In this course the student will be able to express self in a broad array of scenarios talking about self or others with precision and with a large degree of understanding. The student will be able to correct own utterances to ensure a correct understanding.
Research has demonstrated that study abroad can enhance every aspect of language ability. One of the most important general findings of this research is, however, that study abroad is most beneficial for the development of abilities related to social interaction. Students who go abroad can learn to do things with words, such as requesting, apologizing, or offering compliments, and they may also learn to interpret situations calling on such speech acts in ways that local people do… In short, and logically, study abroad has been shown to enhance the aspects of communicative competence that are most difficult to foster in classroom settings (IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, p. 6).
Student Profile
Students entering this level must be able to fulfill the learning outcomes of the Novice Abroad level, as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. Specifically, they should already be able to express themselves on a variety of concrete, everyday topics and meet their basic needs in the language. Students who enter this level may be more proficient in reading and writing skills than oral communication, especially if they have never traveled or studied abroad previously. Although students may have been exposed previously to certain competencies taught at this level, they need additional practice and instruction to move toward mastery of these competencies. Students at this level may succeed in partner university courses as long as such courses are primarily designed for international students and/or require passive student linguistic participation (art studios, dance).
As students gain more self-awareness and self-confidence, they will attempt more in the community. Paradoxically, this means they may also experience more miscommunications and frustration. Reading and writing require effort, and many students will need to make a special effort in this regard. Students will also develop cultural awareness and skills to work through the challenges of adaptation in the local culture and learn to celebrate their successes. They will begin to appreciate the value of these language and intercultural skills.
This course builds upon skills introduced in Novice Abroad. By the end of the course, the successful student will have begun to develop some communicative and cultural self-confidence necessary to attempt moderately complex tasks in Spanish, as described in the learning outcomes below.
Prerequisites:
Completion of IES Abroad’s SP 201 Novice Abroad outcomes from the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, determined by placement test.
Attendance policy:
Attendance is mandatory for all IES Abroad classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.
Learning outcomes:
Students who are placed in this level should be capable of achieving the outcomes in the Novice 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 some of the outcomes for the Emerging Independent Abroad level as defined by the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. The key learning outcomes from the MAP are summarized below:
I. Intercultural Communication
Students will be able to solve some daily troublesome situations and meet needs with limited help.
Students will be able to make some informed comparisons between the host culture and the students’ home cultures.
Students will be able to distinguish between verbal and non verbal communication that reflects politeness, formality, or informality.
Students will be able to recognize simple patterns of intonation and their meaning.
II. Listening
Students will be able to understand some interactions (media, speeches, music, conversations, etc.), especially if the speaker is used to interacting with non-native speakers.
Students will be able to understand direct requests, questions, and simple conversations on familiar and concrete topics.
III. Speaking
Students will be able to talk to a limited extent about persons and things in their immediate environment, as well as their plans and their experiences.
Students will be able to address moderately complicated situations involving familiar subjects.
IV. Reading
Students will be able to read passages and short texts (notes, detailed instructions, etc.) on familiar topics and understand the general meaning.
Students will be able to support their understanding of texts through the use of context, visual aids, dictionaries, or with the assistance of others in order to facilitate comprehension.
V. Writing
Students will be able to communicate with limited effectiveness through notes, emails, and simple online discussions and chats.
Students will be able to write short essays on concrete topics of limited levels of complexity, although with reliance on the communicative patterns of their native language.
Method of presentation:
HOMEWORK AND DAILY PARTICIPATION: Students will work individually and in groups in order to systematize and to practice orally all the grammatical concepts learned in class, with the opportunity to clarify doubts.
FIELD STUDIES: First hand appreciation of the Spanish language. Students have the opportunity to know better specific aspects of the Spanish culture, and to develop verbal interaction with peers and community.
ESSAYS: Each student will present written assignments about different topics and grammatical items. Compositions provide the students with an opportunity to apply theoretical material to text.
