AP Central^®

AP^® Spanish Language and Spanish Literature

Dear AP Spanish Language and Spanish Literature Teacher:

We want to thank you again for all that you do to help your students be successful. AP students owe much to the expertise and commitment you bring to your classroom every day. As you prepare your students for this last half of the year and for the AP Exam in May, we wish you all the best, and hope you find the information in this newsletter helpful.

In response to educators' concerns about the amount of time needed to administer the AP Spanish Language Exam, the paragraph completion (fill-ins) section (with and without root words) will be eliminated as of the May 2009 exam administration. Currently, the time limit for Section II of the exam, which includes paragraph completion, is 1 hour and 40 minutes. 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.

The parts of the exam where spoken directions are recorded on the master CD will be in both English and Spanish. All directions printed in the students' exam booklets will be in English and Spanish.

Save the dates!

AP Spanish Literature

The new 2008 AP Spanish Literature Released Exam and its corresponding Packet of 10 will be available for purchase from the College Board Store in spring 2009.

AP Annual Conference 2009
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and Grand Hyatt, San Antonio, TX
July 15–19, 2009

Register Now for the 2009 AP Annual Conference and take advantage of the Early Bird Savings.
This conference is the centerpiece of the AP Program's professional development efforts. The AP Annual Conference is our annual opportunity to come together from across the world to share our experiences. Each year, more than 3,000 AP professionals attend, taking advantage of relevant and engaging sessions for teachers of all AP courses, including AP Spanish. The conference also offers sessions in Pre-AP^® strategies.

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

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 paid an honorarium of $1,555, provided with housing and meals, and reimbursed for travel expenses. 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.

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 immediately. 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 AP Course Ledger now includes courses authorized for the 2008–09 academic year.

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

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. Currently, the suite of AP science, history, and world language courses is undergoing such a review. The AP Program has conducted dozens of committee meetings, presentations, and conversations with educators in each discipline to determine how best to keep the AP courses and exams up to date and supportive of best practices.

AP teachers deserve much appreciation for participating in surveys, focus groups, and committee meetings that have helped define possible changes to AP courses and exams. Now our task is to listen to that feedback and to structure the launch of any changes so that we are focusing on the highest needs for change first, recognizing that it would not be wise to change all AP science, history, and world language courses in the exact same year, as doing so would limit our ability to focus resources and support on each subject area.

We will be ready by September 2009 to announce the 3–4 AP subjects that we'll be focusing on enhancing for the 2011–12 academic year. In September, the AP Program will also provide teachers with a wide array of information about how to structure the revised courses, what knowledge, skills, and abilities students will be expected to demonstrate on the AP Exam, and the types of professional development and instructional resources that will be available prior to the changes. We anticipate announcing several other courses' changes in September 2010 for a 2012–13 academic year implementation. As a matter of practice moving forward, the AP Program will announce any changes, updates, or enhancements to AP courses in the September two years preceding any changes taking effect.

The AP Program applauds the tremendous work classroom teachers do to create powerful curricula that prepare your students for placement and further university studies in your discipline, and we thank you for your ongoing contributions to AP's future.