NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH & PORTUGUESE
SUMMER 2014 UNDERGRADUATE COURSE OFFERINGS
SUMMER SESSION I: MAY 27, 2017 UNTIL JULY 5, 2014
LANGUAGE COURSES:
SPAN-UA 1 SPANISH FOR BEGINNERS I
Spanish for Beginners I (SPAN-UA 1) is a four-credit course designed for students with no knowledge
of or less than one year of high school Spanish or its equivalent as shown in a placement test, and
consists of three classes per week. Our immediate and ultimate goal is on building communication
skills in Spanish through listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Interaction and building learning
communities are emphasized in all of our classroom and at-home activities. There will be extensive
verbal practice, which will be carried out beyond the sentence level. Use and understanding of basic
grammatical terminology will also be a necessary component of the course.
SPAN-UA 2 SPANISH FOR BEGINNERS II
Spanish for Beginners II (SPAN-UA 2) is a four-credit course designed for students with
one semester of Spanish, or its equivalent, and consists of three classes per week. Our immediate
and ultimate goal is on improving communication skills in Spanish through listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Interaction and building learning communities are emphasized in all of our
classroom and at-home activities. There will be extensive verbal practice, which will be carried
out beyond the sentence level. Use and understanding of basic grammatical terminology will also
be a necessary component of the course.
SPAN-UA 3 INERMEDIATE SPANISH I
Intermediate Spanish I (SPAN-UA 3) is a four-credit course that expands on the four basic language
skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) acquired at the introductory level Spanish courses
SPAN-UA 1 and SPAN-UA 2, while expanding the cultural component that places language in its
context, by introducing literary readings, films and many other opportunities for social interaction
with the language. The principal goal of this course is to provide the student with the opportunity to
improve her/his oral and written communication skills in Spanish by practicing oral situations and
presentations, writing compositions and using the language in situations that will result in the
acquisition of new linguistic structures by utilizing the grammar and vocabulary learned in their
functional and communicative context.
SPAN-UA 4 INTERMEDIATE SPANISH II
Spanish SPAN-UA.4 (Intermediate Spanish II) is a four-credit intermediate level course that reviews
and continues the material covered in Spanish SPAN-UA.3. Upon completion of this course, students
will have demonstrated proficiency in the four basic language skills: speaking, writing, reading,
listening comprehension, as well as a cultural understanding of several Spanish-speaking countries.
Students will understand spoken and written Spanish and communicate orally and in writing at a
high intermediate level.
SPAN-UA 10 INTENSIVE ELEMENTARY SPANISH
Open to students with some previous training in Spanish or another Romance language (one year of
high school Spanish or the equivalent, or two years of high school French, Italian, or Latin) and to
others on assignment by placement exam or in consultation with the director of the Spanish
language program. This is a one-semester intensive course that covers the equivalent of one year of
elementary Spanish (SPAN-UA 1 and SPAN-UA 2). 6 points. After completing this course, students
who wish to continue studying Spanish may go into SPAN-UA 3, which is preparation for SPAN-UA 4.
Students with a high grade in SPAN-UA10 may enroll in SPAN-UA 20. Completion of either SPAN-UA
20 or SPAN-UA 4 fulfills the MAP requirement.
SPAN-UA 100 ADVANCED GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION
This is a four credit advanced level course designed to expand and consolidate the student’s lexical
and grammatical understanding of the language and to introduce him/her to the fundamental
principles of expository writing as they apply to Spanish, through exercises, readings, and intensive
practice of various prose techniques and styles. At the end of the semester the student will be able
to:
1. Use complex structures of the Spanish grammar, both orally and in written form.
2. Read and critically discuss literary and nonliterary authentic texts in Spanish and demonstrate
their understanding in oral discussions in class and by written commentary of the text in
questions.
3. Demonstrate their ability to develop, organize, and write an academic paper in Spanish
Where they can articulate original ideas and support them with textual evidence.
