Basic techniques such as participant observation, interviewing, and the use of documents are practiced in the field and evaluated. An exploration of the arts and intellectual life provides a beginning point for our discussion of Mexican identity. This course is for those students who have not completed the first year of college Spanish. Course activities include assignments designed to interact with members of the surrounding community to increase fluency, create greater cultural awareness, and develop a considerable vocabulary. Students will also be expected to participate in a volunteer opportunity of their choice, as a means of practicing their language skills and acquiring important cultural knowledge.
Class meets four hours per week for a total of four credit hours.
The course is designed to improve advanced language skills within real-life professional contexts, and is framed in a communicative approach. This course is designed to improve advanced language skills within real-life professional contexts. Students are expected to master the specialized vocabulary and protocol of the professional environment, a goal that incorporates learning about diverse cultural issues. This course explores early social and literary representations of Mexico. The class covers the period from writings of the Spanish conquistadores , to texts written by members of religious orders, to literature written by indigenous and mestizo writers, to baroque writers of the Seventeenth Century.