Spanish A1 Access

Subject code:
Number of ECTS credits: 6
Duration: Semestral
Study plan to which it belongs:

Description

The Spanish A1 course is the first contact with the Spanish language and has two main goals: Motivating the student to continue learning and get the student to relate to others at a very basic level in Spanish.

This course offers students the necessary skills to obtain an Access Level in the Spanish language. Its purpose is to encourage the development of the appropriate language skills (reading comprehension, oral comprehension, verbal expression and writing skills), and thus aims to provide students with the ability to understand words and basic expressions on easy topics, to hold very simple conversations on every day topics at a slow pace, as well as being able to write short, basic sentences.

General Objectives

  • Make learning the Spanish language a fun and enjoyable experience.
  • Encourage interest and enjoyment in reading, along with specific reading strategies.
  • Contribute to the development of autonomous learning processes.
  • Develop the initial verbal expression and interaction in Spanish.
  • Develop the initial listening and reading comprehension in Spanish.
  • Develop the initial written expression in Spanish.

Specific or competece objectives

  • To understand short, every day or personal conversations.
  • To understand very basic daily life instructions.
  • To start using common courtesy expressions.
  • To grasp general information of very simple texts.
  • To write briefly about everyday topics.

Methodology

The chosen learning and content assessment methodology for this course is based on the MOU distance learning and continuing education model.

Knowledge of the subject is achieved through careful study of all the teaching units, as well as through other teaching materials made available in the Virtual Classroom.

Additionally, it is necessary for the students to complete the learning and continuous assessment activities in the planned 'educational activities schedule', as defined in the 'evaluation system', both subheadings found in the course’s teaching guide. These activities target the development of one or several of the basic skills and consist of writing, reading, music videos, audio tracks (podcast), live conversations by means of audio-conference, and so on.

Furthermore, the students will have four mandatory online exams, required for admission to the final, in-person exam. At the end of the course, students must complete a written and oral exam to fully assess the knowledge acquired throughout the course.

The conceptual doubts that arise after careful study of the teaching units and supplementary information must be brought up in the Virtual Classroom Tuition Forums.

Required dedication

It is estimated that it will take approximately 60 hours to read and understand the theoretical contents covered in the various teaching units, while the Continuing Assessment Activities (CAA), learning activities and exams will take about 75 hours. Another 15 hours should be sufficient for the student to consolidate the knowledge and abilities acquired during the course in preparation for the final, in-person exam.

Tutorials

The conceptual doubts that arise after the reasoned study of the units of the manual and/or the complementary material should be raised in the Tutorial Forums available in the Virtual Classroom.

However, a timetable for telephone tutorials or email consultations is available to students.

We would like to highlight the importance of the forums as the main channel of communication with the teacher and classmates, as well as being an essential tool for the exchange of knowledge, thus facilitating the learning of the concepts associated with the subject.

Participation in tutorials, which will be adapted according to the characteristics and needs of each student, is also highly recommended. These tutoring sessions will be carried out primarily using the virtual forums or telephone.

Below are different support resources for the methodology of the subject:

Virtual Classroom: Through the virtual classroom, students can communicate with their teacher and classmates at any time.

Didactic materials

For the development of theoretical learning; the subject of the final exam, the student will be provided with a manual made up of didactic units, which correspond to the description of the contents of the subject. This manual may have different formats depending on the subject.

The recommended bibliography and complementary materials associated with the development of each subject will be provided in the Virtual Classroom as the didactic units are developed.

UDIMA also counts on different resources to facilitate the students' learning process such as:

Virtual e-brary book shop.: Our students have access to a virtual bookshop with more than 65,000 titles.

Youtube: UDIMA has its own channel where teachers can upload interesting videos for the training of students.
(www.youtube.com/user/universidadudima)

The source material for this course will be from the "Cervantes Virtual Classroom, AVE - Cervantes Institute (Spain) 2002".

Evaluation system

UDIMA' s evaluation system includes different types of assessment and learning activities. The established assessment criteria are detailed below:

Learning Activities
10%
Tests
10%
Continuous Evaluation Activities
20%
on-line oral exam
10%
In-person final exam
50%
TOTAL 100%