Our mission is simple: to provide you with the best study abroad program possible—which includes the highest quality academic and cultural experiences.

Courses are taught in Spanish. You enroll in a 3-credit Spanish language course that includes an informal conversation component, and a 1-credit elective course. If you are at the beginning Spanish level, you enroll in a required vocabulary course as your elective. All other students choose an elective. Past electives have included:

• Contemporary Spanish History
• Cinema, Press, and Television in Spain
• Spanish and Spanish American Literature
• Spanish Art
• The Arab World in Spanish Culture
• The Role of Women in Spanish History

Spanish Language Courses
Spanish Language classes enroll approximately 12 students per class, and the conversation portions of the course enroll approximately eight students per class - ratios that guarantee that you receive individual attention from your instructors. Please note that Spanish Language course level will be determined by a placement exam administered during orientation in Salamanca.

Beginning
Taught by faculty at the University of Salamanca’s Cursos Internacionales, this course provides students with little or no previous Spanish studies the ability to develop their language skills through explicit grammar instruction and a variety of communicative activities. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to produce simple texts and conversations related to personal and familiar topics. Students will be able to provide uncomplicated descriptions and offer their opinions on well-known topics.

Among the explicit topics covered in class are simple present and past indicative tenses, interrogatives, possessives, likes and dislikes. Class activities and conversations offer students the opportunity to develop and enhance their vocabulary on basic subjects related to their daily lives and experience abroad.

Intermediate
Taught by faculty at the University of Salamanca’s Cursos Internacionales, this course combines explicit grammar instruction and a variety of communicative activities in order to improve written and oral communication skills in Spanish for students who possess a high beginning/intermediate level of proficiency. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to maintain in natural and clear Spanish social conversations with native speakers, including debates over well-known topics. Students will be able to produce and understand written texts of moderate length on familiar topics.

Among the explicit structures covered in class are ser/estar, commands, present subjunctive constructions, and expressions of time. Through class activities and conversations, student will improve their vocabulary and cultural literacy on a wide variety of topics relevant to their interests and experiences abroad.

Advanced
Taught by faculty at the University of Salamanca’s Cursos Internacionales, this course combines explicit grammar instruction and a variety of communicative activities in order to improve written and oral communication skills in Spanish for students who already possess a high intermediate/low advanced level of proficiency. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to understand a wide variety of standard texts about familiar topics. Successful students will be able to describe in clear and efficient Spanish their experiences, desires, and aspirations as well as defend their positions on moderately complicated topics.

In addition to a review of intermediate level structures such as ser/estar and the present subjuntive, the course provides students the means to improve their Spanish proficiency through practice with complex skills such as past subjunctive tenses and relative structures. The presentation of course materials also affords students the opportunity to enhance the breadth and depth of their vocabulary within a cultural context.

Superior
Taught by faculty at the University of Salamanca’s Cursos Internacionales, this course combines explicit grammar instruction and a variety of communicative activities in order to improve written and oral communication skills in Spanish for students already at an advanced level of proficiency. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to apply a wide variety of linguistic resources in order to negotiate a complex variety of conversations with an advanced level of fluency and precision. Students also should be able to understand and interpret all types of written and oral texts.

In addition to a review of intermediate/advanced structures such as ser/estar, past tenses, a variety of subjunctive tenses, etc, the course provides advanced level students the means to improve their Spanish proficiency through practice with complex skills such as the expression of probability and hypothesis. The presentation of course materials also affords students the opportunity to enhance the breadth and depth of their vocabulary base within a cultural context.