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Study Guide

Field 169: Bilingual Education Assessment—Spanish
Presentational Writing: Spanish

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Review the character selector tutorial video opens in a new window and the special character palette available for the BEA—Spanish test:

Spanish special character options

Directions for Presentational Writing: Spanish Assignment

For the Presentational Writing section of the test, you will write an essay in Spanish in response to an assignment.

Read the assignment carefully before you begin to write. Think about how you will organize your essay. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your essay. Your final essay must be typed in the on-screen response box presented with the assignment.

Please note that special characters (such as letters with accents or other diacritical marks) cannot be entered using the keyboard, but are available for insertion in the on-screen response box. To access these characters, click on the ash symbol button that appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the mouse, double-click on the character you wish to include in your response, or click on the character and then select "Insert." The character will be inserted where the cursor is positioned in the response box.

Your response will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Your response will be evaluated on the criteria above, not on the position you take. Your response must be written in your own words.

You may use the erasable notebooklet provided to take notes; however, you will be scored only on the response that you type in the response box for the assignment.

Select the Next button to continue.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Assignments

In this study guide, two sample assignments are provided to assist an examinee in preparing for the actual test. On the actual test, there will be one Presentational Writing: Spanish assignment to which the examinee will have to provide a response.

Competency 0006 
Presentational Writing: Spanish

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Assignment 1

Use the information below to complete the assignment that follows.

In your opinion, can online teaching and learning be used for class instruction in a useful and effective way?

In response to the question above, write a well-organized and coherent essay in Spanish for an audience of educated adults. In your essay, you must:

Your response must be written in your own words.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 1

Note: The sample strong response for the presentational writing assignment is an example of a response that a candidate might write. While the sample response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills, it could contain typical errors that candidates may produce in composing an essay in Spanish. Please see the rationale following the response for more details.

Sin duda, la enseñanza y el aprendizaje virtual se pueden utilizar de manera útil y efectiva en las escuelas. No hay límite para la información y los recursos que puedo encontrar en varios idiomas. La información digital me permite compartir conceptos en diferentes idiomas con mis alumnos. Esto hace que el aprendizaje esté disponible para todos los estudiantes de una manera efectiva.

Como maestro, utilizo en mis clases las diversas tecnologías de la escuela. Como resultado, veo cómo aumenta la participación de los estudiantes, ya que pueden compartir su trabajo con sus compañeros y mantener datos y guardar todos los cambios para usar después. Además de esto, puedo adaptar la enseñanza a los estilos de aprendizaje de mis alumnos. Por lo general, incluyo en mis clases videos digitales, música o blogs que mis estudiantes disfrutan explorando individualmente o en grupos. Muchas veces, los estudiantes traen nuevos recursos para compartir conmigo cuando les encanta el tema.

También me gusta la conveniencia de dar pruebas virtuales. Me permite una forma efectiva de dar comentarios inmediatos a los estudiantes. Puedo averiguar enseguida dónde hay problemas. Los estudiantes se benefician porque sus conceptos erróneos se aclaran de inmediato.

Como se ha visto, los recursos en línea contribuyen a que la educación sea más accesible para todos los estudiantes y ayuda a su desarrollo bilingüe. Esto también preparará a los estudiantes con las habilidades digitales para entrar y evaluar la información dentro y fuera de la escuela.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Rationale for Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 1

The response is a well-organized and coherent essay that effectively communicates clear ideas and develops a logical conclusion. The candidate establishes a clear position on the issue presented in the question by stating that online teaching and learning can be used in a useful way in schools.

The candidate effectively supports the established position with at least two of his or her own relevant ideas and examples. As a teacher, the writer utilizes various technologies at school. This increases student participation and motivation as the teacher can include online videos and other online tools as well as provide immediate feedback when giving quizzes online.

The response effectively uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and/or idiomatic language. It also effectively uses a broad range of appropriate grammatical constructions and time frames. Minor errors do not interfere with comprehensibility.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Assignment 2

Use the information below to complete the assignment that follows.

