Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Prerequisite:  S280 or Consent of the Department.  
Co-requisite: may be taken concurrent with HISP-S 280.

The focus of this course is for students to develop their writing and oral abilities in Spanish. Within that focus, I have selected class materials that present a variety of topics and arguments, including Latin America and Spanish social, cultural, educational, and environmental issues. It is possible that connections between our course and current and/or historical events outside the classroom will come up in films, readings, presentations, compositions. The ability to draw and analyze connections among ideas and events is a core skill in a liberal arts education and will stand you in good stead in your life beyond IU. In this course, students will cultivate their writing skills in Spanish by learning and practicing the main components of four common types of writing styles: description, exposition, narration, and argumentation.  Students will also study the compositional elements that are found in both formal and informal writing styles and review vocabulary and grammar points that will be used in the compositions written in the course, as well as other writing conventions (e.g., spelling, punctuation, and accents).  In addition to the book, students will read several articles from newspapers around the Spanish-speaking world about topics about the Spanish language and society.  These readings will not only serve as examples of the writing styles students will see, but they will also provide the subject matter for in-class discussions. By the end of the semester, students will improve their ability to write in a variety of formal writing styles, discuss several different political, social, and cultural issues in the Spanish-speaking world, and gain greater confidence in their conversation skills overall. 

Note:   HISP-S 308 is for L2 speakers of Spanish; Heritage speakers who grew up hearing/speaking Spanish at home should register for HISP-S 309.

Note:  HISP-S 309 counts the same as HISP-S 308 as an elective for the Spanish major and minor.

HISP-S 308    #7701    12:45P-2:00P       TR        SY 210              Israel Herrera