Intensive Spanish: Intermediate + (2235.YR.003300.2)

General information

Type:	OBL	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	2 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

To study this course students need to have achieved the first part of B1 level (B1.1-B1.2 Common European Framework of Reference - CEFR).

To study this course students need to have achieved the first part of B1 level (B1.1-B1.2 Common European Framework of Reference - CEFR).

Every class session includes activities to be carried out outside of class to help students assimilate the content through practice.

In an increasingly globalised world, business is not only undertaken at a regional level or solely with a neighbouring country, but on a far wider scale. For this reason, developing versatile and multilingual communication skills is necessary along with a broad and varied cultural background.

Globalisation also affects the job market. There is more competition than ever and, in the case of students coming to ESADE, mastering the Spanish language provides them with access to job markets in Spain or Latin America.

Similarly, mastering the Spanish language will allow students to take part in recruitment processes in Spanish-speaking companies and, thus, be able to find a job in any part of the world.

With regard to the programme, learning and mastering Spanish will allow students to attend classes, lectures and work groups delivered in Spanish, as well as interactions with their peers without difficulties.

The aim of this Spanish course is to provide students with the sufficient resources needed to achieve an intermediate level of the language, enabling them to interact easily in day-to-day situations.

Students will be able to develop learning strategies appropriate for their level and be able to converse with native speakers at an appropriate rhythm and speed.

Taking advantage of the immersive situation in which students find themselves, this course also aims to enable students to fully integrate in local social, cultural and academic life, participating actively and sharing spaces with faculty, classmates and others in their social setting.

By completing this level, students are expected to be able to:

- Comprehend and apply frequently used expressions in day-to-day situations as well as simple sentences to satisfy immediate needs.
- Introduce themselves and others; ask for and give basic information about their homes, belongings and people they know.
- Interact at a basic level so long as the other person speaks slowly and clearly and is willing to collaborate.
- Understand and produce oral and written texts on their immediate needs and habitual questions with which they're familiar.
- Communicate to carry out simple, day-to-day tasks that only require the simple exchange of information on questions with which students are familiar.
- Describe elements of their past and their environments in simple terms, as well as issues related to their immediate needs.
- Use basic vocabulary and expressions related to companies and the business community.

1. FUNCTIONAL CONTENT - Revise content from B1 level. - Narrate a story or an event. - Present an item of news. - Make a formal presentation on a topic of interest to the student. - Organise written and oral discourse. - Express feelings. - Express complaints. - Formally ask for and demand something. - Reject a prohibition. - Argue in favour or against an idea or opinion. - React to news. - Express partial agreement and disagreement in both a formal and informal tone. - Identify, describe and define objects, places and people.

2. GRAMMATICAL CONTENT - Revise the most important content from the previous level. - Consolidation of the difference between the various past tenses: present perfect, past simple, imperfect and past perfect. - Present subjunctive: morphology and use. - Present perfect in the subjunctive: morphology and use. - Argumentative connectors. - Verbs with prepositions. - Relative clauses + prepositions. - Periphrasis with the infinitive, gerund and past participle. - Discourse organisers. - Markers for anecdotes. - Argumentative connectors. - Impersonal constructions.

3. THEMATIC AND LEXICAL CONTENT - Revise vocabulary related to homes, cities, professions and families. - History and society. - Politics and the economy. - Art and advertising. - Communications media: radio and television. - New technologies (social media and internet). - Formal, administrative and legal texts. - Studies and professional careers. - Festivities and celebrations. - Customs and traditions.

4. CULTURAL AND SOCIO-LINGUISTIC CONTENT - Thank, accept, excuse oneself, reject, congratulate, express condolences, toast and invite. - Schedules: food, shops, work, etc. - Punctuality. - Clothing: what's appropriate and what isn't. - Spain (autonomous communities, provinces and languages). - Linguistic markets in social relations. - The use and choice of greeting. - Ways to address someone. - Appropriate use of please and thank you. - Expressions related to the human body and colours. - Positive and negative courtesy. - Talk about clichés. - Nationalities. - Stereotypes.

The course will comply with the syllabus, carrying out interactive activities to facilitate students' learning.

The methodology applied in language classes and in Spanish, in particular, is as follows:

- Participatory sessions, giving priority to communicative aspects though without obviating grammar
- Greater emphasis on oral skills through presentations, class discussions and interactive activities between students, all in a comfortable setting that facilitates students' learning.
- Motivating students in class to encourage their participation and learning.

Gramática de uso del español. B1-B2 Editorial SM.