Courses

Spring 2007 - Spanish Course Descriptions

Spanish 001 - Elementary Spanish I

A - Block I - Rafael Davila-Franco
B - Block C - John Julian
C - Block F - Marta Rosso-O’Laughlin
D - Block KLr - Rafael Davila-Franco

This course uses the communicative approach to teach listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing and culture. In particular, it promotes the development of oral/aural skills and the practical use of language in a variety of social situations. Language laboratory attendance is required. Conducted in Spanish. No prerequisites.

Spanish 002 - Elementary Spanish II

A continuation of Spanish 001. The course advances and completes the study of basic grammar and vocabulary. It provides the linguistic skills and cultural information needed in a broad range of situations met when studying, working or traveling in a Spanish-speaking country. Students are required to register for a recitation section that consists of a weekly 40-minute conversation group. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 001 or equivalent.

Spanish 003 - Intermediate Spanish I

A review of Spanish grammar with stress on the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Using the communicative approach, the course emphasizes the development of fluency and the functional use of language. Discussion will be based on literary texts as well as newspaper and magazine articles on contemporary issues in Spanish-speaking societies. Several compositions, debates and weekly lab attendance are required. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 002 or equivalent.

Spanish 004 - Intermediate Spanish II

This course continues the review of fundamentals of grammar begun in Spanish 003 and encourages the development of a large active vocabulary and a greater awareness of Spanish-speaking cultures. It aims at developing a level of language proficiency sufficient for survival in unusual or complicated situations (i.e., coping with an unforeseen event); and at participating in conversations about practical topics and current events. There will be regular lab assignments, compositions, class discussions, debates and oral presentations. Students are required to register for a recitation section that consists of a weekly 40-minute conversation group. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 003 or equivalent.

Spanish 004-WW - Intermediate Spanish II Writing Workshop Option

Block Jt (Tuesdays only) - Patricia Smith

Students will use writing as a means to become more deeply engaged in the readings and films, develop critical thinking, and improve their writing and discussion skills in Spanish. No extra graded work will be assigned. The workshop will provide the opportunity to map ideas for compositions, engage in peer discussion of drafts, and have individual conferences with the instructor. The writing workshop requires an extra 50 minutes of class time each week, and in recognition of the extra time commitment, a record of participation will appear on the student's transcript. Participants must register for both SPN 004 and SPN 004WW.

Spanish 021 - Composition and Conversation I

The course combines written and oral/aural practice of Spanish through oral reports, compositions, class discussions and debates on assigned topics, articles, short literary works and films. It offers a review of more advanced grammatical structures with the aim of achieving greater accuracy. Students are required to register for a recitation section that consists of a weekly 40-minute conversation group. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 004 or equivalent.

Spanish 021-WW - Writing Workshop

Block Dm - Conchita Davis

The Spanish 21/22 Writing Workshop is a companion course to Spanish 21/22 Intensive. It is mandatory, meets for 50 minutes each week, and will appear on your transcript, although you don’t have to do extra graded writing and has no credit. The purpose of the workshop is to help you improve your writing skills. We will concentrate on your assigned compositions for Spanish 21/22, both to prepare and correct them. You will work with classmates in pairs and groups to discuss ideas, review each others compositions, and focus on different writing tasks. The activities in the workshop will help you to think out questions related to the material of Spanish 21/22 and you will have the opportunity to work closer to the instructor on specific problems.

Spanish 022 - Composition and Conversation II

This course continues the grammar review begun in Spanish 021 with emphasis on written and oral expression of Spanish through compositions, oral reports and class discussions. Material for discussions includes literary texts as well as topics of general interest. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 021 or equivalent.

Spanish 021 and 022 Intensive - Composition and Conversation

Spanish 21I - Block C - Conchita Davis
Spanish 22I - Block E - Conchita Davis

This intensive course earns two course credits and meets six hours a week (2 time blocks). It is aimed at those students who wish to attain rapid progress in the language in order to study abroad or to finish the language requirement. Practice in oral expression will be accomplished through class discussions of modern literary works, films, articles, presentations and debates on current issues. Practice of written skills will be achieved through compositions and news summaries. Review of major grammar points such as the uses of the past tenses and of the indicative vs. the subjunctive. Students are required to attend a weekly 50-minute writing workshop. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 4 or equivalent.

