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

Intermediate

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of two semesters (or three 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.

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.

The course “Writing in Spanish” is designed to teach students the skills necessary to interpret and create written texts of a range of types and genres, focusing on the planning, writing and checking processes. The course is aimed at intermediate and advanced students.

PROGRAM (First quadrimester)

1. Introduction to text composition: planning, writing and revising

1.1. From brainstorming to conceptual maps and text structure

1.2. From sentence to paragraph, from paragraph to text

1.3. Style and spelling

2. Text types and genres

2.1. Narrative texts: news

2.2. Narrative-descriptive texts: short stories and thrillers; travel accounts

2.3. Expository texts: texts presenting ideas

2.4. Business Spanish: curriculum vitae and letters for job application

3. Connectors

3.1. Connectors making an additional point

3.2. Reformulations

3.3. Connectors expressing consequences

4. Discourse strategies

4.1. Making language more impersonal

5. Register

5.1. Accuracy: accents

5.2. Lexical precision

PROGRAM (Second quadrimester)

1. Text types and genders

1.1. Expository-argumentative texts: specialized articles

1.2. Argumentative texts: letters to the editor, opinion columns

1.3. The text of dialogue: interviews

1.4. Business Spanish: business letters

2. Connectors

2.1. Connectors for structuring information

2.2. Argumentative connectors

2.3. Counter-argumentative connectors

2.4. Punctuation

3. Discourse strategies

3.1. Making language more personal

4. Register

4.1. Lexical precision

Reading list

ÁLVAREZ, M. (2001): Ejercicios de escritura. Nivel avanzado, Madrid, Anaya.

ÁLVAREZ, M. (2001): Ejercicios de escritura. Nivel superior, Madrid, Anaya.

BADOS, C. (2001): Textos literarios y ejercicios. Nivel avanzado, Madrid, Anaya.

BADOS, C. (2001): Textos literarios y ejercicios. Nivel superior, Madrid, Anaya.

HERNÁNDEZ, G. y RELLÁN, C. (1998): Aprendo a escribir 2. Narrar y describir, Madrid, SGEL, 2000

HERNÁNDEZ, G. y RELLÁN, C. (1999): Aprendo a escribir 3. Exponer y argumentar, Madrid, SGEL , 2002

MONTOLÍO, E. (coord.) (2000): Manual práctico de escritura académica, vols. I, II y III, Barcelona, Ariel.