Spanish Fall 2016

Taught in Spanish

SPAN 1010 – Elementary Spanish  Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisites: No previous formal instruction in Spanish, or an SAT II score less than 410. SPAN 1010 is for true beginners only.  Students with prior experience with Spanish must take the UVA Spanish placement exam. Students may not self-place in a language course.  All students will submit proof of placement by August 26.

Elementary Spanish is a four-credit introductory level hybrid course for true beginners designed to provide a thorough foundation in all the language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This is a technology-enhanced language course in which students will complete online activities on Connect on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of attending class all five days of the week.  Students should expect an average of 1-2 hours of online homework 5 days a week, plus an extra hour of work that substitutes for class time each on Tuesday/ Thursday. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 1060 – Accelerated Elementary Spanish  Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisites: Placement score of 420-510 on the SAT II Exam or a score of 0-325 on the UVA Placement Exam. Students may not self-place in a language course. All students will submit proof of placement by August 26.

Accelerated Elementary Spanish a four-credit accelerated introductory level hybrid course designed to provide a thorough foundation in all the language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This is a technology-enhanced language course in which students will complete online activities with Connect on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of attending class all five days of the week.  Students should expect an average of 1-2 hours of online homework 5 days a week, plus an extra hour of work that substitutes for class time each on Tuesday/ Thursday. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 2010 – Intermediate Spanish Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisites: SPAN 1020, SPAN 1060, or SAT II score of 520-590, or Placement Test score of 326-409. Students may not self-place in a language course.  All students will submit proof of placement by August 26.

Intermediate Spanish is a three-credit intermediate level course, the third course in a four-course sequence, which fulfills the language requirement.  The goal of this course is to bridge the gap between elementary and advanced levels in the further development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 2020 – Advanced Intermediate Spanish  Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisites: Spanish 2010, SAT II Test score of 600-640, or UVA Placement Test score of 410-535. Students may not self-place in a language course. All students will submit proof of placement by August 26.

Advanced Intermediate Spanish is a three credit intermediate level course, the fourth course in a four-course sequence which fulfills the language requirement. The goal of this course is to bridge the gap between elementary and advanced levels in the further development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 3000 – Phonetics  with Omar Velázquez-Mendoza 

TuTh 11:00AM-12:15PM  in New CAB 287

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or equivalent.

Spanish Phonetics provides an introduction to the sound system of both Peninsular and Latin American Spanish. Class discussions focus on how the sounds of Spanish are produced from an articulatory point of view, and how these sounds are organized and represented in the linguistic competence of their speakers. When appropriate, comparisons will be made between Spanish and English or Spanish and other (Romance and non-Romance) languages. This course seeks to improve the student's pronunciation.

SPAN 3010 – Grammar and Composition I 

Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisite: SPAN 2020 (or equivalent); or UVA placement test score of 536-650; or AP score of 4; or SAT II score of 641-700; or IB Spanish (High) score of 7.

This course seeks to develop advanced literacy in Spanish through extensive reading, writing, analysis, and discussion of authentic literary texts and videos. Emphasis is placed on how grammatical forms codify meaning and how grammar and meaning interact to construct the language and textual structure expected in the following academic genres: the critical review, the persuasive essay, and the research paper.

SPAN 3020 – Grammar and Composition II 

Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisites: SPAN 2020 (or equivalent) AND either of the following: a UVA placement test score of 651+; an AP score of 5; an SAT II score of 701-800; an IB Spanish A1 or A2 score of 5, 6 or 7.

This course seeks to develop advanced literacy in Spanish through extensive reading, writing, analysis, and discussion of authentic literary texts and videos. Emphasis is placed on how grammatical forms codify meaning and how grammar and meaning interact to construct the language and textual structure expected in the following academic genres: the comparative essay, the argumentative essay, and the research paper.

SPAN 3030 – Cultural Conversations --- ALL SECTIONS CANCELLED for FALL 2016

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or departmental placement

How can we identify different aspects of Spanish, Spanish American and Latino cultures? Held as a seminar-style, this course will establish a dialogue with visual, written, and oral narratives that deal with various cultural aspects of Hispanic cultures, such as the importance of family and travel, the creation of identity, romance, and humor. This course covers student-led discussions of material ranging from short stories, to flash-fictions, films, poetry, video-clip, newspapers, as well as cultural theoretical readings. Student progress will be assessed through pop-quizzes, response papers, discussion groups, oral presentations, and written exams. Throughout the course, the grammatical component of the language is gradually reviewed and tested.

