Intermediate

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

Intermediate 1

Students should have a basic knowledge of Spanish. The course includes conversation, lecture, and discussion of simple texts. In addition to using more complex vocabulary, there is an introduction to the history and the use of the personal pronoun "vos".

Contents

Week 1
1. Review of the present indicative.
2. Review of regular verbs and verbs with irregular root changes of the indefinite preterite.
3. Comparisons of adverbs, adjectives, and nouns.
4. Introduction to indefinitite preterite with irregularities.
5. Saber vs Conocer
6. ¿Que es Cuál?
7. Intensification adverbs.

Activities:
1. Card game: Verbs and pronouns.
2. Create a conversation based on a caricature.
3. Lecture and commentary about a real theme of general interest.
4. Listening exercise using "como suena" to review intensification verbs.

Week 2
1. Review of direct and indirect complements and introduction to the use of these pronouns in combination.
2. The use of enclitics with gerund and infinitive.
3. The personal "a"
4. Irregular endings of the preterite: -gar,-car,-zar
5. Formation of the imperfect: -ar,-er,-ir
6. Uses of the imperfect.
7. Past progressive.
8. Comparison of the preterite and imperfect.
9. Había vs hubo.
l0.Ordinal numbers.

Activities:
1. Writing of a letter to the I.E.E applying the pronominals.
2. Description of disasters and accidents.
3. Poster with drawings to practice the past progressive.
4. Practice and compositions of the preterite and imperfect.

Week 3
1. Narrative expressions.
2. Use of por and para
3. Idiomatic expressions with por and para.
4. Review of the singular and plural formal imperative.
(Optional: review of the informal imperative VOS)
5. The imperative with the first person plural.
6. The imperative with the second person plural.
7. Introduction to prepositional verbs.

Activities:
1. Narrate everyday situations using expressions to narrate.
2. Card game applying por or para.
3. Listen to and analyze "Desiderata".
4. Real situations to practice the imperative.

Week 4
1. Darse cuenta de (To realize..)
2. Introduction to the indicative preterite perfect with regular and irregular participles.
3. Introduction to the plusperfect indicative.