SPAN 221: Spanish for Heritage Speakers II
Prerequisites: SPAN 201, SPAN 220, or placement by department
Credit Hours: (3)
The second of a two-course sequence (SPAN 220/221) designed to develop and expand the Spanish communication skills of Spanish-English bilinguals who have received little formal education in the Spanish language.
Detailed Description of Course
A growing number of pertinent textbooks exist, the choice of which is left to the
instructor, that address the content requirements of the course, which are geared
to the incremental development of the student’s level of target language expression
and comprehension, both oral and written.
Course focus will be on cultivating the more formal, academic registers of language
through content-based instruction that includes but is not limited to orthography,
morphology, syntax and lexicon as it pertains to the learning needs of the heritage
language student and is derived from readings from literary, journalistic, political
and historical sources present in the textbook or made available electronically or
in the traditional class handout.
Reading content broadens the student’s knowledge of the language being learned, and of cultural and historical issues dealing with migration and life in various countries of origin, along the wider circumstances of Latino life in the U. S. encountered in the first semester, towards a consideration of important cultural economic and political issues in Hispanic countries abroad.
Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
Difficulties particular to the English-Spanish bilingual will be reviewed and addressed by means of exercises and assignments designed for that purpose.
Course will again not be mainly and explicitly grammar-oriented, following drills and discrete-point exercises, but rather communicatively-oriented, aimed at developing spelling and grammar, as well as vocabulary and discourse skills through contextual communication developed in relation to formal thematic readings.
The course can begin with dictation in Spanish as a diagnostic tool, and from there include review syllabic division of Spanish words, and accent-mark rules. This review can be followed by a presentation on Picasso's “Guernica”, itself a preamble for round-table discussion on the topic that painting raises. Discussion is followed by a written assignment in target language (focus on accentuation) and a quiz on word division and accentuation. Same format for a topic such as “Language varieties in Spain,” followed by a comparative analysis of vocabulary presented in the various national languages; further readings include "Informe anual de Human Rights Watch 2005 para Chile," followed by test on new vocabulary, etc.
Goals and Objectives of the Course
Globally, this course aims to foster a societal bilingualism that will legitimize Spanish and its speakers, as well as expand its future in our nation by preparing heritage users in oral and written Standard Academic Spanish (SAS), a register appropriate to professional endeavors as well as to upper-level courses in our department.
Upon successful completion of this course a student should:
• Be able to converse in a clearly participatory fashion and discuss concrete topics
relating to particular interests and special fields of competence. Support opinions,
explain in detail, and hypothesize,
• to understand concrete and abstract topics in extended discourse,
• to read parts of texts that are conceptually abstract and linguistically complex,
• and narrate personal experiences fully, and write about the concrete aspects of
topics relating to particular interests and special fields of competence.
Assessment Measures
Since this a communicative language course, attendance and active participation are a basic requirement and essential; each student may write a number of compositions plus short written assignments to encourage expression and ease of discourse skills over the term; and a series of short quizzes will be given in class to promote students’ development of spelling and vocabulary skills. Throughout the term, the student may make individual oral presentations in class in relation to the content of assigned course readings and class discussions. Chapter exams will round out the assessment.
Other Course Information
The course is not recommended for native speakers of Spanish. The decision of whether the presence of a minority of native speakers in a given class hinders or enhances instruction is left to the discretion of the instructor. Textbook choice will be left to the discretion of the instructor.
Review and Approval
March, 2010