Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA International Studies programme who have passed Spanish 1 Intermediate.
Description
Spanish 2 Upper Intermediate is a language course for upper intermediate students.
The course has a communicative approach: attention will be paid to the use of the language in practical everyday situations. The focus will be on reading and listening comprehension (‘Reception activities’ (CEFR)). There will be plenty of opportunities to interact in the target language through class activities and discussions. Students will be encouraged to practise reading and writing skills in their own time.
For this purpose, we will use two books: Aula Internacional 4 Nueva Edición and Latitud 0°, a culture and civilisation coursebook for intermediate and advanced level students of Spanish which tackles themes such as the diversity of the Latin American world and its intercultural relations with Spain and the rest of the world. Latitud 0° offers a wide range of varied and interactive activities about the 20 Spanish speaking countries.
Course objectives
This Upper intermediate level course is between levels B1 and B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Spanish 2 Upper Intermediate is the second course in a series of three language acquisition courses within the International Studies program. The final objective of this course series is to obtain an advanced level of proficiency in Spanish: the student will be able to interact with native speakers with a sufficient degree of fluency and spontaneity to enable easy and natural communication between interlocutor and to understand the gist of complex texts about both concrete and abstract topics.
| Skill | CEFR Level |
|---|---|
| Reading | B2 |
| Writing | B1 |
| Listening | B1+ |
| Speaking | B1 |
Timetable
The timetable is available on the BA International Studies website.
Mode of instruction
Tutorials
Three two-hour tutorials every week, with the exception of the midterm exam week. Attending all tutorial sessions is compulsory. If you are unable to attend a session, please inform your tutor in advance, providing a valid reason for your absence. Being absent will result in a lowering of the participation grade with 0.5 for every absence after the first five (5) times.
Course Load
Total course load for this course is 10 EC (1 EC = 28 hours), which equals 280 hours, broken down by:
| Component | Estimated time |
|---|---|
| Attending classes | 72 hours |
| Assessment hours (exams) | 6 hours |
| Preparing for classes, exams and extra activities | 202 hours |
Assessment method
Assessment and Weighing
| Partial grade | Weighing |
|---|---|
| In-class participation and homework, quizzes (grammar and vocabulary) | 20% |
| Midterm Exam (listening comprehension & reading comprehension & written production) | 30% |
| Final Exam (listening comprehension & reading comprehension & written production) | 30% |
| Oral Exam (presentations in class and oral productions) | 20% |
End Grade
To successfully complete the course, please take note that the End Grade of the course is established by determining the weighted average of the in-class oral and listening performance, and written exams.
The End Grade needs to be a 6.0 or higher to pass the course.
Resit
If the End Grade is insufficient (lower than a 6.0), there is a possibility of retaking the full 80% of the exam material (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). No resit for the tutorial (participation) is possible.
Exam review and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for this course. Students are requested to enroll on Blackboard, but only after correct enrolment in uSis.
Reading list
Corpas, Garmendia, Sánchez, Soriano: AULA INTERNACIONAL 4 NUEVA EDICIÓN
ISBN: 9788415620853
Teresa Gutiérrez Chávez y Alfredo Noriega Fernández: LATITUD Oº Manual de español intercultural, SGEL
ISBN: 978-84-9778-668-3
Online material will be published on Blackboard.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis for Tutorials is mandatory.
Students will be enrolled for Exams by the Administration Office, as long as they have a valid Tutorial enrolment.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Drs. M.J. Pérez Rodríguez (coordinator)
When contacting lecturers or tutors, please include your full name, student number, and tutorial group number.
Please use your University email-address (uMail) when communicating with any person or department within Leiden University.
Student Affairs Office for BA International Studies
Remarks
This course uses an integrated communicative language learning method. Therefore active participation in the classroom activities is essential for successful learning outcomes.