The objective of this course is to perfect one’s Spanish with respect to the five basic skills: oral and written comprehension, oral and written expression, and knowledge about the socio-cultural aspects of Spanish. Students should be able to communicate in Spanish with a sufficient degree of fluency and confidence in everyday situations as well as more complicated situations. In this course, students will consolidate their degree of linguistic accuracy and precision, extend their linguistic resources (in particular their vocabulary), become aware of certain aspects related to pragmatic competence in Spanish, familiarize themselves with different types of discourse (journalistic, literary, and academic discourse), and diversify the types of communicative contexts that they can handle competently.
Student Profile
Students who enter this course will have mastered most of the outcomes of the Independent Abroad level as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. Among other characteristics, these students are able to converse at a rate of speed approaching normal conversation. They are creative, spontaneous and self-reliant as they solve problems, interpret texts, negotiate, express their opinions, likes and dislikes in the culture. Although they still make errors and experience communication breakdowns, these students tend to resolve these challenges on their own. Students who enter this level can already understand a variety of colloquial expressions and slang, and are also able to understand a wider variety of native speakers from different backgrounds.
Students entering this level can succeed in a range of moderately complex university courses designed for native speakers. Before registering, they should consult with the appropriate IES Abroad academic adviser on course selection.
By the end of this course, students will have started to acquire the subtlety of expression and control of complex structures that characterize Competent Abroad learners. However, Emerging Competent Abroad learners have only partial mastery of these structures and quite often resort to simpler and more direct modes of expression, particularly when negotiating linguistically difficult or unfamiliar situations. Emerging Competent Abroad speakers understand local cultural attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns well enough to make an informed choice about which cultural features they would like to adopt or need to adopt in order to live harmoniously in the local culture. There may, however, be some gaps and inconsistencies in their knowledge, and they lack the depth of understanding and sophistication of those who have spent more time living and working in the local context.
Prerequisites:
Completion of IES Abroad’s SP353 Independent outcomes, determined by placement exam.
Attendance policy:
Class attendance is compulsory. Each student will be allowed only three unexcused absences throughout the whole course. For each unexcused absence beyond this there will be a reduction in the final grade. Punctuality: Students who are late to class on a regular basis will also receive a reduction in their final grade.
Learning outcomes:
Students who are placed in this level should be capable of achieving the outcomes defined by the Independent Abroad level as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication.
By the end of the course students will be able to achieve the outcomes for Emerging Competent level as defined by the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. The key learning outcomes from the MAP are summarized below:
Intercultural Communication
A. Students will be able to describe and analyze key host cultures, subcultures, habits, norms, and behaviors in a variety of settings, and they will be aware of the risk that generalizations can lead to stereotypes.
B. Students will be able to reflect on and discuss the validity of their own cultural beliefs, behaviors, and values by contrasting and comparing them with the host cultures.
C. Students will demonstrate openness and acceptance of different beliefs and styles even when they do not agree with them.
D. Students will accept responsibility for their own learning by defining their linguistic goals and demonstrating independence in their exploration of the culture.
Listening
A. Students will be able to identify a fairly wide range of social and cultural dialects of the spoken language.
B. Students will be able to understand most native speakers and non-native experts and comprehend a wide range of moderately complex interactions.
Speaking
A. Students will be able to participate fully in most academic and social interactions using when appropriate complex language including slang, colloquial expressions, double meaning, and humor with increasing confidence.
B. Students will be able to make arguments to support hypotheses and opinions on almost any topic of their interest.
Reading
A. Students will be able to read and understand textbooks and academic articles for classes taught in the host language as well as a wide range of popular texts for enjoyment.
B. Students will be able to read and understand authentic materials including newspapers, advertisements, brochures, instruction manuals etc. on abstract topics with some assistance at times.
Writing
A. Students will be able to write for a wide range of native audiences and express themselves clearly and effectively.
B. Students will be able to write essays for classes incorporating aspects of appropriate academic style with some assistance at times.
