 |
AIFS Study Abroad in Barcelona, Spain
Summer 2010
Course Descriptions |
| |
|
Recommended credits are shown in parentheses. Spanish Language Courses| Spanish Language Courses | | | Course Code and Credits: | Spanish Language 100 (4)(6) | | Course Title: | Elementary Spanish | | Course Description: | | Students with no previous Spanish study or with only one semester in college usually place at this level. Focus is on functional uses of the language as well as grammar, lexicon and cultural themes. Included are introductions, giving and receiving
information, writing letters, indicative, past perfect and preterit tenses, expressing likes and dislikes, imperative forms of “tu” and “usted”, Spanish customs and cuisine. | | | Course Code and Credits: | Spanish Language 200 (4)(6) | | Course Title: | Intermediate Spanish | | Course Description: | | Students who have studied Spanish throughout high school and continued with one semester in college, or students who have 2 to 4 semesters in college, usually place into this level. It concentrates on overall communicative skills: perfect tenses, preterit versus imperfect, telling stories, the future and the conditional, the imperative uses of the subjunctive mood, and transmission of messages (verb tenses). | | | Course Code and Credits: | Spanish Language 300 (4)(6) | | Course Title: | Advanced Spanish | | Course Description: | | Students with at least 6 semesters of college Spanish, experience
living in a Spanish-speaking country or Spanish study on a regular basis since elementary school usually place at this level. Grammar work is to refine and develop communicative
skills: the impersonal “se”, adjectives, nouns and verbs, indicative and subjunctive tenses, spelling and accents, arguments/
debates, expressing degrees of possibilities, cause, consequence and mode of action, formal and informal letters. Cultural topics include the post-Franco transition to democracy, present Spanish society, a newspaper workshop, Gaudí and the “streets of Barcelona” and reading “Sin noticias de Gurb” by Eduardo Mendoza. | | | Course Code and Credits: | Spanish Language 400 (4)(6) | | Course Title: | Superior Spanish | | Course Description: | | Designed for fluent students who have a good command of Spanish grammar. Focus is on communicative activities to facilitate assimilation of the language and its structures. The course covers: the impersonal “se”; rules of inflection for gender and number; reflexive and pronominal verbs; the formal register; linking expressions; the tense and mood system. Students will also be able to: give advice and respond; justify, criticize and defend opinions, proposals and ideas; use linking expressions and perfect comparative constructions. | |
Optional CoursesPlease note that Spanish conversation can only be taken with Spanish language; it cannot be taken with a content class or in isolation. | Spanish Conversation Courses | | | Course Code and Credits: | Spanish 101 (2) | | Course Title: | Oral Spanish Skills - Elementary Level | | Course Description: | | To improve fluency and put grammatical competence into practice, current topics are discussed and everyday situations recreated to include idiomatic expressions. Emphasis is on pronunciation,
vocabulary and interactional skills. This class is for students with a strong desire to improve oral expression. | | | Course Code and Credits: | Spanish 201 (2) | | Course Title: | Oral Spanish Skills - Intermediate Level | | Course Description: | | Goals are to increase communicative competence and acquire new vocabulary and discourse strategies that enable the student
to interact successfully in everyday Spanish life. Students practice speaking through the discussion of topics of contemporary
interest and the use of newspapers, magazines, literary texts, songs and television commercials. | | | Course Code and Credits: | Spanish 301 (2) | | Course Title: | Oral Spanish Skills - Advanced Level | | Course Description: | | Designed for students who have already achieved fluency in Spanish, and who have a good command of Spanish grammar. The goals of the course are to develop greater fluency and to become more expressive and accurate in a variety of communicative
contexts. Students aim for native-like speaking and comprehension. | |
| Courses in English | | | Course Code and Credits: | Business 301E (3) | | Course Title: | Doing Business in Europe | | Course Description: | | This course provides a practical understanding of the economic,
institutional, legal and political environment when doing business in Europe. Students will be given analytical and conceptual instruments to understand the functions of the EU as well as the impact of different policies on the European business environment. In particular, the course will focus on the framework that companies must adhere to when doing business in Europe. | | | Course Code and Credits: | Communications 303E (3) | | Course Title: | Communication in Business | | Course Description: | | The aim of the course is to provide students with analytical and strategic skills to improve their influence and impact when doing business. In particular, the course will focus on the personal
communication skills: non-verbal communication, active listening, written business language and the art of presenting. The class aims to help students improve their standards as both leaders and team players. | | | Course Code and Credits: | History 305E (3) | | Course Title: | Barcelona: the City and its History | | Course Description: | | This course gives an introduction to the city of Barcelona by studying its past and analyzing its present. It reviews the most important moments in the urban development of Barcelona focusing on the ways these events can be seen in the present layout of the city. Expressions of Catalan and Mediterranean identity in buildings and traditions are also analyzed. | | | Course Code and Credits: | History/Religious Studies 307E (3) | | Course Title: | Between Tolerance and Conflict: Muslims, Jews and Christians in the Iberian Peninsula | | Course Description: | | This course examines the history of Medieval Iberia from the perspective of a society characterized by an unprecedented interaction between the Mediterranean’s three civilizations (Muslim, Christian and Jewish). As well as providing a general introduction to the cultural parameters of Medieval Iberia’s three civilizations, the course highlights these societies’ modes of interaction and mutual influence. Special attention is paid to the ways in which contemporary concerns have shaped historians’ depictions of Medieval Iberian societies and the dynamics of cross-faith interaction. | |
| Courses in Spanish (not open to sophomores) | | | Course Code and Credits: | Art History 313 (3) | | Course Title: | Arte and Artistas (Art and Artists) | | Course Description: | | The focus of this course will be exploring Spanish art through the Barcelona Art Collections. This is an introductory course for students who desire to obtain a broad overview of Spanish art, have the necessity of a survey of the cultural background of Barcelona and wish to have a live approach to Barcelona’s art works. Artists considered include: Gaudí; Picasso; Miró; Dalí and Tàpies.
| | | Course Code and Credits: | Literature 309 (3) | | Course Title: | Literatura Española Contemporanea (Contemporary Spanish Literature) | | Course Description: | | This course concentrates on Hispanic literature from the end of the 19th century to the present day. A broad approach to literature
is taken which not only focuses on the written text, but also includes other forms of expression, such as literary films, short documentaries, music, art and illustrations. | | | Course Code and Credits: | Sociology/Politics 309 (3) | | Course Title: | España Siglo XX: Política, Economía y Sociedad | | Course Description: | | This course looks at four different subject areas: i) population: demographic evolution of Spain, migration, family structure, parenting and women at work ii) economic development: development of large companies in Spain, consolidation of mass tourism and the widening gap between different regions of Spain iii) the domestic and international market: Spain in the European business boom, tendencies of the consumer, future of Spanish business and globalization, and iv) politics, state and society: politics in Spain in a divided post-war Europe, the Spanish Civil War, stages of transition to democracy and the integration of Spain into Europe. | |
|
|