Course Levels/Self-Placement

 

This blended level course is for students with no previous, or just a brief introduction of Spanish.  Intensive language instruction with an emphasis on developing basic communication skills in Spanish.  This course will introduce students to the present tense, fundamentals of verb conjugation and basic sentence structure.  Students will learn greetings, expressions of courtesy, and other useful beginning vocabulary. It will introduce conjunctions and basic prepositions for combing sentences.  It will focus on the alphabet, pronunciation differences between English and Spanish, including stress and writing accent marks.

 

This blended level course is for students who have been introduced to, and have a working knowledge of the present tense   This course will provide a thorough and extensive review of the Present Tense only, practice of -AR, -ER & -IR verbs, introduction of stem-changing verbs, Ser & Estar, "Tener + que + infinitive ", and "Ir + a + infinitive." It will introduce reflexive verbs and pronouns, and introduction of the imperfect tense.  There will be an emphasis on vocabulary development, communication strategies, and oral proficiency.

 

This blended level course is designed to continue building grammatical structures that focus on speaking, reading, writing, and understanding.  Topics include a review of the present tense and a comparison of the present and present progressive tenses.  Students will review the preterite and imperfect tenses, compare and contrast the preterite and imperfect tenses, and be introduced to additional uses in more complex sentences. New vocabulary and grammatical structures will be presented and developed in conversational and written contexts.  It will introduce and expand the uses of the present subjunctive tense and formal commands.   Vocabulary development and communication strategies will be emphasized. Recommended for those who have a command of the present tense and a working knowledge of the past and future tenses; or one to two years of study at the college level. 

 

This blended level course is for students with a minimum of two to three years of college level Spanish or the equivalent.   Students should have a working knowledge and command of most tenses.  This course will contrast the uses of the preterite and imperfect tenses, expand the uses of the present subjunctive tense, and refine usage of vocabulary using idiomatic expressions, slang and difficult grammatical principles.  It will introduce more complex uses of the subjunctive mood, new vocabulary, and related expressions to expand the communicative strategies of the student.  Advanced use of vocabulary and intricate grammatical structures will be taught through literature.

 

This blended level course is for the most advanced students and will include concepts from levels advanced high and superior to create a robust and challenging course.  Students must have a minimum of three years of college level Spanish or the equivalent in Spanish speaking experience. This course will review the contrasts between the preterit and imperfect tenses and the uses of the present subjunctive mood. Additional concepts will include an introduction to the imperfect subjunctive mood and its uses and the conditional tense and its uses. Grammatical structures and vocabulary will be highlighted through literary selections, business terminology, and idiomatic expressions, proverbs, synonyms, and antonyms. Other topics include: the pronoun "se," complex sentences and new literary vocabulary, recognition of the different accents of the Spanish-speaking world, and how to improve one's own Spanish accent.