Method of presentation:
At IES Abroad Salamanca Spanish is taught by means of an eclectic approach, integrating the main educational and methodological techniques from different second language teaching approaches such as the communicative method, the task-based approach and some elements from the cognitive method.
Taking advantage of students’ linguistic immersion, these courses meet their real communicative needs by creating communicative situations as authentic as possible inside the classroom. For this reason, these courses maximize work in groups and in pairs in order to give students the opportunity to practice and try out language in a safe context. Nonetheless, this communicative practice is carried out in an organized and ordered manner so that it substantially benefits the progress of students’ linguistic learning.
First of all, students are provided with certain linguistic input so that they can start practicing through a gradual sequence of controlled, semi-controlled and free activities with an increasing degree of difficulty. The purpose of these activities is to avoid that students get immersed in too difficult communicative situations without real linguistic and communicative motivations. Additionally, as another essential element for the communicative practice in the classroom, students receive an explicit linguistic teaching (grammatical, lexical, functional, pragmatic content), which is carried out in an inductive or deductive manner, depending on the case. In this sense, some advances of the cognitive approach are included, using a cognitive grammar whose content is also put into practice through input-processing activities, grammatical-awareness tasks and output activities.
Another essential aspect of Spanish courses at IES Abroad Salamanca is the promotion of intercultural competence as an effective bridge between the classroom and the reality outside the classroom. For this purpose, students will have to carry out a research project that makes them come into direct contact with the city of Salamanca. They will freely choose the topic of the research project, which must be related to Spanish culture, society or lifestyle. Research will consist of choosing a linguistic topic in order to investigate certain lexical and grammatical aspects as well as conversational resources, using bibliographical and on-line sources, interviews with native speakers and information about the city.
The IES Abroad Salamanca Moodle platform will be used to complement classroom sessions throughout the whole course: https://sala.elearning.iesabroad.org/login/index.php. The course syllabus, PowerPoint presentations and any other materials or information that students may need will be posted on this platform. All the IES Abroad Salamanca courses require the use of Moodle as an additional learning tool. Nevertheless, as Moodle can be adapted to any type of teaching styles and methodologies, instructors will use Moodle in the manner they consider the most appropriate for the course.
Required work and form of assessment:
■ Class participation (10%):
Active participation, interacting with the rest of the students and getting involved in class activities will be positively evaluated.
■ Language journal and written compositions (20%):
A language journal will be submitted weekly. Students will hand in one page per week. It will be submitted in class, sent by e-mail or posted on Moodle every Thursday. The following week the instructor will give the journals back to the students with corrections and/or comments.
Form of assessment for language journal and written compositions: Written tasks will be assessed by instructors in accordance with criteria of adequacy, discourse organization, lexical richness, grammatical correctness and thematic depth.
■ Exams (40%):
Throughout the course there will be two exams: a mid-term and a final exam. Each exam will include exercises of oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, reading comprehension and some other possible exercises to assess different course content. Established exam times cannot be modified.
-Mid-term exam: Around midterm ----------------20%
-Final exam: At the end of the course -------------20%
(The final exam will include all course content)
■ Research project (20%):
The research project incorporates field work where, in groups of two, three or four, students will have to carry out research about socio-cultural issues in Spain. The written version of the project will be submitted on the dates established by IES Abroad Salamanca.
-Research written paper: 10%
-Oral presentation: 10%
Individually, students must interview Spaniards between 20 and 25 years old about different aspects related to communicative behavior, culture, habits, social rules, politeness, etc. in accordance with a guidelines provided by the instructor. Afterwards, students must compare this information with the situation in the US.
■ Field study (10%):
The instructor and the students will carry out a field study activity related to course content outside the classroom for one or several sessions. This activity will use the city as a text, emphasizing the importance of learning a language in an immersion context and taking advantage of the cultural and historical richness of Salamanca.
Students must participate in this activity in the following way:
Previously preparing the readings or tasks indicated by the instructor.
Doing the corresponding tasks after the activity.
Actively participating during the activity and even presenting a part of the activity if necessary.
