AP Central^®

AP^® Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature

Dear AP Spanish Teacher:

As you know first-hand, teaching an AP course demands considerable time, effort, and dedication. The College Board applauds you for your commitment to providing rigorous, college-level coursework to your students, and we hope you find the information in this newsletter helpful.

In response to educators' concerns about the amount of time needed to administer AP Spanish Language exams, the paragraph completion (fill-ins) section (with and without root words) will be eliminated from the May 2009 exam. The elimination of paragraph completion reduces the length of Section II by 15 minutes to 1 hour and 25 minutes. The weight of the interpersonal writing section will increase to 10 percent. The weight of the other exam sections remains unchanged.

Revisions have been made to the 2009–2011 AP Spanish Course Description (.pdf/3MB) to reflect these changes to the Section II exam format and weightings.

AP Spanish Literature

The AP Spanish Literature required reading list for the May 2009 exam can be found on AP Spanish Literature Course Home Page and in the 2009-2011 AP Spanish Course Description (.pdf/3MB).

The AP Program is now accepting applications for AP Spanish teachers to serve as Readers at the annual AP Spanish Reading to be held June 10–16, 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The AP Reading is an energizing opportunity—an intensive collegial exchange with over 10,000 highly skilled AP teachers and college faculty. AP Readers consistently tell us that the time spent reading, discussing, and evaluating student work alongside accomplished educators at the Reading represents the best professional development experience of their teaching careers.

Readers are provided an honorarium of $1,555 and their travel expenses, lodging, and meals are reimbursed. Readers who teach at the high school level also receive certificates awarding professional development hours and Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for their participation in the AP Reading.

Click here to apply today!

Visit the AP Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature course home pages for a variety of free resources related to teaching AP Spanish, including:

From the College Board's online store, AP Spanish teachers can purchase the following materials:

The College Board offers IACET-certified professional development in hundreds of locations across the United States and around the world. All participants in AP Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature workshops for experienced teachers will receive materials focused on specific instructional themes. Currently, "Special Focus: Teaching Listening Comprehension" is available for Spanish Language and "Special Focus: Reading-The Road to Success for Language Learners" is available for Spanish Literature.

To find an AP Spanish Language and Spanish Literature or related Pre-AP strategies workshop in your area, visit Institutes & Workshops. The College Board also provides professional development opportunities for international teachers worldwide. Visit International Professional Development Events for more information.

July 15–19, 2009, San Antonio, TX

The AP Annual Conference is the largest gathering of the AP and Pre-AP communities, bringing together thousands of AP teachers from around the world to engage, inspire, and promote innovation in our schools. Help make the AP Annual Conference an even more valuable professional development experience by submitting a session proposal today.

Administrators at your school are responsible for renewing any courses that were authorized last year through the AP Course Audit process and are being offered again this year. If your course was authorized in 2007–08, and you are teaching the course in 2008–09 but it has yet to be renewed, alert your school administrators to this information. If you are new to teaching the AP course at your school, and haven't yet submitted your course audit materials, you must do so no later than January 31, 2009.

The online, publicly-accessible 2008–2009 AP Course Ledger, in which all of your school's authorized courses appear, will become available on November 1, 2008.

Every five to seven years, the College Board reviews the content of AP courses and exams to ensure their continued alignment with the standards and expectations of colleges and universities, which in turn grant credit for qualifying AP scores. At times in the AP Program's history, this work has resulted in changes to content of a course or an exam.

Currently, the suite of AP science, history, and world language courses is undergoing such a review. The College Board believes that this effort will generate a number of significant benefits to AP teachers and students, including the development and release of:

The Curriculum Framework for your course will be finalized over the next several months. This material and other information will be released at least two years before the launch of any potential course changes. The AP Program looks forward to sharing with you information on the progress of this review as well as details as to when new resources will become available. Please check AP Central later this fall for more information. We look forward to hearing your responses to what we believe to be exciting new developments in the AP Program.