SPAN250 Advanced Spanish I

Department of Language & Literature: Spanish

  1. Course Number and Title

    SPAN250 Advanced Spanish I

  2. Number of Credits

    3 credits

  3. Minimum Number of Instructional Minutes Per Semester

    2250

  4. Prerequisites

    SPAN202 (C or better) or equivalent

    Corequisites

    None

  5. Other Pertinent Information

    Students spend between six and nine hours per week outside of class in activities such as learning vocabulary, reading, completing written exercises, working on pronunciation, preparing oral presentations, and working with the multimedia files that accompany the text. Text may change yearly.

  6. Catalog Course Description

    This continuation of the work from the Intermediate sequence focuses on discussion of selected cultural readings, periodical articles, etc., to instill a greater mastery of spoken and written Spanish. This course also addresses advanced language skills and a deeper understanding of the Spanish speaking countries.

  7. Required Course Content and Direction

    1. Learning Goals:

      1. Course
        2. Students will:
        1. acquire and demonstrate increasing competence in the four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing;
        2. recognize and respond appropriately and with increasing detail to the most common spoken situations;
        3. demonstrate ability to write increasingly complex sentences in Spanish; and
        4. explain an increasing number of aspects of life in the Spanish-speaking countries.

      2. Core (if applicable)
        3. Category I
        Cultural Perspectives
         Students will:
        1. compare, contrast, analyze, and/or defend differing world views and practices.

        Category III
        International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives
         Students will:
          articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

    2. Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities:

      Grammatical topics

      Uses of “ser” and “estar”
      Adverbs
      Comparisons of equality
      Comparisons of inequality
      The superlative
      Nominalization
      The preterit
      The imperfect
      “Hace” with time expressions
      Verbs with different English equivalents in the preterit and the imperfect
      The present perfect
      Past participles used as adjectives
      “Se” + verb for impersonal and passive expressions
      Indirect object nouns and pronouns
      “Gustar” and similar verbs
      The infinitive
      Direct object nouns and pronouns
      The present subjunctive: wishes, hope, emotions, advice
      Equivalents of to become

      Vocabulary and social contexts

      More nouns and verbs used to talk about sports and leisure activities of today
      Nouns and verbs relating to regional festivities
      Nouns and verbs relating to personal changes and cultural trends

      Cultural contexts

      Identifying characteristics and facts about Hispanic communities
      Spanglish as a cultural and linguistic phenomenon
      The Spanish-speaking community in the United States

    3. Assessment Methods for Core Learning Goals:

      1. Course
        2. Students
        1. take quizzes and tests;
        2. complete assignments, such as short compositions and grammatical exercises;
        3. perform listening comprehension exercises; and
        4. participate in oral interviews and/or presentations that assess proficiency levels.

      2. Core (if applicable)
        1. Cultural Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests which examine the cultural topics presented in the course and in which they compare, contrast, analyze, and/or defend differing world views and practices of some Spanish-speaking people.
        2. International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests in which they articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

    4. Reference, Resource, or Learning Materials to be used by Students:

      Students use text, workbook, and multimedia resources of second-year proficiency-based Spanish program. See course format.

  8. Teaching Methods Employed

    Section VIII is not being used in new and revised syllabi as of 12/10/08.

Review/Approval Date - 3/98; Core Goals/Objectives added 4/04; Revised 4/2011