Spanish

This course focuses on practicing, expanding, and improving Spanish language oral production in everyday contexts as well as improving pronunciation of Spanish through listening and articulation practice.

This course offers study of Spanish spoken in everyday situations. Topics include: multi-culturalism in Barcelona; eating at a restaurant; clothing; public transit; health care; and travel.

The course analyzes the Spanish novel with an emphasis on realism and naturalism. Topics include theory, criticism, and the novels; the origin of realism and the tendentious novel; the work of Benito Pérez Galdós and other contemporary Spanish novels; the work of Leopoldo Alas; and Emilia Pardo Bazán and short stories.

This course provides students with the opportunity to read some of the best known short stories from Spain and Latin America. It presents literary terminology to better analyze the literary works and learn the fundamental techniques of short story writing in order to write their own short story. The course presents a brief historical and chronological review of the Spanish and Latin American roots of the genre to focus on the principal examples of the short story since the Middle Ages. Emphasis is placed on the developments of the modern short story during the 20th century. Students explore the different manifestations of the genre according to the literary, social and aesthetic movements and trends (modernism, vanguard, expressionism, surrealism, and magical realism). The course examines the skills of short story writing, including form, plot, characterization, dialogue, style, imagery, and narrative voice.

This course assesses the manner in which Spanish newspapers present the nation's political, cultural, and social spheres. It examines how national and regional identities have been reinforced through the press, and explores the relationship between freedom of speech, press, and history. The course also studies the significance of these relationships in connection with current events as these surface in local, national, and international affairs.

This course studies the history of Spanish film from the ''camara oscura'' to the present. Historical accounts of film as an aesthetic form, a social force, an economic institution, and a technology are considered. The course also covers major Spanish directors including Luis Bunuel, Benito Perojo, Fernando Fernan Gomez, Luis Berlanga, Carlos Saura, Victor Erice, Fernando Trueba, and Pedro Almodovar. Close attention to their film composition, choices of subject and character, and the relationship of their movies to Spanish culture and society is given.

This course is divided into two parts. Part one examines Spanish narrative prose of the 19th and 20th centuries, taking as thematic reference the city of Barcelona and its writers. Part two explores Latin American culture through representative artistic works (music, writing, painting, and film) and their socio-cultural and artistic framework.

Spanish 201 aligns with the elementary level A2 objectives of the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR), which focus on learners’ capacity to communicate and act in real-life situations, express themselves effectively, and accomplish tasks of different natures, taking in to account (inter)cultural contexts. It will deepen communicative skills as well as intercultural knowledge of the diverse Hispanic world through relevant contexts such as personal relationships, cultural values, customs, traditions, political and historical leaders, contemporary society and technology. It provides some review of the vocabulary and grammar from Spanish 101/102 (preterit and imperfect), and expands lexical repertoire and introduces new grammatical structures. This classroom offers different ways for content delivery through exposure to literary readings, audios, videos, short films, slides; reflected also in the type of assignments and assessments (written and video assignments, oral interviews) designed for diverse learning styles. Its principal objective is to deepen students’ skills for communicating in Spanish by providing extensive opportunities to use the language as a vehicle for information interchange and for developing cross-cultural awareness, as well as strengthening listening, reading, writing and grammatical skills. This course is conducted in Spanish and students are expected to speak only in Spanish during class.

This introductory Spanish language course is based on level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and focuses on basic communication, grammar and vocabulary.