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SPANISH BEGINNERS´ PROGRAM
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 Spanish Beginners´ Course
Syllabi: Fall Term  Spring Term
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SPANISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE PROGRAM
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Spanish
Language: Grammar in the Communicative Context
Syllabi: Intermediate Level (Fall Term) Intermediate Level (Spring Term)
Advanced Level (Fall Term) Advanced Level (Spring Term)
Intermediate and Advanced levels. 4 hours per week in the Fall Term.
3 hours per week in the Spring Term.
At the methodological level,
the course is based on a linguistic approach that conceives language as an instrument
of communication, of exchange between speakers. We understand that the study of
grammar is not an end in itself, but rather a means to accelerate, improve and
make language learning more effective. Therefore, basically we will take into
account its real dynamic use. The contents to be developed follow three dimensions,
that will be integrated homogeneously in the proposed activities: a) Functional
Content: refers to the communicative contents and enumerates the functions that
students should know in order to make an effective use of the language; b) Grammatical
Content: presents the grammatical contents that allow students to communicate
and express the communication functions which we have associated them with; and
c) Subject Content: covers the subjects and situations that favour the social
use of language and transmits a real and current image of Spanish society and
the Spanish-speaking world. Through significant grammar practice –that combines
both formal and communicative approaches-, we aim for students to develop and
integrate the four linguistic skills: listening comprehension, reading comprehension,
oral expression and written expression. In the Intermediate level students will
work on among others, the following grammatical contents: morphology, uses and
values of the Present Indicative (regular and irregular); differences between
the verbs “ser/estar”; demonstratives, possessives and indefinites;
comparatives; Simple Future and Compound Future; Simple Conditional; verbal periphrasis;
contrast of past tenses; the Imperative; contrast between Indicative and Subjunctive
in the different types of subordinate sentences; connectors and elements of relation.
The Advanced level will cover among other grammatical contents, the following:
uses of “ser/estar”; morphology, uses and contrast of past tenses;
secondary values of the Imperfect Indicative; Imperative; Indicative/Subjunctive
contrast in subordinate sentences; Subjunctive in main sentences; Reported speech;
connectors, prepositions and other elements of relation. Mastering these grammatical
contents will enable a series of communicative functions: making physical or character
descriptions; speaking about tastes and interests; expressing probability and
formulating hypotheses; relating something in the past; making suggestions, and
giving instructions; asking for information, complaining, making claims; asking
favours; expressing opinions, feelings and wishes; speaking about the causes and
consequences of something; expressing doubt; giving orders and making threats;
speaking about the temporary circumstances of an action; speaking about the causes
and consequences of something; conveying information to others; arguing and reformulating;
recognising and using speech markers to organise information.
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Spanish
Language: Vocabulary
Syllabi: Intermediate Level Advanced Level
4 hours per week in the Fall Term and 3 hours per week in the Spring Term.
The fundamental aim of the vocabulary subjects is to develop
the lexicon based on a closely outlined context that provides the student with
the ability to deduce the most appropriate and efficient use of words. The sequencing
of contents is organised in subject units and structured in a continuity line
that enables both the knowledge of basic vocabulary and its real application in
the communicative situations that may arise. Therefore, functional and lexical
contents appear. At the intermediate level, contextualization is obtained by means
of drawings, mime and dialogues or simple texts. At the advanced level, on the
other hand, students work from texts of different socio-linguistic and stylistic
registers, since the main aim at this level is for students to be able to extract
the information concerning the register. Each teaching unit orders its activities
in accordance with a subject core and is structured in order to lead the student,
at the end of the unit, to the maximum level of communicative freedom and creativity.
The chosen subject axes attempt to aid students in communication in Spanish, in
response to the social needs they progressively come across. Some of the main
subject ideas are: description of the people with which they are going to be,
the nature of the city and the services on offer, housing and accommodation, family
life, commerce, customs and habits, the climate and its influence on daily life,
work and study, health, sports, food, superstitions,
life and atmosphere in Asturias, artistic activities, travel and transport.
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Spanish
Language: Phonetics
Syllabi: Intermediate Level (Fall Term) Intermediate Level (Spring Term)
Advanced Level (Fall Term) Advanced Level (Spring Term)
4 hours per week in the Fall Term and 3 hours per week in the Spring
Term.
This subject aims for the students to be able to meet their real
communication needs: understand the oral messages of their environment (listening
comprehension); pronounce and intone adequately (oral production); identify the
written representation of sounds, stress and intonation (reading comprehension)
and write in Spanish with the greatest spelling correction possible (written
production). Students will acquire the different skills through a sequencing of
activities ranging from the study of phonemes to the reflection on intonation.
For this, we deal with some of the following subjects, among others: the Spanish
phonological system (form and point of articulation); the Spanish alphabet and
the relations and misfits between letters and phonemes; phenomena of interest
in oral Spanish (“yeísmo”, “seseo”, “ceceo”,
etcétera...); syllabic division; diphthongs, triphthongs and hiatus; accent
and accentuation rules in Spanish; punctuation and intonation in Spanish (statements,
interrogatives and exclamations). Some of the activities that will enable students
to practise in the correct perception, pronunciation, reading and writing of Spanish
are: listening differentiation exercises; repetitions of sounds, words and sentences;
reading of texts; dictations and specific exercises of syllabic division, accentuation,
etc. The diverse tasks will be divided between the classroom and the language
lab, where students can perfect their perception and pronunciation with the help
of the new technologies.