Spanish 022-XA - México: Historia y Cultura

Block D+ - Anne Cantú

This course is designed to improve conversation, writing and vocabulary-building skills while at the same time familiarizing the student with important aspects of our neighbor south of the border and challenging prevalent stereotypes. Topics such as the Conquest, the Mexican Revolution, and the Chiapas uprising will be addressed in a cultural framework through literary selections, journal articles, art, music and film. Coursework includes discussion, oral presentations and short essays. An optional Writing Workshop is offered in conjunction with this course. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 022-XB - El espíritu de Puerto Rico: Un seminario

Block L+ - Nancy Levy-Konesky

This class takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Puerto Rico. While students continue to review grammar and to practice oral and aural skills, they will study the history, literature, politics, music, cuisine, art, and religions of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans on the island as well as on the mainland. They debate the possible political destinies of Puerto Rico: Statehood, Independence, or a continuance of the present status of ELA (Free Associated State, or Commonwealth). Students view three films during the semester, sample and learn to prepare Puerto Rican cuisine, and if possible, visit one of the major Puerto Rican neighborhoods of Boston: Villa Victoria and Plaza Betances. There is an optional opportunity for interested students to work on a volunteer basis with various Hispanic organizations in the Cambridge and Boston areas.

Spanish 022-XC - Visiones de España

Block F+tr - Teresa Marcelin

This course is designed to upgrade the spoken and written language skill of students as well as an introduction to the Spanish peninsular culture and its contribution to world civilization. Geography, history, literature, and the social and artistic evolution of Spain are presented through a variety of readings including literary selections. Course work combines written and oral practice of Spanish through compositions, oral presentations, class discussion as well as an advanced grammar review and vocabulary building. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 022-XD - Improvisation and Short Theatrical Works of the 20th Century

Block H+ - Pam Haltom

The goal of this course is to increase the student’s aural/oral fluency and reading/writing competency through the use of theater exercises and short theatrical works while enriching his/her knowledge and appreciation of Hispanic theater and related arts. Various representative Latin American twentieth century one-acts will be studied as well as one peninsular work, Federico García Lorca’s one-act farce Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín. Coursework will include writing for theater and performance, examinations, advanced vocabulary study and grammar review, and composition. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 021 or equivalent.

Spanish 022-Y-WW - Mexico: Historia y cultura, Writing Workshop Option

Block Dm - Anne Cantú

This writing workshop is open to students of Spanish 22XA. It meets for one 50 minute block per week and will appear on your transcript but is not graded and receives no credit. We will focus on improving your writing skills by working directly with assignments from the class. You will work in pairs/small groups, do peer editing and creative activities, and brainstorm ideas. Students are strongly urged to take advantage of this opportunity to get help with their compositions before turning them in. There is no homework or additional preparation for the workshop.

Spanish 22-I-WW - Spanish Conversation and Composition Intensive Writing Workshop

Block Dm - Conchita Davis

The Spanish 22 Writing Workshop is a companion course to Spanish 21/22 Intensive. It is mandatory, meets for 50 minutes each week, and will appear on your transcript, although you don’t have to do extra graded writing and has no credit. The purpose of the workshop is to help you improve your writing skills. We will concentrate on your assigned compositions for Spanish 21/22, both to prepare and correct them. You will work with classmates in pairs and groups to discuss ideas, review each others compositions, and focus on different writing tasks. The activities in the workshop will help you to think out questions related to the material of Spanish 21/22 and you will have the opportunity to work closer to the instructor on specific problems.

Spanish 24 - Fundamentals of Spanish Translation

Block H+ - Andrew Klatt

This course will explore the basic concepts of translation as a faithful transfer of meaning from Spanish to English and English to Spanish. By reading and discussing translation techniques, by translating in groups and individually, and by evaluating their translations, students will compare and contrast the way we use our two languages to express ideas. The focused reading and careful writing that are intrinsic to successful translation will develop and expand students’ Spanish language skills. Weekly assignments, two exams, and a final translation project. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or 23, or consent of the instructor. Conducted in Spanish.

Spanish 32-A - Main Currents of Spanish Literature II

Block H+ - Tamara Márquez-Raffetto

Significant currents of Spanish peninsular literature from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Selected works of representative authors of prose, poetry, and theatre read and discussed. Authors include Larra, Béquer, Galdós, Unamuno, Pardo Bazán, and Lorca. Lectures, two exams, and two papers. Conducted in Spanish. Not for senior majors or for students returning from programs abroad. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 32-B - Main Current - Spanish Literature II

Block I+ - Kathleen Pollakowski

Significant currents of Spanish peninsular literature from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Selected works of representative authors of prose, poetry, and theatre read and discussed. Authors include Larra, Béquer, Galdós, Unamuno, Pardo Bazán, and Lorca. Lectures, two exams, and two papers. Conducted in Spanish. Not for senior majors or for students returning from programs abroad. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 32-C - Main Currents of Spanish Literature II

Block Q+ - Dana Simpson

This course is based on the reading, discussion and critique of major literary tendencies in the literature of Spain from the 18th century to the present. Group work, class discussions and individual projects will help the student get a panoramic understanding of the array of actions and reactions expressed by Spanish writers. Three writing assignments (3-4 pages each), midterm and final exam. Conducted in Spanish. Not for seniors or for students returning from programs abroad. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent

