SPAN110 Elementary Spanish I

Department of Language & Literature: Spanish

I. Course Number and Title
SPAN110 Elementary Spanish I
II. Number of Credits
3 credits
III. Number of Instructional Minutes
IV. Prerequisites
V. Other Pertinent Information

Students are expected to spend between six and nine hours per week outside of class in activities, such as learning vocabulary, reading, completing written exercises, working on pronunciation, preparing oral presentations, and working with multimedia resources that accompany the text.

This course meets the General Education requirement in Arts/Humanities.
This course meets the General Education requirement in Diversity.

VI. Catalog Course Description
This is an interactive course in which students acquire a basic knowledge of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing Spanish. Oral proficiency, listening, comprehension, and grammatical accuracy are all stressed. Cultural background accompanies each chapter.
VII. Required Course Content and Direction
  1. Course Learning Goals

    Students will:

    1. acquire and demonstrate an elementary degree of competence in the four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing [Arts/Humanities];
    2. recognize and respond appropriately to the most common spoken situations;
    3. demonstrate ability to write basic sentences in Spanish; and
    4. explain some common aspects of life in the Spanish-speaking countries [Diversity].
  2. Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities

    Grammatical topics:

    1. articles -- definite and indefinite
    2. gender, plurals, and adjective agreement
    3. the present tense of regular and some stem-changing verbs
    4. the present tense of some irregular verbs
    5. the verb “gustar”
    6. question formation
    7. ways to express possession
    8. direct object pronouns
    9. some uses of “ser” and “estar ”

    Vocabulary and social contexts:

    1. greetings, weather, time, numbers, days and dates
    2. describing oneself, the classroom, the family
    3. daily activities
    4. foods

    Cultural contexts:

    1. brief history of the Spanish language
    2. hispanic influence in the United States
    3. the family and family-related celebrations
    4. sports
    5. foods
  3. Assessment Methods for Course Learning Goals

    Students will:

    1. take quizzes and tests;
    2. complete assignments, such as short compositions and grammatical exercises;
    3. perform listening comprehension exercises; and
    4. participate in oral interviews and/or presentations that assess proficiency levels.

    Quizzes and tests taken in class include the cultural topics presented in the course. Students articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.


    Instructors employ text, workbook, multimedia files, and internet resources of first-year proficiency-based Spanish program. See course syllabus.

Review/Approval Date - 3/98; Core Goals/Objectives added 4/04; Revised 12/06/2010; New Core 8/2015