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

Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six 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 purpose of this course is to offer students the theoretical and practical resources to acquire the abilities for the adequate use of written Spanish language. The practical process will be oriented toward comprehension and production of texts, by means of readings, analysis, and the writing of narrations, descriptions, essays, and brief research projects.

Additionally, the formal aspects and characteristics of style should be developed with the purpose of achieving more correct written composition of texts in Spanish.

OBJECTIVES

When the course ends, students will be able to:

1. Write narrations, descriptions, essays, and reports in discursive and expressive language.
2. Manage the morpho-syntactic concepts necessary in textual composition, specifically, compound sentences, verbal moods and tenses, among others.
3. Use grammatical aspects correctly.

CONTENTS

Unit 1: General Introduction- Diagnostic.

1. Expectations and reality.
2. Resources and work situation: Our library and our computer lab.
3. Review of the diagnostic.
4. Rules of the game.

Unit 2: The process of writing.

1. Some theories.
2. Before, during, and after writing.
3. First orthographic doubts: Accentuation and punctuation.
4. Reading: “Writing in Spanish” (Long-Gerrard).
5. Writing: Writing the draft of the first composition: First impression of the Dominican Republic.

Unit 3: Characteristics of style in Spanish writing.

Subtopics: Forms of style.

1. Segmented style and cohesive style.
2. Compound sentence: subordination and coordination.
3. Reading: From a segmented to a cohesive style.
4. Writing: Revision and final writing of the first composition.

Unit 4 �" 1: Narration and description (first part).

Subtopics: Topics and intention in narration.

1. Organizing structure of narration. Narrative resources.
2. Frequent grammatical uses: preterit and imperfect.
3. Reading: Narration and description (I) (M. Alvarez).
4. Writing: Writing the draft of a narration.

Unit 4 �" 2: Narration and description (2nd part).

Subtopic: Topics, intention, and organizing order in description.

1. Reading:
a. Narration and description (II).
b. Stories.
2. Writing: Final writing of the narration.

Unit 5 �" 1: Presentation and argumentation: The essay.

Subtopic: Different forms of expositive texts: Techniques and methods of presentation.

1. Reading: types of texts II: The presentation and argumentation (M. Álvarez).
2. Writing: Writing an exposition on a socio-cultural topic, using one the expositive methods.

Unit 5 �" 2: Argumentation.

Subtopics: Characteristics of an argumentation.

1. Revision and grammatical elements. Relative pronouns, etc. (models)
2. Reading: Essays using argumentation. (model)
3. Writing: Final draft.

Unit 5 �" 3: The critical essay.

Subtopics: Opinion and argumentation.

1. Reporting and critique.
2. Reading: Critiques of books and movies. (models)
3. Writing: Write draft of an essay about a topic that interests you.

Unit 5 �" 4: Continuing with the essay.

1. Review of the final draft of the essay.
2. Grammatical aspects: Gerunds, prepositions, forms of the subjunctive.
3. Writing: Final draft of the essay on a controversial topic.

Unit 6 �" 1: The research project.

Subtopics: Characteristics and strategies of composition.

1. Reading: The research project. (Valdés, Dvorak, and Hannun)

Unit 6 �" 2: Continuing with the research project.

Subtopics: The report.

1. Characteristics and types of reports.
2. Reading: The report. Humanities (PUCMM)

Unit 6 �" 3: Topics over which to write a report.

Subtopics: Organization of a report (Guide to writing).

1. Writing: Writing of drafts with preliminary information about an educational, socio-cultural, or business institution in Santiago.

Unit 7: Preparation of the final project. Research or report on an educational, socio-cultural or business institution in Santiago.

EVALUATION:

Oral participación and attendance: 10%
Assignments and exercises: 25%
1st partial exam (Units I and II): 20%
2nd partial exam (Units III, IV, and V): 20%
Final exam (Report): 25%
Total: 100%

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Álvarez, M. (1996) Tipos de escrito I: Narración y descripción. Madrid: Arco/Libros, S. L.

Álvarez, M.. (1996) Tipos de escrito II: Exposición y argumentación. Madrid: Arco/Libros, S. L.

Borsi, E. y Rogg, F. R. (1994) El Arte de Escribir. New York: Mc Graw-Hill, Inc.

De la Torre, F. y Duffo, S. (1993) Taller de Lectura y Redacción. México: Mc Graw-Hill, Inc.

Equipo de Expertos 2100. (1991) Como redactar con estilo y eficacia. Barcelona: Editorial De Vecchi.

Espinosa, S. (1994) Manual de Ortografía. Colombia: Grupo Editorial Norma.

Finnemann M. D. y Carbón Gorrel, L. (1991) De lector a escritor. El desarrollo de la comunicación escrita. Boston, Massachussetts: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, Inc.

Long-Gerrard, L. (1993). Redacción y Revisión. Estrategias para la Composición. New York: Mc Graw-Hill, Inc.

Nance, K. A. y Rivera, I. (1996) Aprendizaje. Técnicas de Composición. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company.

Valdés, Dvorak y Hannum. (1999) Composición: Proceso y Síntesis. 3era. Edición. New York: Random House.

Valdés, G. y Richard V. T. (1994) Español Escrito; 3ra. Edición. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.