Spanish Language Courses

All of the Spanish language courses are offered year around and start every Monday. Students can attend all of our Affiliate Spanish Language Schools (ASLS) for as long as they like and it usually takes one month to complete each language comprehension level.

On the first day of class, every student takes a language comprehension test to identify their knowledge of the Spanish language, which is given by a Spanish language teacher.
This test is administered to ensure that you are placed in the appropriate Spanish language level.

Once the language level is identified and you are placed in the appropriate class, The teachers will adapt and execute their methodology in relation to your linguistic level. Total immersion education is the fastest and most efficient way to learn a foreign language!

Please read about the two Spanish courses offered: the Standard and the Intensive.

Standard course (20-hrs/week)

• Monday–Friday

• 4 hours in the morning (2 hours grammar and 2 hours conversation)

• 10 minute break in between…cookie and coffee time!

Intensive Course (30-hrs/week)

• Monday–Friday

• 4 hours in the morning (2 hours grammar and 2 hours conversation)

• 10 minute break…cookie and coffee time!

• 2 hours in the afternoon (these 2 hours can be customized to address your specific Spanish language needs and to work on cultivating your weaknesses and reinforcing your strengths).

General Information

All teachers at the ASLS have many years of teaching Spanish as a second language. There will never be more that 6 students per classroom to ensure that individual attention is given to each and every student.

Each student will receive *textbooks, which are included in the cost of tuition or you must pay a small fee to own (*this depends on the ASLS). All Spanish language courses have specific objectives, a course description, and a variety of learning activities to make learning Spanish fun, interesting and memorable. If you are interested in earning university credit please click here to learn more: earn university credit.

All of our Spanish immersion programs are very flexible and the staff are open-minded and willing to try new and fun things to keep learning Spanish exciting. If you have any concerns or questions, want to change teachers or try something different, just let the Director of the School know and they will do their best to accommodate you.

*Below is a general description of the course content that will be taught at our ASLS. You will find a brief description of the general objectives, course descriptions, general methodology, course content and other salient information are described.

Beginner

I. GENERAL OBJECTIVES

• The student will master basic Spanish grammar and vocabulary, which will allow communication at a beginning level of Spanish.

• The student will utilize the communicative skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing in a culturally authentic context.

II. COURSE DESCRIPTION

This Spanish language course will address the needs of those students who are new to the Spanish language. The grammar exercises and directed conversations are designed to allow the students to progress rapidly and master the most basic Spanish expressions and constructions. The Spanish language course are offered year-round starting Mondays.

Students can choose from two levels of intensity:

1) The curriculum, which includes two hours of grammar and two hours of conversation, totals 20 hours a week.

2) The curriculum consists of an additional two hours of Spanish a day, totaling 30 hours a week.

III. GENERAL METHODOLOGY

Different methods of teaching will be implemented according to the specific needs of the students. Methods include: cassette tapes as a corrective method, call and response, singing, audio lingual, audio visual, interactive games, reading and writing activities, realistic dialogues, grammar drills, role-playing, story telling, and field trips.

IV. CONTENT

• Numbers and ordinal numbers, animal names, seasons, dates, days, months, time, and currency • Synonyms and antonyms • Definite and indefinite articles • Adverbs • Common adjectives and nouns • Position and concordance of adjective (number and gender) • Demonstrative and possessive adjectives • Ser vs. Estar • Haber and gustar • Present regular verb (ending in AR, ER and IR) • Present irregular verbs • Future perfect • Present participle “ing” • Present indicative • Present progressive • Reflexive verbs • Preterit and imperfect indicative • Preterit vs. imperfect indicative • Por and para • Pronouns direct and indirect • Idiomatic expressions.

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Intermediate

I. GENERAL OBJECTIVES

• The student will increase knowledge of Spanish structures and grammar and oral proficiency.

• The student will read short stories in Spanish.

• The student will give short oral presentations in Spanish.