The field study activity will involve visiting markets, supermarkets and other places of economic and commercial interest.
content:
Week
Content
Assignments
Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)
Week 1
1. Functional: Resources to discuss non-verbal communication.
2. Grammatical: Discourse connectors for text coherence and cohesion.
3. Vocabulary: Conversational expressions.
4. Culture: Comprehend intercultural communication: differences between cultures.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 2
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to talk about one’s own personality and others’ personality (analysis and description of the personality).
2. Grammatical: Introduction to the grammar of Subjunctive.
3. Vocabulary: Describing personalities.
4. Culture: Every day life: behaviors, customs and social habits I.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 3
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to express likes, wishes and feelings.
2. Grammatical: Substantive sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Express likes, wishes and feelings.
4. Culture: Every day life: behaviors, customs and social habits II.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 4
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to assess information.
2. Grammatical: Pronouns. Impersonality and the “se”.
3. Vocabulary: Compound words.
4. Culture: Eating in Spain.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
- Field study activity preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 5
1. Functional: Analyze and produce academic discourse (the academic essay).
2. Grammatical: Relative sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Academic discourse.
4. Culture: Field study activity (outside the classroom).
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
- Written commentary on field study activity.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 6
*Mid term exam
Review for mid-term exam.
Mid-term exam.
- Review exercises for mid-term exam.
Week 7
1. Functional: Analyze and produce journalistic discourse (press articles and opinion pieces).
2. Grammatical: Concessive and conditional sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Journalistic language related to politics and legal issues.
4. Culture: Spanish socio-political system I.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 8
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to express opinion and debate.
2. Grammatical: Use of resources to tone down and intensify discourse.
3. Vocabulary: Sensory description.
4. Culture: Spanish socio-political system II.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 9
1. Functional: Forms of addressing people.
2. Grammatical: Prepositions.
3. Vocabulary: Spanish for specific purposes.
4. Culture: Folklore and music.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
-Submit research paper
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 10
1. Functional: Analyze and produce literary discourse (short stories and poetry).
2. Grammatical: Time, consecutive, cause and purpose sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Formal language.
4. Culture: Festivities, celebrations and traditions I.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 11
1. Functional: Difference between socio-linguistic registers and their use (formal, colloquial and vulgar registers).
2. Grammatical: -------------------
3. Vocabulary: Omnibus words.
4. Culture: Festivities, celebrations and traditions II.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 12
Review for final exam.
Reflections on novel.
- Submit paper on required reading.
dates
Final Exam (2 hours)
-oral
-written
Required readings:
- Dossier from the instructor.
- Novel or tale: Vicente Verdú. El planeta americano. Edit. Anagrama. Students must write a paper on this novel. Students will reflect on the author’s point of view and his relationship with the socio-cultural reality of students: convergences, differences, whether he has a distorted view of American reality or not, etc. Students will submit the paper in the last week of the course. During this week they will share their opinions to contrast the impressions that may be drawn from the reading.
- Other materials: Materials in Moodle.
Recommended readings:
Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española. Madrid: Santillana, 1996.
García Santos, J.F. Sintaxis del español. Nivel Perfeccionamiento. Madrid: Santillana, 1993.
Gómez Torrego, L. Manual de español correcto. Madrid: Arco/Libros, 1993.
