The essay must follow strictly the instructions below: • All the sentences must be written in the present tense, present/past progressive, preterit, and imperfect. No other verb tenses are permitted. • You must write in full sentences, with correct spellings, accent, punctuations, and capitalization. • All the numbers must be written in Spanish. • There will be four paragraphs in total: childhood and present, adolescence, past celebrations, and interculturality. The scope of writing of each paragraph is as follows: First paragraph: Childhood and present: • Write about place where you grew up: the country/state you were born, the location/s of the house/s you used to live; descriptions of your childhood house/s and its/their neighborhood/s; descriptions of the interior of the childhood house/s; your favorite area/s in the house/s and activities you used to do there; who and how each person in your family used to do household chore/s; the country/state you are living now; discuss why you like your present home/apartment/dormitory more or less than your childhood home Second paragraph: Adolescence: • Write about your adolescence: the year you started your high school; descriptions of your high school; activities you used to do with your friends in school; the name of your favorite class and the reason; the name of your favorite teacher and his/her descriptions; your favorite place/s to shop when you were in high school and what you used to buy there; your favorite place/s to shop in the present; your favorite clothing item/s you used to wear in high school; your favorite clothing item/s in the present; your sport/s or physical activity/ies you used to like to do on your free time; your sport/s or physical activity/ies you are doing in the present Third paragraph: Past celebrations: • Write about your past celebrations: pick three favorite festivities you used to celebrate when you were young, describe how and with whom you used to celebrate them; state your most memorable celebration and reason/s it was memorable; name your most favorite celebration/s in the present, how you celebrate it/them, and provide reason/s why it/they is/are your favorite
Last paragraph: interculturality: • Write about the comparisons of sports and celebrations in Spanish-speaking country/ies and yours: state favorite sports and famous athletes from Spanish-speaking countries and those from your own country; explore whether any of the team/athlete from Spanish-speaking country/ies came to your country to play with your nation’s team/athlete/s; discuss the characteristics of soccer fans in Spanish-speaking countries (p.259) and those of your nation’s favorite sport/s; select three of Mexican celebrations from pp.287–288 and compare how they are similar and different from your own culture; discuss whether you are interested in going to experience any celebration/s or sport event/s in Spanish-speaking country/ies and provide reason/s for your response Only the following grammar structures are permitted: From SPAN101 • Present tense of estar; estar + location; numbers 0–2,000,000; telling time; interrogative words; present tense of regular verbs–ar, –er, and –ir; articles and nouns, adjectives; present tense of ser; ser and estar with adjectives; possessive adjectives; gustar; present tense of ir and ir a + infinitive; present tense of hacer, poner, salir, traer, oír, saber, and conocer; some uses of por and para; present tense of stem-changing verbs (e→ie, o→ue, and e→i); reflexive verbs and pronouns; reciprocal verbs and pronouns; hace with expressions of time From SPAN102 • Present progressive; expressions with tener; direct object nouns and pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; adverbs; more about ser and estar; indirect object nouns and pronouns, gustar and similar verbs; preterit of regular verbs; preterit of ir and ser; preterit of reflexive verbs; preterit of –er, and –ir verbs whose stem ends in a vowel; preterit of stem- changing –ir verbs; pronouns after prepositions, some irregular preterits; the imperfect; the imperfect and the preterit; comparisons of inequality; comparisons of equality; the superlative
