Spanish Through Film: El Cine Español y Latinoamericano
Course aims
This is a pilot for a new style of language course based around the new “CLIL” approach – instead of
teaching just language, teaching language with and through subject-content. CLIL stands for Content- and
Language-Integrated Learning. It has received a lot of attention recently, being implemented in various
countries and contexts, for various languages. Basically, a second language is used as a medium for
teaching non-language content.
CLIL aims to combine:
 Content - Progression in knowledge, skills and understanding related to specific elements of a
defined syllabus
 Communication - Using language to learn whilst learning to use language
 Cognition - Developing thinking skills which link concept formation (abstract and concrete),
understanding and language
 Culture - Exposure to alternative perspectives and shared understandings, which deepen
awareness of otherness and self.
The book Uncovering CLIL (Mehisto, Frigols and Marsh, MacMillan 2008) has crystalised the new interest in
CLIL. The benefits of CLIL are often listed in terms of cultural awareness, internationalisation, language
competence, preparation for both study and working life, and increased motivation – all of which fit well
with Goldsmiths’ and PACE’ s profile.
Instead of basing the syllabus around grammar structures (verbs) and vocabulary, the course offers an indepth study of a topic, Spanish and Latin-American cinema, and the language taught will arise from that
topic. The course will be wholly taught in Spanish. Rather than learn ‘general Spanish’, students will learn
the kind of Spanish they can use to analyse and discuss cinema, though of course these skills are
transferrable. They will be motivated by the new content, which will include, as well as 8-10 new films,
most of which they won’t have seen, some other aspects more related to film-studies – the role of cinema
in the Spanish-speaking world, symbolism and imagery, shooting and cutting, the use of language and
register (parody, slang, accents).
Linguistically, the course will not be for beginners. Students will have a minimum level of B1 in the Common
European Framework for Reference system – corresponding to the Cambridge First Certificate in English, or
a good GCSE or A level pass in Spanish. CLIL does not work on the principal of complete homogeneity of
language level within the group. As it works on language support, the objective is improvement of language
performance skills, acquisition of relevant vocabulary and terminology, and assimilation of new content
knowledge. So students of a range of foreign-language abilities can all get something from the course.
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Course content
Spanish-language films from Spain and Latin America represent one of the richest and most dynamic
cinema traditions. Spanish is estimated to be spoken by approximately 350 million native speakers, and is
the official language in 20 countries in 3 continents – so a film made in Spanish can reach a huge audience.
The blossoming of cinema in post-Franco Spain has been impressive, and Pedro Almodóvar, though wellknown in the UK, is only one of a galaxy of directors there. Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Cuba
also have vigorous cinema traditions, to mention just the most notable. Spanish-language actors like
Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Gael García Bernal are now well-known in the English-speaking
world.
The course will try to show the variety of Spanish-language cinema across various genres, from various
countries, and including both female and male directors.
Target group
Goldsmiths has a strong reputation for film, comparative literature, media and cultural studies, and it is
likely that this course will attract current Goldsmiths students. A one-term evening course should not
interfere with their main academic studies, and it doesn’t aim to replace any credit-bearing units on their
college programmes – but could supplement them usefully, as well as giving them useful foreign-language
skills.
Of course, there will be wider interest in the course – who is not interested in good films?! Locally there
must be many people who are interested in Spanish and Latin American film, and who would like to
practise and extend their Spanish in a different way. It would appeal to those who might typically enrol for
a Spanish intermediate or more advanced course, at Goldsmiths or elsewhere, but who are looking for
something shorter, or something different from a conventional language course.
A possible ‘menu’ of films is given below. If the course recruits successfully, there would be no difficulty in
finding other films to offer the course again in the spring and summer terms, without repetition. In this way
it could attract both new and returning participants.
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FILM
Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN (And Your
Mother Too ...)
MADE IN...
Mexico
2001
DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuarón
LENGTH
105 mins
GENRE
Comedy /
drama
2
TESIS (The Thesis)
Spain 1996
125 mins
Thriller
3
MUJERES AL BORDE DE UN
ATAQUE DE NERVIOS (Women on
the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown)
Spain 1988
Alejandro
Amenábar
Pedro Almodóvar
90 mins
Comedy
4
EL ORFANATO (The Orphanage)
Juan Antonio
Bayona
100 mins
Thriller /
horror
5
EL HIJO DE LA NOVIA (The Son of
the Bride)
Spain and
Mexico
2007
Argentina
2001
Juan José
Campanella
124 mins
Comedy /
drama
6
EL CRIMEN DE PADRE AMARO
(The Crime of Father Amaro)
Mexico
2002
Carlos Carrera
120 mins
Drama /
thriller
2
7
EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO (Pan’s
Labyrinth)
Spain 2006
Guillermo del Toro
119 mins
Drama /
fantasy
8
VOLVER (Returning)
Spain 2006
Pedro Almodóvar
121 mins
Drama
9
MAR ADENTRO (Out to Sea)
Spain 2001
125 mins
Drama
10
TE DOY MIS OJOS (I give You My
Eyes)
Spain 2003
Alejandro
Amenábar
Icíar Bollaín
103 mins
Drama
11
AMORES PERROS (Love’s a Bitch)
FRESA Y CHOCOLATE (Strawberry
and Chocolate)
111 mins
Drama /
thriller
Drama
13
MARÍA LLENA ERES DE GRACIA
(Hail Mary, full of Grace)
Alejandro González
Iñárritu
Tomás Gutiérrez
Alea & Juan Carlos
Tabío
Joshua Marston
154 mins
12
Mexico
2000
Cuba 1994
97 mins
Drama
Example film
VOLVER (Returning), dir. Pedro
Almodóvar, starring Penélope Cruz
Colombia
2004
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Example of language support / linguistic or cultural focus
The multiple meanings of the verb ‘volver’
Vocabulary related to family relationships (‘el parentesco’)
Colloquialisms and slang in current (Peninsular) Spanish
The language for comparing and contrasting (e.g. roles,
reactions, character)
Women-centred themes in Spanish film and drama
(Almodóvar, Lorca)
Almodóvar’s black comedy and his debt to Roald Dahl
The role of ‘el pueblo’ (country village of origin) and regional
customs e.g. flamenco, for many madrileños
The Spanish region of La Mancha (Almodóvar’s region) and
its traditions, going back to Don Quijote
Background reading
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Clase de Cine (http://www.difusion.com/catalogo_details/731/clase_de_cine_libro_+_dvd.html)
could be used as a supporting coursebook, as it integrates film studies plus language work, and is in
Spanish
Spanish Popular Cinema, eds. Antonio Lázaro Reboll & Andrew Willis, Manchester University Press
2004
The Cinema of Latin America, eds. Alberto Elena & Marina Díaz López, Wallflower 2003
New Latin American Cinema, Vol 2: Studies of National Cinemas, ed. Michael T. Martin, Wayne
State University Press 1997
A Companion to Latin American Film, Stephen M. Hart, Tamesis 2004
Gender and Spanish Cinema, eds. Steven Marsh & Parvati Nair, Berg 2004
Historia del Cine Español, various authors, Catedra 1995
Spanish Cinema: The Auteurist Tradition, ed. Peter William Evans, OUP 1999
Vision Machines: Cinema, Literature & Sexuality in Spain and Cuba 1983-93, Paul Julian Smith,
Verso 1996
(all titles are available in Goldsmiths Library)
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