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.

Designed for students who have had three semesters of university-level Spanish, this course continues developing reading and writing skills through written reports, compositions and class discussions on assigned topics and articles. It also reviews more advanced grammar with the purpose of achieving greater accuracy.

This class is directed to advanced-level students of Spanish, who would like to achieve a higher level of written Spanish proficiency through the use of complex sentence structures and greater vocabulary. For one part, particular attention will be paid to developing the strategies of reading comprehension and analyzing texts of a variety of origins. The analysis is intended to improve the lexicon and grammar of the student, as well as his/her textual competency (coherency and cohesion) and pragmatics (textual types and genres, linguistic varieties). These lectures will be associated with oral practice by means of debates about current themes and related cultural aspects, in order to help the student argue in a convincing and elaborate manner. Another part of the course will practice written expression by means of the guided production of compositions, both in and out of the classroom. Additionally, students will write an extensive paper (redacción extensa) as the final project of the course. At this level, it is important for the student to have the ability to adapt to and understand a variety of texts (forms and official documents, personal letters, letters directed to companies and institutions, descriptive reactions, narratives, and debates).

CLASS FORMAT
In class, there will be reading comprehension exercises, vocabulary analysis, grammar practices and guided writing (individual and group work). At the same time there will be oral practice about the topics that constitute the course.

EVALUATION
The final grade is divided into the following parts:
Attitude and participation in class, Total: 15%
4 Guided compositions (5% each), Total: 20%
Extensive paper (Redacción extensa), Total: 15%
Vocabulary quiz, Total: 15%
Partial Exam, Total: 15%
Final exam, Total 20%
Class attendance: Following the policy adopted by the University, failure to attend class without justification can lower the final grade of the student.
Submitting work: Students will turn work in on time, on the announced date.

THEMES OF THE COURSE
Traveling
Parties
Art
Culture
Personal Relations
Career
Current events
Technology
Economics
Politics

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The necessary material for the course will be announced in class, and students will be given a bibliography of reference.