This course is designed for heritage speakers of Spanish who have received little or no formal training in the language and for other linguistically qualified students or advanced non-native speakers. It will provide instruction to strengthen existing linguistic (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) skills while increasing awareness of the cultural heritage and knowledge the students already possess. Students will closely review specific language structures and some fundamentals of grammar while expanding their vocabulary and employing a writing process in their compositions. By the end of this course, students will:

• Review fundamentals of Spanish language grammar.

• Identify elements of informal and formal registers.

• Identify linguistic varieties used throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

• Deliver an oral presentation employing an appropriate register.

• Critique Spanish-language texts and films both orally and in writing.

• Discuss aspects of Latin American and Latinx history, politics, and cultural heritage.

• Employ a writing process in compositions.

• Apply critical thinking skills in an argumentative essay.

The course will additionally:

• Explore students’ perceptions of their heritage and existing language strengths.

• Inspire students to seek opportunities to use Spanish in their professional and personal lives.

• Raise consciousness about the existence of varieties used throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

• Transfer and develop already present reading comprehension, oral, and writing skills.

The course will use materials designed to accomplish the goals listed above, which can be accessed by clicking on each unit listed under the "home" button at the upper right-hand corner of the site.

The following website will be a valuable source of grammar explanations that also illustrate how Spanish is spoken in real settings. It was developed by the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) at the University of Texas, Austin. References to the site will appear throughout the grammar homework assignments.

Spanish Grammar in Context
(COERLL, Spanish Grammar in Context is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The following are additional sources of grammar explanations and students are encouraged to use them for additional practice:

Acceso
(Acceso is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, CC BY-NC 4.0)

Entrada libre
(Entrada Libre is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Spanish Grammar Manual
(Spanish Grammar Manual is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).