Spanish Courses

Spanish classes will be taught by Mexican instructors at Universal, Centro de Lengua y Comunicación Social in Cuernavaca. Universal is a highly respected institution among the many language schools in Cuernavaca. The school's primary focus is on oral competency and on having a solid grammatical base. Classes are small, usually ranging from two to no more than six students.  For more information, see the Universal website at www.universal-spanish.com. 

 

Most Spanish courses are taught intensively for 4 weeks (8-10:50 a.m., Mon.-Fri.).  However, SPA 356 (Latin American Literature) will probably only meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

 

All students will take a written & oral pre-test at Universal during their first week in Cuernavaca and will then take an ungraded post-test at the end of the semester in order to assess their improvement.  The pre-test will not serve as a placement exam but rather as an assessment measure and a way for the Spanish instructors to determine students' strengths and weaknesses.  That information will then be used to: 1) tailor some of the class sessions to address problem areas, 2) recommend special tutoring for students who are behind others in the class; and 3) divide the group into smaller classes or sub-groups when there are several students registered for the same course.

 

Judy Shevelev serves as the Augsburg College CGE faculty liaison with Universal.  She maintains close contact with the Universal directors and Spanish teachers in order to monitor students’ progress and provide support where needed. If you have questions regarding your Spanish course registration, please contact Judy at jshevelev@prodigy.net.mx

 

Important Information Regarding Registration for Spanish Courses:

• Students who have not taken any college-level Spanish courses and those who have not completed the prerequisites for a given course (for example, students who want to skip a level), MUST take an on-line placement test and should contact Margaret Anderson at anderso4@augsburg.edu immediately.

• All other students should simply register for whichever course follows the last Spanish course they took, or if they are at the 300-level and above, whichever course most interests them.  In the case of SPA 316, students do not need to have taken SPA 311 first; those 2 courses may be taken in any order.

• Only Spanish 212, 311, 316, and 411 count toward the Spanish major or minor at Augsburg College.  SPA 411 also counts for the writing skill graduation requirement.  If you are from another school and are pursuing a major or minor in Spanish, check to see which courses will count toward your major or minor.

• We strongly recommend that advanced students (those who have already completed the equivalent of SPA 212) take *SPA 316 Conversations in Cultural Context, as it is geared toward developing oral competency in Spanish and is therefore a particularly good course to take while in Mexico. 

• Check with your Spanish department BEFORE registering for your courses so that you make the appropriate choice in advance.  

The minimum number of students required in order to offer a Spanish course is two.  Individual courses will only be offered in the case of students who have no other course options due to their level of Spanish.  For example, if only one student needs to take SPA 111, then private classes will be arranged for that student.  However, if only one student has registered for SPA 311 and has the option of taking SPA 316, then SPA 311 will not be offered for just one student. 

 

Students should be very careful when registering for their Spanish courses, as they may not change courses after the third day of the first week of Spanish classes.  Students may change classes under the following conditions:  1) There is still space in the course that the student wants to take.  (No more than six students per class.)  2) The student’s Spanish level is adequate, as indicated by the on-line placement test and/or previous Spanish coursework.

Students should complete the Spanish Pre-Test and Spanish registration form and return both to Judy Shevelev jshevelev@prodigy.net.mx.