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

Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six 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 objective of this class is to enable students to gain a better understanding of different types of texts and to better their writing abilities. Texts, audio exercises, and films will be used as primary instruments for this.

The texts that will be used are of two types: periodicals that discuss current political, social, and economic themes and excerpts from literary works by prominent authors such as Javier Marias, Soledad Puértolas, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Rosa Montero, and Julio Llamazares. Attention will be primarily placed on vocabulary that is particularly troublesome to the students as well as on synonyms/antonyms and culturally specific phrases. Students will also be required to write brief commentaries on each text that is read.

Music will be the primary audio exercise so that students may work on listening skill and pronunciation. Typical Spanish music such as Flamenco and popular music will be used.

Videos will also serve as a tool for listening comprehension. Documentaries over Spanish art and history will be used as well as several short films and Spanish feature films.

Discussions will be held after each listening exercise to answer vocabulary or language usage questions as well as to discuss several of the themes presented. Students will also be required to write brief commentaries on each film watched in class.