Spanish Courses

Fall 2023

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Elementary Spanish I

SPAN 111 -

Emphasis on listening comprehension and speaking, with gradual introduction of reading and writing.

Intermediate Spanish I

SPAN 161 - Reyes, Antonio

Intensive, concentrated course in review grammar and reading, with practice in listening and speaking.

Intermediate Spanish I

SPAN 161 - Bailey, Matthew J.

Intensive, concentrated course in review grammar and reading, with practice in listening and speaking.

Advanced Intermediate Spanish

SPAN 164 - Kamara, Mohamed

Emphasis on reading and composition skills, with extensive practice in speaking and listening through class discussion. Some grammar review.

Advanced Intermediate Spanish

SPAN 164 -

Emphasis on reading and composition skills, with extensive practice in speaking and listening through class discussion. Some grammar review.

Advanced Intermediate Spanish

SPAN 164 - Mayock, Ellen C.

Emphasis on reading and composition skills, with extensive practice in speaking and listening through class discussion. Some grammar review.

Conversational Skills

SPAN 204 - Reyes, Antonio

Development of speaking skills for communication in Spanish. Acquisition and use of practical vocabulary and development of pronunciation skills.

Conversational Skills

SPAN 204 - Michelson, Seth R.

Development of speaking skills for communication in Spanish. Acquisition and use of practical vocabulary and development of pronunciation skills.

Spanish-American Civilization and Culture

SPAN 212 - Reino, Jayne E.

A survey of significant developments in Spanish-American civilizations. The course addresses Spanish-American heritage and the present-day cultural patterns formed by its legacies. Readings, discussions and papers primarily in Spanish for further development of communication skills.

Introducción a la literatura española

SPAN 220 - Mayock, Ellen C.

Spanish literary masterpieces from the Poema del Cid through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.

Introducción a la literatura hispanoamericana

SPAN 240 -

Spanish-American literary masterpieces from colonial times through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.

Introducción al análisis literario

SPAN 275 - Botta, Monica B.

Preparation for analysis of Hispanic literature. Composition develops style and method for analyzing prose, poetry, and drama in Spanish. Conversation continues vocabulary building and concentrates on discussion of literary themes.

Ornament of the World: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Early Iberia

SPAN 312 - Bailey, Matthew J.

Muslims, Jews, and Christians co-existed for eight hundred years on the Iberian Peninsula. This course examines these diverse cultures through texts (literary, historical, religious, and philosophical) from the eleventh century to the expulsion of Jews in 1492. The objective of the course is to glean from the remnants of the experience of their co-existence insights into the distinctive characteristics of each culture and how they understood and influenced each other.

Poetry and Power

SPAN 347 - Michelson, Seth R.

This is a course about reading. With tremendous care, and taking nothing for granted, we will read Spanish-American poetry on power and violence as a way of engaging and investigating the multifaceted and layered historiographies of the region. To intensify our reading, we also will “read” a diversity of pertinent cultural production, including paintings, murals, and music. Through these self-conscious acts of reading—that is, acts of identifying, evaluating, and critiquing form as much as content—we will enhance our ability to analyze and debate many different ways of defining power in the Americas from within, without, and in liminal zones. In this manner we will trace through poetry the complexities and tensions of transcultural, transnational, and transhistorical legacies of violence, all the while cultivating our abilities to read, write, speak, and listen rigorously in Spanish. This is also to say that our process will be thoroughly collaborative and interactive as we endeavor to discover the potentiality and even the hope in our difficult and sometimes even despairing project. Recurring motifs throughout the term will include sexism, racism, classism, and fascism, and each will be framed and examined by critical theory from leading scholars from the Americas and beyond. Students will leave the course feeling more confident and articulate in addressing through poetry many of our most urgent ideas about literatures, cultures, and historiographies of power and violence.

Spanish-American Theater: 20th Century to the Present

SPAN 354 - Botta, Monica B.

This course provides a panoramic view of the theatrical traditions that have emerged in Spanish-American theater, beginning with the independent theater movement of the 1930s and concluding with the most recent trends in theatrical practices. In particular, the plays are studied as vehicles that reveal how theater practitioners engaged with their historical and cultural contexts in aesthetic terms. Therefore, the focus is also on the plays as performative texts. In order to develop this objective, students are expected to read, discuss, and analyze the dramatic texts, as well as perform scenes from the plays. This course includes works from playwrights such us Arlt, Triana, Diaz, Gambaro, Carballido, Castellanos, and Berman, among others. In addition, we study the political and aesthetic theories of theater developed by Enrique Buenaventura and Augusto Boal.

