Structure of the course

The Spanish language course has a duration of 60 hours, distributed in three weeks in the following way:

• • 48 hours of general Spanish lessons
• • 12 hours of work in the projects

The schedule of the lessons will be as follows:

 

How will we work?

Following our teaching philosophy, which is the action oriented focus recommended by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR), this course will consist of PROJECT BASED LEARNING. This methodology consists of a mode of teaching/learning based on tasks of medium or long duration.

In the development of a project the communications tasks will be taken into account, but also pedagogical tasks in a broader sense, which will help the students in their research and performance with the project. This methodology fosters the cooperative learning and stimulates the action autonomy of the learner.

What competences are improved in the project based learning?

Through the tasks the students will learn the linguistic and communicative skills which will allow them to communicate in the meta language. The projects provide a broader frame which also includes the cognitive skills (handling and organization of the information).

Learn a language using the language

The classroom will therefore become the scenario of the Spanish language learning by the use of the language that is being learnt with the goal of accomplishing a certain task, included in a broader project.

Groups

The students will be assigned in groups based on their language level, and the groups will not be bigger than 12 students. The distribution of the groups will be based on the online test from the Instituto Cervantes and a personal interview that will take place on arrival. The course is open to participants with a previous knowledge between level A2 and B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). These would correspond, approximately, from the Novice High to the Advanced Mid levels of ACTFL.

Projects provided

The projects in which we will work during the three weeks will allow the students to develop the knowledge of the culture, and are totally related to the outing that will take place as a complement of the language lessons. In this way, classroom and reality come together in the practice of the language and what has been learn within four walls gains all significance when the student uses it in real context.

• PROJECT I: “The other Barcelona”
• PROJECT II: “Art outside the museums”
• PROJECT III: “Food awareness: agriculture, gastronomy and nature”

Assessment and certification

To obtain the course certificate it will be compulsory to attend at least 80% of the lessons and excursions included in the program. The teachers will do a formative assessment of the tasks done in the classroom. The participants who pass this continuous assessment will obtain a certificate of the course stating the hours (60), the ECTS credits (3) and the content of the course.