Spanish Proficiency Conversation Unit 3

When & Where

26 April 2023 - 21 June 2023 ( 16 hours, 8 weeks )
Afternoon, Wednesday
View course timetable
Online

Quick Facts

Availability Late starts accepted
Tutor Chloe Tringalas
Course Code W22LUSA04C
Suitable For 19 year olds and up are permitted on this course

What you will learn

This is an online course where students do much more than passively sit in front of a computer: the carefully and tailor-made activities promote real engagement and active participation. All participants become members of a learning community, all intent in developing, conversational skills, consolidating and extending their vocabulary range by sharing opinions and experiences and discussing contemporary issues in an enjoyable and supportive environment. Students will explore and discuss issues related to contemporary current affairs, society and culture of Spanish-speaking countries and explore a literary text. Communicative activities requiring the use of more complex linguistic structures will be also gradually incorporated to improve linguistic accuracy, as well as pronunciation and intonation exercises to build naturalness and confidence. The ability to research and present a topic of their choice is encouraged throughout.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Understand, summarize and comment texts written in formal and informal registers
Express your own views, react to the views of others, evaluate, develop independent discourse and participate in discussions.
Understand and comment on the topics covered during the session
Report and paraphrase what you hear, accurately manipulating the language
Communicate using a range of structures and vocabulary appropriate to the context

Cost

Full fee

£160

Concession fee

£120

Click here for information on Fees, Funding and Concessions (including financial support)

Class format and activities

This is a communicative course that uses a variety of methods and visuals adapted for online learning. The student-centred approach requires a variety of communicative, collaborative activities involving language manipulation: debates, discussions, and presentations. These online activities are complemented by reading, reading for gist, and listening activities, including authentic as well as learning specific listening audio recordings and video-clips. Many of the reading and listening activities are completed as a preparatory activity before the lesson, so more online time is spent in collaborative follow-up activities and commentaries and specially designed tasks geared to consolidate new acquired vocabulary, foster confidence and improve pronunciation and intonation. Grammar and syntax are also included as communicative learning activities and normally complemented by written follow-up exercises. New more complex grammatical structures are gradually introduced in relation with specific topics of conversation or discussion. The study of a short literary text is offered in this course and a reading guide and questionnaire are provided to encourage analysis and evaluation. All the preparatory activities, video-clips and recordings required for the online lesson are uploaded in Moodle or other digital platforms according to requirements. Students are given regular feedback from the tutor, but self-correction and pair correction are also encouraged in a supportive environment

Entry requirements

Student enrolling in this course should have the ability to deal effectively and without much prompting with everyday situations. Also they should be able to discuss and give opinion on everyday matters and issues. Ability to describe events in temporal sequence, using the different past tenses with relative confidence is an advantage although the course will reinforce all previous knowledge. An incipient ability to evaluate and justify opinion is also required as well and an interest in current affairs and socio-cultural issues. Enthusiasm for the subject and commitment are also valuable assets as the course requires the students to be actively involved in knowledge and language acquisition: therefore time for prior preparation is also necessary in order to be actively involved in the online activities.

What you need to know before you enrol

The course will be delivered through remote classes online. You will need access to Teams and other platforms via a laptop or computer and Internet access. Excellent attendance and punctuality are required from all students. Self-study and preparation are important for progress. Prior to each class, students will be able to access a list of the topics they have to revise and/or prepare, so they can actively develop and consolidate them during the lesson either working individually, in groups or in a plenary session. The participation in a students' forum, either in Moodle or other platform, will be encouraged, so sharing stories, posting questions and generally keeping in touch, collaborating between themselves and before the class, would compensate for the lack of the social contact normally offered by a classroom-based course.

What you need

In order to access online resources for your course, you will need Internet access and a device. In certain special cases the College may be able to lend a laptop. Our IT Department would be able to guide and help you if you have any problems accessing Teams and Moodle. A textbook (t.b.a) will be used as back up during the course. Other texts and articles would be provided and uploaded in Moodle or sent by email. Also, please bring enthusiasm and curiosity, as these are positively the main factors of success.

What you can do next

Spanish Proficiency Conversation Unit 2