Course Description

Course Name

Spanish Language

Session: IMLW1119

Hours & Credits

90 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

Nivel: A2

I. COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS
Review of the communicative functions seen in the previous level and their adaption to this level.

- to identify themselves: place of origin, nationality, occupation, religión, age, political view;
- to exchange opinions;
- to speak about daily life topics;
- to ask for and offer personal information;
- to express gratitude;
- to ask for and give information and clarification of information;
- to describe people and objects in a simple way;
- to express likes and preferences;
- to express possession or relation;
- to express obligation;
- to describe briefly about actions of the past;
- to suggest a plan: to accept or refuse it;
- to arrange to meet with somebody; to make appointments/dates;
- to make invitations or suggestions;
- to apologize and respond to apologies;
- to express feelings;
- to express and exchange opinions and points of view;
- to agree/disagree;
- to make plans;
- to express predictions and probability in the present time;
- to invite other people, accept or refuse invitations, to make excuses;
- to ask for a favor;
- to ask for their turn;
- to ask for permission;
- to define the character;
- to speak over the phone;
- to speak about changes and transformations that have taken place in our lifes;
- to ask and respond to the following time expressions: desde y (desde) hace;
- to express real o irreal conditions.

II. MORPHOSYNTACTIC CONTENTS
Review of the gramatical contents of the previous level and their adaption to the current level.

concordance of nouns and adjectives;
commonly used prefixes and suffixes;
indefinite adjectives and pronouns;
articles:
- definite and indefinite articles;
- presence of the article expressing generalization;
- zero article;
adjectives:
definite and indefinite articles
- contractions al and del;
- demonstratives: este, a, os, as; aquel, aquella, os, as;
- possesives (adjectives);
- numerals and ordinals (up to décimo);
- indefinite (the most common ones);
pronouns:
- personal pronoun-subject;
- personal pronoun-direct object;
- personal pronoun-indirect object (with verbs like molestar, sorprender, gustar?);
- position of the personal pronoun;
- reflexive pronouns;
- exclamative and interrogative pronouns,
- possessive pronouns;
- demonstrative pronouns;
- verbs:
- difference ser and estar;
- ser + adjective / estar + adverb;
- present of indicative: morphology and uses;
- difference between the present tense and the present tense of estar + gerund;
- preterite perfect (present perfect): morphology and uses;
- contrast between present / preterite perfect;
- contrast between present / preterite perfect / immediate future;
- preterite indefinite: regular verbs;
- preterite indefinite: irregular verbs;
-uses of preterite indefitive;
-preterite indefinite time expressions;
- preterite imperfect: morphology and uses;
preterite imperfect time expressions;
- contrast between imperfect / present;
- contrast between imperfect / preterite perfect;
- contrast between imperfect / preterite indefinite;
- introduction to the morphology of the imperative;
1. future simple. Morphology and uses: to express predictions; to express possible conditions; to express probability in the present;
2. periphrasis of impersonal obligation hay que +infinitive;
prepositions;
adverbs and adverb locutions of quantity, time, place, manner;
coordinated clauses: copulatives / adversatives;
relative clauses with indicative.

III. LEXICAL-SEMANTIC CONTENTS
Review of the lexical contents of the previous level and their adaptation to this level.

- Countries and nationalities: some names of people from particular regions
- Profesions
- Controled resources of communication in the classroom
- Classroom vocabulary
- Numerals
- Description of objects: size, shape, material, color
- Description of people: Physical and personality
- Household vocabulary
- Landscape elements
- The weather
- Verbs that deal with confusion: to go, to come, to bring (llevar/traer), to try (on), to meet, to feel, to know (conocer/saber), can, to touch, to put (on)
- Family
- Clothes
- The human body: Health and illness
- Food
- Hobbies and leisure activities
- Travel
- Transportation
- Means of communication
- Vocabulary of financial instituions
- Imperatives: venga, oiga, vamos, oye, no me digas, mira...(come, listen, look?)

IV. PHONETIC AND ORTHOGRAPHIC CONTENTS
Phonectis
- Review of the Spanish phonemes;
- Pronunciation practice: syllabic structure and word stress;
- Stressed and unstressed syllables;
- Intonation practice of communicative funcstions already learned:
- Phonemes with some difficulty:
/g + a, e, i, o, u/; /x + a, e, i, o, u/;
/k + a, e, i, o, u/; /a, e, i, o, u/
/r/ and /R/;
- Process by which some phonemes tend to be produced as a vowel or a consonant.

