Intermediate Spanish I

Course Description

DESCRIPTION AND GOALS
The main goal of the course is to provide students with the appropriate atmosphere for them to develop their communicative competence from a high-elementary level towards a (low-) intermediate one. This will be achieved through practice involving the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The speaking skill will be emphasized by means weekly sessions devoted to oral Spanish, where students will participate in activities such as roleplays. All functional and grammar contents will be approached from a communicative perspective which will assume and value active participation of the students in the class at all times.

The main functional and grammatical contents of the course will be the following:

• Talking about needs, likes and preferences.
• Talking about learning habits.
• Talking about our relationship with languages.
• Describing objects.
• Describing personality.
• Expressing cause.
• Talking about a house/apartment.
• Placing objects in space and time.
• Asking indirectly.
• Evaluating a proposal.
• Talking about milestones in a person’s life.
• Talking about consumer habits.
• Praising and reacting to praises.
• Highlighting an element over others.
• Expressing agreement and disagreement.
   

PREREQUISITES
Students need to have previously achieved an elementary level of Spanish.

CONTENT
WEEK 1
• Review of present indicative, verbs gustar and encantar, indirect object pronouns, present perfect, and questions.
• Qué, cuál.

WEEK 2
• Description of objects and personality.
• Verb tener + article.
• Direct object pronouns.
• Tener que + verb.
• Relative clauses.
• El que, lo que.

WEEK 3 • Housing vocabulary.
• Location markers.
• Verbs parecer, ser, estar, hay.
• Estar + past participle.
• Reported speech.

WEEK 4 • Conditional sentences with si.
• Adjective modifiers: super-, especialmente...
• Vocabulary to talk about biographical data.
• Dates and time markers.
• Indefinite preterite tense.

WEEK 5
• Indefinite preterite of hacer, ser and ir.
• Present perfect vs. indefinite preterite.
• Some verb periphrases: empezar a, dejar de...

WEEK 6
• Vocabulary on consumer habits and shopping.
• Exclamatory sentences: “¡Qué... tan...!”
• Food and units of measurement.
• Comprar, comprarse, comprarle.

WEEK 7
• Comparisons: más que, tan como...
• Quantifiers: varios, muchos...
• Superlatives: lo más/menos importante...
• Review and final exam.

METHODOLOGY
All grammar and functional contents will be integrated into communicative tasks structured around the main topics of each unit: looking for holiday lodging, writing biographies, creating a guide of interesting stores in a city, etc.

Assignments will include brief compositions and daily homework. There will be a final exam and at least one midterm test.

ASSESSMENT
The final grade will be calculated according to the following grade breakdown:

• Participation: 10%
• Homework: 20%
• Compositions: 15%
• Tests: 20 % 
• Oral section: 15 %
• Final exam: 20%