Soler-Espiauba, D. Contenidos culturales en la enseñanza de español como 2/L. Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2006.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Javier de Santiago Guervós is a Professor of Spanish Language at the University of Salamanca and the Director of the MA in Teaching of Spanish as a Second Language at that university as well. He has also worked at the School of Legal Practice of Salamanca, teaching courses on Communication. He has lectured in courses and conferences in various Spanish and foreign universities. Among these, it is worth mentioning the following: Middlebury College (Vermont-USA), University of Utrecht (Holland), University of Skövde (Sweden), Università Ca' Foscari de Venezia (Italy), Universitá degli Studi de Milán (Italy), and also the Instituto Cervantes, the Menéndez Pelayo International University and Cursos Internacionales at the University of Salamanca (Advanced Hispanic Studies Courses, Courses for Teachers of Spanish, etc.). He has also participated in various national and international research projects, such as El léxico de la Constitución Española de 1978, Análisis del discurso oral y escrito en la modalidad castellano-leonesa, Aspectos de la fosilización en el aprendizaje/adquisición del español como segunda lengua: el buen aprendiz, El léxico disponible hispano, financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology; La formación inicial del profesorado de enseñanza secundaria en las universidades italianas y españolas: proyectos de reforma metodológica y didáctica del curriculum para el área de Humanidades, financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Università Ca' Foscari de Venezia; and Project of study of the electronic European Language Porfolio (ELP), a Minerva project financed by the European Union, in which Italian, German, Swedish and Cypriot universities participated.
Among his publications in the field of Spanish as a Second Language, it is worth mentioning Aprender Español Jugando (1997), Fonética Básica del Español para Anglohablantes (1997), Issues in Language Acquisition and Learning (1998), in collaboration with the Prof. Jesús Fernández González. He has also participated in the preparation of a Studentbook of Spanish as a Second Language, Español para todos (4 vol., 2002) for the editorial Atica (Brazil), and another one, Ahora sí (5 vol.), for Editora Educacional (Brazil) for all the pre-university levels. Likewise, he has participated in the preparation of the Diccionario Salamanca de la LenguaEspañola (Santillana, 1997). In other aspects of communication, it is worth mentioning: La lengua de los políticos (Lynx, 1996), Retórica y comunicación política (Cátedra, 2000), in collaboration with Antonio López Eire, El léxico político de la transición española (Universidad de Salamanca, 1992), Principios de comunicación persuasiva (Arco/Libros, 2005), El complemento (de régimen) preposicional (Arco/Libros 2007), Comentario de textos persuasivos (Arco/Libros, 2008), El Léxico disponible de Segovia (Fundación del Instituto castellano y Leonés de la lengua, 2008) as well as articles and conferences on these and other communication and linguistic aspects.
Spanish Language in Context: Emerging Competent Abroad I
The objective of this course is to perfect one’s Spanish with respect to the five basic skills: oral and written comprehension, oral and written expression, and knowledge about the socio-cultural aspects of Spanish. Students should be able to communicate in Spanish with a sufficient degree of fluency and confidence in everyday situations as well as more complicated situations. In this course, students will consolidate their degree of linguistic accuracy and precision, extend their linguistic resources (in particular their vocabulary), become aware of certain aspects related to pragmatic competence in Spanish, familiarize themselves with different types of discourse (journalistic, literary, and academic discourse), and diversify the types of communicative contexts that they can handle competently.
Student Profile
Students who enter this course will have mastered most of the outcomes of the Independent Abroad level as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. Among other characteristics, these students are able to converse at a rate of speed approaching normal conversation. They are creative, spontaneous and self-reliant as they solve problems, interpret texts, negotiate, express their opinions, likes and dislikes in the culture. Although they still make errors and experience communication breakdowns, these students tend to resolve these challenges on their own. Students who enter this level can already understand a variety of colloquial expressions and slang, and are also able to understand a wider variety of native speakers from different backgrounds.
Students entering this level can succeed in a range of moderately complex university courses designed for native speakers. Before registering, they should consult with the appropriate IES Abroad academic adviser on course selection.
By the end of this course, students will have started to acquire the subtlety of expression and control of complex structures that characterize Competent Abroad learners. However, Emerging Competent Abroad learners have only partial mastery of these structures and quite often resort to simpler and more direct modes of expression, particularly when negotiating linguistically difficult or unfamiliar situations. Emerging Competent Abroad speakers understand local cultural attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns well enough to make an informed choice about which cultural features they would like to adopt or need to adopt in order to live harmoniously in the local culture. There may, however, be some gaps and inconsistencies in their knowledge, and they lack the depth of understanding and sophistication of those who have spent more time living and working in the local context.