In your opinion, can students' life experiences be used to facilitate student learning?

In response to the question above, write a well-organized and coherent essay in Spanish for an audience of educated adults. In your essay, you must:

Your response must be written in your own words.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 2

Note: The sample strong response for the presentational writing assignment is an example of a response that a candidate might write. While the sample response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills, it could contain typical errors that candidates may produce in composing an essay in Spanish. Please see the rationale following the response for more details.

Considero que las experiencias personales de los estudiantes pueden ser utilizadas para facilitar el aprendizaje.

Como estudiante, me sentía especial y valorado cuando mis maestros se referían a los eventos de mi vida y los usaban para construir nuevos temas de aprendizaje. Recuerdo mi sensación de alegría cuando mis profesores hablaban de algo de mi propia vida en las clases. A mis compañeros de clase también les encantaba cuando las discusiones en clase incluían ejemplos de sus experiencias personales. Esto nos ayudó a establecer conexiones sólidas que facilitaron el aprendizaje. Por lo tanto, como maestro/a, trato de aprender sobre los antecedentes culturales y las experiencias de mis alumnos para utilizarlos cuando enseño nuevos conceptos.

Por ejemplo, en Estudios Sociales, muestro mapas murales de los países de origen de mis alumnos. Cuando los estudiantes aprenden sobre la geografía de los Estados Unidos y localizan en el mapa ríos o montañas, les doy la oportunidad de compartir sobre la geografía de su país de origen o su patrimonio señalando recursos naturales en el mapa mural de su país. A veces discutimos las diferencias y similitudes entre los diferentes países. Esto aumenta la participación en clase y permite que todos tengan la oportunidad de compartir puntos de vista en un ambiente culturalmente inclusivo.

Para concluir, es evidente que la integración de las experiencias de vida y los antecedentes de los estudiantes facilita el aprendizaje y crea un ambiente culturalmente inclusivo en el aula donde todos se sienten relevantes, respetados y valorados.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Rationale for Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 2

The response is a well-organized and coherent essay that effectively communicates clear ideas and develops a logical conclusion. The candidate establishes a clear position on the issue presented in the question by stating that students’ life experiences can be used to facilitate learning.

The candidate effectively supports the established position with at least two of his or her own relevant ideas and examples. As a student, the writer and classmates felt special when the teachers referred to something from their lives in classes. As a teacher, the writer displays maps of the home countries of the students in class. This increases student participation and allows students to share their diverse points of view.

The response effectively uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and/or idiomatic language. It also effectively uses a broad range of appropriate grammatical constructions and time frames. Minor errors do not interfere with comprehensibility.

Performance Characteristics for Presentational Writing: Spanish Assignment

The following characteristics guide the scoring of the response to the Presentational Writing: Spanish assignment.

APPROPRIATENESS The extent to which the response is an essay written in the candidate's own words, states an opinion on the issue presented in the question, and uses language, style, and sociocultural conventions appropriate for the assignment (task, purpose, audience, and context or situation)
SUPPORT The extent to which the response supports and explains the stated opinion with the candidate's own relevant ideas or examples
ORGANIZATION The extent to which the response is a well-organized and coherent essay that communicates clear ideas, develops a logical conclusion, and uses cohesive devices to connect sentences
GRAMMAR The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, and mechanics (i.e., spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and diacritical marks)
VOCABULARY The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and/or idiomatic language

Score Scale for Presentational Writing: Spanish Assignment

A score will be assigned to the response to the Presentational Writing: Spanish assignment according to the following score scale.

Score Point Score Point Description
4 The "4" response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills.
3 The "3" response demonstrates generally effective presentational writing skills.
2 The "2" response demonstrates partially effective presentational writing skills.
1 The "1" response demonstrates ineffective presentational writing skills.
U The response is unscorable because it is merely a repetition of the assignment, not related to the assignment, not primarily in the target language, or not of sufficient length to score.
B There is no response to the assignment.