Following the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning the objectives of the first-year elementary-level Spanish language series are organized around five main areas:
COMMUNICATION. At the end of the 100-level series students will have acquired a novice high/intermediate low proficiency level, which means they will be able to handle successfully a variety of basic communicative tasks necessary for survival in a Spanish speaking context. More specifically, students completing SPANISH 103 will be able to:
- Talk about historical periods, life stages, and generational experiences
- Describe people, objects, places and situations in the past
- Talk about habitual actions in the past
- Compare the past and the present, describe changes and similarities
- Talk about social relationships
- Express agreement and disagreement
- Discuss feelings and emotions
- Talk about what we would do in certain circumstances
- Talk about past events
- Narrate the events and circumstances of a story in the past
- Talk about the world of fashion
- Evaluate and give opinions
- Give advice, recommendations, and suggestions
- Refer back to something already mentioned
- Create a journalistic text
- Talk about gastronomy and related topics
- Talk about eating habits, nutrition, and health
- Order food in a restaurant, create a menu, and describe a dish
- Give instructions
- Write a recipe
- Ask and answer about preferences
- Comment and give personal opinions on food-related themes
CULTURES. Students will have gained a deeper knowledge and understanding of the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. They will be more acquainted with the places where Spanish is spoken, will have explored some of the main cultural, social, and historical events of the Hispanic world, and will have increased their awareness of the U.S. Hispanic/Latinx communities.
CONNECTIONS. Students will be able to acquire new information and reinforce their knowledge of other disciplines through the Spanish language.
COMPARISONS. Students will have developed new insights into the nature of language and culture that will allow them to establish comparisons not only between languages, but also between the Hispanic and Latinx cultures and their own.
COMMUNITIES. Students will be able to use the Spanish language to participate in Hispanic and Latinx communities at home and around the world.