An advanced Spanish course, in which the linguistic and communicative contents of each course are based on three criteria: a) grammar, b) oral and written expression and comprehension, and c) cultural context. The specific content will be chosen based on usefulness and frequency in everyday communication, especially in a university-level academic setting.
Prerequisites:
None
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
Communication
Talk about past, present and future (including descriptions of people, objects and places –real or fictional-);
Express complex ideas and hypothesis referring to the past, present or future;
Read and understand journalistic articles, academic papers, literary and opinion pieces of writing, decoding their explicit and covert meanings;
Write essays with personal opinions, and formal and informal letters;
Explain complex topics to an audience and use indirect speech to retell a dialogue;
Understand main ideas in complex texts which deal with both concrete and abstract topics (even if it is a technical text);
Communicate with native speakers in a fluent and accurate way;
Produce detailed texts about diverse topics;
Defend their own point of view about general topics (expressing the pros and cons of different options)
Grammar
Narration in the past: use of the past tenses in the indicative (indefinido, imperfecto, and pluscuamperfecto).
Time markers.
Narrative markers.
Review of regular and irregular simple conditional (invitation, courtesy, use in hypothetical situations, talking about the past).
Modal values of Future: simple and perfect in the indicative (supposition and hypothesis).
Tense review: presente, pretérito perfecto, imperfecto, pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo.
The use of these tenses in reported speech, conditionals and comparative constructions.
Give instructions: uses of the subjunctive in relative and temporal sentences.
Use of prepositions and prepositional phrases. Cases of prepositional collocations: despedirse de, casarse con, depender de, etc.
Use of formal and informal conjunctions and connectors (porque, debido a que, con el objetivo de que, aunque, por eso, a pesar de, pese a).
Connectors and subjunctive (sin que, por más que, siempre y cuando, con tal de que, etc.)
Impersonal Constructions: se dice, dicen, es importante que, es probable que.
Passive voice with verbs ser and estar.
Relative pronouns with and without preposition (que, con el cual, quien, cuyo, por quien, en los cuales, etc).
The use of the indicative and subjunctive in different clauses (temporal, condicional, causal, etc.)
Lexicon and writing strategies used in journalism; analyze and write a piece of news.
The essay and the research paper. Connecting words. Quoting techniques in Spanish: use of the bibliographic reference system.
The gerund and the participle.
Borrowed words and false cognates. Homophones.
Morphology: word formation. Colloquial expressions and idioms. Figurative use of some lexemes in specific semantic fields (ver todo color de rosa, ponerse colorado, ser nariz parada, codito de oro).
Varieties of Spanish and their main characteristics.
Personal, temporal and spatial deixis.
Method of presentation:
Lectures will be supplemented with activities and exercises, such as role plays and field studies, designed to actively involve the students in the use of language. Assignments on grammar and vocabulary, quizzes, authentic reading materials, and weekly written and oral assignments will be a regular part of the course as well. Students will complete 3 research projects, a midterm and a final examination.
Required work and form of assessment:
10% Participation
10% Daily Homework
10% Quizzes
10% Research Project 1
10% Research Project 2
10% Research Project 3
20% Midterm exam
20% Final exam
An 80% attendance is required.
content:
(This weekly schedule may be subject to change)
Week 1
Communication: Talking about past events
Grammar: The Indicative. Tense Review: inflections. The conditional expression of future in the past. Narration. The subjunctive: context of use.
Culture: Why Study Abroad? Reflections upon the experience.
Week 2
Communication: Formal and informal letters.
Grammar: Reported Speech: main verbs. Time markers. Letter writing techniques.
Culture: Buenos Aires city and tango.
Week 3
Communication: The review
Grammar: Subjunctive: contexts of use. Connectors and subjunctive. The use of imperfecto and pluscuamperfecto in conditional structures (si yo fuera vos, lo haría si…). Use of relative pronouns. Vocabulary used in the different sections of a newspaper
Culture: Analysing newspapers.
Week 4
Communication: Literary Genre: short story reading
Grammar: Use of prepositions and prepositional phrases. Cases of prepositional collocations: despedirse de, casarse con, depender de, etc. Give instructions: uses of the subjunctive in relative and temporal sentences.
Culture: Different varieties of the Spanish language
Week 5 PRESENTATION OF PROJECT 1
(Interview of a Porteño)
Week 6
Communication: The opinion piece
Grammar: Formal vs. informal register: Academic writing (how to write in a local university?). Specific vocabulary. Structures with relative pronouns.
Culture: Buenos Aires cultural offering: playhouses, cafés, art exhibitions, etc. MID-TERM EXAM
Week 7
Communication: Making plans and rejecting invitations in a polite way.
Grammar: Conditionals 1 (real), 2 (possible) and 3 (impossible).
Culture: The mid-semester break experience.
Week 8
Communication: The essay
Grammar: The essay and the research paper. Connecting words. Quoting techniques in Spanish: use of the bibliographic reference system. Prepositions. Homophones.