Completion of IES Abroad’s SP353 Independent outcomes, determined by placement exam.
Class attendance is compulsory. Each student will be allowed only three unexcused absences throughout the whole course. For each unexcused absence beyond this there will be a reduction in the final grade. Punctuality: Students who are late to class on a regular basis will also receive a reduction in their final grade.
Students who are placed in this level should be capable of achieving the outcomes defined by the Independent Abroad level as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication.
By the end of the course students will be able to achieve the outcomes for Emerging Competent level as defined by the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. The key learning outcomes from the MAP are summarized below:
A. Students will be able to describe and analyze key host cultures, subcultures, habits, norms, and behaviors in a variety of settings, and they will be aware of the risk that generalizations can lead to stereotypes.
B. Students will be able to reflect on and discuss the validity of their own cultural beliefs, behaviors, and values by contrasting and comparing them with the host cultures.
C. Students will demonstrate openness and acceptance of different beliefs and styles even when they do not agree with them.
D. Students will accept responsibility for their own learning by defining their linguistic goals and demonstrating independence in their exploration of the culture.
A. Students will be able to identify a fairly wide range of social and cultural dialects of the spoken language.
B. Students will be able to understand most native speakers and non-native experts and comprehend a wide range of moderately complex interactions.
A. Students will be able to participate fully in most academic and social interactions using when appropriate complex language including slang, colloquial expressions, double meaning, and humor with increasing confidence.
B. Students will be able to make arguments to support hypotheses and opinions on almost any topic of their interest.
A. Students will be able to read and understand textbooks and academic articles for classes taught in the host language as well as a wide range of popular texts for enjoyment.
B. Students will be able to read and understand authentic materials including newspapers, advertisements, brochures, instruction manuals etc. on abstract topics with some assistance at times.
A. Students will be able to write for a wide range of native audiences and express themselves clearly and effectively.
B. Students will be able to write essays for classes incorporating aspects of appropriate academic style with some assistance at times.
At IES Abroad Salamanca Spanish is taught by means of an eclectic approach, integrating the main educational and methodological techniques from different second language teaching approaches such as the communicative method, the task-based approach and some elements from the cognitive method.
Taking advantage of students’ linguistic immersion, these courses meet their real communicative needs by creating communicative situations as authentic as possible inside the classroom. For this reason, these courses maximize work in groups and in pairs in order to give students the opportunity to practice and try out language in a safe context. Nonetheless, this communicative practice is carried out in an organized and ordered manner so that it substantially benefits the progress of students’ linguistic learning.
First of all, students are provided with certain linguistic input so that they can start practicing through a gradual sequence of controlled, semi-controlled and free activities with an increasing degree of difficulty. The purpose of these activities is to avoid that students get immersed in too difficult communicative situations without real linguistic and communicative motivations. Additionally, as another essential element for the communicative practice in the classroom, students receive an explicit linguistic teaching (grammatical, lexical, functional, pragmatic content), which is carried out in an inductive or deductive manner, depending on the case. In this sense, some advances of the cognitive approach are included, using a cognitive grammar whose content is also put into practice through input-processing activities, grammatical-awareness tasks and output activities.
Another essential aspect of Spanish courses at IES Abroad Salamanca is the promotion of intercultural competence as an effective bridge between the classroom and the reality outside the classroom. For this purpose, students will have to carry out a research project that makes them come into direct contact with the city of Salamanca. They will freely choose the topic of the research project, which must be related to Spanish culture, society or lifestyle. Research will consist of choosing a linguistic topic in order to investigate certain lexical and grammatical aspects as well as conversational resources, using bibliographical and on-line sources, interviews with native speakers and information about the city.
The IES Abroad Salamanca Moodle platform will be used to complement classroom sessions throughout the whole course: https://sala.elearning.iesabroad.org/login/index.php. The course syllabus, PowerPoint presentations and any other materials or information that students may need will be posted on this platform. All the IES Abroad Salamanca courses require the use of Moodle as an additional learning tool. Nevertheless, as Moodle can be adapted to any type of teaching styles and methodologies, instructors will use Moodle in the manner they consider the most appropriate for the course.
