Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

SPA 251 emphasizes the development of oral proficiency,the acquisition and correct use of pronunciation, mastery of structure and vocabulary, development of reading and writing skills, and cultural concepts for the purpose of communicating in Spanish.  Structures and functions from first year Spanish will be reviewed and expanded.  The order of presentation and the amount of material covered
depends on the methodology and materials chosen by the instructor and on the speed with which the particular class progresses.  Topics generally presented and actively practiced include:
         
          A.   Functions
          1.   Describing medical, dental, and hospital care
          2.   Making a doctor's appointment
          3.   Describing what someone is wearing
          4.   Expressing opinions about clothes
          5.   Shopping for clothes.  Explaining one's needs: style,
                size, etc.
          6.   Explaining why a certain article is appropriate or
                inappropriate
          7.   Discussing prices
          8.   Asking for travel information
          9.   Making travel arrrangements
          10.  Understanding train and plane announcements
          11.  Reserving a hotel room
          12.  Requesting hotel services
          13.  Paying a hotel bill
          14.  Renting an apartment
          15.  Describing the type of housing one is looking for
          16.  Asking and answering questions about where one lives
          17.  Asking someone to do things in the home
          18.  Describing what is broken or not functioning
          19.  Asking people to make appropriate repairs
          20.  Having a car serviced or repaired
          21.  Interviewing for a job
          22.  Describing one's skills and work experience
          23.  Defining one's work preferences
         
          B.   Grammatical Structures
          1.   Subordinate noun clauses and the subjunctive
          2.   Subordinate adjectival clauses and the subjunctive
          3.   Present perfect subjunctive
          4.   Comparative and superlative constructions
          5.   Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns
          6.   Possessive adjectives and pronouns
          7.   Nominalization of articles
          8.   Regular, and irregular future forms
          9.   Conditional
          10.  Subordinate adverbial clauses
          11.  Pluperfect
          12.  Future perfect
          13.  Al + infinite
          14.  Preposition + infinite
          15.  Conjunction + subjunctive
          16.  Si - clauses and sequence of tenses
          17.  Estar + past participle
          18.  Passive voice
          19.  Se + verb
          20.  Pluperfect subjunctive
          21.  Relative pronouns
          22.  Rules of accentuation

The student must attend class regularly from the first day when important material is presented.  S/he must come
to class prepared to participate in all classroom activities, study related material in the textbook and
complete take-home assignments.   The student active participation in small groups and frequent responses
during class time are considered necessary in order to master the material presented, therefore volunteer oral responses and risk taking are expected from each student. For each hour of class, the student should plan on one-half to one hour of outside study and preparation.  Since
coursework is structured and sequential, class attendance is mandatory and any absences will have a negative effect
on the final grade.

After the introduction to the course, Spanish will be used in the classroom at all times.

Beginning with the first day of class, regular attendance is required to achieve a passing grade.  The final course
grade will be determined by attendance, active participation in class, punctually completed written
assignments and the student's general skill level in Spanish at the end of the term.