Spanish

Spanish (español), also called Castilian, is a Romance language that originated in Castile, a region of Spain. Approximately 406 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it second only to Mandarin in terms of its number of native speakers worldwide.

It also has 60 million speakers as a second language and 20 million students as a foreign language. Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is used as an official language by the European Union.

Beginning

Beginning levels (A 1, 2, 3) can expect to learn the basics of spoken and written Language:

• Students are taught to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and basic phrases.

• Students learn to introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows, and things he/she has.

• Students can begin to interact with a native speaker provided he or she speaks clearly.

• Students will be able to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment, etc.)

Intermediate

Intermediate levels (B 1, 2, 3) can expect to become skilled communicators in their new language, and will be able to:

• Understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.

• Deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken.

• Describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes, and ambitions, and give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

• Produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.

• Students will be able to understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.

• Interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity with a native speaker.

• Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

Advanced

At the Advanced, or Proficient Level (C 1, 2, 3), students will master the use of a language flexibly and effectively for social, academic, and professional purposes. They will work on perfecting the following:

• Understand with ease virtually everything heard or read in the new language.

• Summarizing information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation.

• Expressing him/herself spontaneously, very fluently, and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations

• Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning.

• Using language flexibly and effectively for social, academic, and professional purposes.