Spanish Language: covering the skills of writing, reading, speaking and listening

GENERAL OBJECTIVES
The objective of this course is to teach students to understand and express themselves correctly and comfortably in familiar situations and adequately in unfamiliar situations. Students will also learn complex linguistic structures.

Specific Objectives
Listening comprehension: to understand both the general content and the details of conversations concerning unfamiliar topics held among various native speakers at their normal vocal rhythm.
Oral Expression: students will work towards an ability to participate competently in conversations regarding any topic, while providing personal opinions and perspectives concisely, easily and with precision.
Reading Comprehension: students will learn to understand both the details and the theme in texts of all kinds even as they cover unfamiliar, but not too specialized, topics.
Written Expression: the student will learn to write concisely, fluidly, and with precision on various topics (not just those concerning one's daily needs but also concerning one's personal and professional interests) that present information supportive of the student's own opinions and perspective.

COURSE CONTENTS

1. Communicative Contents
The exchange and evaluation of personal information.
The exchange and evaluation of general information.
Appreciating the perspectives of other people.
Expressing acceptance, rejection and evasion with different degrees of enthusiasm.
Elements of persuasive and convincing communication.
Justifying oneself and making excuses.
Maintaining diverse interpersonal relationships.
Making expository presentations on events.
Interpreting in detail what one says for something else (discerning ulterior motives)
Asking for and giving rationales for the cause, consequence, final outcome and means of actions.
Debating a topic in a conversation while demonstrating an awareness of a diversity of implications surrounding that topic.
Making and assessing affirmations of certainty, necessity and duty or obligation.
Ask for and offer explanations concerning the causes, consequences, the ends and the means of deeds.
Expressing what one thinks is possible or probable.
Rejecting and accepting an expression of what one thinks is probable.
Conditioning the execution of an action.
Advising, suggesting and recommending.
Expressing one's will to do something. Volunteering.
Expressing surprise or shock.
Expressing compassion.
Expressing resignation.
Expressing satisfaction.
Expressing agreement and disagreement.
Expressing indignation.
Expressing indifference.
Understanding various colloquialisms and dialects.
Understanding and reproducing the intention and intonation of declarations.

Grammatical Contents.
SUPERIOR A
Special cases regarding the gender and number of nouns and adjectives.
Numerals, ordinals, fractions, multiples, distributives and collectives.
Particularities in the use of ser and estar.
Construction of the verb "ser" in periphrastic formulas.
Relative pronouns with or without an expressed antecedent and with or without a preposition.
Semantic and stylistic repercussions on the order of words: adjective and noun, verb and objects, etc.
Specification of the prepositional rule of verbs.
Prenominal considerations: instances involving se.
Uses of pronouns: the ethical dative or dative of interest.
Duplications of the acusative and the dative pronominals.
The uses and development of the passive voice.
Specific uses of the infinitive, gerund and the participle.
Specific uses of the conditional.
Specific uses of the future tense.
Other uses and varieties of declarative sentences.
SUPERIOR B
Other uses and varieties of conditional sentences.
Other uses and varieties of sentences of concession.
Other uses and varieties of temporal sentences.
Other uses and varieties of final sentences.
Other uses and varieties of polite sentences.
Other uses and varieties of periphrases.
The prepositional rule of verbs.
Other uses of problematic prepositions.
Deeds and idiomatic expressions.
Refrains and proverbs.
The lexical adaptation in different levels of socio-linguistic groups.
Various conversational resources.
Specificity of elements in a textual cohesion.
Organization of information in specialized texts.
Prosidic characteristics: the significance of intonation.

Cultural contents: superior level.
- The first half of the 20th century in Spain
- The Republic
- The Civil War
- The Dictatorship
- Democracy.
- Self-governance within Spain.
- The linguistic diversity of Spain.
- Andalusia: topics and realities.
- Cultural inheritance: the influence of the Jews, Christians and
- Muslims
- The Family structure.
- Social and sexual topics: el machismo.
- The situation of the modern Spanish woman.
- Modern Spain: ideological principles, political and cultural
- tendencies
- The 1970s.
- The 1980s.
- The 1990s.
- An exhaustive analysis of the most prominent Spanish cultural phenomenon:
- Bulls and bullfighting.
- Flamenco dancing.
- Religion and folklore: analysis and manifestations of such
- activity and belief.
- Spain as a member of the EU (European Union).
- Introduction to Spanish Literature III.
- Introduction to Spanish Art III.
- Introduction to Spanish Cinema III.
- The means of communication: the press, radio and television.
- General characteristics of the economy.