SPAN 319: Spanish Internship in Health Sciences
This experiential learning course seeks to immerse students in settings where language proficiency is needed to serve the needs of patients whose first (or dominant) language is Spanish. Contact with Spanish-speaking community organizations, healthcare providers, and/or patients will strengthen students' language and cross-cultural skills, while guest speakers and in-class activities will enhance their understanding of cultural and social aspects relevant to serving Spanish-speaking communities.
Prerequisite: Two SPAN3XX courses; SPAN315 highly recommended
SPAN 325: Spanish Civilization and Culture
Survey of geography, history, art and society of Spain. This course offers a survey of the geography, history, culture, politics and society of Spain. You will study key historical events, from prehistoric times to the most recent developments, as well as cultural movements that have shaped Spanish national identity. The course is conducted in Spanish and the readings are in Spanish.
Offered with an Honors section.
Prerequisite: SPAN 200
Fulfills College of Arts and Sciences “Group B” History and Cultural Change requirement
Required for teaching majors
SPAN 326: Latin American Civilizations and Cultures
This course is a survey of the history and culture of Latin America from the time of the region’s indigenous empires to the present. Students will analyze fundamental aspects of the region’s history, geography, politics and cultural production, focusing on issues including human rights, colonialism, nationalism, military intervention, globalization and migration. This course is designed to prepare students for the advanced study of Latin American cultural production by providing them with the historical and social context necessary for studying the cultures of this region. Students will gain an appreciation for the historical roots of present-day social and political issues in Latin America, improve their research and analysis skills, develop their capacity for independent learning and critically examine crucial issues related to Latin American culture.
Offered with an Honors section
Prerequisite: SPAN 200
Fulfills College of Arts and Sciences “Group B” History and Cultural Change requirement
and University Multicultural requirement
SPAN 401: Advanced Composition & Grammar II
SPAN401 is not a systematic study of Spanish grammar (that is the purpose of the SPAN 200 and 300 prerequisites for this course). In SPAN401 students will practice and apply what they have learned in previous courses, as well as broaden their vocabulary through different kinds of writings (i.e.: summaries, opinion papers, narrations, feature articles, descriptions, poems, short stories, etc.), projects and class participation. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to study and practice more in-depth those structures that traditionally cause the most problems: subjunctive vs. indicative, past tenses, prepositions and pronouns, reflexivity, active vs. passive, text progression, determination, word order, direct vs. indirect speech, sequence of tenses, use of complex tenses, etc. The SPAN 401 textbook contains an array of authentic readings about the culture, history, and politics of Spain and Latin America. The overall goal of SPAN 401 is to help students reach the ACTFL Language Testing Advanced-Low Level.
Offered with an Honors section. Honors students will meet for an additional conversation hour (tertulia) once every week.
Prerequisite: This course is the last in a series of Spanish language courses. Students must have taken SPAN 200 and SPAN 300 before enrolling for this course. The course is conducted in Spanish.
SPAN 436/636: Topics: Literature of the Spanish Golden Age
Works of one or more authors or of a special theme or genre within Spanish literature of the Golden Age (16th and 17th centuries). May be repeated three times for credit when topics vary.
Offered with an Honors section
Prerequisites: SPAN301, SPAN302, SPAN303, or SPAN304
Spanish 455/655: Reading Women’s oppression in LA
This course explores the history of violence in women’s lives in the midst of political, social and artistic moments that shaped Latin America. Using primary literary texts, film, art, and music, students will engage with scholarly readings that contextualize those moments such as the emergence of women in convents, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, black nuns, brides of Christ, to Frida Kahlo and her political vision, to Remedios Varo’s issues of gender and ambiguity, to the soldaderas/ guerrilleras, poets in the mountains and testimonial literature of rural leaders in Latin America, such as Mapuche indigenous leaders. Issues of bodies, ancient medicine for women and conceptual notions of the body in present times will be explored with a collage of collaborative media, from beads to embroidery, from digital protest to political lipstick.
Offered with an Honors section
Prerequisites: SPAN301, SPAN302, SPAN303, or SPAN304..
Graduate students: this course will concentrate on the works of Sor Juana and the new indigenous women’s intellectuals such as Cusicanqui in Latin America.