COURSE DESCRIPTION
This class in Cienfuegos will acquaint you with Cuban and Latin American songs, songwriters, musical artists — Cienfuegos’ own Benny Moré, among them — and with key present tense structures in Spanish. We will listen to songs by several well-known singers, watch and discuss video clips showcasing outstanding performances, and translate segments of lyrics. These selected lyrics will reinforce grammatical structures and pronunciation patterns. The class is an invitation to appreciate and reflect on the cultural contributions of Cuban and Latin American musicians. Students will be encouraged to sing segments of the songs. To go in detail over the patterns of the present tense we will cover chapters 1 to 5 from the Puntos de Partida textbook. We will also use homework handouts for daily individual practice of the vocabulary and grammar content. You will have ample time to practice your Spanish in Cienfuegos outside of the classroom and will also have opportunities to enjoy live Cuban music by local musicians. Spanish 101 is a class designed for true beginners.
Enjoy the music!
COURSE OUTCOMES
- Recognize distinct cultural features of at least one non-English language community. (Remembering)
- Develop pertinent reflections on cultural features of non-English language communities. (Applying)
- Identify sentences in present tense in the new language. (Applying)
- Use present tense verbs to discuss basic topics. (Applying)
- Application Deadline: March 15
- NO Spanish Requirement
- Number of Credits: 3
- Number of Weeks: 5
- Course Begins: May 22, 2023
- Course Ends: June 26, 2023
ABOUT THE COURSE LEADER
Oscar D. Sarmiento is Chair and professor in modern languages at SUNY Potsdam.
His most recent book publications as a translator is, Crucifixión en la Plaza de Armas (Dharma, 2019) by Puerto Rican poet Martín Espada. His edition of Jorge Montealegre’s Cuenta Regresiva. Antología de Poemas 1978-2010 was published by LOM in 2017. His book El otro Lihn: La práctica cultural de Enrique Lihn was published by University Press of America in 2001, and his articles on contemporary Latin American poetry have appeared in scholarly journals. He was poetry editor for the Chilean poetry chapter of the Handbook of Latin American Studies of the Library of Congress from 1993 until 2000.
Dr. Noharis Sochi Alzuri Barr is currently dean of the Faculty of Humanities for la Universidad de Cienfuegos Carlos Rafael Rodriguez. She is a professor for the master’s program for didactics of languages and linguistic studies and for the doctoral training program in Educational Sciences. Dr. Alzuri Barr also sits on the doctoral committee of the didactics of languages and linguistics studies at la Universidad Central de Las Villas Marta Abreu.
Dr. Alzuri Barr is the scientific leader for research for the National Chair in the studies of Didactics of the Spanish Language, Historical, cultural and linguistic studies for socio-cultural development. Her main research has been developed in the fields of Educational Sciences, Studies of Thought, Historical and Linguistic Studies, as well as in current problems of linguistic discourse in the Spanish and English languages. She has received several awards in Educational Sciences by the Cuban Academy of Linguists.
Dr. Alzuri Barr is a member of the Association of Pedagogues of Cuba, the Union of Historians of Cuba and the José Martí Cultural Society of Cuba. She received her bachelor’s degree in Education with a specialty in Spanish Literature, her master’s degree in Education, and her PhD in Pedagogical Sciences all at la Universidad de Cienfuegos.
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