Required work and form of assessment:
Midterm: 15%; Final Exam: 20%; Oral Exam: 15%; Compositions: 20% (10% each); Quizzes: 10%; Field Studies: 10%; Homework and Participation: 10%.
content:
Week
Content
Assignments
Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)
Week 1
1. Functional: How to express doubts and hypothesis. Negotiating and refusing invitations.
Thinking about polemical situations such as gay marriage, abortion, divorce
I.A.,
II.A,
III.B,
IV.A,
V.A
2. Grammatical: Conditional
Reading about controversial issues.
3. Vocabulary: doubt expressions: quizás, tal vez, podría ser, etc.
Debate
4. Culture: Religion in Costa Rica
Getting to know each other’s opinions and points of view.
Week 2
1. Functional: Be able to narrate complete stories in the past
Field trip: Museo de Cultura Popular.
I.D,
II.A,
III.A,
IV.B,
V.B.
2. Grammatical: All the past tenses of Indicative
Composition 1: La vida durante la colonia en Costa Rica
3. Vocabulary: Art, sports, history
4. Culture: "Our Costa Rican traditions" Talk about holidays, traditions and celebrations
Midterm
Week 3
1.Functional: Expressing plans for the future and present doubts
Posibles avances en la tecnología. Soluciones a los problemas ecológicos.
I.A,
II.A.,
III.A.,
IV.A.,
V.B.
2. Grammatical:Simple future. Prepositions
Practice: Entrevista a un tico sobre el futuro de Costa Rica.
3. Vocabulary: Technology
4. Culture: Expectations of young people.
Composition 2: Call centers
Week 4
Review (weeks 1, 2, 3)
Oral exam
I.B., II.A., III.A., IV.A., V.B.
1. Functional: Expressing preferences and emotions about some topics.
Reading: Los gustos de los latinos
2. Grammatical: Present subjunctive: verbs of emotion and preference.
El cine en Latinoamérica
3. Vocabulary: verbs used with subjunctive
4. Culture: Leissure in Costa Rica
Final exam
Required readings:
Course Reader SP 301 (2013). Heredia, IES Costa Rica.
Recommended readings:
Jarvis, A. C., & Lebredo, R. (2011). Basic Spanish for Getting Along. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Olivella Castells, M. (2009). Mosaicos: Spanish as a World Language (5 ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Olivella Castells, M., Guzman, E. E., Lapuerta, P., & Liskin Gasparro, J. E. (2009). Student Activities Manual for Mosaicos: Spanish as a World Languge (5 ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Spanish Language in Context: Emerging Independent Abroad I
In this course the student will be able to express self in a broad array of scenarios talking about self or others with precision and with a large degree of understanding. The student will be able to correct own utterances to ensure a correct understanding.
Research has demonstrated that study abroad can enhance every aspect of language ability. One of the most important general findings of this research is, however, that study abroad is most beneficial for the development of abilities related to social interaction. Students who go abroad can learn to do things with words, such as requesting, apologizing, or offering compliments, and they may also learn to interpret situations calling on such speech acts in ways that local people do… In short, and logically, study abroad has been shown to enhance the aspects of communicative competence that are most difficult to foster in classroom settings (IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, p. 6).
Student Profile
Students entering this level must be able to fulfill the learning outcomes of the Novice Abroad level, as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. Specifically, they should already be able to express themselves on a variety of concrete, everyday topics and meet their basic needs in the language. Students who enter this level may be more proficient in reading and writing skills than oral communication, especially if they have never traveled or studied abroad previously. Although students may have been exposed previously to certain competencies taught at this level, they need additional practice and instruction to move toward mastery of these competencies. Students at this level may succeed in partner university courses as long as such courses are primarily designed for international students and/or require passive student linguistic participation (art studios, dance).
