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

High Intermediate

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of three semesters (or five 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.

PROGRAM

Theme I: Inventing the ideal pair

Description:

We divide the students into groups by sex, with the intention of having two groups. We ask them to come up with a list of five positive and negative characteristics (virtues and defects) that stand out about the opposite sex. When they have the lists prepared, the professor will write the characteristics on the board as the spokesperson for each group reads them off. Then the groups will debate about the result: ask why they have such opinions and ask for perceptions. The debate is assured; so is a good time. At the end, everyone will help to create the ideal personality of the pair.

Grammatical Aptitude:

Practice related to the adjectives and sustantives that refer to character. Description of themselves and of others, expression and justification of common or differing opinions, and practice using verbs in the present and indicative tense. Gustar, preferir, verbs that express obligation, ser and estar.

Theme II: Silence! Roll tape…

Description:

Directed by the professor, the students will develop the plot of a movie, told in the past tense. The class will be divided, at the beginning, into three groups: those in charge of the descriptions, those in charge of the plot, and those in charge of the script writing. They will start with the description of the place, the era, and the wardrobe. Then, ACTION! The students let their imagination take over and they add the plot of the story, always told in the past tense. Those in charge of dialog will improvise on what is taking place and as such we construct our own movie. The professor will be in charge of asking questions to add structure to the movie and to help direct the students towards the answers that deal with verbs in the past tense. [Example: What was the boat like that they traveled in? How was the protagonist dressed? (imperfect preterite) Who appeared in that moment and what did they do? (indefinite preterite) What was the protagonist doing when the bad guy came through the window? (imperfect and indefinite preterite) Who had advised the protagonist that her lover was in trouble? (pluperfect preterite)] It is possible that we will try to film the movie if someone can get a hold of a video camera!

Grammatical Aptitude:

Practice related to the past tense (description, action, and simultaneous actions in the past), direct and indirect style (dialogs), prepositions, conjunctions, etc.

Theme III: Advice to better yourself

Description:

We will make one student leave the classroom during preparation. When that student is outside the other students will invent a series of problems that the one student might figuratively have and will write them on the board. (Example: I am very timid. I do not have enough money to make it until the end of the month. I get bored at discotecas. My feet smell.) The student will come back into the classroom and will stand with his/her back to the board so as not to read what has been written. Then his/her classmates will start giving advice so that he/she will discover what his/her supposed problems are and then guess what’s on the board. (Example: You should take a class to learn how to speak in public. Go visit some museums and find other ways to have fun. Change your socks more often and wash your feet twice a day.) This can be very entertaining and can be prolonged as long as needed, sending different students out of the classroom.

Grammatical Aptitude:

Practice related to the imperative and conditional (giving advice)

Theme IV: Detective work

Description:

The students will be shown a series of photographs and newspaper clippings with different faces and scenes. After that we will go one by one asking questions about each such as: What could have happened to this person? What has taken place there? We should receive answers such as: It could be that she is upset because her boyfriend left her. Maybe there was a natural disaster there. It is possible that she missed the bus. After we have made the necessary suppositions, we will try to express a desire for each situation presented in the photographs such as: I hope that nobody died. I hope that she finds the love of her life. Hopefully another bus will come by soon.

Grammatical Aptitude:

The subjunctive: independent sentences, expression of probability and desire

Other themes that may be covered:

Ecology
Popular Spanish fiestas
Superstitions
Customs
Pasttimes
Artistic aspects of painting, photography, etc.