In this course the student will gain proficiency in the skilful use of the language and will be able to refine the tools necessary to engage native speakers in fluid conversation, and will also be able to maintain a complex argumentation. At the end of the semester the students will be able to successfully make own communicative situations in the business world and to handle his/herself within Spanish business culture.
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 are able to learn how to produce language in a variety of situations, such as the making of requests, the use of compliments, and apologies, and they also may develop skills to interpret such interactions within the local cultural context. 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).
Prerequisites:
Completion of IES Abroad’s SP 302 Emerging Independent Abroad II 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 Emerging 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 some of the outcomes for the 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
A. Students will begin to identify at a basic level key host cultures in a business context, 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 start to identify their own cultural beliefs, behaviors, and values by contrasting and comparing them with the host culture.
C. Understand and respond to exchanges related to business.
D. Understand the vision, mission and values of some Spanish companies
II. Listening
A. Students will be able to understand some spoken communication of moderate complexity on a wide range of concrete business topics covered in classes.
B. Students will begin to understand native speakers from a variety of backgrounds and limited experience with non-native speakers, and they will comprehend common colloquial expressions and slang.
III. Speaking
A. Students will be able to speak on and discuss concrete business topics covered in classes, as well as other business topics of particular interest to them.
B. Students will be able to describe companies, products and services.
C. Students will be able to participate and respond actively in a variety of business interactions: negotiations, presentations, business lunch, meetings.
D. Students will be able to express self in a specific business presentation.
E. Students will be able to make a solid argument for a particular strategy.
IV. Reading
A. Students will be able to read and understand articles, reports, economic newspaper articles, and online texts using background knowledge to aid their comprehension.
B. Students will begin to read and understand the main ideas of business texts with assistance.
V. Writing
A. Students will be able to understand data, strategy and graphs related to business situations
(reports, financial information, notes, text messages, letters, emails).
B. Students will be able to write brief essays for class that narrate, describe, report, compare, contrast, and summarize on a wide range of business topics with developing degrees of grammatical and lexical accuracy.
C. Students will be able to edit their own and their peers’ writing for common errors covered in class.
Method of presentation:
CLASS DISCUSSION: The aim of class discussions is to provide the student with a more holistic view. They offer the student the opportunity to argue their views and hear the perspective of other students on selected topics.
GUEST SPEAKERS: Students have the opportunity to hear firsthand from practitioners in the field.
CLASS DEBATE: Providing a lively forum for exchange of views on a prepared topic.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: Presentations provide the student with the opportunity to develop oral presentation skills and to receive constructive feedback from their peers and professor.
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 Spanish language. Students have the opportunity to know better specific aspects of the Spanish business culture, and to know how the stock-market works or how the banking system works.
Also, during the course students will participate in the following activities:
Prepare and develop a Marketing campaign
Prepare and develop Market research
Video viewings, to show different aspects of a company
Simulations of meetings and negotiations
Required work and form of assessment:
Midterm: 10%; Final Exam: 20%; Oral Exams (2 exams): 10%; Quizzes (6 quizzes minimum on listening, speaking, reading, writing, intercultural communication): 15%; Video/Oral presentation: 10%; Compositions: 15%; Field studies: 10%; Class participation: 10%.
content:
Week
Content
Assignments
Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)
Week 1
(Unit 1, Al Día)
La nueva empresa
1.Functional:Design and presentation of a web site
2.Grammatical:Progressive forms in context, textual organizers: connectors of cause and consequence
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to Internet, companies and flowcharts
4.Culture:Qualities of an entrepreneur Spain vs. USA; innovative companies
P. 8-15
Composition 1:
Innovative companies
Thinking and talking about a new business.
I.A., I.B, II.A., III.A., III.B., IV.A.,V.B.
Week 2
(Unit 2, Al Día)
Ingresar en una empresa
1.Functional: Job interviews
2.Grammatical:Revision of ser/estar, past tenses in context
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to offers of employment
4.Culture: The ideal candidate.
P. 20-24
Composition 2:
Looking for employment
I.A., I.B, II.A., III.A., III.D., IV.A.,V.B.
