SPANISH STUDIES COURSES – INSTITUTE FRANKLIN (of Acalá University)
Courses are offered in English and Spanish
1- SPANISH FOR BUSINESS
• Introducción al mundo de los negocios
• Marketing Internacional
2 – ART AND HISTORY
• Grandes maestros de la pintura española
• Historia del arte español
3 – INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EUROPEAN STUDIES
• Spain and the European Union (IN ENGLISH)
• Spanish Society, Politics and Government (IN ENGLISH)
• Terrorism in Europe (IN ENGLISH)
• España y la unión europea junio 2006
• La globalización y la economía Española
• Relaciones políticas en el mediterráneo: EE.UU. UE y España
• Análisis Comparativo de la cultura, la organización política y las estructuras
sociales de España y los Estados Unidos
4 - CULTURE
• Spanish Culture and Civilization
• Civilización y cultura española
• Civilización y cultura en el mundo hispánica
• España Contemporánea
• Geografía e Historia de España
• CCL: Imágenes de España
• España: Relaciones con Hispanoamérica
• Diversidad social y cultual de la España contemporánea
5 – COMPOSITION
• CCL: Técnicas de escritura
• Composición y conversación: introducción a la lectura
6 – LANGUAGE
• Español elemental
• Español I
• Español Intermedio
• Español avanzado
• Español superior
• Español para hispanohablantes
• Español Comercial
• Fonética y español oral
• Introducción a la fonética
• Traducción: inglés-español
• España en imágenes: la sociedad española a través del cine
7 – SPANISH LITERATURE
• Cervantes y su obra
• La escena española actual
• Escritoras españolas
• Historia de la literatura femenina española
• Introducción al análisis literario
• Introducción a la literatura española
• Literatura española del siglo XIX
2
• Teoría y práctica del teatro
• El teatro español del siglo de oro
8- LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE
• Introducción a la literatura latinoamericana
GRADUATE COURSES- INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND APPLIED
SPANISH
LANGUAGE
• Los Nacionalismos Españoles
• Pragmática de la lengua
• Didáctica del Español
*For complete syllabi, visit the CIE.
*For course description visit: http://www.institutofranklin.net/en/academicprograms/
hispanic-studies/courses/fall-courses-2009
Course List and Content Description
ALCALA—INSTITUTO FRANKLIN
LANGUAGE (AREA)
Elementary Spanish.
The purpose of this course is to develop the student's basic communicative competence
in the linguistic, social and cultural skills through the process of communication.
Another goal is to provide students with a solid base of grammatical structures,
vocabulary, phonetics and socio-cultural norms that can be used to cope with everyday
situations in Spanish.
Activities: Two interviews to be completed during class time to practice the
knowledge
acquired in the course with native Spanish speakers.
Intermediate Spanish.
This course is aimed at developing an intermediate communicative competence in the
linguistic, social, and cultural skills through the communication process. Another goal is
to build on the students basic knowledge, a solid grammatical and functional structure,
vocabulary, phonetics, and socio-cultural norms that can be used to cope with everyday
situations in Spanish.
Activities: Two interviews during class time to practice the acquired knowledge
of the course with Native Spanish speakers.
Advanced Spanish
The purpose of this course is to develop a linguistic competence in each area of
language skill (oral and reading comprehension, writing, and conversation) in order to
acquire a higher level of Spanish and mastery of the language using a communicative
teaching method. Students to some degree should be able to manage the functions of
the language and grammatical aspects studied in previous courses, as well as assimilate
3
new elements (grammar, style, socio-linguistics) to successfully communicate in
Spanish at the advanced level. Students will significantly broaden their vocabulary base
in order to increase their communication and writing skills.
Activities: Two interviews during class time to practice variations of sociolinguistic
Spanish.
Superior Spanish
The main objectives of the course are to reinforce the structure of the language
previously studied while advancing into new aspects of style, grammar, and sociolinguistics. Together, this course strives to bring the student towards perfecting the
language in such a way to break away from theory and use activities to optimize the
student's abilities to communicate and write in Spanish.
Activities: Attend a short story telling and visit a radio station.
Spanish for Spanish-Speakers
This course is intended for students that have been brought up in a primarily Spanish
speaking environment, but have received most of their formal education in English. The
goal of this course is to continue building upon the use of Spanish language in all
communicative areas with specific attention paid to writing skills, critical reading, and
textual analysis, as well as oral presentations and debates. Sophisticated linguistic
structures will be reviewed. Students will practice the use of idiomatic expressions as
well as working on the acquisition of a more sophisticated and precise vocabulary.
Activities: Attend a short story telling and visit a radio station.
