Objectives and Methodology
This is a Course aimed at students who wish to acquire a specific expertise in Spanish so as to enable them to put their know-how to use within the specialist field of Commerce, Economics, Business and the Company Sector. The basis of the actual teaching will involve what is known methodologically as a ‘communicative approach,’ or, more precisely, a ‘task-based approach’. This means that students will play an active role in their own learning process, their teacher being constantly available as support while he guides and encourages activities within the classroom setting. This environment, then, becomes a workshop where students become familiarized with learning strategies. The purpose of this methodology and of the phasing of module content is to provide students with the possibility of transferring the communicative actions set up and rehearsed in the classroom to real contexts outside it in which such actions are likely to be required. Content units have been designed in order to satisfy requirements of breadth of appeal, variety, and the power to motivate, not only with regard to the materials selected, but also in terms of the activities to be undertaken, all of which are geared toward the priming of the four fundamental skills (oral comprehension, oral interaction, comprehension in reading, and written output). Different registers will be broached, given that the use of a formal kind, in contrast to informal or colloquial types, could contribute to the success of a business or workplace arrangement. Moreover, attention will be paid to the sociocultural component of language, as well as to the rich implications of the contrast between the Spanish of Spain and that of Spanish America, for which reason an intercultural perspective will be adopted throughout.
The Course will be divided into eight units. Upon the completion of each one, students will be required to carry out the assignment linked to it, which will involve the hands-on practice of the know-how acquired in the form of a task which, as far as is possible, will be team-based. With the aim of familiarizing students with the reality of Spain’s economic environment, scheduled on-site visits will be made to businesses and industrial companies, while context-specific accounts will be offered of the processes involved in the manufacture of some of Andalucía’s typical products.
Syllabus
UNIT 1: Introductions, greetings, farewells
Hands-on content:
• Saying hello
• Bidding farewell
• Introducing yourself or someone else
• Asking about, and responding to requests about, names, professions, nationality, phone numbers
Subject-content:
• Nationalities
• Professions
Cultural differences:
• Forms of address. Formulas used in greeting and bidding farewell.
• Differences within Spanish-speaking countries.
Written communication
• Sender and addressee: addressing envelopes and filling out registered-mail forms
Final assignment
• Completion of a data-file
UNIT 2: Location
Hands-on content:
• Requesting and providing information concerning an address
• Requesting and providing information concerning the location of places and objects
• Expressing quantity
• Expressing interest in and a liking for
• Requesting confirmation of what has been stated or written
Subject-content:
• The city
• Departments within a company
• Office contents
• Arithmetic operations
Cultural differences:
• Choosing a city in which to set up a company
Written communication
• E-mailing
Final assignment
• Set up a company yourself
UNIT 3: People and companies’ fields of work
Hands-on content:
• Describing people’s characters
• Talking about people and companies’ regular activities
• Ordering spoken content in terms of time
• Making reference to usual activities and their frequency
• Offering information, while collating it at the same time (I)
Subject-content
• Personnel’s regular activities within the business
• Companies’ fields of action
• Job identification
Cultural differences
• The multinational-company employee
• Company advertisements in Spain and Spanish America
Written communication
• Wording a job-offer advertisement
Final assignment:
• Designing the ideal work-team
UNIT 4: How a company is organized. Communication by telephone
Hands-on content:
• Asking and giving the time. Asking about time schedules. Expressing the phases within a day.
• Describing a company’s organizational set-up
• Arranging an appointment
Subject-content:
• Detailing the organizational set-up
• Department-based activities within a company
• Business diaries. Planning
• Days of the week, months of the year, splitting up the working day into stages, clock time.
Cultural differences:
• Executive profiles in Europe and America
• A phone conversation aimed at arranging a work-related appointment with someone in Spain
• A phone conversation aimed at arranging a work-related appointment with someone in Spanish America
Written communication
• The express-post dispatch
Final assignment
• From product to sale: Detailing the organizational set-up of a company, indicating the job-type and work schedule of each member of personnel. Preparation of a powerpoint presentation containing visual back-up.
UNIT 5: Business and leisure. Business communication
Hands-on content:
• Describing and comparing
• Asking about and expressing tastes
• Talking about the recent past
• Talking about the immediate future
• Requesting services by phone in a hotel
• Asking for and giving permission
Subject-content:
• In a hotel
• In a restaurant
• Sporting activities
• Interests
Cultural differences:
• The best of each country
Written communication:
• Booking hotel accommodation
Final assignment
• Preparing an encounter spanning several days for management executives belonging to a multinational company
UNIT 6: Success in the world of work. Business negotiations
Hands-on content:
• Asking for and expressing an opinion about something
• Talking about the past
• Expressing agreement and disagreement
• Calling attention to something
• Offering information, while collating it at the same time (II)
• Making clear the consequences of something which has just been said
• Bringing a conversation to an end
• Requesting that something be repeated
• Verifying that what has been stated has been understood
• Expressing the continuation or the interruption of an action
Subject-content:
• Achievements and failures of the members of the personnel working in a company
Cultural differences:
• Success in the company sector
Written communication:
• The writing of reports
Final assignment:
• Detailing a plan to become a successful executive
UNIT 7: Private and state-owned companies, and non-governmental organizations
Hands-on content:
• Asking about and giving information about an event in the past
• Making an event within an account of something stand out
• Making clear the aim of a phone call
• Passing a phone call on to someone else
• Ordering what is being said within a time scale
• Summarizing part of what has been stated
• Offering additional information
• Offering information, while collating it at the same time (III)
Subject-content.
• Private-sector companies. Non-governmental organizations
• Handing in sick-leave certificates
• National health schemes and private health schemes
Cultural differences:
• Points of view on economic issues
Written communication:
• Requesting information: the company insurance policy
Final assignment:
• Working on a report for Intermón
UNIT 8: Company men: from anonymity to recognition
Hands-on content:
• Talking about events in the past
• Describing past situations
• Expressing obligation
• Making reference to a part of what has been said
• Summing up with conclusions
• Changing a day-time appointment
• Asking about what a selection procedure involves
Subject-content:
• Advertisements for posts: appointments on offer
• Holding a job interview
• Stories about company owners and companies
Cultural differences:
• Business hours
Written communication:
• Curriculum vitae letter
Final assignment:
• The preparation of a job interview aimed at candidates for a post
• Carrying out an interview with a key company executive
Assessment
Given the highly practical and participative character of the Course, assessment will be on-going, although an end-of-semester practical exam will also be held, consisting of two parts, one written and the other oral.
Bibliography
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