SPAN-UA 200 Critical Approaches: Reading, Writing and Textual Analysis
Critical Approaches se dedica al estudio de textos literarios y extraliterarios por medio del análisis
verbal y escrito y de la escritura del ensayo crítico. A lo largo del curso, se desarrollarán estrategias
de lectura y conversación analítica con la ayuda de teoría y vocabulario crítico básicos. Los
estudiantes elaborarán también ensayos relacionados con los materiales estudiados a fin de
desarrollar la capacidad de escritura crítica en español. Los ensayos se escriben partiendo de la idea
de escritura como proceso; las actividades de taller están pensadas para fomentar la idea de
escritura como trabajo colaborativo. Al finalizar el semestre cada estudiante escribirá un ensayo
crítico y de investigación sobre un tema que haya seleccionado previamente con sus compañeros.
Este trabajo se presentará de forma oral al resto de la clase siguiendo el formato de un panel
académico. En esta presentación se combinarán las estrategias críticas y de escritura aprendidas,
para presentar y defender las ideas en forma organizada y convincente.
ADVANCED LEVEL COURSES:
SPAN-UA 950.001- WANDERING POETRY: TRAVELING AND EXILE IN THE IBERIAN ATLANTIC
Professor: Perla Masi
M/W: 10:00am-1:00pm
This course follows the path traced by poets and their poetics travelling across the Atlantic in the
framework of 19th and 20th Century intellectual and artistic dialogue between the Americas and the
Iberian Peninsula, with a particular focus on critical notions of cosmopolitanism and on the gestures
of political solidarity shared between Latin American and Southern European poets in the post-war
period. What does it mean to be a “citizen of the world” in a post-colonial context? Can poetry
become a possible common place, a site of reconciliation and hospitality beyond the limits of
imagined political communities? The course includes theoretical and historical discussion of the idea
of friendship, cosmopolitanism, citizenship, nationalism and empire. This course will be conducted in
Spanish.
SPAN-UA 550.001- New York/Nueva York: Writing the City
Professor: Mariela Dreyfus
T/R: 10:00am – 1:00pm
In this course, we will revise the different ways in which contemporary Hispanic and Latina writers
have depicted the city of New York in their texts. The anthology of the course will thus include works
in Spanish, English and Spanglish. We will read mainly 20th and 21st century authors, namely,
Federico García Lorca, Enrique Lihn, Manuel Ramos Otero, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Giannina Braschi,
Lila Zemborain, and Urayoán Noel. Students will be able to read –and write- in different literary
genres, such as fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This course will be conducted in Spanish.
SUMMER SESSION II: JULY 7, 2014 UNTIL AUGUST 16, 2014
LANGUAGE COURSES:
SPAN-UA 1 SPANISH FOR BEGINNERS I
Spanish for Beginners I (SPAN-UA 1) is a four-credit course designed for students with no knowledge
of or less than one year of high school Spanish or its equivalent as shown in a placement test, and
consists of three classes per week. Our immediate and ultimate goal is on building communication
skills in Spanish through listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Interaction and building learning
communities are emphasized in all of our classroom and at-home activities. There will be extensive
verbal practice, which will be carried out beyond the sentence level. Use and understanding of basic
grammatical terminology will also be a necessary component of the course.
THIS COURSE IS OPEN TO PRE-COLLEGE STUDENTS UNDER SPAN-UA 1.060
SPAN-UA 2 SPANISH FOR BEGINNERS II
Spanish for Beginners II (SPAN-UA 2) is a four-credit course designed for students with
one semester of Spanish, or its equivalent, and consists of three classes per week. Our immediate
and ultimate goal is on improving communication skills in Spanish through listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Interaction and building learning communities are emphasized in all of our
classroom and at-home activities. There will be extensive verbal practice, which will be carried
out beyond the sentence level. Use and understanding of basic grammatical terminology will also
be a necessary component of the course.
SPAN-UA 3 INERMEDIATE SPANISH I
Intermediate Spanish I (SPAN-UA 3) is a four-credit course that expands on the four basic language
skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) acquired at the introductory level Spanish courses
SPAN-UA 1 and SPAN-UA 2, while expanding the cultural component that places language in its
context, by introducing literary readings, films and many other opportunities for social interaction
with the language. The principal goal of this course is to provide the student with the opportunity to
improve her/his oral and written communication skills in Spanish by practicing oral situations and
presentations, writing compositions and using the language in situations that will result in the
acquisition of new linguistic structures by utilizing the grammar and vocabulary learned in their
functional and communicative context.