CCR: Introduction to Reading
This course seeks to improve the student's oral (conversation and comprehension) and
written (reading and composition) competencies through reading and analyzing various
types of texts. Students will be introduced to a variety of examples of texts including
narratives, newspaper articles, publicity, job announcements, and forms. The students
will develop linguistic skills through compositions, presentations, discussions, and
activities in class specifically designed by the professor for each text.
The course intends to give the student the necessary tools to understand the text and the
ability to communicate both in writing and speaking in relation to the text studied. In
addition, the students will be able to analyze the different linguistic structures used.
Activities: Attend a short story telling and interviews to practice the course
objectives
with native speakers.
CCR: Icons and Traditions of Spain
The objective of the course is to improve oral (conversation and comprehension) and
4
written (reading and composition) competencies through selected images that represent
Spain while at the same time effectively developing the student's linguistic skills.
Throughout the course various cultural, political, and social themes will be introduced
through readings, photographs, films, or documentaries. Other resources used in the
course will be texts from magazines, newspapers, books, and song lyrics. All is aimed at
reinforcing students' knowledge of the Spanish language and culture. The following are
examples of some subjects that will be introduced: the Spanish landscape, folklore,
festivals (Las Fallas, Holly Week), bullfighting, the Spanish Civil War and some current
challenges facing Spain such as immigration.
Activities: Visit El Pardo and Valle de los Caídos. Visti to Soria and the high
school of
Antonio Machado.
CCR: Contemporary Spain through the Media
The objective of this course is for the student to improve all linguistic skills through a
communicative method based on a particular theme and assignment. Students in this
course will participate in the editing and layout of an Instituto Franklin publication
(magazine) in a framework including social, political, and cultural aspects of
contemporary Spain. The classroom will transform into a place of learning and practice,
where students are constantly interacting in Spanish to perform as a team of a high
quality Spanish magazine.
Activities: Visit the editing room of a newspaper and radio station.
CCR: Writing Techniques
The objective of this course is to offer techniques for planning, developing, and
organizing specific written texts. The first part of the course will be dedicated to
development strategies for compositions that will help the student generate their own
writing process and improve the ability to produce any type of text. The second part of
the course, more specifically, will familiarize the students with different professional
writing styles (news, newspaper articles, interviews, chronicles, autobiographical,
reports, essays, critiques, etc.) while applying the techniques of description, narration,
exposition, and argumentation. Each style studied will be accompanied by texts from
Spanish writers which will serve to aid students for producing their written work.
Activities: Attend a short story telling and two in-class interviews to practice the
knowledge acquired in the course with native Spanish speakers.
Introduction to Phonetics
By the end of this course, students will be able to pronounce correctly, distinguishing
the different phonetic patterns and specific differences in regional areas of Spain where
the Spanish is spoken. The in class practice, along with the phonetics laboratory, will be
accompanied by contact with Spanish native speakers as a means to reach this goal. The
syllables, accentuation and the Spanish phonetic alphabet will be studied in depth. For
an effective use of the language, students will complete phonetic transcriptions with
exercises and explanations.
Activities: Two interviews in the Casa Regional de Alcalá to study the different
5
accents
on the peninsula.
Phonetics and Oral Spanish
In this course students will gain a detailed knowledge of phonetics and linguistic
variations through explanations and in class activities. They will learn to distinguish
between the rules from Castilla and from Andalucía, appreciate the richness of those
varieties and to improve their pronunciation. There will also be activities in the
laboratory to activate their strategies of assimilation and reproduction of oral Spanish.
Activities: Two interviews in the Casa Regional de Alcalá to study the different
accents
present around the peninsula.
Translation
The purpose of this course is for students to develop and acquire a translation
methodology, studying both theoretical and practical aspects. The relationship between
translation and culture, the role of the translator as an intercultural mediator will also be
studied. The goal is for students to acquire translation strategies and techniques, paying
special attention to the decision making process. The course is divided into two parts. In
the first, we will take the theoretical aspects as starting point and put them into practice
with general texts from different fields. In the second, we will go into the field of
subordinated translation (advertising, comics, audiovisual texts, etc.).
Activities: Translation workshops and practicing
simultaneous translation.
LITERATURE (AREA)
Introduction to Spanish Literature
The course will introduce students to the history of Spanish literature throughout the
ages, from the Middle Age to the latest contemporary creations. The course brings the
students close to the life and works of the most important authors according to specific
periods and movements in Spanish literature. In each theme, students will study the
cultural movements and trends along with historical knowledge that governed the
society and customs of each epoch.
