In this course the student will gain proficiency in the skillful use of the language and will be able to refine the necessary tools to engage native speakers in fluid conversation, and will also be able to maintain a complex argumentation. In addition, this course emphasizes a language-in-use perspective. Students will develop their language skills and intercultural competence by means of research projects (‘field studies’), written assignments, debates, oral presentations, and critical reading of articles.
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 who enter this level are able to accomplish everyday needs required to live in a new culture. In this course, students will begin to develop independence and autonomy so that, when communication does break down, they have some tools at their disposal to resolve these challenges independently. Students should welcome correction and guidance from their instructors, hosts, and others in the community as they progress.
By the end of this course, students will begin to converse at a rate of speed approaching normal conversation. They will start to become creative, spontaneous and self-reliant as they solve problems, interpret texts, negotiate, express their opinions, likes and dislikes in the culture. Although students will still make errors and experience communication breakdowns, they are sometimes able to resolve these on their own. Students will understand some colloquial expressions and slang, and are starting to understand a wider variety of native speakers from different backgrounds. By the end of this level, students will be capable of achieving the learning outcomes outlined below.
Prerequisites:
Complete SP301 or equivalent course
Attendance policy:
Attendance is mandatory for all IES 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, 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 start to identify their own cultural beliefs, behaviors, and values by contrasting and comparing them with the host cultures.
C.Students will be able to identify some gestures and body language, and they may be able to integrate some of those non-verbal actions into their interactions with native speakers.
II.Listening
A. Students will be able to understand some spoken communications of moderate complexity (media, speeches, music, conversations, etc.) on a wide range of concrete everyday topics as well as abstract 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 everyday and personal topics, abstract topics covered in classes, as well as other topics of particular interest to them.
B. Students will be able to participate and respond actively in a variety of interactions.
IV.Reading
A. Students will be able to read and understand articles, stories, and online texts using background knowledge to aid their comprehension.
B. Students will begin to read and understand the main ideas of academic texts with assistance.
V.Writing
A. Students will be able to meet many everyday writing needs (notes, text messages, letters, emails, chats, and online forums).
B. Students will be able to write brief essays for class that narrate, describe, report, compare, contrast, and summarize on a wide range of 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 of Spanish language. These discussions offer the student the opportunity to present their views and hear the perspective of other students on selected topics.
CLASS DEBATE: The debate provides 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 on their approach.
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 study:
Discovering Barcelona and Spanish Culture
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 1 (Unit 1, Aula 5) Maneras de vivir
1.Functional: Expressing condition, talking about relationships.
2.Grammatical: Present and Imperfect Subjunctive in Indirect Speech
3.Vocabulary: Verbs for transmitting information.
4.Culture: The Press in Spain.
Week 5 (Unit 3, Aula 5) ¿Y t? qu? opinas?
1.Functional: Giving our opinion, and reacting to opinions, engaging in debate, making proposals, expressing conditions when negotiating, supporting/refusing a proposal.
2.Grammatical: Present subjunctive, subjunctive in expressions of belief and doubt. Argumentation markers and expressions.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to leisure and tourism.
4.Culture: Spanish leisure.
Week 6 (Unit 5, Aula 5) La vida es puro teatro
1.Functional: Studying a screenplay. Describing actions. Talking about body positions/postures.
2.Grammatical: Uses of pronouns Se and Le. Verbs to describe body postures.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to cinema and theatre. Verbs that can use se and/or le.
4.Culture: Spanish cinema.
Week 7 (Unit 5, Aula 5) La vida es puro teatro
1.Functional: Describing moods and spatial situations.
2.Grammatical: Time markers. Per?frasisverbales.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to the cinema and theatre. Verbs to express different moods. Uses of ponerand quedar.
4.Culture: Spanish cinema.
Week 8 (Unit 6, Aula 5) Dijiste que lo har?as
1.Functional: Expressing purpose and opinion, refering to promises and statements.
2.Grammatical: Review of subjuntive (present and past).
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to television.
4.Culture: Spanish television.
Week 9 (Unit 7, Aula 5) Lugares con encanto
1.Functional: Describing places
2.Grammatical: Relative clauses, review of past tenses and subjunctive, past participles.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to cities.
4.Culture: Hispanic cities.
Week 10 (Unit 7, Aula 5) Lugares con encanto
1.Functional: Expressing feelings
2.Grammatical: Relative clauses, review of past tenses and subjunctive, verbs of perception and opinion.
3.Vocabulary: Feelings, cities.
4.Culture: Contrast between Hispanic and American cities.
Week 11 (Unit 8, Aula 5) Antes de que sea tarde
1.Functional: Locating events in the past, present and future with accuracy.
2.Grammatical: Temporal clauseswithmientras, hasta (que), en cuanto...
3.Vocabulary: Nouns derived from verbs and adjectives, resources for writing texts with cohesion and coherence.
4.Culture: Environmental issues in Spain and contrast with the US.
Week 12 (Unit 10, Aula 5) Como no lo sab?a
1.Functional: Expressing cause and consequence. Expressing conditions.
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
In this course the student will gain proficiency in the skillful use of the language and will be able to refine the necessary tools to engage native speakers in fluid conversation, and will also be able to maintain a complex argumentation. In addition, this course emphasizes a language-in-use perspective. Students will develop their language skills and intercultural competence by means of research projects (‘field studies’), written assignments, debates, oral presentations, and critical reading of articles.
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 who enter this level are able to accomplish everyday needs required to live in a new culture. In this course, students will begin to develop independence and autonomy so that, when communication does break down, they have some tools at their disposal to resolve these challenges independently. Students should welcome correction and guidance from their instructors, hosts, and others in the community as they progress.