SPAN 3040 – Business Spanish 

Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or departmental placement

This course deals with topics related to the business world. Some of the aspects we will study in detail include the writing of business letters (buying and selling products, recommendations, Curriculum Vitae, etc.), labor relations, systems of organizing businesses, the banking system and financial sector, publicity and marketing, types of companies, and the economic and commercial realities of Spain and Latin America. The study of politics will also be a central part of the course given that this determines the economic path of a country, including its currency, commercial relations, and investments. SPAN 3040 (Business Spanish) prepares students to converse about business topics in Spanish. Each student will develop a basic vocabulary for the business world and create commercial business documents that will be useful in the Hispanic world. Even though we will discuss topics related to the business world in Spanish-speaking countries, this is NOT a traditional "Business Class" like you might find in the McIntire School of Commerce. Since it is a conversation class, participation is key and students will need to be actively reading and actively engaged in every class.

SPAN 3050 – Spanish for Medical Professionals 

Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or departmental placement

Are you able to interact on a daily basis with Spanish-speaking doctors, nurses, or patients? This course is designed for students planning to work in the health care field and who want to develop fundamental written and oral skills and vocabulary for the assessment of Spanish speaking patients in a variety of settings. Students will gain familiarity with non-technical and semi-technical functional vocabulary, along with idiomatic expressions and situational phrases that are used in a Spanish-speaking medical context. The student will show her/his improvement through quizzes, exams, oral practices, and class discussions. This course will use technology and media, and will help students to develop written and oral abilities related to the health care field.

SPAN 3300 – Texts and Interpretation 

Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or departmental placement. (Note: SPAN 3300 or instructor permission is prerequisite for any course in Spanish literature or culture with a number above SPAN 3300.)

In this course we will be covering a variety of basic approaches to literary texts that enable us to analyze and understand them better.  The course will be organized on the basis of literary genre (narrative, theater, poetry, etc.), with a portion of the semester dedicated to each.  Short texts in Spanish for readings will be drawn from both Spanish and Latin American literature, and from a range of time periods.

SPAN 3400 – Survey of Spanish Literature I (Middle Ages to 1700)  with E. Michael Gerli 

MWF 11:00-11:50AM in New CAB 132

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement

El curso coniste en un panorama introductorio a la literatura castellana de la Edad Media, el renacimiento, y el barroco, o sea la temprana modernidad hasta 1680 (la fecha de la muerte de Calderón de la Barca). Las obras se estudiarán en su contexto histórico-cultural. Además de intentar estimular un aprecio por algunas obras maestras de estos períodos, se intentará dar a conocer el marco histórico-intelectual de varias facetas de la cultura peninsular, tanto como enseñar algunas estrategias para la lectura atenta de los textos antiguos.

SPAN 3410 – Survey of Spanish Literature II (1700 to Present)  with David Gies 

TuTh 12:30-1:45PM in New CAB 168

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement.

This course, taught entirely in Spanish, covers major works of Spanish literature from the early Enlightenment to the present day (from Feijoo to Muñoz Molina).  Required daily readings, daily quizzes, two written exams (midterm, final), final paper.

SPAN 3420 – Survey of Latin American Literature I (Colonial to 1900) with Allison Bigelow 

TuTh 2:00-3:15PM in Minor 130

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement.

¿Qué es la literatura colonial en América, la así llamada cuarta parte del mundo? ¿Quiénes son sus autores principales, cuáles son sus temas y topos centrales? Más allá de estas preguntas concretas, la diversidad de las formas literarias, los idiomas y las expresiones de la complejidad humana en la época colonial nos lleva a cuestiones más amplias. Por ejemplo, ¿cómo definimos la literatura en un momento histórico en el cual la mayoría de la gente escribió sin letras? ¿Qué quiere decir “la época colonial” en América Latina, ya que cuenta con diversas cronologías históricas? ¿Cómo entendemos la literatura colonial en su contexto histórico, con sus propias tradiciones estéticas, y también a través de la herencia formativa que aún vivimos hoy en día?

