Notes regarding credits...

January 2008 and March 2008 Intensive Month students will receive 60 hours of instruction.

All other Intensive Month students will receive 80 hours of instruction.

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

Beginning

There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

GENERAL AIM
To understand and express oneself in daily situations and those
situations related to the learner’s personal experience, with basic
linguistic resources. To exchange simple and direct information.

SPECIFIC AIMS
Listening comprehension.- To understand the meaning of conversations
held between two native speakers whose topic is related to the personal
experience of the learner.

Oral production.- To express oneself by means of simple linguistic structures in daily situations and topics related to the experience of the
learner.

Reading comprehension.-To understand the general meaning of short texts related to daily life and to the personal experience of the learner.

Writing skills.- To make out lists, write notes and short texts related to daily life and to the personal experience of the learner.

LIST OF CONTENTS
1. Communicative content
• Communication control: how to say, how to pronounce, how to
write or translate something.
• Express purpose.
• Give and ask for information about one’s name, nationality, age
and profession.
• Identify, define, classify.
• Give and ask for information about the location of objects and
places.
• Give and ask for information about quantities, exact and
approximate.
• Express and ask about preference.
• Refer to the characteristics of objects: use, weight, origin,....
• Make comparisons.
• Contrast information.
• Identify objects in a collection by their shape, brand, colour,
location, etc.
• Describe people on a basic level by their physical appearance and
their character.
• Speak about similarities.
• Evaluate activities.
• Speak about plans and projects.
• Speak about the past.
• Express likes and interests.
• Show agreement and disagreement.
• Emphasise the important elements of something.
• Propose an activity: offer, invite, accept and refuse.
• Conversations in a restaurant situation.

2. Grammatical content:
BEGINNER-A

1. Alphabet and spelling.
2. Relation between writing and pronunciation.
3. Infinitive forms in the three conjugations.
4. ‘Para’ + noun and infinitive.
5. Intonation in interrogative phrases.
6. Subject pronoun: presence/absence.
7. Definite and indefinite articles.
8. Present indicative of the most frequent regular and irregular
verbs: tener, querer, haber, hacer, ser, ir, conocer, saber, poner,
estar, salir, traducir, parecer, conducir, crecer.
9. Dipthong and vowel alternation of the present in ‘e’ â†" ‘ie’, ‘o’ â†"
‘ue’, ‘e’ â†" ‘i’, ‘u’ â†" ‘ue’, : preferir, poder, seguir, jugar.
10. Interrogative phrases with yes/no answers.
11. Co-ordination of elements with y, o, pero.
12. Numerals.
13. The time: asking and responding.
14. Gender and number of the qualifying adjective.
15. Forms and uses of the demonstratives.
16. Forms and uses of the possessives.
17. Forms and uses of the interrogatives: qué, quién/quiénes.
18. Preposition de + topic, material and possessor.
19. Relative clauses: que, donde.
20. Uses of the verb ser : identification, definition, classification.
21. Most frequent reflexive verbs: llamarse, parecerse.
22. Nationalities and their gender.
23. Professions and their gender.
24. Resources to refer to a set of objects or to its components: (casi)
todos, la mayoría, muchos, algunos, no muchos.
25. Uses of estar and hay.

BEGINNER-B

1. Forms of the indefinites: uno(s), otro, ningún, ninguno/a.
2. Uses of the prepositions a and en, in spatial relations.
3. Verbs of movement with prepositions: hasta, por, de ... a.
4. Cuanto(s)/a(s).
5. Forms and uses of the gerund: estar + gerund.
6. Forms and syntax of gustar, encantar, interesar.
7. Basic contrasts of intonation between the Spanish language of
America and that of Spain.
8. Superlatives ending in -ísimo.
9. Uses of estar for localisation.
10. Basic contrasts between ser and estar for description.
11. Present perfect: morphology and uses.
12. Morphology of the participle.
13. Time expressions: hoy, últimamente, este mes/año. El próximo,
el mes/año que viene, dentro de
14. Adverbs of frequency: alguna vez, varias veces, muchas veces,
nunca.
15. Ya / todavía no.
16. Pronouns of the direct and indirect object.
17. Reduplication of the indirect object.
18. Parts of the day.
19. Days of the week, months and seasons.
20. Uses of the present to speak about the future.
21. Ir a + infinitive, pensar + infinitive.
22. Exclamatory phrases with ¡qué ... ! and ¡qué ... tan ...!
23. Exclamatory phrases with ¡como + the present ...!
24. The positive imperative.
25. Expressions of causes and excuses: como, porque, lo que pasa,
es que, es que.

3. Cultural content of the Beginner Level:
- General norms of behaviour in Spanish society.
- Elemental phrases for communication: expressive resources.
- Body language: distances.
- Stereotypes:
- How do the Spanish consider foreigners?
- How do foreigners consider the Spanish?
- Daily life:
- timetables: work, business and leisure time.
- meals and food.
- The family: general characteristics.
- Geographical situation and general characteristics of Spain.
- The Democracy:
- the autonomous regions
- the Monarchy.
- Introduction to the main Spanish cultural artistic expressions:
- flamenco
- bullfighting.