• The student will utilize the communicative skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing in a culturally authentic context.

II. COURSE DESCRIPTION

This Spanish language course is intended for students with a basic knowledge of Spanish and a working knowledge of at least fifty-percent of the content of the Beginning levels.

The grammar exercises at this level will be more complex and will be related to everyday language and conversation. Students will engage in realistic dialogues; practice asking questions, giving instructions and directions, which will increase confidence and improve oral proficiency.

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III. GENERAL METHODOLOGY

Different methods of teaching will be implemented according to the specific needs of the students. Methods include: journal writing, oral interviews, authentic social interactions, recreational activities in social contexts, reading short stories, audio lingual, audio visual, interactive games, reading and writing activities, realistic dialogues, grammar drills, role-playing, story telling, and field trips.

IV. CONTENT

• Increase general Spanish vocabulary • More adverbs, nouns and adjectives • More synonyms and antonyms • Present indicative (irregular and regular verbs) • Imperfect preterit • Indefinite and definite preterit (irregular and regular verbs) • Uses of preterit and imperfect indicative • Imperative mood • Subjunctive (present, imperfect, and present perfect) • Imperfect indicative vs. preterit • Superlatives and comparatives • Pronouns revisited (direct and indirect) • Past participle (correct vs. incorrect) • Personal pronouns • Gustar and similar verbs with the same structure • Future simple • Conditional • Ser, estar, hacer, haber, tener and expressions of time • Passive voice • Compound tenses of the indicative mode (conditional, past perfect, present perfect) • More idiomatic expressions • Review all learned verb tenses and moods and as well as por and para, and ser and estar.

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Advanced

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

• The student will master more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary.

• The student will increase fluency in conversation.

• The student will read Latin American literature in Spanish.

• The student will give oral presentations in Spanish.

• The student will utilize the communicative skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing in a culturally authentic context.

II. COURSE DESCRIPTION

This Spanish language course is intended for students with a working knowledge of at least eighty-percent of the content of the previous levels (Beginning and Intermediate). The grammar exercises and conversations are more complex and elevated, stressing fluency and technicality.

III. GENERAL METHODOLOGY

Different methods of teaching will be implemented according to the specific needs of the students. Methods include: essay writing, oral interviews and presentations, authentic social interactions, recreational activities in social contexts, reading of Latin American literature, audio lingual, audio visual, interactive games, food and drink tastings, realistic dialogues, grammar drills, role-playing, story telling, field trips and social, cultural, economic, and historical discussions.

IV. CONTENT

• More Spanish vocabulary • More adverbs, nouns and adjectives • More synonyms and antonyms • Practice future and conditional • Practice imperfect preterit and indefinite preterit • Practice ser, esta, and haber to express existence • Reflexive vs. non-reflexive • Imperative mode (Ud, Uds, Nos, Tu and Vos • Uses of “Se” • Conjunctions • Review: present participle (correct vs. indirect) • Verbs with prepositions • Adverbs (adjectives vs. adverbs) • Review subjunctive: present, imperfect, present perfect and pluperfect • Popular sayings and expressions • Verbs that specify the preposition • More idiomatic expressions.

Appendix to syllabi:

In both the grammar and conversation portions of theses Spanish-Language-Courses, regardless of language comprehension level, all students will discuss cultural, historical, political, economic and global topics.

Example topics found in all Spanish language course: Democracy in Latin America; Machismo; US, Europe, and Latin American relations: a historical perspective; Health care in Latin America vs. Health care in other countries; Racism, discrimination and sexism in Latin America; The economies of Latin America; Music, art and Latin American culture reviewed; Tourism and its effect on Latin America; the Latin American family compared to the American, Asian and/or European family; Catholicism and Latin America; Spanish language courses offered abroad vs. Spanish language course offered in home country; Colonization and Spain, immigration (pros and cons) and many other though-provoking and interesting topics.

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