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Spanish (beginners I)

Key facts

Module code: LS1400 (credit) / LS1009 (self-financing)

Number of Aston credits: 10

Entry requirements: N/A
Language of Delivery: Mainly Spanish

Apply: Online

Fees (2013/14): £300 for a double module (20 credits) and £175 for a single (module 10 credits). Pay online.

Duration: 2 hours per week for 12 weeks per module
Teaching Period when Offered: Teaching Period 1

Module Convenor: Mr Aurelio Ramos Caballero 

Further information: View contacts for all your University Wide Language Programme enquiries.

Students having tutorial on ABS floor of main building

Key benefits

Fit a language around your Undergraduate or Postgraduate studies

For students on certain courses, a UWLP module will be included in your programme at no extra cost

Language provides you with many transferable skills, which are highly valued in the contemporary world

Most of our programmes are delivered by native speakers of the language

All of our modules are taught in small class sizes

All students will have full access to the University's excellent resources.

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Module Content

This module is designed as an introduction to the Spanish language for students with no previous knowledge. The module content follows the Languages Ladder framework, provides student with the basic structures needed at this level, and ensures progression in language ability and proficiency.

Language purposes and functions

  • Taking part in simple situations (e.g. greeting/responding to greetings, expressing thanks, apologising)
  • Giving simple information
  • Asking simple questions
  • Describing (e.g. colour, size, location, possession, appearance)
  • Giving simple opinions
  • Following/giving simple instructions
  • Expressing ability
  • Using numbers and expressing quantity
  • Expressing time (e.g. clock, days, months) 

Educational Aims

The Module will help students to develop strategies for coping with Spanish in real-life situations. At the end of this module students will be entitled to take French for Beginners II.

Module Learning Outcomes 

Knowledge and understanding: students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate knowledge of the basic grammatical structures of Spanish
  • Understand and communicate basic factual information in Spanish, orally and in writing
  • Listen to and understand in detail selected short samples of Spanish
  • Read short adapted Spanish texts aimed at learners of Spanish

Cognitive skills: students will be able to

  • Write short passages in Spanish on a range of practical and descriptive themes
  • Extract key information from written and spoken sources
  • Express opinions about basic topics of daily life

Subject-specific skills: students will be able to

  • Use of basic grammatical structures
  • Oral and written communication of factual information in Spanish
  • Listen and read short text in Spanish

Transferable skills: students will have practised

  • Using relevant reference materials
  • Organising their own learning with guidance from the tutor, planning and managing time efficiently to get the most out of independent study
  • Using a variety of learning aids, in a variety of media, to consolidate learning
  • Working in pairs or groups

  • Working independently

Learning Hours per module

 

How is the total Learning Hours per module achieved?

Contact Hours

20

Directed Learning

20

Private Study & Assessment

60

Total

100


 

10 credits = 100 hours, 20 credits = 200 hours

Methods of Assessment and Feedback

Feedback will be given through:
  • Formative feedback throughout the module through informal, verbal  comments on weekly activities.

  • Formative and summative feedback following the oral presentation.

  • Summative written feedback as part of the marking process for the exam.

Summative Assessment

  • 3-min (approx.) oral presentation and discussion in week 11                                        20%

Students will prepare a topic in advance, by agreement with tutor, for this presentation. They will be able to use one page of A4, containing key words only, to assist with their presentation. The page of notes should be approved beforehand by the tutor.

  • 2-hour and 20 minute exam(listening comprehension, grammar and vocabulary exercises, reading comprehension, and a written composition) (examination period), No dictionary allowed.                                          80%

Students are advised that all marks obtained in tests are subject to moderation, and that in case of cohort’s averages above the University norms, the group’s results will be scaled according to the list published in the Assessment Handbook for Undergraduate Programmes and on the UWLP website.

Introductory Learning Resources and/or Core Texts

Coursebook 

AVE [online]. Aula Virtual Cervantes (AVE). Available from http://ave.cervantes.es

Grammar books

Benjamin, C., and Butt, J. A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish. Hodder Education, 2011

Gil, C., and Holden, C. Foundations Spanish 1, Palgrave, 2005.

Ortega, A. ¡Exacto! A Practical Guide to Spanish Grammar. Hodder & Stoughton, 2002.

Spinelli, E. English Grammar for Students of Spanish. Arnold, 1999.

Dictionaries

The Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2000.Diccionario intermedio de lengua española. Ediciones SM, 2000. 

A list of useful electronic resources is available on Blackboard