Study Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina Course name: Beginning Spanish II Course number: SPAN 1002 AFLA Programs offering course: Buenos Aires Business and Culture Language of instruction: Spanish U.S. Semester Credits: 3 Contact Hours: 45 Professor: Guadalupe Molina Term: Spring 2018 Course Description This course focuses on the development of communication language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing in students. Intensive practice of these four skills will help students interact in a Spanish language context. At the same time, interactions outside the classroom will provide input for class work. Students will be encouraged to produce and process a variety of oral and written texts. Grammar will be taught through a communicative approach. A basic knowledge of Spanish is required. Classes will be conducted in Spanish. Learning Objectives By completing this course, students will be able to: Understand different types of authentic oral and written texts according to a beginners level Produce oral and written texts that are grammatically, discursively and contextually adequate Increase and consolidate the student s comprehension of Spanish grammatical, lexical and normative system Engage in basic communicative situations Recognize the characteristics of Rioplatense Spanish Course Prerequisites Beginning Spanish I or equivalent 1
Methods of Instruction We will work with original didactic material specially designed for this course. The activities that will be developed throughout the class complete the development of all modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational. Songs, films, advertisements, printed media, works of fiction, radio and television shows, music videos will be used among other kinds of authentic input. The student will complete production activities in different communicative contexts and comprehension activities both locally and globally. Presented texts will increase gradually their level of grammatical and lexical complexity. Assessment and Final Grade Individual Oral Presentation 20% Group Oral Presentation 10% Four Compositions 10% Midterm 20% Final Exam 20% Attendance and Class Participation 20% Course Requirements Individual Oral Presentation Oral presentations will be evaluated according to fluency, pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, use of vocabulary, and textual adequacy. An individual oral presentation is aimed to research a culturally relevant topic of the local culture. Presentation will be supported visually and the use of images and photographs will be taken into account in the final grade. Students will be asked to design an interactive activity to engage their classmates in the process of learning to be presented at the end of each exposition. Group Oral Presentation Oral presentations will be evaluated according to fluency, pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, use of vocabulary, textual adequacy, and interaction between peers. Group oral presentations will address different points of view about a relevant political, historical or cultural topic. Each group will work with a variety of materials: film, media, books, and audio will be included. Written Compositions Written compositions will be evaluated taking account textual adequacy, use of vocabulary and grammar and cohesion. Subjects for the compositions will be chosen accoding to the students vocabulary and grammar level. Students are expected to incorporate in their writing tha grammatical subjects covered in the course. Midterm and Final Exam Midterm and final exams are designed to explore thoroughly students written and oral skills in Spanish. Each of them will have sections designed to evaluate oral comprehension, reading comprehension, grammar and writing. A short interview will be conducted after each exam to evaluate the students oral skills. Attendance and Class Participation 2
Participation in class means active participation and willingness to collaborate with discussions in class. Students contributions are expected to be informed and to reflect previous work with the materials covered in class. English is not allowed in the course. Weekly Schedule Week 1 Introductory class (1 ½ hours) Students will introduce themselves and talk about their likes and dislikes when learning a foreign language. Students will work with descriptions of the general school environment: classroom, classmates and their weekly schedule. Students will later make comparisons between different school systems and ideas regarding education. This activity will help students to practise how to talk about themselves and their routine. Week 2 Day 1: A short film about family life in Argentina will be presented. Vocabulary including family members and pets will be discussed. Day 2: Students will be asked to produce descriptions of family members and friends. They will also share their daily routines in Argentina. This activity is aimed to make students practise talking about close relative and friends. Day 3: Students will talk about their possessions using possessive adjectives and pronouns. Week 3 Day 1: Students will read media news about daily lives in Argentina. They will discuss holiday options within the country and in Latin America and learn about the weather in different locations. This activity is aimed to broaden the students knolewdge about the Latin American context and communicative situations related to the topic of travelling. Day 2: Descriptions of clothing and colors will be address and likes and dislikes regarding garments and accessories will be shared. Day 3: We will review common interrogative questions. Hand in Redacción 1 Week 4 Day 1: Students will talk about their cities, neighborhoods and houses and compare them to Buenos Aires. Day 2: Students will work with expression of location and space. Students will be expected to efficiently talk about different dimensions of a space (room, house, city). Day 3: Students will describe advertisement filmed in Buenos Aires and discuss their impressions of the city. Week 5 Day 1: Students will learn and share their knowledge about work and careers. They will also learn about local workforce and work culture and share their experiences regarding this subject. Day 2: Students will describe emotional and physical states in people and learn about the difference between verbs ser and estar. Day 3: Students will talk about their current interests and professional activities. By the end of this lesson, students are expected to be able to write their CV in Spanish and to participate in a job interview in Spanish. 3
