Syllabus

A2 SPANISH COURSE 1 + 3 ECTS

10-HOUR INTENSIVE COURSE + 30-HOUR EXTENSIVE COURSE
COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is a 40-hour beginner-level course intended to prepare students for an A2 level of the
Spanish language. In this course, students are expected to participate actively in the exciting
challenge of learning to express themselves in basic Spanish.

The first 10 hours of class are given on student arrival to Loyola University in the form of a short
intensive Spanish course providing the student with the basic Spanish language and cultural skills
necessary for basic communication during their time in Spain.

The 30-hour A2 Spanish course is the second level in the series of Spanish courses and is
designed for students who have some basic previous Spanish instruction (about 80 hours). The
goal of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to use the language for real-world
purposes and to help them become aware of Spanish-speaking cultures. The class will be
conducted primarily in Spanish, and Spanish will be used as the means of communication.
Course materials are challenging and stimulating and include a variety of language-building
readings, assignments, and classroom activities, as well as the use of multimedia and music for
cultural enrichment.

The interactive classroom format prioritizes discussion, student presentations, and group work.

All coursework is to be carried out in Spanish.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES FOR A2 LEVEL

• You will know how to communicate clearly and comprehensibly in daily situations of
basic survival and, despite evident foreign accent or occasional interruptions and
misunderstandings in less usual situations.
• You will know how to describe, in plain words, aspects from your own past, and to
exchange information regarding daily activities, personal opinions, tastes and interests.
• You will know how to interact in meetings within the closest social spheres.
• You will know how to initiate, keep and finish a conversation using a brief range of learnt
formulas, and to identify the topic that is being treated if the interlocutors express
themselves slowly and clearly.

CONTENT AND COMPETENCIES

The content and competencies for this level follow the curriculum plan for the Instituto
Cervantes for level A2. Click on this link for more information:

• Plan Curricular Instituto Cervantes A2

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 • Inventario de gramática Plan curricular Instituto
Cervantes A2

LANGUAGE CONTENT:

Linking words and expressions: time, contrast, sequencing …

Verb contrast: Ser and estar.

Direct and indirect object pronouns. Double pronouns.

Comparatives

Adverbs, prepositions and place, time and frequency expressions

Verbs:

Verbs Ser and Estar. Verb haber in impersonal structures: Hay/No hay…

Imperative: position of object pronouns.

Non-personal verb forms.

Indicative tenses: Present (regular and irregular verbs).Present perfect. Past perfect, Future,
Conditional.

Tense contrast: past simple/past continuous/present perfect.

Conditional sentences: type 0, 1 and 2.

Verbal structures: “Estar + gerund”, “ir a + infinitive”, “acabo de+ infinitive”, “dejar de+…”

Vocabulary: colours, shapes, leisure, daily activities, the house, trips and means of transport,
furniture, the city, personality, food…

COMMUNICATIVE CONTENT:

Talking about personal information in detail.

Comparing and describing objects, people and personality features.

Describing places: housing, buildings, cities.

Advice and suggestions in a conversation/an interactive text.

Expressing habits and routines, both present and past.

Telling a story. Describing the past

Expressing preferences, likes, dislikes and emotions. Expressing opinions.

Expressing intentions and plans. Expressing a hypothesis and predicting the future.

Intentions and plans: basic forms.

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MATERIALS

• A range of articles, editorial pieces, and short literary

texts are provided free in class.
• A multi-use folder to collect and organize all material (to be bought by the student).

EVALUATION

The final grade for the extensive 30-hour Spanish course is distributed in the following way:

Attendance 15% Minimum 80% attendance required

Participation 15% Students must arrive to class with any homework
tasks completed, and should participate actively in
the class session. Lack of interest or a poor attitude
will negatively affect the final mark. Students should
try to do at least one hour of daily preparation
outside class preparing the following class and
reviewing and reinforcing the contents seen in the
previous class.
Progress Tests (x2) 15% + 20% = 35% The progress tests are done in class and cover
reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and listening
skills practiced in class.
Assignment (x1) 15% The assignment is prepared outside class but done
in class.
Final Project 20% The final project is prepared in groups outside of
class time. It is based around a cultural concept
agreed between the teacher and each student and
is to be presented both in writing and orally.
Total 100%

PASS MARK

A pass mark is 6 out of 10.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

*(In bold highly recommended)

