Spring 2013 Undergraduate Courses in Spanish

Spanish 120
Elementary Spanish II
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 110 or permission of the course coordinator.

Spanish 120, the continuation of Spanish 110, is a second-semester elementary Spanish course. This course emphasizes the development of foundational reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills while exploring the rich cultural mosaic of the Spanish-speaking world. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities that focus on meaningful and accurate communication skills in the target language.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Students who have already fulfilled the language requirement in Spanish may not take basic level language courses (110-145) in the same language. Any questions about placement should be addressed to the directors of the Spanish language program.

Spanish 121
Elementary Spanish
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): A score of 380-440 on the SAT II or 285-383 on the online placement examination.

Spanish 121 is designed for students who have some prior experience in Spanish. It is an intensive elementary-level language course which in one semester covers the material studied over two semesters in Spanish 110 and Spanish 120. The course provides a quick-paced review of material normally covered in a first semester Spanish course and then proceeds to introduce new material so students will be prepared to take Spanish 130 during the subsequent semester.

As other Spanish courses, Spanish 121 emphasizes the development of foundational reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills while exploring the rich cultural mosaic of the Spanish-speaking world. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities that focus on meaningful and accurate communication skills in the target language.

By the end of this course, students will be able to engage in simple conversation on familiar topics, talk about the past and the future, make comparisons, give commands, describe people and things in increasing detail, etc. Students will also develop reading and listening skills that will allow them to understand simple articles in Spanish as well as pick out pertinent information when listening to a native speaker.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Spanish 125
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Elementary II
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 110 or 115 or a score of 380-440 on the SAT II or 285-383 on the online placement examination.

Spanish 125 is a second-semester elementary Medical Spanish Language that continues to develop the fundamentals of practical Spanish, with a special focus on medical situations and basic medical terminology. In this course, particular attention will be given to developing speaking and listening skills, as well as cultural awareness. Students will be expected to participate in classroom activities such as role-plays based on typical office and emergency procedures in order to develop meaningful and accurate communication skills in the target language.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Spanish 130
Intermediate Spanish I
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 112, 120, 121 or 125 or a score of 450-540 on the SAT II or 384-453 on the online placement examination.

Spanish 130 is a first-semester intermediate-level language course that emphasizes the development of the four basic skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking skills) within a culturally based context. Class time will focus on communicative activities that combine grammatical concepts, relevant vocabulary, and cultural themes. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities to practice linguistics skills in meaningful contexts. Major course goals include: the acquisition of intermediate-level vocabulary, the controlled use of the past tense, and the development of writing skills at a paragraph level with transitions.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Spanish 134
Intermediate Spanish I and II: Accelerated
Staff
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Spring semester Prerequisite(s): Permit required from the course coordinator.

Spanish 134 is an intensive intermediate-level language course that covers the material presented in Spanish 130 and Spanish 140. The course emphasizes the development of the four canonical skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) within a culturally based context. Class time will focus on communicative activities that combine grammatical concepts, relevant vocabulary, and cultural themes. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities to practice linguistics skills in a meaningful context. Major course goals include: the acquisition of intermediate-level vocabulary, the controlled use of the past tense and major uses of the subjunctive, and the development of writing skills.

During the spring semester, Spanish 134 is limited to those students who have satisfied the language requirement in another language.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Spanish 140
Intermediate Spanish II
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 130 or 135 or a score of 550-640 on the SAT II or 454-546 on the online placement examination.

Spanish 140, the continuation of Spanish 130, is a fourth-semester intermediate-level language course that emphasizes the development and integration of the four basic skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) while developing awareness and appreciation of the Spanish-speaking world. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities to practice linguistics skills in meaningful contexts. Topics studied include the environment, the arts, social relations, and conflict and justice. Major course goals include the acquisition of intermediate-level vocabulary, the formulation of hypotheses, and the development of writing skills at a paragraph level with transitions.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Spanish 140
Intermediate Spanish II
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 130 or 135 or a score of 550-640 on the SAT II or 454-546 on the online placement examination.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Spanish 145
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Intermediate II
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 130 or 135 or a score of 550-640 on the SAT II or 454-546 on the online placement examination.