By the end of this course, students will begin to converse at a rate of speed approaching normal conversation. They will start to become creative, spontaneous and self-reliant as they solve problems, interpret texts, negotiate, express their opinions, likes and dislikes in the culture. Although students will still make errors and experience communication breakdowns, they are sometimes able to resolve these on their own. Students will understand some colloquial expressions and slang, and are starting to understand a wider variety of native speakers from different backgrounds. By the end of this level, students will be capable of achieving the learning outcomes outlined below.
Complete SP301 or equivalent course
Attendance is mandatory for all IES 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, 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 start to identify their own cultural beliefs, behaviors, and values by contrasting and comparing them with the host cultures.
C.Students will be able to identify some gestures and body language, and they may be able to integrate some of those non-verbal actions into their interactions with native speakers.
II.Listening
A. Students will be able to understand some spoken communications of moderate complexity (media, speeches, music, conversations, etc.) on a wide range of concrete everyday topics as well as abstract 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 everyday and personal topics, abstract topics covered in classes, as well as other topics of particular interest to them.
B. Students will be able to participate and respond actively in a variety of interactions.
IV.Reading
A. Students will be able to read and understand articles, stories, and online texts using background knowledge to aid their comprehension.
B. Students will begin to read and understand the main ideas of academic texts with assistance.
V.Writing
A. Students will be able to meet many everyday writing needs (notes, text messages, letters, emails, chats, and online forums).
B. Students will be able to write brief essays for class that narrate, describe, report, compare, contrast, and summarize on a wide range of 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 of Spanish language. These discussions offer the student the opportunity to present their views and hear the perspective of other students on selected topics.
CLASS DEBATE: The debate provides 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 on their approach.
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.
Discovering Barcelona and Spanish Culture
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 1 (Unit 1, Aula 5) Maneras de vivir
1.Functional: Expressing condition, talking about relationships.
2.Grammatical: 2nd-type conditional sentences (past subjunctive, conditional), present subjunctive.
3.Vocabulary:verbs of emotion.
4.Culture: relationships, urban tribes.
Week 2 (Unit 1, Aula 5) Maneras de vivir
1.Functional: Expressing feelings, describing people and objects.
2. Grammatical: Relative pronouns, present subjunctive.
3.Vocabulary: Verbs of emotion, vocabulary to describe appearance and personality.
4.Culture: Likes and dislikes Barcelona and Spain.
Week 3 (Unit 2, Aula 5) As? pas?
1.Functional: Talking about past experiences and events.
2.Grammatical: Contrast of past tenses. Writing the chronicle of an incident, narrate in the past:connect actions temporally.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to event, stories and news.
4.Culture: News and events.
Week 4 (Unit 2, Aula 5) As? pas?
1.Functional: Giving messages, transmitting information.
2.Grammatical: Present and Imperfect Subjunctive in Indirect Speech
3.Vocabulary: Verbs for transmitting information.
4.Culture: The Press in Spain.
Week 5 (Unit 3, Aula 5) ¿Y t? qu? opinas?
1.Functional: Giving our opinion, and reacting to opinions, engaging in debate, making proposals, expressing conditions when negotiating, supporting/refusing a proposal.
2.Grammatical: Present subjunctive, subjunctive in expressions of belief and doubt. Argumentation markers and expressions.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to leisure and tourism.
4.Culture: Spanish leisure.
Week 6 (Unit 5, Aula 5) La vida es puro teatro
1.Functional: Studying a screenplay. Describing actions. Talking about body positions/postures.
2.Grammatical: Uses of pronouns Se and Le. Verbs to describe body postures.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to cinema and theatre. Verbs that can use se and/or le.
4.Culture: Spanish cinema.
Week 7 (Unit 5, Aula 5) La vida es puro teatro
1.Functional: Describing moods and spatial situations.
2.Grammatical: Time markers. Per?frasisverbales.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to the cinema and theatre. Verbs to express different moods. Uses of ponerand quedar.
4.Culture: Spanish cinema.
Week 8 (Unit 6, Aula 5) Dijiste que lo har?as
1.Functional: Expressing purpose and opinion, refering to promises and statements.
2.Grammatical: Review of subjuntive (present and past).
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to television.
4.Culture: Spanish television.
Week 9 (Unit 7, Aula 5) Lugares con encanto
1.Functional: Describing places
2.Grammatical: Relative clauses, review of past tenses and subjunctive, past participles.
3.Vocabulary: Vocabulary related to cities.
4.Culture: Hispanic cities.
Week 10 (Unit 7, Aula 5) Lugares con encanto
1.Functional: Expressing feelings
2.Grammatical: Relative clauses, review of past tenses and subjunctive, verbs of perception and opinion.
3.Vocabulary: Feelings, cities.
4.Culture: Contrast between Hispanic and American cities.
Week 11 (Unit 8, Aula 5) Antes de que sea tarde
1.Functional: Locating events in the past, present and future with accuracy.
2.Grammatical: Temporal clauseswithmientras, hasta (que), en cuanto...
3.Vocabulary: Nouns derived from verbs and adjectives, resources for writing texts with cohesion and coherence.
4.Culture: Environmental issues in Spain and contrast with the US.
Week 12 (Unit 10, Aula 5) Como no lo sab?a
1.Functional: Expressing cause and consequence. Expressing conditions.
2.Grammatical: Sentence conjunctions (cause and consequence), third-type conditional sentences (plu-perfect subjunctive, perfect conditional).
3.Vocabulary: Logical conjunctions.
4.Culture: Historical past events, characters of historical significance. The Spanish educational system.
Corpas, Jaime, Garmendia, Agust?n,and Soriano, Carmen (2007): Aula 5. Barcelona: Difusi?n.
On-line or paper dictionary.
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.