Semester in Spanish / FL Teaching - Academic programs With credit transfer to American universities and colleges.

Semester in Spanish / FL Teaching, Study Abroad. Spend a semester/year in Spain and earn university credits!

academic programs

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Overview Language Courses Elective Courses Education Course Cultural Program Housing Dates & Prices	Semester in Spanish / FL Teaching This semester program is designed for Spanish Majors who are pursuing a degree with Teacher Certification in the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language. It is aimed at students enrolled in American colleges and universities who are interested in receiving training in Spanish FL Teaching Methods. An intermediate to advanced level of Spanish is required, or to have completed 200 level courses.

Education Course Content and Projects

The Education seminars revolve around 3 points: the teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language (presentation and creation of materials, pair-work versus whole groups activities, teamwork, intercultural work), innovative pedagogical contributions related to the acquisition of a language (new technologies, intercultural work, group dynamics, co-operative games, techniques of the right hemisphere of the brain, different types of students, etc.), updated perspective of Spain, and the teaching of culture and civilization.

Please see the program below.

SESSION	CONTENT
Session 1	Teacher trainers, program, and participant presentations. Sharing of expectations for the program and needs analysis. A German/Spanish class as an introduction to the Communicative Method in Foreign Language classrooms.
Session 2	Methodological practices in the teaching of Foreign Languages to the present. Theoretical foundations of the Communicative Method. The Thematic Task Based Approach.
Session 3	The concept of Teaching and Learning. Reflection on the role of the student and teacher. Values in the Spanish FL classroom.
Session 4	Developing receptive skills: listening and reading comprehension. Comprehension techniques. The stages of preparation and presentation of linguistic contents through language samples. Controlling comprehension.
Session 5	Developing production skills: oral and written expression. Developing expression strategies. Phases in achieving oral and written production.
Session 6	Developing learning strategies. Combining language skills. Presentation of possible projects, organizing the work for the projects.
Session 7	Grammar in the Communicative Method. The concept of Grammar. Linguistic Grammar/Teaching Grammar. Deductive Grammar/Inductive Grammar.
Session 8	Creating materials. Didactic bricolage or "Do-it-your-self": images, texts, worksheets, etc. within the context of the learning objectives.
Session 9	Media and materials depending on pair-work versus whole groups activities, teamwork, or individual work.
Session 10	Existing Spanish FL materials. How to complement, adapt, and remake materials depending on the target group.
Session 11	Culture in the classroom: how to incorporate culture into the Spanish FL classroom. The sociological concept of culture, everyday culture, developing intercultural competence.
Session 12	Art in the Spanish FL classroom: how to create lesson plans incorporating various art forms of Spanish speaking countries. Designing learning cultural activities. Literature in the classroom: authors, genres and text types of Spanish Literature (Spain and Latin America). How to use it in Spanish FL the classroom with the Communicative Method.
Session 13	Spanish as a "tool" for integration: Spanish for immigrants with the aim of social, cultural, and work insertion. Analysis of existing materials.
Session 14	Teaching Spanish FL to children: age groups, working techniques, the psychopedagogical component. Analysis of existing materials.
Session 15	Creating materials II. How to complement, adapt, and remake materials depending on the target group. The syllabus of the Instituto Cervantes, the European Common Frame of Reference for Languages, and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines.
Session 16	Psycho-pedagogical elements in the teaching of Spanish: - working with suggestions and creating a positive attitude. - how to organize the classroom environment to make it more motivating. - the two hemispheres of the brain: various non-verbal modes of learning (visual and kinesthetic).
Session 17	Neurolinguistic programming in the classroom: different types of students, developing empathy in communication, conflict resolution techniques.
Session 18	New technologies in the teaching of Spanish FL: tools, materials, virtual learning, the role of the tutor. Analysis of the materials of "AVE", the Instituto Cervantes’ on-line Spanish course.
Session 19	Spanish for special purposes: Spanish for the workplace. Review of available materials and texts.
Session 20	Pronunciation and orthophonetics: voice lessons, sound placement, improving pronunciation, and proper articulation.
Last week of the Seminar	Evaluation. Coordination y revision of the projects.

Independent Study

A fundamental component of the Spanish FL Seminar program is the completion of 2 projects over the 4 months:

the first project focuses on a theoretical aspect within the communicative method and all it’s related themes in the program: pair-work versus whole groups activities, teamwork, skills, selection and analysis of materials , etc.
the second project consists in developing a set of lessons, framed within a specific syllabus: with the supervision of an expert teacher, the student will have to construct a scaled series of lesson plans to then carry out with a group of students who are studying Spanish. This will be a teaching “test”, for which we will write a detailed report.

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