Offered through the Penn Language Center as the continuation of Spanish 135, Spanish 145 is a second-semester intermediate-level medical Spanish language course. This course emphasizes the development of the four basic skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and the acquisition of medical terminology. Students will be expected to participate in classroom activities such as role-plays based on typical office and emergency procedures in order to develop meaningful and accurate communication skills in the target language. Students will also review and acquire forms and structures useful both inside and outside the medical field.

Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.

Students who have completed SPANISH 140 or any SPANISH course above that level may not take SPANISH 145. Although these courses have different numbers, they are at the same level, and therefore students will not receive credit for SPANISH 145.

Spanish 180
Spanish Conversation
Staff

La casa hispánica residents only.

Spanish 202
Advanced Spanish
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 140 or equivalent.

The purpose of this course is twofold: (a) to develop students' communicative abilities in Spanish, that is, speaking, listening, reading and writing, and (b) to increase their awareness and understanding of Hispanic cultures and societies. Homework and classroom activities are designed to help students build their oral proficiency, expand and perfect their knowledge of vocabulary and grammatical structures, improve their reading and writing skills, and develop their critical thinking abilities. The material for this class includes short stories, newspaper articles, poems, songs, cartoons, video clips and a novel, such as César Aira’s La villa. At the completion of this course students will feel confident discussing and debating a variety of contemporary issues (cultural and religious practices, family relationships, gender stereotypes, political events, immigration to the USA, etc.).

Any questions about placement should be addressed to the directors of the Spanish language program.

Spanish 205
Advanced Spanish for the Medical Professions
Prof. García-Serrano
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 140 or 145 or equivalent.

The goal of this course is to provide advanced practice in Spanish to those students who are interested in pursuing careers in the medical and healthcare fields. Through readings and authentic materials on contemporary health issues, for example, H1N1 influenza, comparative health care systems, obesity, “chagas” disease, etc., students will acquire the vocabulary and grammatical structures needed to discuss a wide array of topics pertaining to the health-related professions. Students will also gain awareness of those health care issues affecting the Hispanic/Latino patient. Oral and written presentations will complement topics covered in class.

Spanish 208
Business Spanish I
Prof. Lebaudy
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Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Spanish 140 or equivalent.

Spanish for Business I provides advanced-level language students with technical vocabulary and communicative skills covering business concepts as they apply to the corporate dynamics of the Spanish-speaking world, with a special emphasis on Latin America. Through readings, presentations, discussions, and video materials, we shall analyze those cultural aspects that characterize the business environment in the region as well as focus on economies and markets in light of their history, politics, resources and pressing international concerns.

Any questions about placement should be directed to the directors of the Spanish language program.

Spanish 212
Advanced Spanish Grammar
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202 or equivalent.

Spanish 212 is an advanced grammar course that emphasizes the acquisition of a solid knowledge of those major points of Spanish grammar. Through discussion and correction of assigned exercises, analysis of authentic readings, and contrastive study of Spanish and English syntax and lexicon, students will develop an awareness of the norms of standard Spanish with the aim of incorporating these features into their own oral and written linguistic production.

Any questions about placement should be addressed to the directors of the Spanish language program.

Spanish 215
Spanish for the Professions I
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202 or equivalent.

Spanish for the Professions is designed to provide advanced-level language students with a wide-ranging technical vocabulary and the enhancement of solid communicative skills within the cultural context of several developing Latin American countries. Focusing on topics such as politics, economy, society, health, environment, education, science and technology, the class will explore the realities and underlying challenges facing Latin America. Through essays, papers, articles, research, discussions, case studies, and videotapes, we shall take an in-depth look at the dynamics of Latin American societies. The course will focus on--but not be restricted to-- Mexico, Cuba and Argentina.

Any questions about placement should be addressed to the directors of the Spanish language program.

Spanish 219
Hispanic Texts and Contexts
Staff
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202 or Spanish 212.

The primary aim of this course is to develop students' knowledge of the geographical, historical and cultural contexts in those regions where Spanish is used. At the same time that they are introduced to research techniques and materials available in Spanish, students strengthen their language skills through readings, class discussions, and frequent writing assignments. This course is designed to give students a broad understanding of Hispanic culture that will prepare them for upper-level course work and study abroad.

Spanish 223
Perspectives of Spanish and Latin American Literatures
Prof. García Serrano
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202 or Spanish 212.

