Spanish Courses
SPA 101 Introduction to Spanish I - 3 credits
Introduces students to the essentials of Spanish with emphasis on learning to speak and to understand practical, conversational Spanish. The class prepares students for basic communication in Spanish.
SPA 102 Introduction to Spanish II - 3 credits
A continuation of Spanish 101. Prerequisite: Spanish 101 or the equivalent.
SPA 105 Spanish for Healthcare Professionals - 3 credits
This is a communication-oriented course, with a practical task-based approach. Its goal is to introduce essential Spanish medical vocabulary, practical reference information, and present students with everyday situations that healthcare professionals may encounter at work settings such as hospitals, emergency rooms, doctors’ offices, and clinics when dealing with Spanish-speaking patients and personnel. It also provides an introduction to the major grammatical features of the language.
SPA 120 Conversational Spanish for Business - 3 credits
Develops the basic Spanish language skills required to interact in today’s business world. It provides the introduction to the major grammatical features of the Spanish language and the context of business, as well as essential business vocabulary.
SPA 201 Intermediate Spanish I - 3 credits
Students further their development of skills in reading, writing, speaking and understanding Spanish. This course also introduces students to aspects of Spanish culture.
SPA 202 Intermediate Spanish II - 3 credits
A continuation of Spanish 201, this course introduces students to Spanish literature. Prerequisite: Spanish 201 or the equivalent.
SPA 203 Spanish in the Workplace - 3 credits
An intensive course designed to refine the student’s Spanish reading, translation, and communication skills in career/professional situations, and to give the student information on Hispanic business and commercial customs and practices.
SPA 205 Spanish for Health Professionals - 3 credits
Designed to enrich students’ vocabulary with terms that can be used in the many careers related to health care or health and wellness. Much of the vocabulary is also appropriate for the layperson wishing greater facility with anatomical and other common medical terms in Spanish. The course will develop Spanish writing skills, grammar, and communicative ability in this context within the parameters of the online medium via assignments appropriate to the student’s individual skill level and professional interests (including but not limited to specialized vocabulary, letter and memo writing, interview skills, or interpretation). The course’s thematic focus is health issues as they pertain to Hispanic populations in the United States.
SPA 300 Linguistics and Translation - 3 credits
Explores how lexicon, structure, and dialect change throughout the Hispanic world. We will study some of the issues inherent in Spanish spoken in the U.S.; issues of language contact and language mixture; facts about language learning and use, especially as they pertain to K-12 teaching of Spanish in the U.S.; linguistic terminology useful to non-linguists; techniques of literary translation (how to do it) and practicalities of translation (how to use the skill to enhance your career).
SPA 301 Conversation and Composition - 3 credits
A study of vocabulary and idioms used in spoken Spanish with varied exercises to develop ease in writing. Special emphasis is placed on learning to communicate in situations of everyday life and the usage of specialized vocabulary. The student is introduced to Spanish-language resources available on the Internet.
SPA 302 Advanced Conversation and Composition - 3 credits
Through individualized and guided conversation, students continue to acquire vocabulary, structures and idioms essential to ease in communication on the advanced level. This course includes intensive in-class practice in speaking through role-playing, debates, simulated interviews and discussions. Students learn to express themselves orally and in writing on a wide range of topics from current events to personal values.
SPA 303 and 304 Survey of Spanish Literature - 3 credits each term
An overview of the richness and variety of Spanish literature. First semester: We journey from the fragmentary beginnings of Spanish literature in poetic folk songs through hero sagas, expressions of spirituality, comic plays, and parables of the wise, and end with the darkly comic classic novel in dialogue, La Celestina. Second semester: We discuss the impact of the Enlightenment in Spain and experience Galdos’s realism, Bécquer’s romanticism, and the moving poetry of the Generation of 1898, among other delights in the mature Spanish canon. We conclude our journey with the literature chronicling the devastating Spanish Civil War in the twentieth century, and examine the new directions Spanish literature has taken after the end of dictatorship and the restoration of the monarchy.
SPA 305 Survey of Latin-American Literature - 3 credits
A study of the relationship between Spanish and Latin American Literature, the idea of colonial literature, and Latin-American literary identity. This course addresses how we read literature (especially literature of another culture/linguistic group), the relevance of literary analysis to a larger understanding of a particular person or society, and the applicability of that information in our own lives. Writers to be studied include Christopher Columbus, Simon Bolivar, José Martí, Ruben Darío, Gabriela Mistral, Octavio Paz, Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Julio Cortazar, Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa.
SPA 306 Seventeenth-Century Spanish Literature: The Golden Age - 3 credits
An introduction to the glitter and the terror of the Spanish Golden Age, with all its artistic splendor, political intrigues and religious persecutions. Main themes of the course include the interconnectedness of literary development and political climate, the Spanish code of honor, and the role of women in Spanish Baroque society and literature. Writers include Cervantes, Calderón, Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina.
SPA 310 Hispanic Women Writers - 3 credits
A study of Hispanic women and their world(s) through the media of text, film and cybertext. Students read and write short stories (by, for and about women), hear the biography of Latina writers through the ages, discover and share information on prominent Latina figures available on the Internet, and participate in a classroom literary gathering. Emphasis is placed on living Latina writers and their perspectives, and how they relate to the Cedar Crest students’ experience as women.
SPA 311 Hispanic Culture and Civilization - 3 credits
A study of Hispanic women and their world(s) through the media of text, film and cybertext. Students read and write short stories (by, for and about women), hear the biography of Latina writers through the ages, discover and share information on prominent Latina figures available on the Internet, and participate in a classroom literary gathering. Emphasis is placed on living Latina writers and their perspectives, and how they relate to the Cedar Crest students’ experiences as women.
SPA 312 Hispanic Popular Culture in the United States - 3 credits
Explores in-depth the cultural variety of the Hispanic experience in the U.S., both as it exists currently and as it developed over the past five centuries. Students acquaint themselves with Latino history in the United States and better understand their evolving relationships with other ethnic groups. They also reflect upon the presence and portrayal of Hispanics in the U.S. film, television and other performing arts, and read literature written by U.S. Latinos and Latinas. We focus our inquiry particularly upon the Latino community of the Lehigh Valley.
SPA 313 Caribbean Literature - 3 credits
Examines how the history and writings of the peoples of the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico differ from those of other Latin American cultures (or non-Hispanic Caribbean cultures), and considers the historical, political and cultural factors that have shaped Caribbean literature. We will evaluate how we can characterize Cuban, Puerto Rican or Dominican identity based on the pictures conveyed in their literature, and explore some recurrent themes of Puerto Ricans, Dominican-Americans and Cuban-Americans writing in the U.S.
SPA 315 Topics in Hispanic Literature and Culture - 3 credits
A variety of topics chosen by students and faculty for in-depth study. Selected topics include: introduction to literary analysis; the Spanish Civil War; the generation of 1898; contemporary Spanish and Latin-American literature; southern Mediterranean civilization; and literature of the conquistadores.
SPA 160, 260 and 360 Special Topics - 1-3 credits
Highlights special topics that are not covered by regular departmental offerings.
SPA 391 and 392 Independent Study - 1-3 credits each term
Consists of individual projects. Students electing this course prepare a reading list and outline of the proposed project in consultation with a member of the department. Prerequisite: Permission of the department.