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English-Spanish
Translation [Advanced level]
Syllabi: Fall Term Spring Term
3 hours per week throughout the year.
The course has an essentially
practical approach, using translation as a tool for the development of the student´s
productive skills in Spanish as a foreign language: classes will be devoted to
the correction and discussion of the different Spanish versions previously made
by the students of the English texts handed out to them in previous classes. The
texts to be translated will be of different styles and cover different subjects:
at first students will work with general information texts on different semantic
fields and cultural aspects in order to widen their vocabulary, to then go on
to texts of more marked registers –literary texts, newspaper articles, colloquial
style texts, business correspondence, etc.-. In order for students to make the
most of this course, they must have an advanced level of Spanish since although
grammatical questions will be dealt with when necessary, the course is aimed at
the active practice of translation and particularly to analysing the stylistic,
lexical and cultural differences involved in this. | |
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Spanish
Literature
Syllabi: Intermediate Level (Fall Term) Intermediate Level (Spring Term)
Advanced Level (Fall Term) Advanced Level (Spring Term)
At both levels: 3 hours per week throughout the year.
Approach
to Spanish Literature based on the reading and commentary of a selection of texts
that enable us to complete a small overview of the history of literature, in particular,
of the Twentieth Century and of present-day literary production. The course is
organised in subject modules that try to establish relations and links between
different authors, trends and periods, in such a way that through this diversity
the student can complete a broad outline of Spanish literary history. In order
to facilitate the understanding of the works, the programme aims for an introduction
to the readings from the knowledge of their cultural, aesthetic, social and political
context. For the review of present-day literature to be satisfactory, we include
some modules devoted to certain characters and classic authors whose influence
is present in present-day culture and art.
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Spanish History
Syllabi: Intermediate Level (Fall Term) Intermediate Level (Spring Term)
Advanced Level (Fall Term) Advanced Level (Spring Term)
At both levels: 3 hours per week throughout the year.
This
subject offers a general overview of the economic, social, political and cultural
events that make up our history.
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Spanish
Art
Syllabi: Intermediate Level (Fall Term) Intermediate Level (Spring Term)
Advanced Level (Fall Term) Advanced Level (Spring Term)
At both levels: 3 hours per
week throughout the year.
General view of the Spanish History of Art from
its origins to the present day, giving preference to those artistic styles with
which students may have more contact: Asturian Pre-Romanesque, Gothic, Cubism,
Surrealism. Similarly, greater attention is paid to the works of the Spanish grand
masters: Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, Dalí, Miró. The theory
classes will be complemented by visits to the Museums and Monuments in the area.
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Latin
American Culture: Literature, History and Civilization
Syllabi: Intermediate level (Fall Term) Advanced level (Fall Tem)
Intermediate level (Spring Term) Advanced level (Spring Term)
At both levels: 3 hours per week throughout the year
The
subject is focused on the study of the main movements and authors of contemporary
Latin American literature. The strong link that, since its origins, Latin American
literary creation has maintained with its particular political and social medium
will enable the student to come closer to the historical reality of Latin America.
To understand the main trends and come into direct contact with the works (poetic,
narrative or essay genre) of its main representatives, are the aims we have set
out from a strictly literary point of view. In turn, each of the topics is proposed
with specific objectives related to the knowledge of those central aspects that
determine and define the Latin American cultural development: cultural crossbreeding,
the highly debated subject of "identity" and the search for an "American"
expression, conflicts between "localism" and "universalism",
emigration as a consequence of the political and/or economic situation and its
cultural effects, the Latin American dictatorships and their impact on the cultural
level, among others.
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Spanish Cinema [Advanced level]
Syllabus:
3 hours per week during the Spring Term.
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Spanish
Society and Culture [Advanced level]
Syllabus:
3 hours per week during the Spring Term.
Description
of the main aspects of Spanish life and culture from an intercultural perspective
in the search for the knowledge of the Spanish and European reality of the Twenty-first
Century as well as breaking down the frequent clichés regarding this. The
programme is conceived as an open structure adapted to the students´ needs
for integration in the Asturian academic and social life. Subjects include the
family, education, gastronomy, Spanish university life, political structure, music,
cinema, etc.
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German-Spanish Translation [Advanced level]
Syllabus:
3 hours per week throughout the year
The main aim of this course is to help German-speaking students to reinforce and strengthen their knowledge of Spanish grammar and vocabulary from a comparative study of the formal characteristics of both languages, carried out in practice by the translation of German texts into Spanish.
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French-Spanish Translation [Advanced level]
Syllabus:
3 hours per week throughout the year
The main aim of this course is to help English-speaking students to reinforce and strengthen their knowledge of Spanish grammar and vocabulary from a comparative study of the formal characteristics of both languages, carried out in practice by the translation of English texts into Spanish.
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English-Spanish Translation [Advanced level]
Syllabus:
3 hours per week throughout the year
The main aim of this course is to help English-speaking students to reinforce and strengthen their knowledge of Spanish grammar and vocabulary from a comparative study of the formal characteristics of both languages, carried out in practice by the translation of English texts into Spanish.
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| Please note that this subject is different from the ones offered in the Spanish Language and Culture Program: An Introduction to Spanish-English Translation and English-Spanish Translation. This one is aimed primarily at exchange students, although it is open to any other person interested in translation, and it is taught in the evenings. The ones further above are part of the full program in Spanish Language and Culture: they are offered at both the intermediate and the advanced level and are taught in the mornings. |
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Italian-Spanish Translation [Advanced level]
Portuguese-Spanish Translation [Advanced level]
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