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.

Intermediate Spanish Language II

The main goal of the course is to provide students with the appropriate atmosphere for them to develop their communicative competence from a low-intermediate level towards a solid intermediate one. This will be achieved through practice involving the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The speaking skill will be emphasized by means weekly sessions devoted to oral Spanish, where students will participate in activities such as roleplays. All functional and grammar contents will be approached from a communicative perspective which will assume and value active participation of the students in the class at all times.
SYLLABUS
WEEK 1:
- Brief review of the present indicative tense
- Introduction to the conditional tense: forms and basic use
- Interviewing: question structure
- Expressing feelings and likes: me gusta/divierte/indigna/da risa/cae bien/...
WEEK 2:
- Talking about linguistic abilities.
- Preterite tense: regular and irregular forms.
- Preterite / Present perfect contrast.
- Giving advice and suggesting solutions: lo que tienes que hacer es.../¿por qué no...?/ intenta
- Expressing opinions about activities: me parece/resulta + divertido/fácil/aburrido...
WEEK 3:
- Expressing feelings and difficulties: noto que / veo que /..+Indicativo, me canso de/me
cuesta/me da miedo + Infinitivo
- Describing and giving opinions about a show.
- Arranging to meet someone: ¿cómo quedamos? / a mí me va bien....
- Expressing what you feel like doing: apetecer + infinitivo/sustantivo
WEEK 4:
- Expressing frequency: muchas veces, a menudo...
- Locating events in the day: por la mañana / tarde / noche, a mediodía
- Talking about health and physical conditions: asking questions, describing conditions, taking
medication. (1)
WEEK 5:
- Talking about health and physical conditions: asking questions, describing conditions, taking
medication. (2)
- Recommendations: hay que / es aconsejable / es conveniente...
- Command forms: tú / usted â€" vosotros / ustedes
WEEK 6:
- Review and final exam.
METHODOLOGY
All grammar and functional contents will be integrated into activities within the framework of units with different topics: meeting other people, health…
Assignments will include brief compositions and daily homework.
The course will comprise weekly visits to the multimedia laboratory, where students will have the chance to improve their pronunciation by means of the state-of-the-art software available to them. The instructor will guide and supervise students’ work in order to assess their performance.
Classes will also be implemented with 5 hours of multimedia laboratory work by students on their own throughout the course. Students will regularly report to the teacher on the work done in the laboratory.
ASSESSMENT
The final grade will be calculated according to the following grade breakdown:
Participation: 10%
Homework: 20%
Compositions: 15%
Tests: 20 %
Oral component: 15 %
Final exam: 20%
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Textbook and workbook:
Martín Peris, E. y N. Sans Baulenas, Gente 2: Libro del Alumno y Libro de Trabajo. Barcelona, Difusión, 2004.
Other sources of material to be used in class:
- Arnal, C. y A. Ruiz de Garibay, Escribe en español. Madrid, SGEL, 1996.
- Ascarrunz Gilman, G. y C. Benito-Vessels, Horizontes: Cultura y Literatura. Boston, Heinle
& Heinle, 1997.
- Baralo, M., Gibert, B. Y B. Moreno de los Ríos, Preparación Certificado Inicial Español
Lengua Extranjera, Madrid, Edelsa, 1994.
- Bretz, M.L., Dvorak, T. y C. Kirschner, Pasajes: Lengua. Boston, McGraw Hill, 1997.
- Bretz, M.L., Dvorak, T. y C. Kirschner, Pasajes: Cultura. Boston, McGraw Hill, 1997.
- Cabrerizo, M.A., M.L. Gómez, and A.M. Ruiz: Sueña 2: Libro del alumno y cuaderno de
ejercicios, Anaya, Madrid, 2001.
- Castro, F. Uso de la gramática española. Nivel Intermedio. Madrid, Edelsa, 2000.
- Cerrolaza, M., Cerrolaza, O. y B. Llovet, Planet@ 2: Libro del alumno y Libro de referencia
gramatical. Madrid, Edelsa, 1999.
- Pinilla, Raquel y Rosanna Acquaroni, ¡Bien dicho! Ejercicios de expresión oral. Madrid,
SGEL, 2000.
- Rodríguez Rodríguez, María, Escucha y aprende. Ejercicios de comprensión auditiva. Madrid,
SGEL, 2003.
- Sánchez, A., Mª T. Espinet y P. Cantos: Cumbre. Nivel Intermedio. Madrid, SGEL,1996.
NOTES:
- Before the beginning of instruction, students will need to take a placement test in order to
determine their Spanish level.
- Since class attendance is essential for the acquisition of the four skills, student attendance will be checked daily. Missing classes will negatively affect the student’s final grade.
- The grading system, as well as the assessment standards, will be the same as those used in the U.S.A.