En este curso introductorio, analizaremos la tremenda diversidad de literatura colonial a través de conversaciones en la sala de clase y trabajos escritos. Una serie de talleres de composición, realizados mayormente en la primera mitad del semestre, nos ayudara a desarrollar ideas y mejorar la expresión de ellas a base de la escritura. Después del examen parcial nos enfocaremos en la comunicación oral, conversando temas principales en grupos pequeños para así practicar antes del examen final, que se realiza de forma hablada. Las metas del curso abordan efectivamente la apreciación de la gama rica de los textos coloniales, la explicación de textos literarios con ideas creativas y vocabulario critico, y la colaboración con sus compañeras y compañeros en los trabajos orales y escritos.

Lectura: del libro _Voces de Hispanoamérica_ (ed. Raquel Chang-Rodríguez y Malva E. Filer) y en Collab

SPAN 3430 – Survey of Latin American Literature II (1900 to Present):

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement

  • Section 001  with Charlotte Rogers  TuTh 12:30-1:45PM  in New CAB

This course is a survey of Modern Spanish American literature to introduce students to major authors, works, and literary movements of Spanish America from 1900 to the present. Students will read poetry and short prose selections as well as a novel. Class participation and attendance, papers, exams and other assignments.

  • Section 002  with María-Inés Lagos  MWF 12:00-12:50PM  in New CAB 383

This course is a survey of Modern Spanish American literature to introduce students to major authors, works, and literary movements of Spanish America from 1880 to the present. Students will read poetry and short prose selections from an anthology (Huellas de las Literaturas Hispanoamericanas) as well as a short novel. Class participation and attendance, two papers, two exams and other assignments.

SPAN 4040 – Translation from Spanish to English Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement

Please direct inquiries to the instructor.

SPAN 4500 – Special Topics Literature Seminar

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement

  • Section 001 “Representing Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz”  with Allison Bigelow  TuTh 11:00AM-12:15PM  New CAB 132

In this seminar for advanced undergraduates, we will spend half of the course swimming in the intellectual and spiritual complexities of the poetry and prose of Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), including villancicos, redondillas, sonetos, loas, and epistolary exchanges (Carta atenagórica, La respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz). In the second half of the term, we will examine how various artists, authors, and editors have represented Sor Juana in images and words from the eighteenth century through the present. We will pay particular attention to the mode of representation (painting, film, currency, essay, Internet meme), as well as the historical context in which diverse women and men have represented Sor Juana’s ideas, beliefs, and body, including Juan de Miranda (Spain, s. XVIII), Miguel Cabrera (México, s. XVIII), Andrés de Islas (México, s. XVIII), Octavio Paz (México, s. XX), María Luisa Bemberg (Argentina, s. XX), Estela Portillo Trambley (Tejas/Texas, s. XX-XXI), Alicia Gaspar de Alba (Tejas/Texas, s. XX-XXI), Jesusa Rodríguez (DF/NYC, 2007), el Banco de México (2008), and tech-savvy millennials. Students will write a midterm exam (including a proposal for their final project) and serve as weekly discussion leaders in preparation for their final projects, which can be critical (8-10 page seminar paper) or creative (digital short, painting, poetry, short story, etc.), individually or in groups.

  • Section 002 “Latin American Detective Fiction”  with Charlotte Rogers  TuTh 2:00-3:15PM  New CAB 132

This course examines detective fiction from its origins in the Anglophone tradition to its contemporary manifestations in Spanish American literature.  We will study the genre’s form and the way in which authors mobilize that form to make a variety of political, social and aesthetic comments.  The figure of the detective and his relationship to society, the role of the police in (not) solving the crime, and the themes of corruption, sexuality, class conflict, and varying conceptions of justice will form the basis of our conversations. Papers and class participation are expected; the students will also have the option of writing their own detective story.

  • Section 003 "Afro-Latinidad Across the Americas"  (This course will be taught by a new faculty member. Professor Alison Weber will temporarily be listed as the instructor in SIS; however, she will NOT teach this class.)  MWF 10:00-10:50AM  New CAB 032

This course is a survey of the history and literature of the African diaspora in Latin America from the Caribbean, Mexico, and the Rio de la Plata to the “Latin American” cities of New York and Miami. From the earliest days of Spanish colonization to fighting in the wars of independence to forging global political and cultural networks from the cold war to present-day, African-descended peoples have had an undeniably central role in defining Latin America’s history and its present. Yet Afro-Latin American experiences and literatures are often made invisible in mainstream media and in scholarship.  In this course, we will engage a wide array of texts and films on the experiences of peoples of African descent in Latin America, ranging from narratives about black conquistadors to testimonies of runaway slaves to Afro-Latin@ contributions to the origins of hip-hop in the United States. There will be a midterm exam, papers, and a presentation.