Literature from Spain and Latin America contains a wealth of information about language, history and culture. The goal of this course is to help students develop skills to carefully read Spanish literary works while preparing them for upper-level courses and study abroad. We begin reviewing the main characteristics of various literary movements and of the four genres (narrative, poetry, theater and essay). During the second part of the semester students become familiarized with a wide variety of theoretical approaches to the study of literature with the purpose of applying them to their own analytical writing. In the last part of the course students produce their own essays on a text chosen by them and based on research. Sample essays written by other students and included in the textbook will serve as models. Throughout the course students will have ample opportunities to hone their skills through the close reading and class discussion of varied and stimulating works by Miguel de Cervantes, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Roberto Bolaño, etc.

Spanish 250-601
Major Works in Spanish and Latin American Literature
Prof. Regueiro
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From the rise of the novel with Cervantes' Don Quixote in early-modern Spain to the Latin American "boom" with García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, this course will examine these and other major works in Hispanic literature within the cultural, political, and social context of each period.

Spanish 287-601
Introduction to Mexican Cinema
Prof. Solomon
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An introduction and overview of Mexican cinema from the first Lumière screening in Mexico City (1896) to the recent wave of creative filmmakers such a Alfonso Cuarón, Carlos Raygades, and Guillermo del Toro. Topics include: the role of film in the Mexican revolution; popular genres during the Mexican Golden Ages of cinema (1930-1950); Luis Buñuel’s contribution to Mexican Cinema; the New Mexican Cinema movement that rose up following the massacre at Tlatelolco; Mexican B cinema, including El Santo and horror cinema; Border Cinema and “Narcocinema”; the innovating developments during the 1990’s; and recent trends in Mexican Cinema including the revival of short films and electronically disseminated visual media. Screenings of major films include: La mujer delpuerto (Arcady Boytler 1934), Vámonos con Pancho Villa (Fernando de Fuentes 1936), Allí está el detalle (Juan Bustillo Oro 1940), Cuando los hijos se van (Juan Bustillo Oro 1941), Río Escondido (Emilio Fernández 1948), Aventurera (Alberto Gout 1950), Los olvidados (Luis Buñuel 1950), El (Luis Buñuel 1953), Canoa (Felipe Cazals 1976), Un lugar sin límites (Arturo Ripstein 1978), Rojoamanecer (Jorge Fons 1989), Novia que te vea (Guita Schyfter 1994), La ley deHerodes (Luis Estrada 1999), Temporada de patos (Fernando Eimbcke 2004), Batalla en el cielo (Carlos Reygadas 2005), and Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón 2006).

Spanish 348-301
The World of Don Quijote
Prof. Velázquez
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

Announcing the results of a survey of a hundred of the world’s finest authors about the best work of fiction ever, the Nigerian writer Ben Okri declared “ If there is one novel you have to read before you die, it isDon Quijote […], it has the most wonderful and elaborated story, yet it is simple.” The focus of this course will be the close reading and analysis of the two-part novel in its historical, literary, and artistic context in order to understand the complexity of Don Quijote’s world. We will investigate the relationship of history to fiction, storytelling to literacy, and discourse and action as well as address questions of the representation of seventeenth-century Spain’s diverse world which includes roadside inn sentimental prostitutes, memoir-writing galley slaves, generous bandits, recent Muslim converts from the Mediterranean and several moriscos (baptized Spaniards of Muslim descent) such as the anonymous translator of the work by the alleged original author, the Moorish historian Cide Hamete Benengeli and Ana Felix, exiled morisca and cross-dressing pirate. Course requirements include a midterm and final exams, a reading journal, and two oral presentations.

Spanish 351-301
When Words Mattered: Poetry of Golden Age Spain
Prof. Velazquez
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

Does poetry matter? Often seen as obscure, precious if not frivolous, poetry today has fallen out of fashion. Indeed, the twentieth-century poet W.H. Auden went as far as to declare that “poetry makes nothing happen.” In contrast, the period known as the “Golden Age” in Spain (16 th and 17 th centuries), poetry was deeply linked to politics, to the development of national consciousness through epic and lyric, to philosophy, and it was engaged in competition with other artistic forms such as music, painting, and narrative. In this course we will explore the richness of this period’s poetic production and attend to the various debates regarding its place in the world all while providing guidance in the reading and writing about poetry. Course requirements include short papers, two oral presentations, and a reading journal.