■ Class participation (10%):
Active participation, interacting with the rest of the students and getting involved in class activities will be positively evaluated.
■ Language journal and written compositions (20%):
A language journal will be submitted weekly. Students will hand in one page per week. It will be submitted in class, sent by e-mail or posted on Moodle every Thursday. The following week the instructor will give the journals back to the students with corrections and/or comments.
Form of assessment for language journal and written compositions: Written tasks will be assessed by instructors in accordance with criteria of adequacy, discourse organization, lexical richness, grammatical correctness and thematic depth.
■ Exams (40%):
Throughout the course there will be two exams: a mid-term and a final exam. Each exam will include exercises of oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, reading comprehension and some other possible exercises to assess different course content. Established exam times cannot be modified.
-Mid-term exam: Around midterm ----------------20%
-Final exam: At the end of the course -------------20%
(The final exam will include all course content)
■ Research project (20%):
The research project incorporates field work where, in groups of two, three or four, students will have to carry out research about socio-cultural issues in Spain. The written version of the project will be submitted on the dates established by IES Abroad Salamanca.
-Research written paper: 10%
-Oral presentation: 10%
Individually, students must interview Spaniards between 20 and 25 years old about different aspects related to communicative behavior, culture, habits, social rules, politeness, etc. in accordance with a guidelines provided by the instructor. Afterwards, students must compare this information with the situation in the US.
■ Field study (10%):
The instructor and the students will carry out a field study activity related to course content outside the classroom for one or several sessions. This activity will use the city as a text, emphasizing the importance of learning a language in an immersion context and taking advantage of the cultural and historical richness of Salamanca.
Students must participate in this activity in the following way:
The field study activity will involve visiting markets, supermarkets and other places of economic and commercial interest.
Week
Content
Assignments
Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)
Week 1
1. Functional: Resources to discuss non-verbal communication.
2. Grammatical: Discourse connectors for text coherence and cohesion.
3. Vocabulary: Conversational expressions.
4. Culture: Comprehend intercultural communication: differences between cultures.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 2
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to talk about one’s own personality and others’ personality (analysis and description of the personality).
2. Grammatical: Introduction to the grammar of Subjunctive.
3. Vocabulary: Describing personalities.
4. Culture: Every day life: behaviors, customs and social habits I.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 3
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to express likes, wishes and feelings.
2. Grammatical: Substantive sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Express likes, wishes and feelings.
4. Culture: Every day life: behaviors, customs and social habits II.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 4
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to assess information.
2. Grammatical: Pronouns. Impersonality and the “se”.
3. Vocabulary: Compound words.
4. Culture: Eating in Spain.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
- Field study activity preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 5
1. Functional: Analyze and produce academic discourse (the academic essay).
2. Grammatical: Relative sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Academic discourse.
4. Culture: Field study activity (outside the classroom).
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
- Written commentary on field study activity.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 6
*Mid term exam
Review for mid-term exam.
Mid-term exam.
- Review exercises for mid-term exam.
Week 7
1. Functional: Analyze and produce journalistic discourse (press articles and opinion pieces).
2. Grammatical: Concessive and conditional sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Journalistic language related to politics and legal issues.
4. Culture: Spanish socio-political system I.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 8
1. Functional: Linguistic resources to express opinion and debate.
2. Grammatical: Use of resources to tone down and intensify discourse.
3. Vocabulary: Sensory description.
4. Culture: Spanish socio-political system II.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
- Research project preparation.
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 9
1. Functional: Forms of addressing people.
2. Grammatical: Prepositions.
3. Vocabulary: Spanish for specific purposes.
4. Culture: Folklore and music.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
-Submit research paper
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 10
1. Functional: Analyze and produce literary discourse (short stories and poetry).
2. Grammatical: Time, consecutive, cause and purpose sentences.
3. Vocabulary: Formal language.
4. Culture: Festivities, celebrations and traditions I.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 11
1. Functional: Difference between socio-linguistic registers and their use (formal, colloquial and vulgar registers).
2. Grammatical: -------------------
3. Vocabulary: Omnibus words.
4. Culture: Festivities, celebrations and traditions II.
- Grammar and vocabulary exercises from dossier.
