UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA
Teaching Spanish as a Second Language
Fundamentals and Practice
The course Teaching Spanish as a Second Language: Fundamentals and Practice is conceived around the development of the skills, techniques, theoretical knowledge, and investigative consciousness for a teacher of Spanish as a second language.
OBJECTIVES
WHAT? Content objective: what Spanish do you teach?
• What grammatical points does one teach and how is it learned? For example, how do we explain the past tenses?
• What things do students learn to do with language? For example, how do we capture the attention of the person with whom we are speaking?
• Which cultural contents should be included? For example, which festivals, gestures, which social rituals define Spanish speakers?
• Which registers or levels are taught and how are they learned? For example, what colloquial expressions should be taught at each language level?
This is to say, in this part of the class we will deal with those grammatical points, linguistic functions, cultural contents, registers, etc. which normally constitute the course work of Spanish as a Second Language. Students in the course, as trainees in Spanish as a Second Language, should, at all times, make connections between the Spanish they have learned and the contents that are currently taught in Spanish as a Second Language classes.
HOW? Methodological objective: how do you teach a language to people whose native language is different?
• How do you select course content and classroom content?
• How do you program a course or an individual class?
• How to select/create teaching materials?
• What techniques and processes are there for carrying out classroom activities?
• How do you organize work in the classroom?
• How do you correct and what can you/should you correct in the students’ linguistic production?
• How can you evaluate the students’ production or intellectual progress?
• How do you develop and integrate all the linguistic skillsâ€" oral and written expression and comprehension?
• How do you attend to the social, personal, and affective dimension of the student in the classroom?
• How can audiovisual resources be integrated?
This is to say, in this part the foundations of language teaching methodology will be analyzed with application to the teaching of Spanish as a Second Language.
Although there will be a historical revision of the different methodological focuses, with their contributions to the current methodology, more emphasis will be given to the communicative focuses and by assignments.
Also, we will analyze the different moments of decision-making of all language teachers (course planning, selection and creation of materials, organization of course work, correcting errors, evaluation, etc.) to the end of developing the necessary skills to justify, test, and put into action said decisions.
WHY? Linguistic objective: how is more Spanish learned with this course?
• General linguistic skills (oral and written): the theoretical and practical contents will be presented and practiced during the course, exemplifying possible classroom activities, that in their turn will help the students to perfect their linguistic competence.
• Spanish within the field of applied linguistics specific to the teaching of languages (terminology, etc.) and, by extension, of academic Spanish, through coursework, reports, etc.
This to say, the students in this course will integrate the learning of information and skills necessary to be a Spanish as a Second Language teacher with constant practice and perfecting of their own linguistic skills, as a means to improve their level of mastery over the Spanish language.
PEOPLE
FOR WHOM? The students
The course is planned for those students in the program of Hispanic Studies interested, in some way, in the professional field of Spanish as a Second Language, especially those interested in working as Spanish as a Second Language teachers in countries which speak a language or languages other than Spanish.
Additionally, for those students who already have some training in the theory and practice of language teaching, the course will serve as a practice of said knowledge and skills in the field of Spanish as a Second Language.
THE PROCESSES
DOING WHAT? What type of activities will be done as a part of the course?
With the intention of fulfilling the theoretical objectives, but always within an eminently practical environment, the following activities and projects will be done, which will serve for the evaluation of the students:
• Preparing lesson plans.
• Observation of and reflection on the teaching of classmates and/or other teachers in exercise, according to determined protocols of observation.
• Putting into practice a class plan or an activity with real students of Spanish as a Second Language or with classmates, depending on the level of the class or activity.
• Putting together a Spanish as a Second Language teacher portfolio, which will include images, internet addresses, games, songs, exams, activities, etc., developed by student and that will be used in the future. The number of these elements will be discussed with the students and will vary as a function of their interests and experience.
• Analysis and evaluation of an activity or a bloc of activities (using a guide provided by the teacher).
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