Culture: Argentine writers and their legacy.
Week 9
Communication: Scientific and technical language
Grammar: Impersonal constructions: pasiva con se y se impersonal. Relative pronouns with and without preposition (que, con el cual, quien, cuyo, por quien, en los cuales, etc.). Use of deixis: Personal, temporal and spatial deixis.
Culture: Going to a library: doing research in Buenos Aires
Week 10 PRESENTATION OF PROJECT 2
(Theme: city/country, students will present on a chosen topic (a museum, food and drink, parks, art, a TV show, traditions, soccer, etc.))
Week 11
Communication: Agreeing and disagreeing techniques
Grammar: The argumentative discourse. Use of the passive voice. The gerund and the participle.
Week 12
REVIEW
Week 13 PRESENTATION OF PROJECT 3
(Presentation of a cultural topic of the students’ choice—ex. something learned in a field-study, IES Abroad trip, another IES Abroad course, cultural activity, etc)
Week 14 FINAL
Required readings:
Reading materials are chosen according to Spanish level: signs, magazines and newspaper articles, short stories, reviews, biographies, manuals, poems, lyrics, recipes, papers, short novels, etc.
Advanced Spanish I
An advanced Spanish course, in which the linguistic and communicative contents of each course are based on three criteria: a) grammar, b) oral and written expression and comprehension, and c) cultural context. The specific content will be chosen based on usefulness and frequency in everyday communication, especially in a university-level academic setting.
None
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
Communication
Grammar
Lectures will be supplemented with activities and exercises, such as role plays and field studies, designed to actively involve the students in the use of language. Assignments on grammar and vocabulary, quizzes, authentic reading materials, and weekly written and oral assignments will be a regular part of the course as well. Students will complete 3 research projects, a midterm and a final examination.
10% Participation
10% Daily Homework
10% Quizzes
10% Research Project 1
10% Research Project 2
10% Research Project 3
20% Midterm exam
20% Final exam
An 80% attendance is required.
(This weekly schedule may be subject to change)
Week 1
Communication: Talking about past events
Grammar: The Indicative. Tense Review: inflections. The conditional expression of future in the past. Narration. The subjunctive: context of use.
Culture: Why Study Abroad? Reflections upon the experience.
Week 2
Communication: Formal and informal letters.
Grammar: Reported Speech: main verbs. Time markers. Letter writing techniques.
Culture: Buenos Aires city and tango.
Week 3
Communication: The review
Grammar: Subjunctive: contexts of use. Connectors and subjunctive. The use of imperfecto and pluscuamperfecto in conditional structures (si yo fuera vos, lo haría si…). Use of relative pronouns. Vocabulary used in the different sections of a newspaper
Culture: Analysing newspapers.
Week 4
Communication: Literary Genre: short story reading
Grammar: Use of prepositions and prepositional phrases. Cases of prepositional collocations: despedirse de, casarse con, depender de, etc. Give instructions: uses of the subjunctive in relative and temporal sentences.
Culture: Different varieties of the Spanish language
Week 5
PRESENTATION OF PROJECT 1
(Interview of a Porteño)
Week 6
Communication: The opinion piece
Grammar: Formal vs. informal register: Academic writing (how to write in a local university?). Specific vocabulary. Structures with relative pronouns.
Culture: Buenos Aires cultural offering: playhouses, cafés, art exhibitions, etc.
MID-TERM EXAM
Week 7
Communication: Making plans and rejecting invitations in a polite way.
Grammar: Conditionals 1 (real), 2 (possible) and 3 (impossible).
Culture: The mid-semester break experience.
Week 8
Communication: The essay
Grammar: The essay and the research paper. Connecting words. Quoting techniques in Spanish: use of the bibliographic reference system. Prepositions. Homophones.
Culture: Argentine writers and their legacy.
Week 9
Communication: Scientific and technical language
Grammar: Impersonal constructions: pasiva con se y se impersonal. Relative pronouns with and without preposition (que, con el cual, quien, cuyo, por quien, en los cuales, etc.). Use of deixis: Personal, temporal and spatial deixis.
Culture: Going to a library: doing research in Buenos Aires
Week 10
PRESENTATION OF PROJECT 2
(Theme: city/country, students will present on a chosen topic (a museum, food and drink, parks, art, a TV show, traditions, soccer, etc.))
Week 11
Communication: Agreeing and disagreeing techniques
Grammar: The argumentative discourse. Use of the passive voice. The gerund and the participle.
Week 12
REVIEW
Week 13
PRESENTATION OF PROJECT 3
(Presentation of a cultural topic of the students’ choice—ex. something learned in a field-study, IES Abroad trip, another IES Abroad course, cultural activity, etc)
Week 14
FINAL
Reading materials are chosen according to Spanish level: signs, magazines and newspaper articles, short stories, reviews, biographies, manuals, poems, lyrics, recipes, papers, short novels, etc.