SPAN 4600 – Literature and Cinema with Randolph Pope 

TuTh 2:00-3:15PM in New CAB 168

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement

We will consider movies that are based on Spanish or Latin American short stories or novels, comparing the different genres. Two brief papers, mid-term, and final exam.

Span 4700 – Spanish Culture and Civilization with Fernando Operé 

TuTh 12:30-1:45PM in Minor 130

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement

This course deals with Spain in the 20th and 21st centuries.  It will begin with the most important political events since 1900 (end of the Monarchy of Alfonso XIII, the 2nd Republic, Spanish Civil War, Franco Dictatorship), up to the present political events of modern Spain ruled by a parliament under a monarchy, and integrated into the European Community and the economical crisis.  Special emphasis will be put in understanding Spain in its complexity, social composition, fiestas, and the main social changes of the Spanish society after the death of Franco in 1975 (immigration, nationalism).  Part of the course will be dedicated to the study of the Spanish artistic movements and its most relevant contemporary representatives in the field of music (flamenco and popular), painting (Dalí, Picasso, Sorolla), architecture (Gaudí, Calatrava), dance.

SPAN 4704 – Islamic Iberia  with E. Michael Gerli 

MWF 2:00-2:50PM  in New CAB 032

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement

The course offers an introduction to Islam and a cultural history of al Andalus (Islamic Iberia) from 711 until the expulsion of the Morsicos from early modern Spain (1609-1614. It will concentrate on several major moments: The Emirate/Caliphate of Córdoba and Islamic hegemony in the peninsula; the fragmentation of the Caliphate and the cultural splendor of the taifa kingdoms in the eleventh century; the advent of Moslem fundamentalism from the Maghreb in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; the phenomenon of mudejarismo (Islamic subjects that live under Christian rule) after the Christian conquest of Seville and Córdoba in the thirteenth century; the contradictions posed by Islam in Granada, a client state of Castile during most of its history, after the decline of Islam in the rest of the peninsula (1250-1492); and the problems created by the presence of Muslim culture in a Christian state during the sixteenth-century.

Span 4710 – Latin American Culture and Civilization (This class will NOT be offered in during the Fall 2016 semester.)

SPAN 4715 – Cuban Culture Through Cinema with Gustavo Pellón

TuTh 11:00AM-12:15PM  New CAB 168

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement

The aim of this course is to study Cuban films in the context of Cuba's history and culture.  The course will include the viewing of films outside the classroom (roughly one per week), readings about the films, history, and culture.   Please note that out-of-class preparation and the reading load will be significant (6-9 hours per week).  All films will be available for you to view in our course Collab site.  The format of the class will be lecture/discussion with a strong emphasis on class participation. 

Grading:  Your grade will be determined by

  • A midterm exam about the history and culture of Cuba.
  • 250-word reaction papers on every film.
  • A longer research paper (15 pages) on a topic of your choice to be approved by me.

Each is worth a third of your grade.  

The research paper will be written in Spanish and will be evaluated on the quality of the writing (grammar and spelling 50%) as well as the ideas (clarity of expression, accuracy 50%).  I take off one point for each grammatical mistake, including accents.  Pay close attention to proofreading.  It is recommended you proofread a hard copy as it is easier to miss mistakes and typos on a screen.

Texts: 

  • Michael Chanan.  Cuban Cinema.  University of Minnesota Press, 2004.
  • Louis A. Pérez, Jr.  Cuba Between Reform and Revolution.  Oxford UP, 1995.
  • Texts in Collab.
  • Streetwise Cuba [a pocket laminated map]. 

Films: (All films will be available for you to view in our course Collab site.)

  • Fidel Castro (2005) PBS documentary, Adriana Bosch, dir.
  • Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968) Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, dir.
  • Lucía (1968) Humberto Solás, dir.
  • La última cena (1977) Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, dir.
  • Retrato de Teresa (1979) Pastor Vega, dir.
  • Fresa y chocolate (1994) Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Juan Carlos Tabío, dir.
  • The Perez Family (1995) Mira Nair, dir.
  • Azúcar amarga (1996) León Ichaso, dir.
  • Suite Habana (2003) Fernando Pérez, dir.

 

Fall
2016
Undergraduate Courses
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