COURSE SYLLABUS: ADVANCED SPANISH I

Location: Oaxaca, Mexico

Partner Institution: University of Oaxaca

English Course Title: Advanced Spanish I

Spanish Course Title: Español Avanzado I

Course Number: SP 230

Instructional Language: Spanish

Session: Year-round

Contact Hours: 45

Semester Credits/Quarter Units: 3 credits / 4 units

Pre-requisites: Intermediate Spanish II

Course Objectives

Oral Production:

Advanced I builds on the foundations for accurate and fluent communication already established in the previous levels by extending grammatical, lexical, and functional skills. The use of the subjunctive tense is emphasized in Advanced I. The student will have to speak using all of the tenses. The student will express emotions, doubts, desires, etc. The student will give advice and suggestions. The student will talk about conjecture and hypotheses. The student will gain greater fluency and speed in their speech and improve their skills close to that of a native speaker.

Written Production:

A selection of text styles and writing hints are provided to suit the students’ needs. Comprehensible input is ensured to give students a chance to discover new composition options inductively. Students will apply a great variety of structures, expressions and abundant vocabulary introduced at this level. The student will be able to write informal texts such as letters to family and friends and formal texts such as different types of essays. The student will use more complex structures that include subordination. The student will possess the ability to use different tenses of the subjunctive. The student will write about personal, political and social events. The student will utilize the different tenses of the subjunctive.

Listening Comprehension:

A variety of activities like dialogues, discussions, and songs as well as different means of communication are provided to the students to introduce them to a more complex discourse and allow them the smooth transition to a higher level of understanding the Spanish language. The student will understand all that is said in class whether it be from the professor or other students. At this advanced level the student should have no listening comprehension problems in or out of the classroom.

Reading Comprehension:

The reading passages use various types of texts adapted from authentic sources. More advanced reading skills are developed here including reading for detail, skimming, scanning, and making inferences. Pre-reading and post-reading questions are also included to use the topics found in the reading selection as a springboard for discussions. The student will understand the vocabulary of the different texts that are presented such as information from newspapers, magazines and books. The student will gain a wide knowledge of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions that permit the student to work with whatever written information is presented them.

Grammar:

• Review of the present and preterit of the subjunctive
• Subordination
• Passive voice
• Present perfect
• Compound tenses of the subjunctive

Program

Grammatical Content:

• Difference between the present perfect and the plus-perfect
• Accent rules for homonym words
• Function and differences between the indicative and the subjunctive
• Subordination between the tenses of the indicative and subjunctive modes
• Temporal values and aspects of the present subjunctive and the preterit subjunctive
• Forms of the present and preterit subjunctive with volutive and emotion verbs, etc.
• Hypothetic periphrases

Communicative Functions:

• Express desire, hope, want
• Express opinions about things in the present, past or future
• Express certainty and possibility of thing in the present and past
• Express beliefs and opinions about the present, past and future
• Express indirect commands
• Direct and indirect discourse

Cultural Content:

In this level the cultural content is given in accordance to the interest of the students in the class.

Course Evaluation

Class attendance: 10%

Class participation: 10%

Homework and assignments: 20%

Conduct and in-class behavior: 10%

Final exam: 50%

Contact Information:
SOL EDUCATION ABROAD
EMAIL: info@soleducation.com
WEB: www.soleducation.com
PHONE: 512.380.1003
FAX: 512.287.4886
MAIL: 503 Oakland Ave. Austin, TX 78703