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Setting the Stage

Information about the course

This Fall 2023 semester I am teaching a course called Advanced Conversation in Spanish and Contemporary Issues. This is an undergraduate-level in-person course offered by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese that meets twice a week (1 hour and 20 minutes/class session).

Enrollment consists of 12 students, 11 undergraduate Rutgers students, as well as a senior auditor student. The majority of the undergraduate students taking this course are minoring in Spanish.

Course Description
(included in the syllabus)

This course is designed to develop students’ oral proficiency in the Spanish language to an advanced level as described by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines for speaking. The course employs thematic content (themes) related to contemporary issues and aims to familiarize students with linguistic concepts (e.g., vocabulary, grammar) necessary to engage in various communicative functions (e.g., expressing an opinion, agreeing, disagreeing, etc.).

Students will participate in diverse activities inspired by real-life situations in both formal and informal contexts that will improve the accuracy and fluency of their oral competence. Fluency and comprehensibility of speech, intelligible pronunciation, grammatical precision, and discursive cohesion will be emphasized. The course also targets auditory and reading comprehension, as well as writing ability in Spanish.

Course Goals
(included in the syllabus)

  1. Develop fluency and accuracy in oral and written Spanish.

  2. Develop appropriate verbal and non-verbal skills and strategies, such as listening, turn-taking, interrupting, etc.

  3. Use oral Spanish with an intelligible pronunciation and intonation that does not severely interfere with or impact communication.

  4. Learn a wide range of vocabulary, lexical chunks, and grammatical expressions related to the themes discussed in the course.

  5. Learn how to communicate effectively across social contexts, using formal and informal registers appropriately.

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