Spanish 34 - Independent Study

Spanish 35-A - Survey of Latin American Literature II

Block D+ - Amy Millay

This course traces Latin American literature from modernist prose and poetry of the late 19th century through post-boom literature of the last three decades of the 20th century. We will examine major authors and literary movements of modern Spanish America in historical and cultural contexts. Authors include José Martí, Rubén Darío, Gabriel García Márquez and Elena Poniatowska. Varied writing assignments, oral presentations, exams. Conducted in Spanish. Not for seniors or students returning from programs abroad. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 35-B - Survey of Latin American Literature II (In Spanish)

Block E+ - Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir

Latin American literature from the 19th-century Modernist poetry and prose through the groundbreaking trends of the 20th century, such as the Regionalist and Indigenist narrative, Magical Realism and the "boom" in the Latin American letters of the sixties and seventies. Writers include: Rubén Darío, Pablo Neruda, Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, among others. Emphasis on historical context and on literary analysis. Not for seniors or for students returning from programs abroad. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 35-C - Spanish 35C - Survey of Latin American Literature II

Block G+ - Mark Hernández

This course traces the development of Latin American literature from the modernist literature of the late 19th century to Post-Boom literature of the 1980s and 1990s. We will read key works of prose, poetry and other genres from various cultures of Spanish America. Authors include José Martí, Rubén Darío, Julio Cortázar and Rosario Castellanos. Emphasis is on historical context and literary analysis. Varied writing assignments, oral presentations and exams; class participation is essential. Conducted in Spanish. Not for senior majors or for students returning from programs abroad. Prerequisite: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 35-D - Survey of Latin American Literature II (in Spanish)

Block H+ - Nina Gerassi-Navarro

This course traces the development of Latin American literature from the late nineteenth century (modernismo) through post-boom literature to the present. We will examine major authors and literary movements in poetry, prose, and essays. Special emphasis placed on historical context and literary analysis. Readings by José Martí, César Vallejo, Julio Cortázar, Clarice Lispector, and Alejandra Pizarnik, among others. Not for seniors or for students returning from programs abroad. Prerequisites: Spanish 21 or equivalent.

Spanish 92-A - Women and Latin American Cinema (in English)

Block D+ - Nina Gerassi-Navarro

This course is a critical study of the representation of women in Latin American cinema. Beginning with Mexico’s edad de oro (1930-1940) to the present, we will explore the positioning of a gendered spectator, the role of melodrama, as well as issues of race and class in the construction of a national identity through film. Special attention will be paid to women directors such as María Novaro, María Luisa Bemberg, Sara Gómez, and María Elena Velasco. This course is in English and open to students who have no background in Spanish.

Screenings mandatory - Wednesday evening.

Spanish 92-B US-Mexico Borderlands (in English)

Block I+mw - Mark Hernández

The U.S.-Mexico borderlands-the territory running about 30 miles along either side of the 2,000-miles stretching from Tijuana, Baja California / San Diego, California on the Pacific coast to Matamoros, Tamaulipas / Brownsville, Texas on the Gulf of Mexico-runs through four U.S. states (California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas) and six Mexican states (Baja California Norte, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas), areas of forbidding desert and urban sprawl, a wide variety of unique cultural landscapes and the fastest-growing industrial belt in Mexico. At their center is the border itself, which as the political scientist Peter Andreas reminds us, is both “the busiest land crossing in the world and one of the most heavily fortified.” The borderlands are at the core of the deepening contradictions of economic integration of the United States and Mexico. Some observers-Mexican cultural critic Carlos Monsiváis among them-claim that they belong more to the domain of global “savage” capitalism than to either country (“Contested Terrain: The U.S. Mexico Borderlands.” NACLA Report on the Americas 33.3 [November-December 1999: 13]). In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will explore the genesis of this region and its salient issues, from the mid-19th century through the late 20th century, as represented in historical narratives and documents, literature, film, music and visual art. Essays, oral presentations and exams; class participation is essential. Conducted in English. A reading knowledge of Spanish will be helpful, as some of the texts under study will include Spanish and Spanglish. Prerequisite: a course in literary, textual or cultural analysis.

Spanish 94 - Independent Study (in English)

ARR - Members of the Department

Guided individual study of an approved topic in Spanish peninsular or Latin American literature or civilization. Variable credit. Prerequisite: consent. To register for an Independent Study, see the Department Administrator.

