UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
SSCs 2015‐2016 Spanish Syllabus A
Prerequisite for entry
For complete beginners or those who have had only very little contact with the language. Course duration Year 1 students: double‐block (16 x 3‐hour classes. Block 1: 8 x 3‐hour classes; Block 2: workshops and tutorials related to Project). Year 2 students: single block (8 x 3‐hour classes). Self‐Study 40 hours in total. Course codes LCSM6001. Aims and Objectives
The aim of the course is to enable students to function at a basic everyday survival level (basic vocabulary, grammar, morphology, syntax and phonetics). Some content related to medical studies will also be included. Students should be able to communicate in and understand Spanish on a number of practical everyday matters. Language learning skills, including autonomous learning and how to approach authentic material, will be enhanced. Some transferable skills will also be covered. Functions
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greetings, introductions and socialising;
talking about your family, physical and character descriptions of people;
buying medicines;
describing hospitals and clinics;
asking the way and giving directions in a hospital;
expressing likes and dislikes;
describing human body functions;
talking about habitual actions, daily routine;
asking and giving information about transport, prices, timetables;
talking about your health, medical advice and prescription;
expressing how you are feeling;
plans for the future;
talking about the recent past;
ordering a drink or a meal in a restaurant;
buying food and clothes;
understanding, giving and following instructions.
Course Content
Main topics/themes to be covered
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Greetings and introductions; 
Nationalities; 
Personal information: studies, jobs, e‐mails, telephone numbers; 
The family; 
Physical description and character; 
At the chemist; 
The city; 
Expressing likes and dislikes; 
Talking about daily and weekend activities; 
The human body; 
Pain and sickness; 
At the doctors; 
Plans for the future; 
Talking about the recent past. Linguistic Structures
Phonetics
the sounds of Spanish (vowels, diphthongs, consonants);
stress;
basic intonation patterns;
basic spelling. Morphology
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gender and number;
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possessive, qualitative and indefinite adjectives;
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introduction to the personal pronouns: subject, direct and indirect objects, prepositional, reflexive;
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adverbs and prepositions;
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comparatives;
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present tense (regular and irregular);
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introduction to the imperative (affirmative, some regular and irregular forms);
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periphrastic future (ir a + infinitive);
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perfect tense;
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participle (regular and irregular).
Syntax
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affirmative, negative and interrogative forms;
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gender and number agreement;
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frequency: siempre, algunas veces, a menudo, nunca, (casi todos los días, una hora al día);
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conjunctions;
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ser/estar;
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hay/está;
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gustar;
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querer + infinitive;
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poder + infinitive;
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decir/creer (present) + que;
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tener que + infinitive;
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empezar a + infinitive;
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dejar de + infinitive.
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Learning Resources 
ELE Actual A1, Libro del alumno, Virgilio Borobio (SM) – ISBN: 9788467547412 Recommended: 
ELE Actual A1, Libro de ejercicios, Virgilio Borobio (SM) – ISBN: 9788467547382 
Shaum’s Outlines Spanish Grammar (McGraw‐Hill) – ISBN: 9780071830416 
Bilingual Dictionary (Collins) – ISBN: 9780007382385 
Authentic material from various sources (press, internet, TV, etc).
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials available for self‐study in the Self‐Access Centre.