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.

OBJECTIVE

The overall objective of this course is substantial vocabulary expansion and improving communicative competency in describing, giving directions, getting information, narrating and describing in the past, reacting to events through the use of the subjunctive, comparing, narrating in the future, and hypothesizing.

This course has a double emphasis. The first focus is on active mastery of the following proficiency skills. The second focus is on the following grammar skills studied from a linguistic perspective, practiced in context, and recycled throughout the semester.

COMMUNICATIVE OBJECTIVES

Reacting to situations

Expressing likes and dislikes

Talking about the past: narrating and describing

Talking about the future

Talking about doubt, surprise, and complaints

Making judgements and defending opinions

Expressing agreement and disagreement

Indirect discourse

Impersonal expressions

Giving advice and suggestions

Expressing emotion

Persuading and provoking

Colloquial expressions

Vocabulary topics include but are not limited to: human body, house, city, country, painting, sculpture, architecture, weather, personal relationships, leisure, shows, emotions, food

GRAMMAR OBJECTIVES

Ser and Estar + adjective

Superlative adjectives and review of comparatives

Relative pronouns (que, quien, cual)

Adverbs

Para + infinitive

Exclamatory sentences with ¡Qué!

Future: simple, compound, and probability

Ordinal numbers

Hace + time

Present subjunctive after certain triggers: quizá, a lo mejor; noun expressions (me parece que, veo que); decir que; cuando; expressions of contingency (de modo que, a fin de que); expressions with emotion

Si clauses + subjunctive/ indicative

Gustar and similar verbs

Sentences with porque and para que

Justifications (es que..)

Formation and derivation of words

Syntax of oral speech

Present and past perfect tenses (había hecho)

Soler/ acostumbrar + infinitive

Gerund periphrases: llevar + time + gerund, llevar + gerund + desde, estar + gerund + desde (de)

EVALUATION

The student will be evaluated on daily oral and written exercises, classroom participation, a mid-term exam, and a final exam.