Advanced Spanish and Argentine Culture

Advanced Spanish and Argentine Culture
Advanced Language and Culture in Buenos Aires
Program Course
Advanced Spanish and Argentine Culture is designed especially for participants on the Summer
Language and Culture program. It is taught in Spanish by Argentine professors. This course is worth 3
U.S. semester credit hours and is required for all program participants.
Course Description:
The aim of the course is to enable students to practice the four macro-skills: listening, speaking, writing
and reading making the most of the Spanish-speaking environment in which the course is offered and
encouraging students to come into contact with different aspects of the Argentine cultural, social and
political reality while fostering their interaction with native speakers.
The course begins with an evaluation designed to assess the student’s linguistic competency. This
evaluation comprises:
• an oral interview in Spanish to assess the student’s oral expression and comprehension through the
organization of discourse and the handling of syntactic structures, vocabulary, fluency and diction;
• a Spanish language test to assess the student’s written expression and reading and comprehension
skills through the handling of syntactic structures and vocabulary and the student’s competency
regarding the specific features of the written register.
The course comprises 48 contact hours distributed as follows: 2 Spanish language workshop hours during
the orientation period; 36 class hours throughout the duration of the course and 8 mandatory hours for
assignments involving cultural outings and visits (a visit to the old part of the city, a visit to a tango club, a
guided visit to the Malba Museum of Latin American Art, a visit to the artisan and folk craft fair in the
neighborhood of Mataderos, etc.).
General Course Objectives:
The overall objective pursued by the Advanced Spanish Language and Argentine Culture Course is to
offer students the tools required to enable them to improve their Spanish through a varied approach
based on their fields of interest.
The course is designed as a space for the discussion and revision of basic language structures and for the
presentation, acquisition and practice of more complex discursive strategies through an in-depth
approach to cultural topics.
The course will address the discussion of topics regarding Argentine culture through reading
assignments, discussion and written papers.
Specific Course Objectives:
The course comprises three main components:
1) discussion and practice of grammar points;
2) reading, discussion and writing based on different types of texts;
Institute for Study Abroad® • 1100 W. 42nd St., Suite 305 • Indianapolis, IN 46208 • 800-858-0229 • Fax: 317-940-9704 • www.ifsa-butler.org
3) reflection on and discussion of cultural topics.
The specific objectives of these three core components are to enable students to:
•
•
•
•
Explore different strategies for the comprehension and analysis of complex texts and genres of
discourse specific to the academic field.
Incorporate critical reflection on oral and written communication processes thus enabling them to
come into contact with the social cultural production.
Master the tools required for the appropriate and effective production of expositive and
argumentative texts in Spanish.
Improve their text production processes, reading comprehension and oral expression in Spanish by
developing different linguistic strategies.
Thematic Content:
• Introduction to Argentine culture. Everyday life, groups of belonging, local customs and habits.
Cultural differences.
• The City of Buenos Aires: neighborhoods, means of transport, communications, public spaces.
• The manner of speaking in Buenos Aires. Presentation and analysis of its specific features. Local
vocabulary. The lunfardo.
• Presentation and discussion of topics associated with Argentina at present through the reading and
analysis of the main Buenos Aires dailies.
• Iconic personalities of Argentine culture (Eva Perón, “Che” Guevara, Jorge Luis Borges, Victoria
Ocampo, etc.).
• Museums: presentation in class and guided visits to different museums in the city.
Opera: the Colón Theater and the place occupied by opera amongst the people of the City of Buenos
Aires.
• Theater, movies and soccer in the lives of the Argentine people.
• Tango, River Plate music. Different stages and styles. The themes of tango lyrics. Tango as a dance.
Visit to a milonga (tango club).
• Argentine humor in the graphic media and television. The politically (in)correct in Argentina.
• Contemporary Argentine music (“national rock or Argentine rock”), its main interpreters.
• The relationship between the city and the farmlands. Urban culture vs. rural culture. Visit to an
estancia (crop and livestock producing farm) and to folk art fairs.
Course Grammar Content
• Verb To Be. Different verbs to express "To Be" in Spanish, according to the context (“ser” vs. “estar”).
Distinctive features of the River Plate Spanish. Morphologic features of the use of the “vos” form
instead of “tú”.
• The pronominal system. Direct and indirect object pronouns. The duplication of the indirect object.
Degrees of transitivity. Comparison with the use of pronouns in Spain; leísmo, the use of “le” instead
of “lo” and “la”.
• Verbal aspect: the contrast between the pretérito imperfecto and the pretérito indefinido. Adverbs and
adverbial phrases related with the verbal aspect.
• The subjunctive mode. Mandatory and optional uses. Temporal correlation with verbs requiring the
use of the subjunctive in the past tense.
• Type 1, 2, 3 and mixed conditional sentences. Uses and value.
• Reported speech with introductory verbs in the present and past tense. Adverbial and pronominal
reference in reported speech.
Institute for Study Abroad® • 1100 W. 42nd St., Suite 305 • Indianapolis, IN 46208 • 800-858-0229 • Fax: 317-940-9704 • www.ifsa-butler.org
•
•
•
•
Value of some prepositions in Spanish. Prepositions in fixed expressions. Personal direct objects.
Prepositional verbs and verbs with prepositions. Contrast between cause and effect. Different
functions of “por” and “para”.
Passive voice structures.
Grammatical resources to express impersonality.
Relative pronouns. Logical and discursive connectors.
