Course Description
¡Bienvenidos!
Welcome to Spanish 104!
Spanish 102 is the second course of the four-semester Spanish Basic Language Program (SBLP) at UIC.
The course is guided by principles of the Task-Based Approach, which establishes that by performing real-world tasks in Spanish, students will develop basic communicative proficiency in this language.
The purpose of the course then is for you to learn Spanish in order to be able to use it with other speakers in authentic ways.
This course also focuses on learning about and reflecting on the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world so students become more interculturally competent; a necessary trait for helping others and successfully working in our globalized world.
What is the course like?
In this course, you will do a variety of interesting, real-world tasks (in Spanish!) that form the "heart" of the curriculum.
Some of these Tasks are:
tell an interesting story
write the script of a scene in a movie
design an object
create a campaign for a social movement
You will also have plenty of opportunities to interact in Spanish with your instructor and your classmates, read short stories, listen to popular songs, watch a movie, and do an out-of-classroom exploratory project, where you will connect with one of the thriving Hispanic communities in Chicago.
This course is designed for you to truly learn to use Spanish to communicate in authentic, culturally appropriate ways.
¡Bienvenidos!
What am I going to learn? What are the objectives?
At the end of the course, you will be able to:
Successfully perform tasks where you will use Spanish to comprehend, interact, and express your ideas at the intermediate-mid level of proficiency*.
Identify and explain the products and practices of cultures in the Spanish-speaking world as well as analyze and reflect on the values and perspectives that they may represent.
What will I be able to do at the intermediate-mid level of proficiency in Spanish?
According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), students at the intermediate-mid level communicative in spontaneous conversations on both familiar and some researched topics by creating sentences and series of sentences, and by asking follow-up questions. They can understand the main idea and key information in conversations, and they can write and give presentations on preferences and familiar topics by providing some supporting information using sentences and connected sentences.
You should be able to do at least all these at the end of Spanish 104!