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Beginning Spanish 1 (SPAN 1000)
Total Credits:
5
Lecture Credits:
5
Description:
This course provides an introduction to the language and cultures of Spain and Latin America. You will develop basic listening, speaking, reading and writing skills necessary to communicate about self, family and daily life, as well as basic survival needs. You will also explore cultural aspects of the Spanish-speaking world.
Topical Outline:
1. Listening: Students listen to simple dialogues about self, family, and daily life. They listen to classroom instruction and participate in small and large group exchanges
2. Speaking: Students discuss themselves and their own lives as well as other basic cultural and contemporary issues. They mainly produce memorized phrases and give short answers to simple questions
3. Reading: Students analyze the content of basic written materials such as cultural information, menus, schedules, advertisements, etc.
4. Writing: Students write short compositions, journal entries, notes, messages, and short descriptions using simple sentences
5. Lexical-Grammatical Topics: register (tú vs. usted), the Spanish alphabet, telling time, gender, definite and indefinite articles, plural forms, subject pronouns, regular and irregular present tense, asking and answering questions, interrogatives, adjectives, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, expressing the future (with IR), reflexive pronouns and verbs, the present progressive, tener, idioms, and ser vs. estar
6. Culture: Students acquire cultural information for the purpose of understanding and appreciating the products, practices, and perspectives of other cultures. Topics may include: Spanish around the world, the university systems, naming practices, clothing
Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will use basic grammatical structures and fundamental vocabulary to produce short compositions on familiar topics and read and discuss authentic materials in the present tense (ACTFL Novice Low or better for writing and speaking)
2. Participate in paired and group activities to practice self-expression on personal, cultural, and current topics at the ACTFL Novice low level or better
3. Read authentic Spanish texts at the ACTFL Novice Mid level or better
4. Comprehend spoken Spanish at the ACTFL Novice Mid level or better
5. Demonstrate a developing understanding of history, political science, art, and music of the target culture through the target language
MnTC:
Goal 8