Activity: Visit to the Corral de Comedias Theater and the National Library
Introduction to Latin American Literature
This course will study the natural hybrid and heterogeneous nature of Hispanic
literature. Two specific eras will be studied:1) Pre-Columbian Age up until
Independence; and 2) Modernism up until today. Students will also study texts
according to literary genres and utilize Latin American authors to analyze Hispanic
identities.
Activity: Visit to the Museo de América and exhibitions related to the subject.
6
Spanish Literature in the Golden Age
This course will familiarize the student with all genres of Golden Age Spanish
literature. A detailed study of some of the texts will establish the general of evolution of
various sub-genres which make up the complete literary cannon of the epoch. Likewise,
the study of distinct works allows students to understand the cultural values,
psychology, and social history of that age.
Activity: Visit to Corral de Comedias theater in Alcalá and the Casa Cervantes
Museum.
Spanish Contemporary Literature
The course will review the most significant Spanish works and authors of the 20th
Century, through the analysis of specific literary genres. In addition, students will
review the most relevant literary movements in their socio-cultural context in such a
way that the student can appreciate the depth, diversity, and aesthetics of Spanish
literature during this past century.
Activity: Visit to the National Library and Residencia de Estudiantes.
Cervantes and his Works.
This is an approach to one of the most important authors of world literature: Miguel de
Cervantes. This statement can be corroborated with the knowledge of his life and his
work. The course first offers a review of the literary and historic situation of Spain in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which will help the students to better
understand the period and the environment in which the writer lived. Afterwards, the
course will concentrate on some of his most important works such as his Comedies,
Novelas, and Entremeses among others, paying special attention to an analysis of
Quixote.
Activities: Visit to the House of Cervantes Museum and Don Quixote Route in
Castilla la
Mancha.
Introduction to Literary Analysis
The course is mainly based on analysis and commentary of Spanish and Hispanic
literary texts, including when necessary, works from different periods, types of
literatures, and ambiences. Students will also study comparative analysis of authors and
works in relation to other literary texts which encompass various aesthetics.
Activity: Visit to Residencia de Estudiantes and Poetic Gymkhana
Contemporary Women Writers
This course approaches the works of Spanish writers that began to be published after the
1960's in which the course intends to give students a complete overview of
contemporary Spanish literature including works produced by Spanish women writers.
Different literary genres will be explored such as novels, short stories, essays, poetry,
theater which will allow students to study diverse products of this age: journalism,
testimonies, autobiographies, science fiction, eroticism, epistle, and detective stories.
Likewise, analysis of young script writers and women poets will also be included in the
7
course.
Activities: Attend two conferences related to the core of the course.
Theater: Theory and Practice.
The course is an introduction to the basic concepts of theater work in which students
will learn by actually applying the theory on stage using texts written for the theater.
The course is also an introduction to the basic principles of acting and theater
techniques used by actors for the correct interpretation of scripts written for the stage.
Due to the nature of the course, students cannot use the three absences established by
the program.
Activities: Staging and acting in a play and attend a play in Alcalá
CIVILIZATION AND ART (AREA)
Geography and History of Spain
The main objective of this course is to give students the basic knowledge about Spanish
physical, social, demographic, economic, and political aspects across the different
regions of Spain covering the major periods of history. Other important aspects of this
course will include the current socio-demographic character of the country, the
distribution of Spanish population within its borders, and Spain's role in the European
Union.
Activities: Visit to Toledo and Medieval Castles route
Contemporary Spain
The goal of this course is to provide the student with a greater understanding about the
present situation in Spain from an interdisciplinary perspective. Therefore, the purpose
of the course will be to analyze a variety of aspects such as history, geography, politics,
economy, and the characteristics of the different regions of contemporary Spain.
Activities: Visit to the Pardo Palace and Valle de los Caídos Mahou beer factory.
Spanish Culture and Civilization
This course is for all students interested in gaining a better understanding of Spanish
culture and civilization. Building on a background of socio-historical factors, students
will investigate the processes involved in constructing the Spanish national identity by
studying, in a systematic approach, its different historical periods. The program
embarks from the impressive pre-historic cave paintings and concludes with 20th
Century contemporary Spain in the European Union.
Activities: Visit to Toledo and Medieval Castle Route
8
Culture and Civilization in the Hispanic World
This course proposes that the student will be introduced to different aspects of the
culture and civilizations in the Hispanic world from the pre-historic age to now. At the
end of the course the student will be able to: identify distinct epochs in Latin American
history, recognizing the cultural variations that resulted in forming the distinct countries
that are now Latin American territory. Likewise, students will be in contact with
knowledge base that has marked the different countries in a notable way and the
personalities of each country of this area which has historically, politically, and
culturally proven its influence and resonance in the rest of the world, from preColumbian times until today.
