FOREIGN LANGUAGE (SPANISH)
SAMPLE COURSE DESCRIPTION

GS-WEST

The Spanish program presents students the opportunity to improve reading, writing, listening, and speaking abilities in Spanish while challenging them to think critically about contemporary issues and developments in the Spanish-speaking world. Students will be asked to examine and reflect on pressing questions from the Latino perspective in order to make personal and interdisciplinary connections and apply them in a global context.

A number of guest speakers from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries give students the chance to hone their language skills as well as learn about and reflect on the personal experiences of each speaker. Students will also develop their language skills and cultural awareness by working with "La Escuelita"; a YMCA funded day camp focused on the Latino community at the Ledges Apartments located on Academy St. in Winston-Salem. We visit with the kids twice a week for five weeks and share our experiences with the rest of GSW during the final week of the session.

Topics addressed in the program that relate directly to Spanish-speakers in the U.S. include:

  • Immigration issues of Latinos
  • U.S. government policy towards immigration policy, procedures, and projections
  • Assimilation and cultural permutation
  • Manifestations of the Latino influence in the U.S.
  • Linguistic developments and changes such as spanglish and code-switching
  • Identity struggles and the diverse origins of Spanish-speakers

Other topics of discussion and debate will include:

  • Linguistic diversity within specific regions and from country to country
  • Non-verbal communication
  • Customs and rituals related to religion, health, and the environment
  • U.S. relations and historic involvement with Latin America and Spain
  • Conflict resolution and consensus building in Central America
  • Influence of the U.S. on the Spanish-speaking world
  • Indigenous peoples and the tremendous ethnic diversity in Latin America
  • Economic issues such as remesas, TLC (NAFTA), FMI (IMF), Banco Mundial (World Bank)
  • "Global village" vs. "Global pillage"
  • "Underdeveloped" vs. "Overexploited"
  • Human rights concerns such as Maquilas (sweatshops) and ethnic cleansing
  • Consequences of cycle of poverty such as pandillas (gangs), child labor, and domestic violence
  • Racism, Machismo, and Marianismo
  • Narcotráfico
  • Environmental trends such as deforestation

These topics are explored in Spanish through a combination of in-class reading and writing, roundtable discussions, debates, group projects, guest presentations, skits, and independent research. Students are challenged, and hopefully inspired, to identify sources for positive change and possible solutions to the many problems addressed.

Resources include:

  • Novels, essays, poetry, news articles, films, documentaries, music, and artwork.