Week 6 Day 1, 2 and 3: Group oral presentation. A Buenos Aires neighborhood: Leisure, image and everyday life.this activity is aimed to make students evaluate their enterteinment choices within the city. Week 7 Day 1: Students will discuss their future plans regarding work and spare time. Day 2: Students will plan for a hypothetical upcoming holiday trip and talk about the best way to prepare for it. Sports and outdoors activities will be discussed. Day 3: Media news of Argentinian football teams will be address and current issues of local sports will be exposed. Week 8 Day 1 and 2: Review for Midterm Day 3: Midterm (oral and written evaluation followed by oral interview). Week 9 Day 1. Students will talk about what they did on the previous weekend in Buenos Aires. Day 2: Students will learn about time expressions and dates. Biographies of famous persons will be presented and discuss. Day 3: Narrate a story: write a short story based on an Argentinian film (Herencia by Paula Hernández). Week 10 Day 1: Narrating stories in the past. Day 2: Students will learn and practice the difference between preterite and imperfect to narrate a story. Students are expected to be able to take about others life stories as well as their own. Day 2: Argentine rock: songs and musicians biographies. Hand in Redacción 3 Week 11 Day 1: Students will share their impressions about food culture in Argentina. They will learn about the most common ingredients and meals. They will also practice how to order food using courtesy formulas. Day 2: Extracts of Argentine films involving food and family celebrations will be reviewed. Day 3: Students will be asked to carry out a brief ethnographic interview to research about party days and national celebrations in Argentina. The first-hand recollection of cultural information will help students form their own ideas about local culture. Week 12 Day 1: Students will talk about their past experiences and adventures and their impact on their present lives. They will learn about the use of present perfect and past perfect. Day 2: A short detective film will be watched and discuss. Students will practice how to narrate a sequence of events in the past. The work with images will help estructure and organise information. Day 3: Students will read local news involving crimes and felonies. Hand in Redacción 4 4
Week 13 Day 1: Advices and commands. Students will be asked to produce pieces of advice to help people in different hypothetical situations. The work with commands will enhance students knowledege of verb use in Spanish beyond past, present and future tenses. Day 2: Most common command situations will be reviewed. Day 3: Graphic and audiovisual advertisements will be used to practice grammatical forms and as input to discuss cultural issues. Week 14 Day 1, 2 and 3: Final individual oral presentation based on an Argentine issue selected by each student. Students are expected to present a pesonal point of view of a local issue based on their experiences within the local culture. Week 15 Day 1: Students will discuss their lives in the future and make hypothesis about environmental and social issues. Students will be encouraged to discuss their views regarding education, technology, work, poverty and environment in the near and distance future. Input of Argentine current social and environmental situation will be provided. TV media and commercials will be analysed Day 2:.Final review including all contents covered on the course. Day 3: Practice exam. Week 16 Final exam. (oral and written evaluation followed by oral interview). 5
Course Materials Readings Alderoqui, S. Y Penchansky P. (1998), Guía Turística de la ciudad de Buenos Aires para chicos y chicas. Buenos Aires, Editorial Estrada. Alonso Raya, R. et al (2005) Gramática básica del estudiante de español. Barcelona, Editorial Difusión. Aragonés, L. Y Palencia, R. (2009) Gramática de uso del Español, Teoría y práctica. Madrid, Ediciones SM. Calsamiglia Blancafort, H. and Tusón Valls, A. (1999) Las cosas del decir. Manual de análisis del discurso. Barcelona, Editorial Ariel. Cerrolaza Gili, O. (2005) Diccionario Práctico de gramática. Madrid, Edelsa Grupo Didascalia. Eternautas (2008), Buenos Aires tiene historia, Once itinerarios guiados por la ciudad. Buenos Aires, Editorial Aguilar. Vázquez, G. (coord.) (2001). Guía didáctica del discurso académico escrito. Cómo se escribe una monografía. Madrid, Edinumen. Online Resources Ciudad de Buenos Aires Official Site (May, 2015). Recorridos turísticos. Retrived from http://www.turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar/es/agrupador-noticias/recorridos-turísticos/ Ciudad de Buenos Aires Official Site (May, 2015). Milla cultural del sur. Retrived from http://www.turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar/es/recorrido/milla-cultural-del-sur Ciudad de Buenos Aires Official Site (May, 2015). Bares notables. Retrived from http://www.turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar/es/article/bares-notables Media Resources Almodovar, P. (Producer) & Szifrón, D. (Director), (2014). Relatos Salvajes (Motion picture). Argentina: El Deseo Films. Herrero, G. (Producer) & Campanella, J. J. (Director), (2009). El Secreto de sus Ojos (Motion picture). Argentina. Tornasol Films. Dubcovsky, S (Producer) & Burman, D (Director), (2012), La suerte en tus manos (Motion picture). Argentina. BD Cine. 6