Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 on the Department’s placement examination. This is an intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence with an emphasis on oral interaction, reading, writing, and culture at an Intermediate II level with focus on health-related topics in the Spanish-speaking world. In an increasingly interconnected world, and in multilingual global cities such as New York City, the study of a foreign language is fundamental not only in the field of the humanities but also in the natural sciences. This interdisciplinary course analyzes the intersection between these two disciplines through the study of health-related topics in Iberian and Latin American cultural expressions (literature, film, documentaries, among other sources) in order to explore new critical perspectives across both domains. Students will learn health-related vocabulary and usage-based grammar in Spanish. Students will develop a cultural understanding of medicine, illness, and treatment in the Spanish-speaking world. Finally, students will be able to carry out specific collaborative tasks in Spanish with the aim of integrating language, culture, and health. * This course fulfills the last semester of the foreign language requirement. Therefore, students who have taken SPAN UN 2101 (Intermediate Spanish I), or have a score of 450-625 on the Department’s placement exam, and are interested in health-related topics may proceed and enroll in SPAN UN 2103 (Intermediate Spanish II: Health-Related Topics in the Spanish-Speaking World). Pre-med and pre-health students, as well as those students majoring in the natural sciences—including biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physics—will be given registration priority. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

MWR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
Instructor: Juan Pablo Cominguez
CULPA: 5 Info
4 points

Details

SPAN UN2103

Intermediate Spanish II: Telenovelas and

This is an intermediate II-level that fulfills the last semester of the foreign language requirement. It is a project-based course that integrates the Spanish language and Spanish-speaking culture through the study and the creation of a serial audiovisual fiction product, such as a soap opera (
telenovela
) or a series.

The class project consists of filming a three-episode original
telenovela
in Spanish. Students work in groups to film the episodes as scriptwriters, directors, cinematographers, camerapersons, and actors.

During the course, we will watch different soap operas (
telenovelas
) and series that will serve as inspiration for the students' creations. The course explores these products as cultural objects and vehicles of history and ideology as well as language samples of different varieties of Spanish, not only in terms of geographical differences but also of social ones. We will watch and analyze classics such as
Yo soy Betty, la fea
(
I am Betty la Fea)
to modern ones such as
La casa de las flores (The House of Flowers)
. All genres will be covered: melodramas, action, science fiction, comedies, and parodies, in productions from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. As they are not intended for language learning but for non-learners, students can address the challenge of listening to and understanding authentic cultural products with the help of an instructor and a project.

The course's language content is the same as the intermediate II syllabus of the Spanish Program of the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, with some additions, especially in interaction, cinematography, and audiovisual fiction.

At the end of the semester, and according the expectations of an intermediate level, the students should be able to…

Work as a team in Spanish.

Understand and discuss the contents and ideologies present in Latin American audiovisual fiction.

Create (Write a script, act and film) an audiovisual fiction product in Spanish.

Participate in conversations about personal topics, feelings, and emotions.

Summarize the main topics of various types of cultural texts for a speaker of my language.

Have the resources to express opinions in debates on course topics.

Be able to self-assess my own linguistic production and that of my classmates.

Understand and produce oral and w

MWR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
MWR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
Instructor: Guadalupe Ruiz-Fajardo
CULPA: 13 h-index: 5 Info
4 points

Details

SPAN UN2105

Intermediate Spanish II: Human Rights, M

Course Description:

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 (Intermediate Spanish I) or a score of 450-625 on the Department’s

placement examination. This is an intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence with an emphasis on oral interaction, reading, writing, and culture at an Intermediate II level focused on Human Rights, Memory, and Film. This course fulfills the last semester of the foreign language requirement. After SPAN UN2106, students can continue learning Spanish and its cultures in SPAN UN3300.

This course uses film as a foundation for exploring contemporary social issues in the Hispanic world and the cultural, legal, and artistic responses that have arisen in their wake. Through filmic texts and authentic multimodal materials, students will analyze how language functions as a tool of identity, citizenship, and social transformation while they develop linguistic competencies for different professional contexts. The themes—immigration, neocolonization, law, and historical memory—allow for building specialized vocabulary, practicing situations linked to public service, and critical reflection on the realities of the Hispanic world in their own context.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

· Critically analyze filmic and multimodal texts in Spanish, identifying and explaining their narrative, visual, and symbolic features and their relationships with historical and political contexts from the Hispanic world.

· Interpret historical processes and social transformation—like war, dictatorship, migration, and transition to democracy—using textual and cinematic evidence in discussion and academic essays.

· Apply relevant specialized vocabulary to cinematic analysis, topics of historical memory, citizenship, Human Rights, and representations of gender in oral and written interventions.

· Construct coherent academic arguments in Spanish, integrating critical analysis, citations, and indirect discourse in presentations and written work.

· Compare cultural and historical perspectives from the Hispanic world with contemporary debates in international studies, Human Rights, history, and political science.

· Demonstrate functional command of linguistic structures (the subjunctive, conditional, indirect discourse, and nominalization)