Spanish Level 5

Prerequisite for entry

Successful completion of Spanish level 4+ at UCL CLIE or AS Level grade (or equivalent); an extended stay in a Spanish speaking country in the recent past is recommended and/or a very good grasp of the language and the ability to conduct a conversation without difficulty. 

Term duration

10 x 2-hour classes

Progression

After 20 hours students may progress to level 5+

Aims and Objectives

The course is designed for advanced level students requiring the language for vocational and professional purposes. The course will enhance knowledge of Hispanic life, society, and culture using complex and linguistically accurate structures (different types of register). Language learning skills, including autonomous learning and how to approach authentic material, will be further enhanced. 

Functions

• Giving advice, opinions about actions and behaviours.
• Expressing desires and wishes.
• Expressing purposes and aims.
• Making suggestions.
• Expressing and talking about feelings, qualities and personality.
• Talking about cities.
• Expressing positive and negative feelings.
• Expressing believes.
• Expressing requirements.
• Preparing and giving presentations on complex topics. 

Course Content 

Main topics/themes to be covered:

Topics will be chosen by the tutor in order to cover grammar aspects, and they will be related both to Spain and Spanish speaking Latin American countries. The course may include some of the following topics:

• Current affairs: cultural, politic and social issues.
• History, traditions and religion.
• Arts (music, literature, cinema, arts, cultural heritage).
• Geography and nature: cities, regions, countries.
• Working life: work and studies.
• Health and lifestyle.
• Sports and leisure activities. 
• Personal relationships.

Linguistic Structures

• Analysing written authentic material from various sources and with different registers.
• Improving listening and reading skills by dealing with a variety of authentic materials. 

Grammar

• Consolidation of present tense of subjuctive.
• Further use of subjunctive in the imperfect and perfect tense.
• Use of subjunctive in colloquial expressions: hagan lo que hagan, viniera quien viniera, estés donde estés, etc.
• Relative clauses: quien, donde, en el/la cual, cuyo/a/os/as.
• Some uses of para y por.
• Connectors: sin embargo, no obstante, además, por un lado, por otro lado, así que / por eso.
• Passive voice.

Learning Resources

Course Book:

• Aula Internacional 4 (student’s Book). Publisher Difusión. Chapters: 3, 4, 5, 6
• Online platform campus.difusion.com (materials to be used in class, as homework and for self-study; details will be provided in class). For this online platform, students will need to open their own account and then, for full access, purchase a premium account for a year access.
• We recommend you to acquire your book (Aula Internacional 4), or the platform, or both through the European Bookshop.
• In addition, there is a range of language learning materials for self-study in the Self-Access Centre (SAC): https://resources.clie.ucl.ac.uk/home/sac/spanish

Additional Material

• Authentic written material from various sources such as El País, El Mundo, El Diario, El Diario in partnership with the Guardian etc.
• Authentic audio and audio-visual material (www.rtve.es)
• Spanish and Latin American films.
• Articles, pieces of news, videos, and documentaries extracted from Internet.