Language

This post is an introduction to most Spanish courses offered in undergraduate programs in the United States.  The main purpose is to help students understand the content of Spanish courses and their sequence in most Bachelor’s degree programs. Students are encouraged to read course descriptions offered by their current or prospective programs.

This post is a continuation of the previous post What’s in a Course: Understanding Spanish Courses I. It covers information about advanced courses. As suggested in the previous post, make sure to read course descriptions offered by your current or prospective program carefully. 

In most programs, students must complete several courses related to three traditional tracks: Peninsular, Latin American, and Linguistics. 

These tracks help students to have a panoramic view of the Hispanic world departing from the literature produced in Spain and Latin American countries. They also provide a strong foundation to understand the mechanics of the Spanish language beyond mastering grammar rules or building more vocabulary.  

In discussing retention strategies for students doing a Major in Spanish, one of the most common challenges is not to attract students. More often than not, the challenge is to convince parents or legal guardians in charge of paying for their children’s education that a degree in a foreign language can be a lucrative one. 

This post is addressed to those students with parents who are not fully convinced of the value of a foreign language degree or are not willing to support a student interested in doing a Major in Spanish or any other language.

For decades, students have travelled around the world to take classes, learn new languages, and get academic degrees from a different country. 

Several Spanish departments in the United States recognize the importance of language immersion and have studying abroad as a requirement for the major. Although the pandemic forced the cancellation or elimination of studying abroad programs, these programs can still be beneficial to students. 

In this blog post, I write about five benefits of studying abroad.