Spring 2023

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Seville and the Foundations of Spanish Civilization

SPAN 213 - Barnett, Jeffrey C. (Jeff)

This course takes place in Seville, Spain, and uses this privileged location to study the cultures of Foundational Spain. Primary focus is on the medieval and Renaissance periods, from the troubled co-existence of Muslims, Jews, and Christians to the Christian reconquest and subsequent Empire. Significant cultural currents are examined through texts (literary, historical, and religious), direct contact with art and architecture through site visits, and with hands-on exposure to early and contemporary cuisine. Students live in homestays, attend daily classes, participate in site visits, and engage with the local culture independently and through planned activities.

Winter 2023

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Elementary Spanish II

SPAN 112 - Michelson, Seth R.

Emphasis on listening comprehension and speaking, with gradual introduction of reading and writing.

Intermediate Spanish II

SPAN 162 - Michelson, Seth R.

Intensive, concentrated course in review grammar and reading, with practice in listening and speaking.

Intermediate Spanish II

SPAN 162 - Lott, Olivia M.

Intensive, concentrated course in review grammar and reading, with practice in listening and speaking.

Advanced Intermediate Spanish

SPAN 164 - Renker, Theresa (Tess)

Emphasis on reading and composition skills, with extensive practice in speaking and listening through class discussion. Some grammar review.

Conversational Skills

SPAN 204 - Reyes, Antonio

Development of speaking skills for communication in Spanish. Acquisition and use of practical vocabulary and development of pronunciation skills.

Spanish Civilization and Culture

SPAN 211 - Konstantinova, Iana

A survey of significant developments in Spanish civilization. The course addresses Spanish heritage and the present-day cultural patterns formed by its legacies. Readings, discussions and papers, primarily in Spanish, for further development of communication skills.

Spanish-American Civilization and Culture

SPAN 212 - Botta, Monica B.

A survey of significant developments in Spanish-American civilizations. The course addresses Spanish-American heritage and the present-day cultural patterns formed by its legacies. Readings, discussions and papers primarily in Spanish for further development of communication skills.

Introducción a la literatura española

SPAN 220 - Renker, Theresa (Tess)

Spanish literary masterpieces from the Poema del Cid through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.

Introducción a la literatura hispanoamericana

SPAN 240 - Botta, Monica B.

Spanish-American literary masterpieces from colonial times through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.

Introducción al análisis literario

SPAN 275 - Michelson, Seth R.

Preparation for analysis of Hispanic literature. Composition develops style and method for analyzing prose, poetry, and drama in Spanish. Conversation continues vocabulary building and concentrates on discussion of literary themes.

Spanish-American Short Story

SPAN 340 - Barnett, Jeffrey C. (Jeff)

A study of the Spanish-American short story with special attention to the works of Quiroga, Borges, Cortázar, and Valenzuela.

Spanish Grammar Rules: The Making of a Language

SPAN 380 - Reyes, Antonio

This course analyzes areas of the Spanish language that are problematic for non-native speakers of Spanish. At the same time, students explore the processes involved in the standardization of a language, in particular the Spanish language, as a social and political construct.

Spanish-American Seminar: Migration and Bordering in Latin American Literature and Film

SPAN 398C - Renker, Theresa (Tess)

What is a border? What is “bordering”? How do borders relate to race, coloniality, and imperialism? “Migration and Bordering” examines literature, film, and cultural production from two distinct national contexts and their respective borderlands: Mexico and Peru. Via our examination of creative works that treat the crossing of these territories and the various borders that cross them, we will work to challenge static definitions of “the border” and engage critically with various “bordering regimes.” Our transnational, comparative work with Mexico and Peru will allow us to trace various classes of borders – international, provincial, economic, racial, etc. – and the processes of bordering that uphold them. Moreover, our work across national contexts will encourage us to identify the borders and bordering regimes that impact our own lives, communities, and countries of origin. Thus, and over the course of the semester, we will employ literature and film as catalysts for deep reflection, critical thinking, and collective theorizing. Students are welcome and encouraged to bring their own experiences, disciplinary backgrounds, and expertise to the classroom. Over the course of the semester, students can expect to complete weekly discussion board posts, experiment with documentary poetry, and work together to build a collaborative Digital Humanities page. Class will be conducted in Spanish.

Directed Individual Study: Pluma: The Making of a Literary Magazine

SPAN 401A - Michelson, Seth R.

Nature and content of course to be determined by students' needs and by instructors acquainted with their earlier preparation and performance.

Directed Individual Study: ESOL, Teaching English Learners in Our Community

SPAN 401B - Reino, Jayne E.

Nature and content of course to be determined by students' needs and by instructors acquainted with their earlier preparation and performance.