Courses Taught
Mr. Herren is the senior Spanish Instructor at Fair Haven High School and teaches all of the upper level courses. For the academic years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 he also teaches a section of Spanish One as well.
Spanish Two): The second year of Spanish consists of a thorough review of all of the first year material, and a significant expansion of cultural, grammatical topics. Students completing Spanish Two will be able to have simple conversations about personal topics, family issues, common travel issues, etc.
Prerequisite: A grade of 75 in Spanish 1, or permission of instructor.
Spanish Three: The third year of Spanish focuses almost entirely on the cultural aspects of life and history in the Hispanic world. Units are topical and include Art, Humor, Legend, Land and Liberty, Death, etc. The course is a content-based one, in which the central focus of each unit is the cultural or human aspect, while grammatical topics are more incidental, and are introduced as needed as part of the larger content context. Film plays a central role in each of the units. The year ends with a research project and paper. Past topics have included the Spanish Civil War and the Chilean Dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Prerequisite: A grade of 75 in Spanish 2 and permission of instructor.
Spanish Four/Five (8th period. Combined for the 2008-2009 school year): The fourth and fifth years of Spanish at Fair Haven concentrate on developing reading and writing skills. In each year, students read a book-length Spanish text and maintain a blog of their reactions and commentary to the readings. We do conduct a limited review of grammatical topics throughout the year, but the focus is on perfecting an understanding of grammar in context, rather than as a separate topic. Books that have been used in the past include Gabriel García Márquez’ book length account of the true events which took place in Chile under the Pinochet regime, La aventura de Miguel Littín clandestino en Chile, the Argentine novel by Marco Denevi, Rosaura a las diez, and, El cartero de Neruda by Antonio Skármeta.
Prerequisite: A grade of 75 in Spanish 3 (or 4) and permission of instructor.
Latin American & Iberian Studies (4th period, 2008-2009): Tracing the formation and development of the Hispanic world, this course will examine the cultural origins of the Iberian Peninsula, Meso-America, Central America, and South America from pre-historical population migrations through post-Cold War Spain and Latin America. We will study the historical development of the region from first contact and conquest, through independence, reform and revolution, civil war, and US imperialism in the region. Assignments will consist of readings of primary and secondary source materials, film, and literature. Upper level Spanish students will read some materials in the original Spanish, while other students will be assigned translations and English-language alternatives.
Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing.