Learning Outcomes

Students should prepare for class meetings by working carefully through each step of an assigned activity. They are NOT expected to comprehend everything that they read or hear nor to memorize all of the information that they encounter! Instead, students should make every effort to comprehend the Spanish language and cultural content that they encounter, using the embedded comprehension checks as indicators of successful preparation and taking note of larger ideas that they would like clarified. This general familiarity with the material will allow for successful participation in the guided analyses of language usage and content they will experience in class. Students should also be prepared to confront new perspectives that may challenge their current understanding of language and cultural studies, as well as the role of Spanish in the world today. Ideally, students will be patient with themselves as they work through the incredibly rewarding (but sometimes uncomfortable) process of becoming a participant user of Spanish.

By the end of Unidad 4, successful students’ language use will align with the designation of Intermediate-Mid for both speaking and writing as described by the American Council of Foreign Language Teachers (ACTFL). By the end of Unidad 8, student language use will approximate Intermediate-High proficiency.

Upon successful completion of the Acceso curriculum, students will be able to do the following:

  1. identify the main ideas in a variety of authentic written texts directed at a general audience and analyze some of the more nuanced aspects of those texts with respect to language usage within its cultural context.
  2. comprehend Spanish in instructional and interpersonal contexts, grasp the main ideas of spoken language intended for a native audience, and learn to identify specific areas of misunderstanding and request clarification to facilitate the further development of linguistic and interactional repertoires.
  3. communicate their ideas both orally and in writing in such a way that native speakers unaccustomed to non-native Spanish will be able to comprehend these ideas, though this spoken and written language use will be far from error free.
  4. express increasingly complex ideas effectively in Spanish through guided journal writing and a structured, process-oriented approach to formal composition.
  5. demonstrate broad cultural awareness of the diverse human geographies, practices, products and perspectives that comprise the Spanish-speaking world and the ability to relate this awareness to their understandings of their own cultural experiences.
  6. analyze social issues from more than one perspective through the development of (inter)cultural sensitivity and more nuanced critical thinking skills.
  7. use technology to access a range of information sources from the Spanish-speaking world independently and effectively.