Course Description

Course Name

Beginning Grammar and Conversation (Level 2)

Session: VSJW1125

Hours & Credits

60 Contact Hours

Prerequisites & Language Level

Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

High Beginning

  • Prior to enrolling in courses at this language level, students must have completed or tested out of a minimum of one semester (or two quarters) at the college level.

Overview

This course is designed for groups that have had at least 60 hours of Spanish and have a basic understanding of the language. In the four weeks of the course, students will progressively expand their knowledge of Spanish, integrating the development of the four skills with techniques and specific procedures that will promote the student's interaction in Costa Rican society.

Contents

Week 1
1. Review of greetings, farewells, and presentations: Colloquialisms or particular expressions: ¿Qué
tal?, ¡Quiubo!, ¡Diay, qué paso!, etc.
2. Review of conjugation and the use of "SER" and "ESTAR"
3. Review of definite and indefinite articles.
4. Vocabulary: description of feelings (I am sad/happy/angry/etc.)
5. Review of regular verbs (-ar,-er,-ir) of the indicative present.
6. Impersonal expressions: to be + adjective + infinitive
7. Study of irregular verbs in the indicative present. (Divided into various sessions by families - (o-ue),
(e-ie), etc.
8. Study of demonstrative adjectives- agreement of gender and number (esta grabadora, este carro,
ese/a, aquel/la)
9. Study of the use of some prepositions (+ infinitive, a, de, en, con)
10. Pronouns after prepositions.

Activities
1. Dialogues of entrance with i.d. cards.
2. Description of a character.
3. Who am I?
4. Activity with expressions: When are you happy, sad, etc?
5. Drama with verbs of progressive action.
6. Construction of a group story.

Week 2
1. to have + inf. (tener que + inf)
2. Verbs: deber, necesitar, querer, poder, desear
3. Use of estar + gerund as progressive time in the indicative present. (Use photographs to describe
what people are doing at that moment)
4. Study of Direct Objects (with people and things) (affirmative and negative sentences, questions)
5. Revision of the elaboration of questions and transformation of the affirmative form to the negative.
6. Study of the Indirect Objects. Introduce the use of the two objects in the same sentence. Se lo
compro. (I buy it for him.)
7. Study of reflexive verbs.

Activities:
1. Game to introduce beach vocabulary.
2. Construction of a tourist guide with real materials from the tourist office and learned vocabulary.
3. Elaboration of a text with cartoons to apply the direct object.
4. Completing sayings
5. Charades
6. Talk about a newpaper article
7. Tell Jokes.
8. Song by José Luis Perales, "Compro"
9. Watch television series and study new vocabulary.

Week 3
1. Study of regular and irregular verbs (only irregulars for root changes) in the indefinite preterite. (to
make narrations about activitiews of the past day/week)
2. Models of questions about past events. What happened? Where did you go?, etc.
3. Study of reflexive verbs in the preterite.
4. Use of indirect and direct objects in stuctures of the preterite tense.
5. Study of the simple future tense of the indicative (affirmative and negative sentences, questions)

Activities
1. Tell a story in the past tense.
2. Activities and practice with the future tense.
3. Select a favorite story to present and tape record.
4. Riddles.

Week 4
1. The use of the impersonal "se"
2. Introduction of the formal imperative, singular and plural.
3. Introduction of the informal imperative, Vos y Vosotros.

Activities:
1. Instructions: how to use an ATM machine, how to cook x, etc
2. Presentation of a tape recording made in groups.
3. Demonstration using imperatives.

*Course content subject to change