Spanish 90 High Advanced (C1.1)

LEVEL C1.1

INTRODUCTION

On completing this course, student should be able to:

Speaking
— Use linguistic and non-linguistic resources that allow them to express themselves fluently and naturally.
— Understand a large part of the connotative weighting of idioms, sayings and colloquial expression even though they may need to confirm the detailed meanings.
— Use language for social ends (emotional use).
— Express opinions and use resources to take part in and maintain a conversation.
— Make clear and well-structured formal presentations in academic and professional situations.
— Tackle oral texts of all kinds within their academic, social or professional field.
— Follow an extensive discourse.
— Follow long, complex conversations between third parties with ease.
— Extract information from warnings or public discourse.
— Use paraphrase and other mechanisms to substitute a lack of vocabulary and structures without completely interrupting the fluency of the discourse.
— Understand sufficiently well to follow long, complex discourses.
— Be able to follow films that use a large number of colloquial expressions and slang.
— Understand and react to elements of non-verbal communication in Spanish culture.
— Follow the rhythm of a debate with ease and argue their position with formality and conviction.
— Chose an appropriate way of expressing themselves clearly without having to limit what they want to say.
— Have a wide range of resources available to ensure cohesive and coherent discourse.

Writing
— Produce written texts expressing opinions, narrative and analysis in a clear, well-structured and detailed manner showing correct use of the mechanisms of organisation, cohesion and articulation of the text.
— Understand extensive texts in detail within their area of speciality, even though they may need to re-read the more difficult sections.
— Understand all correspondence even though they may need to make occasional use of a dictionary.
— Search quickly to find relevant information in extensive texts.
— Understand short technical instructions in detail.
— Transmit information with ease and great precision using notes and summaries.
— Write clear and well-structured reports In professional and academic fields.
— Tackle written texts of all kinds in their academic, social or professional field.
— Express themselves without any grave errors of vocabulary.
— Write texts with consistent paragraphing and punctuation.
— Write detailed descriptions and narrations including several topics.
— Be able to give opinions and make statements with degrees of certainty/uncertainty, probability, etc.

Speaking-writing activities
— Take careful notes from an original that can be used by other people.
— Synthesise information from a formal exhibitive oral or written texts.
— Draw up minutes or reports based on spoken information.

LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS

Informative function
— Ask for and give information prudently, while offering alternatives, indicating that the previous information is inappropriate and expressing curiosity.
— Describe something clearly from an objective, general to specific and subjective point of view.
— Identify someone and express implied descriptive details.
— Ask explicitly for information.

Evaluative function
— Invite someone to formulate a hypothesis.
— Express certainly or evidence.
— Express possibility.
— Express knowledge of something.
— Ask for appraisal.
— Give opinions and present counter arguments.

Expressive function
— Express any feeling or mood.
— Ask about someone's mood.
— Express and ask about wishes and preferences.

Inductive function
— Give an order or instruction directly or indirectly.
— Ask someone a favour directly or indirectly.
— Repeat a previous order or estimate.
— Take up an order, or request with or without reservations.
— Give permission with and without objections.
— Reject a prohibition.
— Cheer someone up.

Social function
— Welcome someone.
— Express and react using the correct register.
— Introduce someone formally and informally.
— Apologise.
— Respond to an apology.
— Say goodbye.

Meta-linguistic function
— Ask and reply to questions about things in general.
— Introduce the theme of a story and react.
— Interrupt.
— Highlight elements.
— Rephrase what has been said.
— Quote.
— Reject a topic or some aspect of a topic.

GRAMMATICAL CONTENT

Nouns
— Change gender as an expression of a change in size (el huerto/la huerta, el barco/la barca, etc.).

Adjectives
— of character.
— Qualifying colours. Syntagmatic compounds. Concordance (―Tengo dos camisas gris perla‖).
— Absolute superlative in adjectives ending in –ble.

Articles
— Definite: optional before subordinate nouns when the fact is understood. Obligatory presence in a relative sentence (―Me alegra el que haya venido‖ / ―El que nade bien ganará‖).

Demonstratives
— Disparaging values when referring to people.

Possessives
— Preceded by the neuter article lo with unknown or multiple reference or lacking in importance (―Esto es lo tuyo‖).

Quantifiers
— Relative quantifier cuanto with no express or invariable antecedent (―Coge cuanto quieras‖).
— Any invariable, never before a noun.

Pronouns
— Values for Se: in impersonal constructions.
— Exclusive use of the relative pronouns el/la/lo cual – los /las cuales.
— The pronoun sí.
— Relatives: quien / quienes equivalencia con el/la/los/las que.

Adverbs
— Nuancing mechanisms of coordination with meanings of consecution: consecuentemente, etc.
— Adverbial phrases.
— Intensifiers.

Verbs
— Use of the indicative/subjunctive tenses.
— Verbs of change.
— Verb with different preposition: tender de / tender a.

Structures
— Lo que… es… (+ que) + SN / inf. / (conjugated verb) (―Lo que no soporto es comer pescado‖ / ―Lo que me extraña es que no haya llamado‖).
— ¿Cómo que (no) + previous statement?
— Conditional sentences with the connector como.

Spelling
— Rules for accents.
— Use of punctuation marks.
— Capitals / small letters.