Advanced Spanish 5

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Nicole Grutman

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Students are put in situations where they have to apply their language and cultural skills.
Their participation is required at all times. 
This course curriculum essentially focuses on the business world, starting with CVs, job interviews and commercial correspondence.  
Part of the course consists in role plays, business simulations, and business lunches, including contract negotiations taking into account cultural differences between Hispanic and other traditions. Students, besides, will have to broach a general interest topic: everyday life, societial issue etc.  To do so, they will be able to draw on various documents such as:
- the terms used in a contract
- info on interculturality 
- a portfolio of press articles serving as a basis for conversation on Hispanic news.  
Students will be expected to share the contents of their readings so as to feed the exchanges occurring during the business lunches. 
For this activity and for those wishing so, continuous assessment is applied, in which case class attendance is compulsory.  They will also be able to chair one of the business lunches (individually or in pairs) as training for managing meetings.  Student facilitators will be assisted by the teacher in their preparation and given the difficulty of their task, will be assessed with greater leniency. The exercice also aims at sharpening their criticial thinking and abilty to manage conflicts. In this type of exercices, the teacher steps back to merely assist with corrections, guidance and explanations whenever necessary. 
To enhance students' knowledge of Hispanic socio-economic realities, special attention this year will be devoted to Latin America as a whole.  An exchange with a native of the region will be organized.  
Through acquainting themselves with the business world in general and more particularly concerning the Hispanic countries, students gradually acquire the language which is specific to their field.  
Punctual grammar explanations will be revised as needed or requested.  
Interactivity is encouraged at all times.  
Part of the course will be replaced by a fieldtrip to Madrid, due to take place between 31 Oct and 4 Nov. 2017. If some, for any personal reasons, cannot take part, they will be expected to reach the level required thanks to the supports put at their disposal, whether through class or homework, conversations with Hispanics, oral presentations etc.   
 
 
 

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Students are expected to reach C1 level for writing and speaking, and to develop their cultural awareness of the Hispanic world through privileged contacts with natives.   
 

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

To have passed all previous study years at HEC or otherwise reached B2+ level (European framework), to have a general command of Spanish grammar and a thorough knowledge of the general and business vocabulary (5000 words).   

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

See above "Learning unit Contents" 

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

About 22 hours of in-person teaching. 
Class attendance is vital. Please take this essential criterion into account before signing up for the course. 
Students' individual homework hinges on the following aspects: 
- Practising their knowledge of the "specialized" vocabulary (economic and commercial Spanish). 
- Preparatory readings for taking part in job interviews, business lunches, debates, role plays, case studies, etc.  Drawing on a corpus of texts, students acquaint themselves with both the general content and language (words, idioms) enabling them to take an active part in the discussion/case study held in class. 

Recommended or required readings

Course reader / documents created by N. Grutman, available from the Centrale des Cours:
- El munda de la empresa: portfolio of documents introducing all topics to be discussed. 
- Glosario 2017-17, relating to the economic and business world.  Lexicon aimed at developing writing and speaking skills. 
- Listening comprehension texts and recording to be downloaded. 
Other documents are available on Lol@ (grammar and lexical exercices, common pitfalls, Powerpoint on Latin America etc.)
Please check Lol@ regularly for updates.  

Assessment methods and criteria

Four parts:
- Oral skills = 1/3 of the final score (continuous assessment or in session according to the student's own choice): conversation on the topics dealt with in class. 
- Three written parts of equal worth = 2/3 of the final score: 
o vocabulary test bearing on the Glossary and all verbal tenses (scheduled outside the session): translating words, idioms and sentences into and from French/Spanish and conversely. 
o business correspondence (exam in session):
- translation 
- writing an unsollicited letter (anwering a job ad)
o listening comprehension (outside the session): 
- transcription and fill-in exercices on audio extracts from press articles and conversations between native speakers on topical issues (part seen in class);
- a general comprehension question or transcription exercices based on an unknown sound extract;
- one part of the exam also tests the vocabulary of the texts studied in class: translating words or idioms out of context, from Spanish into French. 
 
PLEASE NOTE: A score of attendance for part of the exam or absence for part of the exam automatically entails a score of attendance for the course as a whole.
Severe failure (7/20 or below) in one of the four exam parts automatically entails failure for the course as a whole (even if the mean of the four parts equals 10/20 or above).  
 

Work placement(s)

The course includes no internship but students are warmly encouraged to do their final year's internship in a Hispanic country. 

Organizational remarks

ATTENDING THE FIRST CLASS IS VITALLY IMPORTANT as this gives out all essential information.  

Contacts

Nicole GRUTMAN
Courriel : Nicole.grutman@ulg.ac.be
Tél. : 04/232 72 80
Bureau 215 (N1)