SPAN-UA 4 INTERMEDIATE SPANISH II
Spanish SPAN-UA.4 (Intermediate Spanish II) is a four-credit intermediate level course that reviews
and continues the material covered in Spanish SPAN-UA.3. Upon completion of this course, students
will have demonstrated proficiency in the four basic language skills: speaking, writing, reading,
listening comprehension, as well as a cultural understanding of several Spanish-speaking countries.
Students will understand spoken and written Spanish and communicate orally and in writing at a
high intermediate level.
SPAN-UA 20 Intensive Intermediate Spanish
This is a six-credit course that continues and reviews the introductory level Spanish learned in SPANUA.1 and SPAN-UA.2, or in SPAN-UA.10, while introducing literary readings (including a novel), short
films, more complex composition exercises and many other opportunities for social interaction with
the language. The principal goal of this course is to provide the student with the opportunity to
improve her/his oral and written communication skills in Spanish by practicing oral situations and
presentations, writing compositions and using the language in situations that will result in the
acquisition of new linguistic structures by utilizing the grammar, vocabulary and cultural knowledge
learned in their functional and communicative context. Upon completion of this course, students will
have demonstrated proficiency in the four basic language skills: speaking, writing, reading, listening
comprehension at a high intermediate level, as well as a cultural understanding of several Spanishspeaking countries.
SPAN-UA 101 Advanced Spanish Conversation
Advanced Spanish Conversation is a four-credit advanced-level course designed to expand students’
speaking skills beyond the practical, day-to-day language functions. The aim is to achieve a more
elaborate and abstract use of the language through the practice of pronunciation, vocabulary,
idioms, and structures, within the contexts of selected subject areas. Although the main
concentration of the course is on the oral component, reading and writing skills are practiced as
well, as a basis for oral expression.
The goal of the course is to generate active participation through thought-provoking discussions and
creative activities that stimulate critical thinking as well as conversation. This is achieved through
authentic readings from contemporary sources — newspapers, magazines, literature, films, music,
videos, etc. — that sensitize students to the actual concerns of Spanish. A process of recording,
transcribing and editing actual conversations will also help students better their Spanish. Finally,
various listening comprehension activities will be included to fine tune the student’s ear to Spanish
sounds. THIS COURSE IS OPEN TO PRE-COLLEGE STUDENTS UNDER SPAN-UA 101.060
ADVANCED LEVEL COURSES:
SPAN-UA 951.001- Labyrinth of Passions: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar
Professor: Bryan Cameron M/W: 1:30-4:30pm
This course will study the trajectory of Pedro Almodóvar’s filmic career, from his directorial debut to
the present. We will analyze the shock value and political commentary of Almodóvar’s earliest films
before moving on to the award-winning mastery of his later years. Over the course of the summer
term we will examine themes as diverse as Spain’s recent political history, the international
reception of Almodóvar’s films, intertextuality and the influence of Hollywood and other
international precursors, camp and the aesthetics of excess, the fusion of cinematic genres, the
importance of melodrama, blurred lines between high and low culture, and Almodóvar’s obsessions
with family drama, the expression/exploration of sexual desire, and questions surrounding identity,
sexuality, and politics in contemporary Spain. We will view nearly all of Almodóvar’s diverse and
highly entertaining filmic output (What Have I Done to Deserve This?!?, Matador, Law of Desire, Tie
Me Up, Tie Me Down, All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Bad Education, Volver, Women on the
Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, The Skin I Live In, etc). All films will feature English subtitles and all
readings for the course will be offered in English. Students wishing to count this class toward their
minor/major in Spanish will be offered the opportunity to complete all assignments in Spanish.
THIS COURSE IS OPEN TO PRE-COLLEGE STUDENTS UNDER SPAN-UA 951.060