Accelerated First Year Spanish

Professor: John Burns  

Course Number: SPAN 110

CRN Number: 10133

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon Tue Wed Thurs    3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Olin Languages Center 208

Distributional Area:

FL  Foreign Languages and Lit   

Crosslists: Latin American/Iberian Studies

A first-year course designed for the student who has had some prior exposure to Spanish or who has excellent command of another Romance language. All the major topics in grammar will be covered, and the course will provide intensive practice in the four skills (speaking, comprehension, reading and writing). The course will provide a streamlined review of basic topics in grammar and provide more detail and exercises for advanced topics. The textbook will be supplemented with authentic video material from Spain and 'Latin America. One additional hour per week of practice with the Spanish tutor and a substantial amount of work in the language resource center will also be required. The course will prepare the student for summer language programs abroad or Spanish 201 the following semester.

Intermediate Spanish I

Professor: Melanie Nicholson  

Course Number: SPAN 201

CRN Number: 10134

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon Tue  Thurs    1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Olin 205

Distributional Area:

FL  Foreign Languages and Lit   

Crosslists: Latin American/Iberian Studies

For students who have completed Spanish 106, 110, or the equivalent  (two or three solid years of high school Spanish). This course is designed to perfect the student's command of all four language skills (speaking, aural comprehension, reading, and writing). This will be achieved through an intensive grammar review, conversational practice, reading of modern Spanish texts, writing simple compositions, and language lab work. Permission of the instructor required for students who have not completed Spanish 106 or 110 at Bard.

Intermediate Spanish II

Professor: Nicole Caso  

Course Number: SPAN 202

CRN Number: 10135

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Olin Languages Center 120

Distributional Area:

FL  Foreign Languages and Lit   

Crosslists: Latin American/Iberian Studies

This course continues refining the student's mastery of the four basic skills in Spanish at a post-intermediate level. The textbook offers an integration of literature, culture, and film. Our study of both visual and written texts focuses on critical thinking, interpretation, speaking, and writing skills. Prerequisite: Spanish 201 or equivalent; permission of instructor required for those who have not completed 201 at Bard.

"The Sweet Waist of the Americas:" Introduction to Central American Literature

Professor: Nicole Caso  

Course Number: SPAN 334

CRN Number: 10137

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Olin Languages Center 210

Distributional Area:

FL  Foreign Languages and Lit   

Crosslists: Latin American/Iberian Studies

Referred to as "the little thumb" of the hemisphere, "the sweet waist of America," or as "the dubious strait," the Central American isthmus and its literature will be the central focus of this course.  We will read a selection of twentieth-century authors from the region in order to familiarize students  with texts that are often marginalized from the Latin American canon.  We will explore particular aesthetic and ideological concerns and situate our readings within the violent political and historical context that often becomes, in itself, a recurring theme in Central American fiction.  Among the authors we will read are Miguel Angel Asturias, Gioconda Belli, Roque Dalton, Tatiana Lobo, and Sergio Ramírez.  Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 301 or 302. Prospective students must speak with instructor prior to registration.

Introduction to Literary Analysis: Poetry, Narrative, Drama and Essays

Professor: John Burns  

Course Number: SPAN 350

CRN Number: 10136

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Olin Languages Center 208

Distributional Area:

FL  Foreign Languages and Lit   

Crosslists: Latin American/Iberian Studies

This course is designed to be a bridge between Spanish language classes and 300-level seminars of literature and culture from Spain and Latin America.  We will develop a critical vocabulary that will provide the foundation for close readings and in-depth literary analysis, and will spend considerable time working on developing skills for writing analytical essays in Spanish.  The semester will be devoted to engaging with four literary genres:  poetry, narrative, drama, and essays.  The authors on our reading list will include many of the primary writers from Spain and Latin America, whose works span the vast historical period from the middle ages and the Spanish American colony to contemporary times.  This is not meant to be a survey of all literary periods, however.  Our focus will be on acquiring the basic skills for literary analysis.  Conducted in Spanish.