Orthography
- Review of the Spanish alphabet;
- Cases with orthographic difficulty: gue / gui, b / v and c / z;
- Presence and absence of the letter h.

Punctuation
- Frequently used punctuation marks;
- Punctuation marks.

V. COMMUNICATIVE SITUATIONS

Review of the communicative situation of the previous level and their adaptation to this level.

- in the secretary´s office
- in spanish class
- looking for a place to live
- in a city that you know
- shopping; going shopping
- at a market: buying products
- at a bar
- at a restaurant
- at the doctor´s office or pharmacy
- with family
- with colleagues and new friends
- telephone conversations
- at an appointment
- at the bank
- at a travel agency
- at the train/bus station
- at a hotel
- on an excursion
- at the airport

VI. SOCIOCULTURAL CONTENTS
Review and widening of the sociocultural contents of the previous level and adaptation to this level.

- Countries and cities in Spain and Latin America
- Spanish timetable
- Popular holidays in Spain and Latin America
- Presentations of famous Spanish and Latin American people
- Culinary traditions
- Music
- Cinema
- Social and familial events: birthdays, Saint´s days, invitations?
- Family relations and friendships
- Spain: Brief notions of physical geography and political administration
- Languages of spanish states
- Brief history of Spain (recent years)
- European Union
- Luck, games of chance: lottery, ONCE, lotto
- Forms of payment: pagar a escote, pagar una ronda
- Social well-being
- Some superstitions

VII. PRAGMATIC CONTENTS
Review and widening of the pragmatic contentst of the previous level andtheir adaptation to this level.

- Greeting and goodbye: formal / informal;
- introduction: formal / informal;
- basci politeness expressions;
- basic formula to draw somebody?s attention: oye / oiga;
- basic expresión to apologize: perdón, perdona, perdone, lo siento?
- basic expression to excuse themselves: es que?
- basic expressions to end a conversation: eso es todo;
- basic formulas to express surprise:¿de verdad?, ¡qué rollo!, ¡vaya lío!, ¡qué dices!, ¡ni idea!; ¡hombre! / ¡mujer!;
- basic formulas to express ignorance: ¡ni idea!;
- Basic formulas to express agreement: ya, claro, por supuesto, vale, de acuerdo;
- basic formulas to express disagreement: no, no (reduplicado), qué va, claro que no;
- some idioms: estar en las nubes / estar de marcha / estar como un tren / poner mala cara / un montón de veces / estar harto / estar a tope;
- introduction of some gestual elements;
- proxémics for social relations;
- speech connectors: y, pero, entonces, por eso, así que, luego, después;
- lexical imperative expressions.

VIII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOUR SKILLS:

Readind comprehension
The student, therefore, will understand:
- simple announcements/ advertising
- a menu
- simple and adapted explanatory texts: simple naratives and descriptions in the present, past and future
- simple informational texts about general themes
- simple instructions for frequently used devices
- a travel brochure
- informational panels
- a letter from family
- signs and simple notices
- a well-known story
- a recipe in present indicative
- a survey
- simple lyrics to a song

Writing expression
The student will:
- fill out forms and documents;
- write a letter, an email o a message to friends or family;
- write about personal experiences: their country, their habits, their family?;
- write notes;
- write explicative, narrative and descriptive texts about events in the present, past and future;
- to write simple and brief biographies;
- write a short resume;
- write a weekly Journal: activities, work, dates, appointments;
- write a survey about a daily topic with basic questions.

Listening comprehension
The student will understand:
- personal information about the speaker;
- simple advertisement;
- dialogues given in daily situations;
- questions asked in the classroom and the habitual communicative situations;
- information and questions about the present, future and past related to the present;
- phone messages;
- simple warning through speakers;
- general idea of the news on tv;
- current songs of simple content;
- a simple conversation in their enviroment;
- write down phone numbers and addresses.

Speaking

- Oral Interaction

The student will:
- be able to express themselved and understand basic information in different situations of their daily life: a bar, on the street, office, a banks...
- be able to participate in a conversation about a daily topic;
- understand a native speaker who Spears in a clear way and who would repeat if necessary;
- be able to ask for something or an action;
- understand instructions and indications;
- to answer questions in a simle and brief interview;
- pose and understand questions about their personal circumstances;
- understand and answer direct questions about personal information in a interview;
- speak about plans in the future;
- speak about experiences and events of the past;

-Oral Expression
The student will:

- make a simple presentation previously written about a topic seen in class;
- speak about habitual actions in the present;
- speak about past events;
- speak about plans in the future;
- speak about the plot of their favorite movie or a unique trip they made.

*Course content subject to change