Business Spanish

Description
The aim of the course is to help students communicate in Spanish in the business world. The workbook used will guide the student through the various stages and processes inherent in the creation and start-up of a company: product design, personnel selection, definition of distribution channels and commercial strategies, advertising strategies, etc.

The program is aimed at Spanish students who, regardless of whether or not they have had previous contact with business Spanish, have the ability to understand and express themselves orally and in writing to enable them to analyze and understand the texts.

Following a project-based approach, task-based approach, communicative approach and action-based approach, the student will gradually and systematically acquire the necessary lexical-grammatical and notional-functional knowledge. All will take into account the principles of the real business world and allow the students to develop their creativity with an end-of-course project focused on the setting-up of their own business.

Furthermore, we will attempt to establish the methodological and training guidelines for the student to develop the skills and abilities necessary to interact as an intercultural speaker in transcultural corporate contexts and situations. We will analyze and contrast the corporate cultural values of our own and target culture, in order for then to become more culturally aware of otherness and objectively observe their own culture.

Program
Introduction to the course.
An introductory lesson in which some of the most outstanding corporations in Spain will be presented. Their evolution will be examined through an information vacuum activity, as well as some basic concepts for the description of companies.

Unit 1. Types of enterprise.
1.1.- Business letters: characteristics and structure.
1.2.- Vocabulary used in the business world.
1.3.- Business world jargon.
1.4.- Types of companies: characteristics and classification.
1.5.- Hofstede and Trompenaars' theory of cultural dimensions.

Unit 2. The stages in setting up a business.
2.1.- Graphs in business: types and interpretation.
2.2.- Types of organization charts.
2.3.- Company departments and their functions. Positions and functions.
2.4 Setting-up a business: documents, processes and institutions. The business plan.
2.5.- The company in Spain: case study of the cultural dimension theory

Unit 3. Work contracts.
3.1.- Letters of recommendation: structure and characteristics
3.2.- Payroll
3.3.- Job advertisements and candidate profile.
3.4.- Types of employment contracts: classification and characteristics.
3.5.- Situations at work: the cultural dimension theory II

Unit 4. The working world.
4.1.- Letters of introduction. The business report.
4.2.- Positions and job.
4.3.- Idioms and expressions in the working world.
4.4.- The job interview.
4.5.- Intercultural consultancy: the cultural dimension theory III

Unit 5. Trade and its components.
5.1 Trade documents. Negotiation techniques.
5.2.- International commercial terms: incoterms.
5.3.- Trade and the elements involved. Trade aides.
5.4.- International trade fairs.
5.5.- Non-verbal language and cultural clashes in the company.

Unit 6. Advertising and sales.
6.1Commercial documents II.
6.2.- Franchising.
6.3.- Sales analysis.
6.4.- Marketing and its components.
6.5.- Law to improve consumer protection. Culture clashes in advertising.

Teaching methods
The teaching methods used are eclectic and a combination of approaches and the bases established in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages at level B2 and above.

On completion of each unit, students will have the opportunity to use new technologies (ICTs) and receive feedback on the progress they have made in that unit.

In addition, the student may view an audiovisual document that complements the content of each unit. Training will be provided through oral and written texts in each unit to improve reading and listening comprehension. Speaking practice will include simulations related to the subject matter of each unit.

Assessment
In order to be eligible for assessment, students must have a minimum attendance rate of 80% of the programmed classes..

A- Global assessment.
Mid-term exam 40%
Final exam 40%
End-of-term project 20%

B- Sub-assessment sections
Both the mid-term and final exam will be made up of the following sections:
Reading CL (15%),
Writing EE (15%),
Listening CA (15%)
Speaking EO (15%)
Theoretical understanding of the business world CT (40%).

Note. Any student can gain extra credit (10% of the final grade) by giving a 15-20 minute presentation to the rest of the class. This presentation will be based on the research and analysis of a Spanish company found on the teacher's blog or of the student’s choice.