Spanish Language

The Spanish Language courses are designed and structured for the busy working professional who would like to develop the ability to communicate in Spanish while getting a better insight into the Spanish-speaking world culture and reality.

All courses are designed for adult learners, in a structured and systematic way that seeks to satisfy the the adult learner’s quest for continuing education. The competencies achieved through attending the progressive courses will be useful to build confidence so as to enable the individual to speak, understand and read basic syntax in the newly-acquired language.

By the end of the course, the students will have acquired basic communicative competencies useful in selected everyday situations and personal interactions, as well as vital strategies for language learning and language use. Through the course, students will acquire basic linguistic and socio-cultural knowledge of the Spanish language.

All participants will acquire basic grammar and vocabulary to perform authentic communicative tasks in everyday situations. After the course, the students will be able to comprehend short texts, as well as to express themselves in a variety of topical situations in daily life as well as during personal interactions.

They will also gain an understanding of the target language society and observe how the language is used in context. They will acquire language learning and communication strategies that will support their language learning and language use.

Course Description:

The course is structured according to the international standards of the CERFL (Level A1.1). It has been designed from a communication-oriented approach, so that the students are able to communicate in Spanish from the very first day.

Every lesson is aimed at clear communication objectives that will be obtained through practice and through exposure to real materials from Spanish-speaking countries. The course also intends to widen the students’ perspective of the Spanish-speaking world, and strong emphasis will be placed on the cultural aspects of the language.

Course Content:

Unit 1:

• Grammar resources: gender, the three conjugations (-ar, -er, -ir), the verbs ‘ser’, ‘llamarse’ and ‘tener’.
• Vocabulary resources: the numbers and alphabet, nationalities, professions.
• Communication resources: giving and requesting personal details, saying hello and goodbye, resources for asking about words.

Unit 2:

• Grammar resources: the presente indicativo, some uses of the prepositions ‘a’, ‘con’, ‘de’, ‘por’, ‘para’ and ‘porque’; the definite article: ‘el’, ‘la’ ‘los’, ‘las’; personal pronouns, qualifiers: ‘bien’, ‘bastante bien’, ‘regular’, ‘mal’.
• Vocabulary resources: languages, activities in the language class, leisure activities.
• Communication resources: expressing intentions, explaining the reasons why we do things, speaking about what we know how to do in different languages.

Unit 3:

• Grammar resources: some uses of ‘hay’, the verb ‘estar’, the superlative, the indefinite articles (un, unos, unas, unos); quantifiers (muy mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas); interrogative pronouns (qué, cuál/cuales, cuántos/cuántas, dónde, cómo).
• Vocabulary resources: the weather, geography, tourist attractions.
• Communication resources: discovering places, expressing existence and location, talking about the climate.

At the end of the course, students will be able to…

• give and request personal details
• greet people in different contexts
• ask for clarification
• express intentions
• explain reasons and finality
• speak about skills and abilities
• talk about weather
• describe places