Week 3
(Unit 2, Al Día)
Ingresar en una empresa
1.Functional: Talking about education and past experiences
2.Grammatical:past tenses in context
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to CV and qualities
1.Functional:Expressiong opinion, referring to promises and statements
2.Grammatical: Review
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to RS and business ethics
4.Culture:Study of a business case: MRW
P. 104-111
Final Exam
Oral presentations
I.A., I.B, I.D., II.A., II.B., III.A., III.C., IV.A.,IV.B., V.B.
Required readings:
Prost, Gisèle (2003). Al Dí@. Curso superior de español para los negocios. Barcelona, SGEL-Educación.
Course reader SP303 (2008). Barcelona, IES Barcelona.
Recommended readings:
VVAA (2005). Diccionario Oxford Pocket español/ingles- inglés/español. Londres, Oxford University Press.
Interviews with business professionals
Business newspaper articles.
Business news.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Iolanda Nieves de la Vega was born in Barcelona, where she earned a degree in Spanish Philology and Catalan Philology at the University of Barcelona (UB). Since 2003, she has been a professor of Business Spanish for Communication at the IESE Spanish Business School where she has taken part in designing syllabi and curricula and has collaborated in the creation and development of specific materials for teaching/learning of Spanish for Business. She has taught at University of Bocconi (Milan), teaching Business Spanish and general courses to different teachers, and at IESE Business School in New York, teaching Spanish for Specific Purposes and online courses. In her role as a teacher trainer, she has taught courses for “Teachers of Spanish and foreign languages” since 2010; she has been professor of the course "Teaching Spanish for specific purposes: business, tourism, health and legal” (2010), “Teaching Spanish for specific purposes: negotiating in Spanish” (2011) at Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP), and “Spanish for Business: Specific methodology” (2011) at Fundación Comillas,(Centro Internacional de Estudios del Español). She has been teaching general and Business Spanish at IES Abroad since 2006.
Josep-Maria Contreras was born and raised in Barcelona. He earned a degree in Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Barcelona, where he specialized in Spanish as a Second Language. He has a special interest in the use of Neuro-Linguistic Programming as a teaching tool and creating original teaching material. He has been to the U.S. on seven occasions, collaborating in workshops with educators from Casa Hispana in San Francisco, CA. Also, over the years, he has worked with international companies and he has taught Spanish and Catalan for foreign business students. In order to explore different learning approaches, he has studied Scriptwriting and Film Directing and he has integrated this knowledge into his Spanish classes. In addition, he has written and directed short films as well as a short play, in a course for new actors held at Sala Beckett, a Catalan independent theatre.
In this course the student will gain proficiency in the skilful use of the language and will be able to refine the tools necessary to engage native speakers in fluid conversation, and will also be able to maintain a complex argumentation. At the end of the semester the students will be able to successfully make own communicative situations in the business world and to handle his/herself within Spanish business culture.
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 are able to learn how to produce language in a variety of situations, such as the making of requests, the use of compliments, and apologies, and they also may develop skills to interpret such interactions within the local cultural context. 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).
Completion of IES Abroad’s SP 302 Emerging Independent Abroad II 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 Emerging 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 some of the outcomes for the 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
A. Students will begin to identify at a basic level key host cultures in a business context, 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 start to identify their own cultural beliefs, behaviors, and values by contrasting and comparing them with the host culture.
C. Understand and respond to exchanges related to business.
D. Understand the vision, mission and values of some Spanish companies
II. Listening
A. Students will be able to understand some spoken communication of moderate complexity on a wide range of concrete business topics covered in classes.
B. Students will begin to understand native speakers from a variety of backgrounds and limited experience with non-native speakers, and they will comprehend common colloquial expressions and slang.
III. Speaking
A. Students will be able to speak on and discuss concrete business topics covered in classes, as well as other business topics of particular interest to them.
B. Students will be able to describe companies, products and services.
C. Students will be able to participate and respond actively in a variety of business interactions: negotiations, presentations, business lunch, meetings.
D. Students will be able to express self in a specific business presentation.
E. Students will be able to make a solid argument for a particular strategy.
IV. Reading
A. Students will be able to read and understand articles, reports, economic newspaper articles, and online texts using background knowledge to aid their comprehension.
B. Students will begin to read and understand the main ideas of business texts with assistance.
V. Writing
A. Students will be able to understand data, strategy and graphs related to business situations
(reports, financial information, notes, text messages, letters, emails).
