SPAN201 - Intermediate Spanish a

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

SPAN103 Elementary Spanish B or equivalent

Unit rationale, description and aim

Proficiency in an additional language enhances employment opportunities and cross-cultural awareness.

This unit is designed for students at an intermediate level of Spanish and is linked to B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). It aims to provide students with the ability to maintain interaction in a range of different contexts and to deal with problems in everyday life. The Unit focuses on developing students’ Spanish language skills across the listening-speaking-reading-writing spectrum of competencies, and introduces a wider range of reading and writing tasks.

Upon completion of this unit, students should have extended their grammatical, lexical and syntactic command of the Spanish language. They should be able to confirm understanding and seek clarification in their spoken interactions, express and respond to feelings and attitudes, give or seek opinions and solve practical problems (for example, travelling independently, having phone conversations and making arrangements over the phone, exchanging correspondence). Students should be able to read simple news and write short narratives, using appropriate style, structure and voice.

While the focus is on language, the unit should include relevant cultural and social elements, to increase students’ intercultural awareness and their ability to effectively interact in Spanish.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Demonstrate knowledge and use of Spanish (its sound system, vocabulary and grammar) in a variety of predictable social and professional contexts (GA5)

LO2 - Use language accurately with appropriate social and cultural conventions in speaking and writing (GA6)

LO3 - Communicate in Spanish with members of Spanish-speaking communities at the level of proficiency linked to the ‘can do’ statements at B1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (GA5)

LO4 - Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and collaboratively through preparing and delivering a small group presentation (GA7)

Graduate attributes

GA5 - Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - Solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - Work both autonomously and collaboratively 

Content

Topics may include:

• Correspondence
• Telephone etiquette
• Media and technology
• Fiction and short stories
• Books and newspapers
• Environment
• Travelling in Spanish-speaking countries

Language Functions and Competencies:

• Writing and responding to formal and informal emails
• Making arrangements by telephone
• Identifying different types of text
• Reading and summarising
• Reading and writing short narratives
• Expressing a point of view
• Agreeing and disagreeing
• Asking for, giving and denying permission
• Describing places

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Mode: 4 hours per week (8 hours per week in intensive mode). The usual semester pattern is 2 hours by video conference/virtual classroom across campuses and 2 hours face-to-face laboratory sessions. Presentation of new materials will be available for review on LEO.

Duration: 12 week-semester or equivalent in intensive block mode.

Students should expect to undertake 150 hours of study for this unit, including class attendance, weekly online exercises in LEO, interactive language practice and assignment preparation.

The approach to language learning and teaching is communicative with new language material presented in context using video and audio dialogues. Students are expected to be active participants in all class activities including individual, pair and group work. Students will continue to develop their independent learning skills through completing a structured learning and development portfolio which provides a weekly record of completed learning tasks.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Students will be advised of textbook requirements in the first week of semester.