SP304/SP305-Cultural Context & Oral Practice/ Cultural Context & Written Expression
Block I: Salvatore Bizzarro, SP304, Cultural Context & Oral
Practice
Meets one unit of Humanities divisional credit.
Block II: Salvatore Bizzarro, SP305, Cultural Context &
Written Expression
Meets one unit of Humanities divisional credit.
Prerequisite: At least four years of high school Spanish, or AP grade of 4
or 5
Although using different approaches, the first course emphasizing speaking and the second emphasizing writing, these two courses are a language and area program. Spanish 304 begins with oral comprehension and encourages the student to speak as closely to a native speaker as possible. We shall make use of the internet as well as newspapers and magazines, while reading literature that addresses machismo, the battle of the sexes, capital punishment, abortion, religion, astrology, and the differences between the Latin world and the United States, as well as other topics that make the news. The materials used will be practical, the controversial approach simple and, hopefully, interesting, as students acquire a greater understanding of the language they have studied and its cultural aspects. Spanish 304 will lay the foundation for advanced study of the language that will begin in Block 2 with Spanish 305.
Spanish 305 will be more of a writing course. While the conversation and the oral practice will continue as an integral part of the two-block offerings, advanced composition is a primary requirement through the study of Hispanic literary texts and taking into account that our studying of an area or region is more cultural than geographic. Students will be encouraged to write papers in Spanish that present arguments and positions aimed at persuading and analyzing, while gathering and interpreting others’ points of views. In both courses we will be studying grammar inductively – i.e. we shall speak first and then learn why we are speaking in a certain grammatical context, with each class reviewing the usage of a particular grammatical point informally presented in the material and the text used. Grammar and vocabulary will be woven into exercises whenever possible, as we shall make exclusive use of Spanish to avoid translations and English in the classroom.
Thus, this First Year Experience in Spanish language and culture will depart somewhat from the Spanish you have learned traditionally in the classroom, will challenge you to speak and write about topics of concern in contemporary times, and is intended for students who have successfully completed the equivalent of four or more years of high school Spanish.
A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together,
with a single instructor; separate grades will be given for each block.