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.

High Advanced Spanish: Composition

DESCRIPTION AND AIMS
The main goal of the course is to provide students with the necessary resources for them to be able to write different types of elaborate texts in Spanish (narrative, descriptive, argumentative, recipes, letters...) by means of exercises involving exposition, reflection, and practice. Students will learn techniques to organize the written speech, as well as style resources that will lead them to achieve a high level of competence in the writing area.

SYLLABUS

- Accent marks: different accent patterns in Spanish words.
- Accent marks on monosyllabic words.
- Punctuation: rules and uses of punctuations signs.
- Objective and subjective description: the use of ser and estar.
- Narrating in the past: Using the preterite, imperfect, present perfect and pluperfect.
- Recipes: present tense with imperative value, structures with SE and command forms (tú/usted)
- Interviews: use of question words
- Reporting a conversation through a written text.
- The structure of formal and informal letters.
- Journalistic texts: structure of newspaper articles.
- Argumentative texts: use of conjunctions.

METHODOLOGY
Students will be provided with grammar and style guidelines pertaining to the different sorts of texts to be worked on in class. These guidelines will enable them to do tasks based on reflection, guided practice and creativity.

The final grade will be determined by several in-class and take-home essays. There will also be homework assignments.

ASSESSMENT
The final grade will be calculated according to the following grade breakdown:

Participation & attendance: 15%
Compositions: 55%
Final exam: 30%

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOROBIO, V., ELE. Curso de español para extranjeros, Madrid, S.M., 1994.
CASTRO, F y MARÍN, F., Ven. Español Lengua Extranjera, Madrid, Edelsa, 1994
CASTRO, Francisca, Uso de la gramática española, Madrid, Edelsa, 1997.
CHAMORRO, M.D., Abanico, Barcelona, Difusión, 1995.
FERREIRO, P. y ZAYAS-BAZÁN, E., Cómo dominar la redacción, Madrid, Playor, 1991.
GONZÁLEZ, A y ROMERO, C., Curso de puesta a punto en español. Escribe, habla, entienda … argumente, Madrid, Edelsa, 1998.
LE�"N, Eugenia, Dar que hablar. Propuestas de conversación para ejercicios de lenguaje, Málaga, Universidad de Málaga, 2000.
MARTÍN PERIS, M. y SANS, L., Gente. Curso de Español para Extranjeros, Barcelona, Difusión, 1997.
MIQUEL, L. y SANS, N., Como suena I �" II, Madrid, Difusión, 1992.
RODRÍGUEZ JIMÉNEZ, V., Manual de redacción, Madrid, Paraninfo, 1990.
VV.AA., Planeta 4. Libro del alumno y Libro de referencia gramatical: fichas y ejercicios, Madrid, Edelsa, 2000.
VV.AA., Preparación Diploma Básico Lengua Extranjera, D.B.E., Madrid ,Edelsa, 1995

Instructor’s own material.

 Note:
- The grading system, as well as the assessment standards, will be the same as those used in the U.S.A.