Spanish 386-301
Carefully: Women’s Writing in Francoist Spain
Prof. León Blázquez
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223

While trying to undo the 2nd Republic’s democratic reforms and sexual politics on gender equality, Francoism was ironically the scenario in which women writers acquired for the first time a notorious presence in Spanish publication circuits. The regime symbolically benefited from allowing some of them into the official lettered arena, even launching them through literary awards. But what did it mean to be a woman with intellectual aspirations under an extremely conservative, national-catholic dictatorship? What types of fiction were these women expected and encouraged to write? What did they really write?

This course will encompass different kinds of novels and short stories. We will analyze the conflicts endured by those authors allied to the dictatorship, examining the discursive maneuvers they undertook to reconcile their ideological defense of authoritarian hierarchies with their daily experience as women in an ultra-patriarchal system. We will also explore the strategies employed by dissident, formerly avant-garde authors so as to avoid persecution while conveying subversive political messages. Finally, we will study the tactics adopted by younger female figures that were struggling to build an intellectual identity of their own in the midst of a censorship-controlled cultural panorama.

Spanish 386-401
“From Textile to Text”: Spanish Women Vanguard Authors
Prof. León Blázquez
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

In this course we will examine the works of those Spanish female authors who –departing from the deficient and segregating education they had received as seamstresses– tried to write their way into the male-dominated literary realm, during the early years of the 20th century, marked by the arising of the aesthetic and political projects of the Vanguard. Our materials will consist of memoir fragments, short stories, and novels, as well as visual art and films, elaborating on their leit-motifs of feminine dysfunctionality, needlework, and mazes. We will inquire on questions such as sex and gender, gender and genre, feminine writing, seduction, love, revolutionary language, plot and fabric, art and handcraft, production and reproduction, the modern and postmodern city, and exile.

Spanish 390-401
‘Latin America Reads Asia’: Cross-Cultural Representations in Latin American and Latino/a Literature and Culture
Prof. Torres
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

Since Christopher Columbus’s mistaken assumption that he had reached India instead of a “New World,” Asia has played an instrumental (but almost unexplored) role in the creation of distinctive cultural imaginaries in Latin America. Asia has worked as an alternative non-European point of reference and comparison to analyze and define Latin America’s historical, geographical, colonial, racial, and aesthetic particularities. This course explores some of the well-known texts and cultural artifacts of Latin American cultural tradition from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present through its engagements with Asia in order to study how Latin America has imagined and located itself in a global cartography. Therefore, the main objective is to offer a literary and cultural history of Latin America from a cross-cultural and transnational perspective. We will focus on the representations of the “Orient” in a selection of canonical and noncanonical authors and artists and relate them to some introductory works of postcolonial theory. Although the main focus of this course will be on literary works, we will use different kinds of materials ranging from paintings and photographs to songs and films. Some of the authors studied will be Rubén Darío, José Vasconcelos, Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Virgilio Piñera, Octavio Paz, Julio Cortázar, Lourdes Casal, and Mario Bellatin, as well of some Latino/a writers and artists such as Richard Rodríguez, Guillermo Gómez Peña, and Cristina García. The students will develop strategies in textual criticism through extensive practice (via writing and speaking), as well a basic knowledge of the main issues and topics that have animated the Hispanic literary and cultural field.

Spanish 390-402
Fragmented Cartographies: The Insular Imaginary in Hispanic Caribbean Literature and Culture
Prof. Feliciano-Arroyo
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

Insularity has proven to be a seductive trope that continues to fuel novel political and aesthetic imaginaries in the cultural and intellectual production of the Hispanic Caribbean. It has been used to evoke fear as well as hope, to depict national isolation as well as regional unity, to speak of alienation as well as of belonging, to represent stagnation as well as movement, and to develop mordant critiques of the political present as well as to foster utopian possibilities and propose new social configurations. This course will examine the powerful role that insularity has played over the course of the twentieth century as a vehicle through which Hispanic Caribbean geographical, political, and cultural cartographies are continuously drawn and redrawn.

Over the course of the semester, we will explore how this trope has been deployed in a number of media, including literature (essays, the novel, poetry, short stories), film, and music. Some of the writers whose work we will study are Antonio S. Pedreira, José Lezama Lima, Virgilio Piñera, Rita Indiana Hernández, Manuel Ramos Otero, Antonio Benítez Rojo, and Ana Lydia Vega.