B. Students will be able to write brief essays for class that narrate, describe, report, compare, contrast, and summarize on a wide range of business topics with developing degrees of grammatical and lexical accuracy.
C. Students will be able to edit their own and their peers’ writing for common errors covered in class.
CLASS DISCUSSION: The aim of class discussions is to provide the student with a more holistic view. They offer the student the opportunity to argue their views and hear the perspective of other students on selected topics.
GUEST SPEAKERS: Students have the opportunity to hear firsthand from practitioners in the field.
CLASS DEBATE: Providing a lively forum for exchange of views on a prepared topic.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: Presentations provide the student with the opportunity to develop oral presentation skills and to receive constructive feedback from their peers and professor.
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 Spanish language. Students have the opportunity to know better specific aspects of the Spanish business culture, and to know how the stock-market works or how the banking system works.
Also, during the course students will participate in the following activities:
Midterm: 10%; Final Exam: 20%; Oral Exams (2 exams): 10%; Quizzes (6 quizzes minimum on listening, speaking, reading, writing, intercultural communication): 15%; Video/Oral presentation: 10%; Compositions: 15%; Field studies: 10%; Class participation: 10%.
Week
Content
Assignments
Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)
Week 1
(Unit 1, Al Día)
La nueva empresa
1.Functional:Design and presentation of a web site
2.Grammatical:Progressive forms in context, textual organizers: connectors of cause and consequence
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to Internet, companies and flowcharts
4.Culture:Qualities of an entrepreneur Spain vs. USA; innovative companies
P. 8-15
Composition 1:
Innovative companies
Thinking and talking about a new business.
I.A., I.B, II.A., III.A., III.B., IV.A.,V.B.
Week 2
(Unit 2, Al Día)
Ingresar en una empresa
1.Functional: Job interviews
2.Grammatical:Revision of ser/estar, past tenses in context
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to offers of employment
4.Culture: The ideal candidate.
P. 20-24
Composition 2:
Looking for employment
I.A., I.B, II.A., III.A., III.D., IV.A.,V.B.
Week 3
(Unit 2, Al Día)
Ingresar en una empresa
1.Functional: Talking about education and past experiences
2.Grammatical:past tenses in context
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to CV and qualities
4.Culture: Work in Spain vs. USA
P. 25-29
Project: My video CV
Role-Play: Preparing a job interview
I.A., I.B, II.A., III.A., III.B., III.D., IV.A.,V.B.
Week 4
(Unit 3, Al Día)
Recursos Humanos
1.Functional: Describing, expressing and resolving problems, making proposals and solutions; problem solving
2.Grammatical:Conditional tenses and forms of the subjunctive to suggest and to recommend, the impersonal “se”
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to Human Resources
4.Culture: Rules and customs in Spanish companies
P. 32-35
Composition 3:
Balancing personal and professional life
Role-Play : Problem solving
I.A., I.B, I.D., II.A., III.A., III.C., III.D., IV.A.,V.B. V.C.,
Week 5
(Unit 3, Al Día)
Recursos Humanos)
1.Functional: Managing turns of talk, making proposals, expressing condition when negotiating, supporting/refusing a proposal
2. Grammatical: Subjunctive in expressions of belief and doubt. Argumentation markers and expressions.
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to rules and aspects of a good environment at work
4.Culture: Working conditions
P. 36-42
Composition 4:
Problem solving
Exam 1
I.A., I.B, I.D., II.A., II.B., III.A., III.C., III.E., IV.A.,V.B.
Week 6
(Unit 4,Al Día)
Consumidores y productos
1.Functional: Describing customers and products: Profiles, making a slogan
2.Grammatical: Affirmative and negative imperative, imperative and pronouns,
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to market research
4.Culture:Cultural sponsorship
P. 44-50
Composition 5: The future of private labels.
Field Study : Market Research
Oral presentation: Market research
I.A., I.B., II.A., II.B., III.A., III.B., III.E., IV.A.,V.A.
Week 7
(Unit 4, Al Día)
Consumidores y productos)
1.Functional: Expressing feelings, doubts, presenting a market research
2.Grammatical: Present of subjunctive,
concessive clauses
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to describing products
4.Culture: Consumers - Spain vs. EEUU
P. 50-55
Composition 6:
Catch the consumer
Talking about consumers and products
I.A., I.B., II.A., II.B., III.A., III.B., III.C., IV.A.,V.A., V.B.
