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Prior to enrolling in courses at this language level, students must have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish at their home university in the U.S.

Español 500 (C500SI)
Teaching Philosophy
The Universidad Interamericana teaching philosophy is to integrate each of the four skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking through task-based activities and link them to real-world, contemporary topics in order to provide a global perspective of the Spanish language. In addition, practical life skills and learning strategies are taught in a student-centered, Spanish-only environment.

Course Guidelines
1. This course is taught in Spanish and it is mandatory that students communicate in Spanish in the classroom.
2. Classes start on time. Arriving more than 10 minutes late is equivalent to being tardy. Three tardies equals one absence. Students who arrive more than 30 minutes late are marked absent. A student who accumulates three (3) or more absences fails the course unless he/she makes up the missed classes. A student must attend make-up classes at his/her level or at a higher level. All missed classes must be made up within one week of the missed class. All make ups must be done before the last two classes. All make ups must be done before the last two classes. A professor has the right, but not the obligation to make special arrangements to make up missed time when there is an extraordinary case.
3. Homework assignments and all other assignments must be handed in on the due date.
4. Quizzes and Exams must be taken on the assigned date and will only be made up in case of emergencies. If an emergency occurs, it is the student’s responsibility to communicate with the professor and make arrangements. There is a 13,500 colon charge for make-up tests/activities which require the professor’s presence; said fee may be waived by the academic direction in the case of documented emergencies.
5. The course evaluation consists of a class project (20%), an oral exam (20%), a mid-term exam (25%),
a final exam (25%), and in-class oral grade (10%). Course evaluation may vary. In said cases, students are informed of the variation within the first two class sessions.

Course Description: This course continues to develop on the skills acquired in Español 400, but students begin to work with more advanced communicative goals. This course is appropriate for strong students who have completed four semesters of strong university level Spanish. Material seen in this class is at the B-2 level of the Common European Framework.

Course Goals: General course goals for the four areas of language are listed in the table shown below.

Listening Reading
The student is able to identify and express understanding of both explicit and rhetorical time markers, comparison/contrast indicators, and cause/effect indicators within natural discourse Additionally, within legal contexts, the student is able to identify both stated and non-stated purpose. The student demonstrates understanding of extended technical and non-technical instructions containing 11-13 steps. Students can also demonstrate basic understanding of moderately complex 7-8 paragraph texts.
Speaking Writing
The student is able to appropriately respond to expressions of complaint, appreciation, and hope. The student can take authentic phone messages which have 5-7 details. Furthermore, the students is able to effectively participate in small-group, non-personal conversations. The student is able to write both outlines and summaries of larger texts. Furthermore, the student is able to write 2-3 paragraph texts for a wide variety of common purposes.
Required Text: a fondo: Curso de español lengua extranjeta, nivel avanzado, units 1-5, student book. Sociedad General Española de Librería S.A, ISBN: 84-9778-058-2. A different, but similar text may be substituted according to the criteria of the Universidad Interamericana.