SPAN

This course is aimed at students who are interested in improving their language skills in a business scenario. The course, its activities, assignments and assessments have a communicative approach, and real-life and business situations are proposed. It focuses mainly on the acquisition of company-specific terminology, oral expression and communication, written expression in letters, resumes and other specialized documents, without forgetting the essential elements involved for a correct cultural and linguistic expression.

This course requires to be studying a major in biology, medicine, nursing, pharmacy or psychology and to have a B2 Level of Spanish. Teaching will take place both in class and in hospitals. A series of activities and tasks will take place in the classroom with a communicative approach and real-life and health-related situations will be proposed. Special attention will be placed on acquiring terminology in this context, on oral expression in specific situations and on writing, without forgetting cultural elements. At the hospital, students will apply what they have learned in class, they will learn about the Spanish healthcare system firsthand and they will observe the most common health practices that take place in visits with patients, in operating rooms, in the laboratory, etc. 

This course aims to improve students’ oral and conversational skills. The course provides both linguistic and cultural knowledge. Units follow a linguistic progress for this which goes from the verb to be; ser / estar / haber; prepositions; reflexive verbs; direct and indirect pronouns; irregular verbs; past perfect / imperfect / indefinite; simple future; the conditional tense and the present subjunctive. These grammar points are studied in a context that is related to cultural aspects in Spain. Thus students will see topics such as; the parts of the house, giving directions, using public transportation, food, fashion, a doctor’s visit, cultural festivals: Fallas, bullfighting, Christmas and Easter, among others.

Students are required to participate in a weekend intensive Spanish class prior to the departure, and will continue taking appropriate level of Spanish language at a Runawasi language school in Bolivia. This course falls outside of the Spanish department normal course progression. Students will need to take a placement test upon return to determine the appropriate level to continue. This course will be offered as S/NC. 1 credit

Students are required to participate in a weekend intensive Spanish class prior to the departure, and will continue taking appropriate level of Spanish language at a Runawasi language school in Bolivia. This course falls outside of the Spanish department normal course progression. Students will need to take a placement test upon return to determine the appropriate level to continue. This course will be offered as S/NC. 1 credit

In this course, we'll explore some of the many literary forms writers invented to suit modern life in the hemisphere Europeans first called the New World. We will read the works of three poets (Whitman, Stein, Cesaire) and three fiction writers (McKay, Borges, Lispector). All of our writers conceived new styles and rhythms they believed emerged from and responded to a unique set of American conditions. These conditions included great possibilities - democracy, liberty, rights - and terrible abuses - slavery, colonialism, racism. To confront realities of this kind, these writers revitalized language, updated sound and sense, and reconceived literature's relationship to other human activities in original and powerful ways. As we read their sometimes weird, sometimes difficult poems and stories, we will ask how writers respond through formal experimentation to the urgent political and social questions life in the Americas raises. This course will be taught in Spanish.

Cuba is a country rich in both history and culture.  From the "discovery" of the New World to the Castro government, there is much to learn about this Caribbean country. This course will likely include multiple fieldtrips to different parts of the city that help highlight Cuba's diverse past and present.