Spanish 99 - Internship

ARR - Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir

Spanish 101 - Latin American Popular Theater

Block I+ - Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir

The course will focus on the theater of the last three decades, examining questions of form and modes of production. Special emphasis on the assimilation of dramatic popular forms to new political perspective. Discussions of single author plays as well as collective creation works from various Latin American countries and the US Latino sector. Conducted in Spanish. Students will be required to create/produce an original play as the course’s cap-stone work. Prerequisites: Spanish 31/34, 32/35 or equivalent. The Writing Workshop will stress the value of writing to probe deeper into questions related to the course, as well as aiding in the development of the creative work required as part of the course.

Spanish 101-WW - Latin American Popular theater

ARR - Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir

The Writing Workshop will stress the value of writing to probe deeper into questions related to the course, as well as aiding in the development of the creative work required as part of the course.

Spanish 122 - Advanced Composition and Conversation II

Block L+ - Dana Simpson

This course aims to improve the student’s written and oral expression through the study and creation of a specific genre - theater. Although other genres will also be explored, this is an opportunity to use drama as a tool for learning. As inhibition is the enemy of language acquisition, we will use class time to read, appreciate and create skits to help “extrovert” the learning experience. The focus of the course will be four-fold: the discussion and critique of daily reading assignments; the creation of creative and analytical work; the study of key grammar points; and the study of colloquial expressions in Spanish. Four papers (the length will vary on assignment and creation), skits and presentations, and a final. Conducted in Spanish. Not for native speakers. Prerequisite: Spanish 121 or equivalent.

Spanish 192-A - 20th - Century Spanish Novel

Block F+ - Kathleen Pollakowski

We sill study the 20th - Century Spanish novel by focusing on the theme of personal identity. The rich diversity offered by the works of, among others, Unamuno, Martín Gaite and Martín Santos will allow us to explore this topic in the form of recalled memory, philosophical speculation and fictional narrative.
Prerequisites: Spanish 31 or 34 and 32 or 35, or consent.

Spanish 192-B - Contemporary Spanish Women Writers

Block G+ - Anne DeLaire Mulgrew

This course will explore the changing role of women as represented by female authors between the period of the Second Republic (1930-36), and the late 1990s. Through the novels, we will look at the shift in power held by women as seen in the changing roles of the protagonists, and in their relations to their characters. We will also analyze the significance of the genres of autobiography and fiction in the representation of these roles.

Spanish 192-C - Oral Tradition in Twentieth-Century Spanish American Narrative

Block H+tr - Amy Millay

Many twentieth-century Spanish American writers sought to give voice to their countries' native inhabitants. Drawing upon anthropology, this course examines the  representation of orality (oral cultures, oral traditions, speaking subjects) by Spanish American writers. Authors include Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa, Lydia Cabrera, José María Arguedas, Miguel Barnet, and Augusto Roa Bastos. Papers, exam, and varied writing assignments. Prerequisites: Spanish 32 or 35, or consent.

Spanish 192-D - Convivencia: Literature of Muslim and Medieval Spain

Block J+ - Tamara Marquez-Raffetto

This course will focus on the literary currents that emerged in Spain during the VIII-XVth centuries, a unique period of racial and cultural coexistence on the Iberian peninsula known as “Convivencia.” Drawing culture, conquest and religious diversity on the development of literary genres, traditions and artistic expression in Spain. Discussions, oral presentations, term paper and exams in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 31 or 34, and 32 or 35, or consent.

Spanish 192-E - Literature of Migration in Latin America

Block N+ - José Antonio Mazzotti

Migration has been the most important social phenomenon in the 20th century. But it is not new. People in Latin America have been moving around all along, inside and outside their countries. New migratory waves have also enriched the cultural landscape of the region. The course will examine some pivotal colonial texts (Guaman Poma, Inca Garcilaso), and post Independence authors that deal with migration and transterritorialization. Emphasis on Africans in the Caribbean and South America, Japanese and Chinese all over Latin America, indigenous groups in the Andes and Central America, Brazilian migrations, and New Latinos in the U.S. Conducted in Spanish. One oral presentation, constant class participation, mid-term exam, final exam, four short papers, 1-3 pages each). Prerequisite: Any Spanish 30-level course or approval of the instructor.

Spanish 194 - Independent Study (in Spanish)

ARR - Members of the Department

Guided individual study of an approved topic in Spanish peninsular or Latin American literature or civilization. Variable credit. No more than one credit in Independent Study may be counted toward the major. Prerequisites: one 100-level literature course and consent. To register for an Independent Study, see the Department Administrator.

Spanish 199-AT - Honors Thesis

ARR - Members of the Department

Open to qualified students. Variable credit. Prerequisites: Spanish 31 or 34, and 32 or 35, and consent. To register for an Honors Thesis, see the Department Administrator. Once the topic has been approved by the Chair, the thesis must be registered in the Office of the Dean of the Colleges.

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