Course Description
Reviews all phases of communication skills with practice in understanding, speaking, and writing grammatically correct Spanish. Teaches specific components of Spanish grammar: the Spanish verbal system, the subjunctive, ser versus estar, and other problematic aspects of grammar. Taught in Spanish.
Reflective Narrative
In SPAN 303, I improved my communication skills in Spanish writing through grammar lessons and contemporary Hispanic literature. Grammar is one of the most complex elements of the Spanish language because all the words have a specific form of pronunciation and it is determined based on the written accent (mark) and the prosodic (invisible) accent. These words are divided into four groups: sobreesdrújulas, esdrújulas, graves and agudas. The categorization of the words helps determine whether the word needs a written accent or not. This grammatical aspect is essential in the Spanish studies, since teachers expect students to master accentuation in order to present work that meets academic expectations. For this reason, this class helped me master this grammatical aspect. In addition, I learned about the three modes of speech in Spanish; the indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative. The indicative mode refers to concrete actions and can be conjugated in several tenses. The subjunctive mode refers to actions that have not yet taken place such as wishes and suggestions. The imperative mode refers to commands or orders. In the following assignment, I wrote an "Ensayos Argumentativos y Narrativos" (Argumentative and Narrative Essays) that shows my gramatical and critical thinking knowledge. Furthermore, I learned to conjugate the two forms of the past tense; preterit and the imperfect. The interchangeable use of both tenses is the guideline for writing a linear story, since both express past situations. Another aspect that I liked about the class was the contemporary literature that was more attached to current social problems such as poverty and exploitation of Latin American citizens. This class is related to SPAN 301, SPAN 304, SPAN 322 and SPAN 330.