Spanish 394-401
Detectives, Criminals, and Writers in Contemporary Latin American Fiction
Prof. Montoya
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

Born as a sub-genre, crime fiction (a denomination which encompasses a wide number of texts: classical detective stories, hard-boiled, true-crimes and the non investigative crime novel) has become one of the most attractive literary forms for writers, and one of the favorites for readers. Because it is built around topics like the crime and the law, the search of the truth and the unstable identity of the subject in mass societies, it has become an ideal vehicle for the expression of the anxieties and fears that dominate the contemporary culture. Its versatility has been used by many Latin-American authors to express the social and political conflicts of the continent, as well as to explore its literary possibilities through formal searches, characterized by parody, meta-literary and auto referential games.

The aims of this course are, on the one hand, to offer a panoramic vision of the crime fiction in Latin America through the reading of some representative authors; and, on the other, to explore how they can be can be read from different theoretical approaches.

Spanish 396-401
Love, Family and Politics in Contemporary Latin American Literature
Prof. Escalante
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

This course explores the representation of families and love in Latin American narratives and their relation to political and historical events in Latin American history. Families are in the intersection of public and private spaces in this sense our study will consider the limits between these two spaces. Love and family could be used as symbols or allegories of the State but they can also be forces against it. We are also going to analyze the emotion, affects and passions related to family life and love. We are going to read literature from the middle of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. Authors will include Isaacs, Gómez de Avellaneda, Machado de Assis, García Márquez, Rulfo, Arguedas, Mastretta, Esquivel, Bayly among others. Films will also be included.

Spanish 396-402
Fiction into Film: Spain and Latin America
Prof. Guadalupe
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

This course focuses on how a literary work is transformed into cinematic form when the camera lens replaces the reader’s eye. We will analyze narrative as a common feature in both media, the relations between verbal and visual language, and the impact of the written word and the film image. The study of the adaptation of the literary work into film and the comparative analysis of both texts will highlight the similarities and differences between literature and film as well as questions the possibilities and limitations of each art form. Literary and cinematic texts will be studied both as a means of artistic communication, paying close attention to the demands raised by the literary text for its visual translation, as well as a mirror and interpretation of Hispanic’s historical, social, and cultural reality. Course includes readings of Spanish and Latin American literary works covering all genres (drama, short stories, novel) and periods, from the Renaissance to Modern times. For the cinematic counterparts special emphasis is given to contemporary films from the 1980’s to the present.

Spanish 397-401
The Country, the City and the Borderland in Contemporary Latin American Literature Prof. Escalante
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

This course focuses on the relationship of space, culture and identity in nineteenth and twentieth century novels. In these works, the opposition between rural and urban spaces is crucial to understand the plot. This opposition is not only geographic but also a cultural; in many cases, it implies the opposition between indigenous and westernized spaces. It also represents an economic opposition; rural spaces are generally the domain of production, natural exploitation while urban spaces are places of commerce and luxury. However, in many novels and short stories this basic set of opposing factors, while remaining part of the general structure, is continually transgressed, either by the existence of intermediate spaces, that cannot not be properly classified as rural or urban, or by a narrative voice which deconstructs this opposition or by the character of a traveler, generally a migrant who does not belong to any of these spaces. The problem of massive migrations in contemporary Latin America and how this event has changed dramatically the relation between the country and the city will also be discussed. Among the authors included are Echevarría, Quiroga, Arguedas, Ribeyro, and films.

Spanish 397-402
Food in Latin American History and Culture
Prof. García-Serrano
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Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 or Spanish 223.

Through a wide range of discourses (historical, sociological, literary, psychoanalytical and cinematographic), this course will examine the multiple roles played by food from Pre-Columbian times to the present in Latin America. Focusing primarily on Mexico and Cuba, we will learn about the significance of corn and chocolate for the Aztecs, the culinary experimentations and innovations carried out in convents during the colonial period, the connection between cuisines and national identity, the sugar plantations in Cuba and the slave trade in the nineteenth century, and the resources used by hungry Cubans during the so-called “Special Period.” Readings include selections from: Mariano de Cárcer y Disdier, Apuntes para la historia de la transculturación indoespañola; Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity ; Sidney W. Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History; Antonio José Ponte, Las comidas profundas.