- Journal: topic covered during the week (grammar, vocabulary, culture).
- Required reading (approx. 16 pages).
I, II, III, IV, IV
Week 12
Review for final exam.
Reflections on novel.
- Submit paper on required reading.
dates
Final Exam (2 hours)
-oral
-written
- Dossier from the instructor.
- Novel or tale: Vicente Verdú. El planeta americano. Edit. Anagrama. Students must write a paper on this novel. Students will reflect on the author’s point of view and his relationship with the socio-cultural reality of students: convergences, differences, whether he has a distorted view of American reality or not, etc. Students will submit the paper in the last week of the course. During this week they will share their opinions to contrast the impressions that may be drawn from the reading.
- Other materials: Materials in Moodle.
Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española. Madrid: Santillana, 1996.
García Santos, J.F. Sintaxis del español. Nivel Perfeccionamiento. Madrid: Santillana, 1993.
Gómez Torrego, L. Manual de español correcto. Madrid: Arco/Libros, 1993.
Soler-Espiauba, D. Contenidos culturales en la enseñanza de español como 2/L. Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2006.
Javier de Santiago Guervós is a Professor of Spanish Language at the University of Salamanca and the Director of the MA in Teaching of Spanish as a Second Language at that university as well. He has also worked at the School of Legal Practice of Salamanca, teaching courses on Communication. He has lectured in courses and conferences in various Spanish and foreign universities. Among these, it is worth mentioning the following: Middlebury College (Vermont-USA), University of Utrecht (Holland), University of Skövde (Sweden), Università Ca' Foscari de Venezia (Italy), Universitá degli Studi de Milán (Italy), and also the Instituto Cervantes, the Menéndez Pelayo International University and Cursos Internacionales at the University of Salamanca (Advanced Hispanic Studies Courses, Courses for Teachers of Spanish, etc.). He has also participated in various national and international research projects, such as El léxico de la Constitución Española de 1978, Análisis del discurso oral y escrito en la modalidad castellano-leonesa, Aspectos de la fosilización en el aprendizaje/adquisición del español como segunda lengua: el buen aprendiz, El léxico disponible hispano, financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology; La formación inicial del profesorado de enseñanza secundaria en las universidades italianas y españolas: proyectos de reforma metodológica y didáctica del curriculum para el área de Humanidades, financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Università Ca' Foscari de Venezia; and Project of study of the electronic European Language Porfolio (ELP), a Minerva project financed by the European Union, in which Italian, German, Swedish and Cypriot universities participated.
Among his publications in the field of Spanish as a Second Language, it is worth mentioning Aprender Español Jugando (1997), Fonética Básica del Español para Anglohablantes (1997), Issues in Language Acquisition and Learning (1998), in collaboration with the Prof. Jesús Fernández González. He has also participated in the preparation of a Studentbook of Spanish as a Second Language, Español para todos (4 vol., 2002) for the editorial Atica (Brazil), and another one, Ahora sí (5 vol.), for Editora Educacional (Brazil) for all the pre-university levels. Likewise, he has participated in the preparation of the Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española (Santillana, 1997). In other aspects of communication, it is worth mentioning: La lengua de los políticos (Lynx, 1996), Retórica y comunicación política (Cátedra, 2000), in collaboration with Antonio López Eire, El léxico político de la transición española (Universidad de Salamanca, 1992), Principios de comunicación persuasiva (Arco/Libros, 2005), El complemento (de régimen) preposicional (Arco/Libros 2007), Comentario de textos persuasivos (Arco/Libros, 2008), El Léxico disponible de Segovia (Fundación del Instituto castellano y Leonés de la lengua, 2008) as well as articles and conferences on these and other communication and linguistic aspects.