As students gain more self-awareness and self-confidence, they will attempt more in the community. Paradoxically, this means they may also experience more miscommunications and frustration. Reading and writing require effort, and many students will need to make a special effort in this regard. Students will also develop cultural awareness and skills to work through the challenges of adaptation in the local culture and learn to celebrate their successes. They will begin to appreciate the value of these language and intercultural skills.
This course builds upon skills introduced in Novice Abroad. By the end of the course, the successful student will have begun to develop some communicative and cultural self-confidence necessary to attempt moderately complex tasks in Spanish, as described in the learning outcomes below.
Completion of IES Abroad’s SP 201 Novice Abroad outcomes from the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, determined by placement test.
Attendance is mandatory for all IES Abroad classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.
Students who are placed in this level should be capable of achieving the outcomes in the Novice 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 some of the outcomes for the Emerging Independent Abroad level as defined by the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. The key learning outcomes from the MAP are summarized below:
I. Intercultural Communication
II. Listening
III. Speaking
IV. Reading
V. Writing
HOMEWORK AND DAILY PARTICIPATION: Students will work individually and in groups in order to systematize and to practice orally all the grammatical concepts learned in class, with the opportunity to clarify doubts.
FIELD STUDIES: First hand appreciation of the Spanish language. Students have the opportunity to know better specific aspects of the Spanish culture, and to develop verbal interaction with peers and community.
ESSAYS: Each student will present written assignments about different topics and grammatical items. Compositions provide the students with an opportunity to apply theoretical material to text.
Midterm: 15%; Final Exam: 20%; Oral Exam: 15%; Compositions: 20% (10% each); Quizzes: 10%; Field Studies: 10%; Homework and Participation: 10%.
Week
Content
Assignments
Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)
Week 1
1. Functional: How to express doubts and hypothesis. Negotiating and refusing invitations.
Thinking about polemical situations such as gay marriage, abortion, divorce
I.A.,
II.A,
III.B,
IV.A,
V.A
2. Grammatical: Conditional
Reading about controversial issues.
3. Vocabulary: doubt expressions: quizás, tal vez, podría ser, etc.
Debate
4. Culture: Religion in Costa Rica
Getting to know each other’s opinions and points of view.
Week 2
1. Functional: Be able to narrate complete stories in the past
Field trip: Museo de Cultura Popular.
I.D,
II.A,
III.A,
IV.B,
V.B.
2. Grammatical: All the past tenses of Indicative
Composition 1: La vida durante la colonia en Costa Rica
3. Vocabulary: Art, sports, history
4. Culture: "Our Costa Rican traditions" Talk about holidays, traditions and celebrations
Midterm
Week 3
1.Functional: Expressing plans for the future and present doubts
Posibles avances en la tecnología. Soluciones a los problemas ecológicos.
I.A,
II.A.,
III.A.,
IV.A.,
V.B.
2. Grammatical:Simple future. Prepositions
Practice: Entrevista a un tico sobre el futuro de Costa Rica.
3. Vocabulary: Technology
4. Culture: Expectations of young people.
Composition 2: Call centers
Week 4
Review (weeks 1, 2, 3)
Oral exam
I.B., II.A., III.A., IV.A., V.B.
1. Functional: Expressing preferences and emotions about some topics.
Reading: Los gustos de los latinos
2. Grammatical: Present subjunctive: verbs of emotion and preference.
El cine en Latinoamérica
3. Vocabulary: verbs used with subjunctive
4. Culture: Leissure in Costa Rica
Final exam
Course Reader SP 301 (2013). Heredia, IES Costa Rica.
Jarvis, A. C., & Lebredo, R. (2011). Basic Spanish for Getting Along. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Olivella Castells, M. (2009). Mosaicos: Spanish as a World Language (5 ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Olivella Castells, M., Guzman, E. E., Lapuerta, P., & Liskin Gasparro, J. E. (2009). Student Activities Manual for Mosaicos: Spanish as a World Languge (5 ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.