Advanced Spanish: Grammar and Communication

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 an intermediate level towards an advanced one. This will be achieved through practice involving the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The course will focus on specific grammar aspects that will be approached from a communicative perspective. This perspective will assume and value active participation of the students in the class at all times.

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

• Talking about learning habits.
• Expressing wishes and opinions.
• Assessing actions.
• Providing and understanding recipes.
• Sequencing actions.
• Narrating in the past.
• Telling a tale.
• Assessing proposals.
• Expressing purpose.
•  Suggesting solutions.
• Speculating about the future.
• Making predictions.
• Expressing obligations and rules.
• Telling an anecdote in the past.
• Describing qualities and flaws.
• Recommending and assessing a cultural product.
• Talking about feelings inspired by something.

PREREQUISITES

Students need to have previously achieved an intermediate level of Spanish.

CONTENT
WEEKS 1-2
• Review of past tenses.
• Llevar + gerund.
• Desde / desde hace.
• Vocabulary: leisure time and work.
• Conditional verbs.

WEEKS 3-4
• Relative clauses - with and without prepositions.
• Vocabulary: childhood, toys, and playing.
• Present subjunctive: regular and irregular forms.
• Es importante/mejor + infinitive vs. que + subjuntivo.
• Vocabulary: food and cooking.

WEEKS 5-6
• Ser / estar.
• Command forms.
• Cuando/hasta que + subjunctive.
• Reported speech.
• Pluperfect tense.

WEEKS 7-8
• Mientras/cuando/ al + infinitivo.
• Para + infinitive vs. que + subjuntivo.
• Creo que + indicativo vs. no creo que + subjuntivo.
• Vocabulary: future and science fiction.
• Future tense: regular and irregular forms.

WEEKS 9-10
• Quizá/probablemente + subjuntive/indicative.
• Decir + indicative vs. decir/pedir/querer que + subjunctive. (No)
me gusta/soporto que + subjunctive.
• El/la/los/las de... El/la/los/las que...

WEEKS 11-12
• Deber/haber que/tener que + infinitive.
• Vocabulary: feelings and emotions.
• Me sorprende / me llama la atención que + subjunctive.
• Verbs with pronouns: me/te/se and me/te/le.

WEEKS 13-14
• Es un/una + derogatory adjective.
• Vocabulary: cinema, music, literature, drama...
• Recomendar + noun vs. que + subjunctive.
• Review and final exam.

METHODOLOGY
All grammar and functional contents will be integrated into activities within the framework of units on different topics: meeting other people, traveling, describing friends, restaurants, talking about a suburb, 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 breakdown:

•  Participation: 10%
• Homework: 25%
• Quizzes: 25 %
• Final exam: 20%