activities, notes, handouts, homework, tests, and vocabulary. The notebook may be a part of a larger binder that contains notes and materials from your other classes. You must bring your notebook and a pen to class every day. From time to time, there will be surprise notebook checks to make sure that you are, indeed, bringing your materials to class. Your textbooks may be left at home, as there are extra texts available to use while we are in class. In order to encourage good organizational skills, students will be permitted to use their notebooks on final exams at the end of the first and second semesters. (All other tests will generally be closed book.)

CLASS WEB SITE AND YOUR TEXTBOOK SUPERSITES
In addition to the more traditional learning resources of textbooks, dictionaries, workbooks, readers, and worksheets, we will use the Internet to help you learn French. In fact, French is the second most- used language on the World Wide Web (right after English), so you have a wealth of materials available to you. As a student at Ukiah High School, you are entitled to participate in our school computer network. Each student will be issued a log-in code and password upon completion of the necessary paperwork to allow access. We will use the network fairly often in class. Over the last nine years, I have developed and maintained a fairly comprehensive web site to help you learn. The home page is at http://www.kentporter.net.

The textbooks for French One, Two, and Three have what are called "Supersites". Students in those levels will be required to complete numerous graded, on-line activities throughout the year on those Supersites. Each textbook issued the students will have an accompanying Supersite access code. All students in French One through APFour will have access to another on-line series of web-based activities called "Quia". If you don't have a high-speed internet connection at home, you will have to arrange your schedule to use a computer either here on campus, at a friend's house, or at the county library so that you can complete the required on-line activities.

HOMEWORK
You will have approximately 15-30 minutes of French homework each school night. Homework assignments are given to supplement and reinforce the material that we study in class. Most of your homework assignments will be from the on-line supersites. Failure to follow the guidelines below will result in no credit for an assignment:
•On-line activities must be completed by 11:59 p.m. of the due-date found on the Supersite or the Quia site.
•Written homework must be properly headed with name, date and assignment title in the upper right-hand corner.
•Homework must be legible, written on white, lined binder paper and not crumpled or frayed.

TESTS
A test, quiz or essay will be given about once per week. Most of the tests and quizzes are given on the Quia internet site. Some tests and essays will be longer (such as unit tests) and, consequently, they will be worth two to four grades in the grade book.

DAILY ROUTINE
When you arrive to class, you should take a textbook off of the shelf as you come in the door. Each class day begins with a warm-up activity. Check on the board to see what that activity is and get started on it right away. You must be in your seat when the tardy bell rings. Class activities will vary from day to day. Sometimes we will have a test, other times I will introduce new material, and still other times we will do practice and reinforcement activities. We will spend approximately one day per week in the computer lab, usually on the supersites or on Quia.

GRADING POLICY
Your quarter and semester grades will be based upon your performance in this class as outlined below:

50%---written and oral tests, essays, and on-line total points achieved
25%---written homework and number of on-line activities completed
25%---oral proficiency and effort

At the end of each quarter, a computer grading program averages the above elements into your final grade through the following scale:

A 92%
A- 90%
B+ 88%
B 82%
B- 80%
C+ 78%
C 72%
C- 70%
D+ 68%
D 62%
D- 60%
F Below 60%

Grades are not rounded up. For example, 89.9% is a B+, not an A-.

When you receive a letter grade for an assignment, test, quiz, essay, oral presentation, etc., I will have assigned the following percentage values for that grade in the computer:

A 100%
A- 91%
B+ 89%
B 87%
B- 81%
C+ 79%
C 77%
C- 71%
D+ 69%
D 67%
D- 61%
F 59%
(25% for assignments, tests, quizzes, essays, oral presentations, etc. that are not attempted)

Most written homework assignments will receive a grade of one point per completed exercise. If, for example, your assignment is to complete exercises A through D on pages 19 and 20, and you complete A through C, you will receive three points out of a possible four.

The oral proficiency and effort element of your grade is subjective and will be based on regular attendance, your use of French in class, your pronunciation, and my impression of how hard you are trying.

ATTENDANCE, ABSENCES, TARDINESS AND MAKE-UP WORK
Regular and prompt attendance is a crucial element in this class. Oral practice is important in learning the language, and numerous absences will necessarily affect your grade. Should you choose not to attend, you are responsible for all work assigned during your absence. Homework will be due within two days of your return to class. Make-up tests and quizzes must be taken within one week after your absence, and such make-up must be scheduled with the teacher. Make-up work will not be permitted for students who are truant. Long term assignments and projects will not be accepted beyond the due-date. You must speak to me to make special arrangements for extended absences. As for tardiness, you are allowed to arrive a couple of minutes late without an excuse only once per quarter. If you arrive late and do not have a signed excuse from a school employee, do not interrupt class because of your failure to arrive on time. Simply fill out a tardy slip and place it in the tardy/bathroom pass box on top of the front cabinet. An unexcused tardy beyond the one allowed per quarter will result in lunchtime detention. Lunch passes will be revoked for two weeks for those who have unexcused tardies a second time in a quarter. The same conditions for tardy passes will be applied for bathroom passes, except that you will be allowed two passes per quarter without penalty. For bathroom passes, please complete them, have me sign them, then turn them in to the tardy/bathroom pass box on top of the front cabinet when you return to class.

STUDENT BEHAVIOR
I expect students to demonstrate respect for one another and for the learning environment. Bigoted or sexist comments, harassment, cheating, unruly behavior that interrupts the learning of others or damage to school property or the property of others will not be tolerated in this class. No food or beverages are allowed, except water. Cell phones or other electronic devices (cd players, iPods, other MP3 players) are also not permitted to be used in class. They must be turned off before coming into the room (powered off, not just on vibrate), and they must be kept out of sight throughout the period. If an infraction of the rule occurs, I will confiscate cell phones, etc. and keep them until Friday after school of the week during which the infraction occurs. If the infraction occurs on a Friday, I will keep the device until the following Friday after school. A second infraction will result in a defiance referral to the office. Any problem behavior may result in assignment of detentions, revocation of lunch passes, suspension to "time-out", referrals to the discipline office, telephone calls to parents, parent conferences, or expulsion from class.