Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

High Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of five semesters (or seven quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

Description:

This course is directed towards those students who have a strong understanding of grammatical structures and that have interest in achieving fluent communication skills. In this class skills such as reading and listening will be developed.

General Objective:

To develop the necessary skills to express oneself in public in a precise and clear form.

Specific Objectives:

1-Help the student develop fluency in oral communication.
2-Improve the student’s critical-analytical capacity.
3-Encourage objectivity in discussion forums.
4-Eliminate bad speaking habits which impede successful communication.
5-Utilize basic methods and styles of oral expression.

Contents:

1-Lecture and analysis of articles concerning the Latin American economy.
2-Lecture and analysis of articles over the main socio-economic problems in Latin America.
3-Analyze the causes and indexes of extreme poverty in Latin America.
4-Investigate the principal health problems that affect Latin Americans.
5-Lecture and investigation of leaders for social change. Focus on Latin American leaders.
6-Study aspects of Latin American music.
7-Establish comparisons of all of these aspects with the United States.

Methodology:

1-In each session an assigned topic will be analyzed.
2-Analysis of various articles.
3-Internet investigations of current events, national or international but looking only at Spanish-language sources.
4-Analysis and discussion of controversial topics.
5-Constant practice of oral production.
6-Individual and group lectures.
7-Expositions and guided practices by the professor.

Suggested Activities:

1-Movies in Spanish or another language (not English) with Spanish subtitles.
2-Short lectures on society and Latin American authors.
3-Listen to Latin American music.
4-Selected readings.

Materials used in the course:

1-Radio
2-Videos
3-Music
4-Newspaper articles
5-Internet, etc.

Evaluation:

Homework 10%
Class attendance and Participation 15%
Oral presentation 25%
Lectures 25%
Final project 25%