Activity: Visit to Museum of the Americas and Casa de América.
FILM (AREA)
Spain through Images: Spanish Society on Film
This course deals with the history of Spanish cinema as a reflection of Spain's cultural
and socio-historical conditions, from the Franco dictatorship period to the present. Films
will be studied from both a national and an international perspective. In this sense, the
course studies cultural identity, through the vision of Spanish directors working abroad.
The principal idea behind this approach is to give students a better understanding of
Spanish cinema and thus enrich their vision of world cinema.
Activities: Attend one or more film presentations.
ART (AREA)
History of Spanish Art
This course is an introduction to the most representative of Spain's historic-artistic
monuments. The architectural and pictorial works from the different cultures which
lived in the Iberian Peninsula will be studied. Students will learn the most important
aspects of Spanish art through the comprehension of the main features of a work:
periods and styles, masters and schools, and monuments and works.
Activities: Visits to the Prado Museum, and the Abstract Art Museum in Cuenca
Spanish Painters: The Great Masters
The main objective of the course is to give students a global view of the most important
figures in Spanish art history such as Goya, Velázquez, or Dalí. The lectures and
material in class will be complemented by visits to museums, cities, and institutions to
allow students staying in Spain direct contact with the masterpieces of these great
masters.
9
Activities: Visits to the Prado Museum and Abstract Art Museum in Cuenca
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (AREA)
Political Relations of the Mediterranean: USA, EU, and Spain
The course will study how international relations in the Mediterranean area developed
between the European Union (Spain in this case) and the United States from the end of
the Cold War. Students will view the Mediterranean area as an important component of
the international system through political, economic, and security relations between the
EU and the US, which every day is playing a more important role.
Activities: Visit to the Islamic Center and visit to a Synagogue
Comparing the United States and Spain: Culture, Politics, and Social Structure
The objective of this course is to study different aspects of present day Spain and the
United States from a comparative viewpoint. Issues such as everyday life and customs,
cultural diversity, economic and political institutions, religion, immigration, ethnic
relations, and questions of identity in both countries will be analyzed. Special emphasis
will be given to issues of social diversity, as well as the need to avoid existing
stereotypes.
On the other hand, our intention is for students to acquire new communication skills
through the program, perfect their understanding of the Spanish language and gain a
deeper knowledge of both societies: Spanish and North American.
Activities: Visit to the Congress and Senate.
Spain and the European Union
The aim of this course is for students to understand the origins and current role of the
European Union. With this purpose in mind, we will study its creation, present reality,
goals, structure, institutional organization, and political principles. Students will also
see to what extent Spain is affected by these factors, and Spain's role in the EU. In
addition, the legal, economic, social, and political changes which Spain has undergone
since the transition to democracy and its membership in the E.U. are studied in the
course. We will also consider the challenges that Spain faces at both national and
international levels for the future.
Activities: Visit to the Congress and Senate
BUSINESS (AREA)
Business Spanish
This course is designed for students with an upper intermediate level Spanish. Through
the objectives of the course, students will:
10
a) Get to know the business world and the Hispanic business world from a sociocultural communicative and practical perspective;
b) Acquire a competency linguistic level in Spanish both orally and written to succeed
in those situations of communication that require the use of Spanish in the business and
company world.
This course will include a series of activities and tasks focused on communication
which simulate real situations in the business world. Special attention will put on terms
in context, oral expression in specific situations, and written expression for letters, CV,
other specific documents, taking into consideration cultural elements.
Activities: Visit to the Madrid Stock Market and visit to Mahou Beer factory
Globalization and the Spanish Economy
This course consists of two parts: In the first we will study the globalization
phenomenon, and its effects on the world's economic growth and welfare, as well as its
impact on employment, wages and social inequalities, in both developed and developing
countries. In the second part, we will analyze the present moment and the outlook for
the Spanish economy. Special attention will be paid to the integration process of Spain's
economy in the European Union (EU), as well as the economic interdependence
between the U.S. and the EU.
Activity: Visits to Mahou Beer Factory and the Stock Market in Madrid.
Analysis of the Economic Relations between the USA and Spain Area:
The main objective of the course is for students to acquire a real insight into the
economic relations between both countries. The course is divided into two parts; in the
first one, students will study the main characteristics and structures of both economies
from a comparative perspective; and in the second part, past, present and future bilateral
economic relations will be analyzed. Institutions which organize and control trade and
investment will be examined, as well as, strategies of commercial distribution and the
impact that this relationship has on people in both countries.
Activities: Visit to Madrid Stock Exchange and Mahou Beer Factory.