Week 8
(Unit 5, Al Día)
La comunicación
1.Functional: Expressing conditions, opinion when negotiating
2.Grammatical: Conditional clauses (first and second conditionals)
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to marketing
4.Culture: Famous people and advertising
P. 56-60
Composition 7:
Olfactory marketing
Video: Making decisions
I.A., I.B, I.C., II.A., III.A., III.C., III.E., IV.A.,V.A.. V.B.
Week 9
(Unit 5, Al Día)
La comunicación
1.Functional: Presenting an advertising campaign
2.Grammatical: Third conditional, para/ por and specific business prepositional verbs
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to advertising
4.Culture: Advertising in Spain
P. 60-67
Exam 2
I.A., I.B, II.A., II.B., III.B., III.D., III.E., IV.A.
Week 10
(Unit 6, Al Día)
El Dinero
1.Functional: Expressing wishes, hypothesis, causes and consequences
2. Grammatical: Revision of present subjunctive: temporary uses, hypothesis
3. Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to
Banking, finance and accounting
4. Culture: Stock exchange: Barcelona vs. New York
P. 68-72
Composition 8:
Where to invest?
Field Study : Visit a company
I.A., I.B,II.A., III.A., III.B., III.E., IV.A.,IV.B.,V.B.
Week 11
(Unit 7, Al Día)
(Estrategias)
1.Functional:Expressing the processes used by companies and things, expressing conditions
2.Grammatical:Complex conditional clauses and verbal correspondence, Indirect Speech
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to the textile sector, verbs for transmitting information
4.Culture: ZARA
P. 80-89
Composition 9:
Making complaints
Film and activities: El Método
I.A., I.B, I.D., II.A.,III.A., III.B., III.D., IV.A.,IV.B.
Week 12
(Unit 9, Al Día)
Gestión de conflictos
1.Functional:Expressiong opinion, referring to promises and statements
2.Grammatical: Review
3.Vocabulary:Vocabulary related to RS and business ethics
4.Culture:Study of a business case: MRW
P. 104-111
Final Exam
Oral presentations
I.A., I.B, I.D., II.A., II.B., III.A., III.C., IV.A.,IV.B., V.B.
Prost, Gisèle (2003). Al Dí@. Curso superior de español para los negocios. Barcelona, SGEL-Educación.
Course reader SP303 (2008). Barcelona, IES Barcelona.
VVAA (2005). Diccionario Oxford Pocket español/ingles- inglés/español. Londres, Oxford University Press.
Interviews with business professionals
Business newspaper articles.
Business news.
Iolanda Nieves de la Vega was born in Barcelona, where she earned a degree in Spanish Philology and Catalan Philology at the University of Barcelona (UB). Since 2003, she has been a professor of Business Spanish for Communication at the IESE Spanish Business School where she has taken part in designing syllabi and curricula and has collaborated in the creation and development of specific materials for teaching/learning of Spanish for Business. She has taught at University of Bocconi (Milan), teaching Business Spanish and general courses to different teachers, and at IESE Business School in New York, teaching Spanish for Specific Purposes and online courses. In her role as a teacher trainer, she has taught courses for “Teachers of Spanish and foreign languages” since 2010; she has been professor of the course "Teaching Spanish for specific purposes: business, tourism, health and legal” (2010), “Teaching Spanish for specific purposes: negotiating in Spanish” (2011) at Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP), and “Spanish for Business: Specific methodology” (2011) at Fundación Comillas,(Centro Internacional de Estudios del Español). She has been teaching general and Business Spanish at IES Abroad since 2006.
Josep-Maria Contreras was born and raised in Barcelona. He earned a degree in Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Barcelona, where he specialized in Spanish as a Second Language. He has a special interest in the use of Neuro-Linguistic Programming as a teaching tool and creating original teaching material. He has been to the U.S. on seven occasions, collaborating in workshops with educators from Casa Hispana in San Francisco, CA. Also, over the years, he has worked with international companies and he has taught Spanish and Catalan for foreign business students. In order to explore different learning approaches, he has studied Scriptwriting and Film Directing and he has integrated this knowledge into his Spanish classes. In addition, he has written and directed short films as well as a short play, in a course for new actors held at Sala Beckett, a Catalan independent theatre.