Course Assessment:
The overall assessment of the Advanced Spanish Language and Argentine Culture Course takes into account
the level of commitment and personal progress achieved by each student as against the general and
specific objectives of the course syllabus. Special attention is given to the following components:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Individual and progressive development of language competencies.
Participation in class discussions.
Timely compliance with course requirements.
Compliance with the assignments given by the professor.
Dedication in the approach to and analysis of the topics submitted to discussion.
Attendance and punctuality.
Formal Assessment:
The course assessment is twofold:
• Mid-term oral group presentation: At the beginning of the third week of classes, students are
required to make an oral presentation on the product of a Photographic Report of the City of Buenos
Aires. The presentation is to be made in groups comprising 2 or 3 students and shall not extend
beyond 20 minutes.
• Final written essay and oral report: The last day of classes, each student is required to submit a final
essay that must follow the guidelines (topic, format, style, etc.) set out by the professors at the
beginning of the course. The essay shall be four pages long, double space.
Considerations regarding the final essay:
The final essay is individual work. The work consists in writing an article to be published in the
newspaper produced by the student’s University in the US.
The final written assignment involves the writing of an essay dealing with one of Argentina’s
cultural aspects included in the syllabus and discussed in the Spanish Language course and in class
(tango, soccer, humor, art, popular music, folklore, etc.) or a topic that has been previously
approved by your professor.
The essay must justify the choice of the topic and develop it and must also include quotations from
the pertinent bibliography.
The objective of this written work is to ensure that the student makes an in-depth analysis of a
specific topic associated with his/her experience in Argentina.
The essay shall be comprised of the following segments: title, descriptions and explanations,
arguments, conclusions and bibliography: students should make use of at least three different
bibliographical sources in the writing of their essay.
Institute for Study Abroad® • 1100 W. 42nd St., Suite 305 • Indianapolis, IN 46208 • 800-858-0229 • Fax: 317-940-9704 • www.ifsa-butler.org
Considerations regarding the final oral presentation:
On the last day of classes, each student shall make a brief oral presentation before the group on
his/her written essay. Each presentation shall not extend beyond five minutes per student.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-AGUINIS, Marcos, El atroz encanto de ser argentinos, Planeta, 2001.
-ALABARCES, Pablo, Fútbol y patria: el fútbol y las narrativas de la nación en la Argentina, Prometeo, 2003.
-ALABARCES, Pablo, Entre gatos y violadores. El rock nacional en la cultura argentina, Buenos Aires, Colihue,
1993.
-ARCHETTI, Eduardo P, Estilo y virtudes masculinas in El Gráfico: la creación del imaginario del fútbol
argentino, Desarrollo económico, vol 35, No. 139, 1995.
-BORGES, Jorge Luis, El idioma de los argentinos, Colecciones Índice, Buenos Aires, 1928
-Eternautas, Buenos Aires tiene historia, once itinerarios guiados por la ciudad.
-FERNÁNDEZ BITAR, Marcelo, Historia del rock en Argentina, Buenos Aires, Distal, 1997.
-FRYDENBERG, Julio D, Redefinición del fútbol aficionado y del fútbol oficial, Buenos Aires, 1912.
-FRYDENBERG, Julio D, Prácticas y valores en el proceso de popularización del fútbol, Buenos Aires 19001910.
-GRABIA, Gustavo, La doce, la verdadera historia de la barra brava de Boca, Sudamericana, 2009.
-GUERRERO, Gloria, Indio Solari: el hombre ilustrado, Buenos Aires, Sudamericana, 2005.
-KREIMER, Juan Carlos (compilador) Agarrate. Testimonios de la música joven de Argentina, Buenos Aires,
Galerna, 1970.
-LERNOUD, Pipo (director) Rock nacional, 30 años. Enciclopedia, Buenos Aires, Mordisco 1996.
-LÓPEZ ANAYA, Jorge, Arte argentino, cuatro siglos de historia1600-2001, Emecé, 2001.
-Museo Malba, Guía colección Malba.
-PETRINA, Alberto (director), Buenos Aires. Guía de arquitectura. Ocho recorridos por la ciudad, Sevilla, 1998.
-PUJOL, Sergio, Las ideas del rock. Genealogía de la música rebelde, Rosario, Homo Sapiens, 2007.
-QUINO, Todo Mafalda.
-QUINO, Esto no es todo.
-SÁBATO, Ernesto, Tango, discusión y clave, Losada, 1997.
-SALAS, Horacio, El tango. Una guía definitiva, Buenos Aires, Aguilar, 1996.
-SALAS, Horacio, El tango, Planeta, 1995.
-SARLO, Beatriz, Tiempo presente, Siglo Veintiuno editores, 2007.
-SARLO, Beatriz, La ciudad vista, Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 2009.
-SCHER, Ariel, Fútbol: pasión de multitudes y elites, Cisea, 1988.
Institute for Study Abroad® • 1100 W. 42nd St., Suite 305 • Indianapolis, IN 46208 • 800-858-0229 • Fax: 317-940-9704 • www.ifsa-butler.org
-SEOANE, María, Nosotros, Sudamericana, 2005.
-VILA,Pablo, Rock nacional, crónicas de la resistencia juvenil, in Jelin, Elizabeth (compiler), Los nuevos
movimientos sociales, Buenos Aires, Ceal, 1985.
Institute for Study Abroad® • 1100 W. 42nd St., Suite 305 • Indianapolis, IN 46208 • 800-858-0229 • Fax: 317-940-9704 • www.ifsa-butler.org