SPAN201 - Intermediate Spanish A

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

SPAN200 Elementary Spanish B or equivalent

Unit rationale, description and aim

Learning an additional language facilitates a rich engagement with the worlds of others. The positive intercultural values and the analytical, conceptual and communication skills developed by students who learn additional languages are highly valued by employers in business, education, government and industry. An intermediate level of mastery in a language enables students to express their own points of view and participate in society and the workplace as independent language users. T

his unit is designed for students at an intermediate level of Spanish and is linked to ‘B1’ level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and ACFTL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language). This unit is for beginners progressing through the levels of proficiency but also for students with advanced standing who may enter at this point.

On 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. Students should be able to read simple news articles and write brief reports in a standard format. While the focus is on language, the unit includes relevant cultural and social elements, to increase students’ intercultural awareness and their ability to interact effectively with Spanish-speaking communities.

The aim of this unit is to provide students with sufficient Spanish language skills to share cultural knowledge, obtain an understanding of values and opinions of Spanish and Latin American cultures and societies, and increase 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 - Devise and implement personal strategies to increase the range of vocabulary and grammatical structures they can use (GA1, GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Use written and spoken Spanish accurately and in accordance with relevant social and cultural conventions in social, work, study, and personal contexts (GA1, GA4, GA6, GA8)

LO3 - Evaluate and debate topical social issues in contemporary Spanish or Latin American cultures in simple Spanish (GA1, GA4, GA5, GA6, GA8).

Graduate attributes

GA1     demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA4     think critically and reflectively 

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

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

Content

Topics will be chosen from the following communication contexts:

• E-mail terminology and protocols
• Telephone etiquette
• Media and technology
• Fiction and short stories
• Books and newspapers
• The environment
• Travelling in Spanish-speaking countries

Content on intercultural difference and diversity will be integrated in selected topics.

Language Functions and Competencies:

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

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is designed to be offered fully online and will include synchronous delivery of unit content, collaborative online learning activities and other technology-enabled learning synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities to foster interaction between students.

The approach to language learning and teaching taken in this unit is the ‘communicative approach’ which focuses on developing students’ competence in ‘real life’ communication. This approach emphasises using language for meaningful purposes in authentic situations, and encourages students to practice and experiment with communicating through the use of activities that have real purpose and a real-life communicative context. In keeping with this approach, learning and teaching strategies have been chosen to bring real-life communicative contexts to the classroom (as seen in the topics chosen for this unit), and to facilitate the communicative interactions between students that will help them develop accuracy and fluency. For example, audio-visual language material based on everyday contexts will be used as a key learning and teaching resource. Students are encouraged to be active participants and work individually, in pairs and in groups. Through this interaction, the key competencies of listening, speaking, reading and writing will be developed. Teaching and learning activities include weekly online exercises in the Learning Management System, interactive language practice and assignment preparation.

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessments in this unit are directly aligned with the Learning Outcomes to support the development of macro language skills in listening, speaking, and writing in Spanish and appreciation of the cultures of Spain and Latin America. Assessment 1 comprises a written response to an audio/visual text that takes as its context Spanish cultural and social issues. Assessment 2 comprises a group presentation and Q and A session which assesses students' listening and speaking skills and cultural appreciation. Assessment 3 builds upon the skills and proficiencies evaluated in assessments 1 and 2 and, in addition to assessing students' listening, reading, and writing skills assesses vocabulary and grammar in the context of cultural and social difference. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Aragonés, L. (2014). Intermediate Spanish grammar. Madrid: McGraw-Hill Education.

Balea, A. (2011). Cultura en el mundo hispanohablante: B1/B2. Madrid: En Clave ELE.

Bembibre, C., Cámara, N., Cabeza, M. C., Carvajal, S., Fernandez, F., Marin, E. J., Meana, C., Molina, A., Molina, S., Pereyra, L., & Riva, F. F. (2016). Entornos: primer curso de lengua Espanola: Student book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cabrera, D., & Guevara, C. (2011). Che Guevara: Geografías del Che; nivel B1. Barcelona: Difusión.

Capón, M. L., & Gil, M. (2003). Dificultades del español para hablantes de inglés. Ediciones SM.

Chamorro, C., Martínez, M., Murillo, N., & Sáenz, A. (2017). Todas las voces: Curso de cultura y civilización. B1. Barcelona: Difusión. 

Gies, D. T. (1999). The Cambridge companion to modern Spanish culture. Cambridge University Press.

Molero, A. (2009). El español de España y el español de América: Vocabulario comparado. Ediciones SM.

Moreno, A. (2014). Frida Kahlo: Viva la vida; nivel B1. Barcelona: Difusión.

Muñoz-Basols, J., Pérez, S. Y., & David, M. (2011). Developing writing skills in Spanish. London: Routledge.