• Consejo de Europa (2002). Marco común europeo de referencia para las lenguas:
aprendizaje, enseñanza, evaluación. Madrid: Instituto Cervantes, Ministerio de
Educación, Cultura y Deporte y Editorial Anaya. [En línea:
http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/marco/].
• Instituto Cervantes (2006). Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes. Niveles de
Referencia del Español. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva e Instituto Cervantes

Gramáticas básicas de español:

• AAVV (2007). Gramática del uso del español para extranjeros. Teoría y práctica A1-A2.
Madrid: SM. [Gramática con ejercicios con las soluciones al final del libro. Nivel A1-

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 A2. Más de 250 páginas de ejercicios con sus soluciones
acerca de las cuestiones básicas de la gramática para
estudiantes de nivel elemental].
• AAVV (2011). Gramática básica del estudiante de español. Barcelona: Ed. Difusión.
[Desde los niveles A1 a B1 del MCER. Incluye numerosos ejercicios con las soluciones
al final].
• AAVV (2012). Cuadernos de Gramática española A2. Madrid: Ed. Difusión [Ver
muestra en
https://www.difusion.com/uploads/telechargements/catalogue/ele/gramatica/cuader
nos-gramatica-espanola-a2-muestra.pdf ].
• AAVV (2016). Gramática. Nivel elemental A1-A2. Madrid: Anaya. [Gramática práctica
con ejercicios, soluciones y test de autoevaluación. Ver muestra en
http://www.anayaele.com/es/html/index.html?menu=menu_eleen].
• Romero Dueñas, C., y González Hermoso (2011). Gramática del español lengua
extranjera. normas recursos para la comunicación. Madrid: Edelsa.

Diccionarios:

• AAVV (2006). Diccionario Salamanca de la lengua española. Madrid: Santillana.

[Diccionario monolingüe concebido especialmente para estudiantes de español
como lengua extranjera. Incluye buenos ejemplos que ilustran el uso de las palabras.
Las definiciones suelen ser claras y sencillas].
• AAVV (2008). Gran Diccionario Oxford Español-Inglés, Inglés-Español. Oxford: OUP.
• AAVV (2011). Diccionario VOX de español para extranjeros: para la enseñanza de la
lengua española. Alcalá de Henares: VOX.
• AAVV (2016). Collins Diccionario de Inglés-Español, Español-Inglés. Madrid: Grijalbo.
• Diccionario Español-Inglés, Cambridge,
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/espanol-ingles/
• RAE (2014). Diccionario de la lengua española. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
• RAE, www.rae.es
• Cualquier otro diccionario bilingüe o monolingüe en línea de calidad contrastada.

Otra bibliografía de diferente tipología:

• AprenderEspañolaDiario, http://www.aprenderespanol.org/vocabulario/actividades-
diarias.html
• Audiciones Ver-Taal, http://www.ver-taal.com [Audiciones en diferentes niveles con
ejercicios interactivos].
• Audira, http://www.audiria.com/index.php. [Audiria es una herramienta de apoyo al
aprendizaje del español, que de forma gratuita ofrece audiotextos en español para
mejorar el entendimiento y comprensión del idioma].
• Conjugador de verbos en español, http://tip.dis.ulpgc.es/Conjugador/ [Más de 14.000
verbos conjugados. Sólo tienes que introducir el verbo que quieras conjugar].
• Ejercicios de Español en red, http://www.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/gramex_ats.htm
[Ejercicios de español en red].
• El Castellano, http://www.elcastellano.com/gramatic.html [Gramática española].
• EsAudio, http://www.esaudio.net/recordings/ [Audiciones por niveles].
• Formespa, http://formespa.rediris.es/audios/ [Audios].

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 • Instituto Cervantes, AVETECA,

http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/actividades_ave/aveteca.htm [Actividades del

aula virtual del Cervantes]
• Linguanet Europa, http://www.linguanet-europa.org/plus/welcome.htm [Un enorme
centro de recursos en línea para el aprendizaje de idiomas (no solo español). Las páginas
catalogadas cumplen con unos requisitos de calidad y la búsqueda es sencilla].
• Mansion Spanish, http://www.mansionspanish.com/cursobasico/ecurso01_1.htm
[Curso de español online nivel básico].
• MisCositas, http://miscositas.com/spanish.html [Recursos para enseñar y aprender
español].
• NoComprendo, www.nocomprendo.es [Presentaciones y ejercicios en español, varios
niveles].
• VideoELE, http://www.videoele.com [Videos por niveles con transcripciones].

Note: The content of these courses is subject to variations depending on the necessities of the
students.