Catalan Language and Culture

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION

lnternational students in the region of Catalonia must be aware that the official languages are Spanish and Catalan. Therefore, learning sorne basic vocabulary and developing elementary communication skills in Catalan will be very useful in their daily lives. In addition, becoming familiar with the Catalan culture will contribute to international students' integration and enhanced intercultural competencies. These are the main aims of this course, which will be conducted in English.
The course is specially designed for international students with no previous knowledge of their academic destination's local language and culture. Studentswill focus on vocabulary and oral strategies to develop basic communicative competence. By the end of this course, students should have become morefamiliar with Catalonia and be able to use the Catalan language to deal with daily situations.

GENERAL SKILLS
GS08- Master the techniques of oral and written communication in order to transmit information, ideas, opinions, etc.
GS09- Work in an international context.

SPECIFIC SKILLS
SS09- Understand and use information technology and information management systems in tourism.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
l. Use the knowledge of the formal aspects of language, both in message reception and production.
2. Use the idiosyncratic stress, intonation and rhythm of oral expression correctly.
3. Use the knowledge of the context and the socio-cultural aspects.
4. Use communicative and learning strategies to reflect and act upon deficiencies in oral and written expression and comprehension.
5. Use available resources effectively to increase knowledge and to answer questions in an autonomous manner outside the classroom.
6. Access different source of information using different tools.

ACADEMIC CONTENTS
l. 1 tu qui ets?
l.l. Saludar i dir qui ets.
7.2. Dir i preguntar com estas i com estan els altres.
2. Els números. Quant val? Quants anys tens?
2.7. Preguntar el preu de coses basiques del día a día.
2.2. Entendre preus i dir preus.
2.3. Saber preguntar i dir l'edat.
2.4. lntercanviar números de telefon.
3. Amunt i avall per Barcelona
3.7. Situar els barris de la ciutat.
3.2. Situar llocs d'interés a la ciutat i al món
4. Quan és nadal?
4.7. Preguntar i dir el día de la semana i el mes de l'any.
4.2. Saber les dates de festes i tradicions rellevants.
5. La nacionalitat
5.2. Preguntar i dir d'on ets.
5.3. Adjectius perla nacionalitat (masculí i femení)
6. La gastronomía
6.1. Identificar i coneixer ingredients basics de la cuina catalana
6.2. Expressar gustos sobre el menjar
7. El temps lliure. Quins hobbies tens?
7.1 Expressar que agrada fer en el temps lliure.
7.2 Preguntar a altres.

Additionally, students will acquire general knowledge regarding sorne sociocultural aspects of their choice (to be negotiated with their professor following their interests).

LEARNING METHODOLOGY
Tasks will be designed inside and outside the classroom that allow students to practice communication and learning strategies. The students' resources will be assessed through the integrated observation of their linguistic performance and strategies during the school period. An integrated teaching-learning-assessment approach will be used, where students will need to devote time to autonomous learning outside the classroom, either on their own or in interaction with other students, and have access to a wide range of resources. This entails a continuous, multidimensional, contextualized, collaborative and learner-centred perspective, as well as the active role of the students. Preparation for lifelong learning requires a positive, responsible attitude, so learning strategies through reflexive processes will also be employed. Furthermore, the integral development of the students' skills will include simulation activities that reproduce real, everyday contexts of application. On the whole, an array of strategies will be used including:
Lectures
Teamwork
Individual work
Application activities
Readings
Cultural visits