Spanish 3: Readings in Spanish-Language Literature

Readings in Spanish-Language Literature is a course designed for intermediate to advanced students of Spanish. The cornerstone of the course is its collaborative model, in which students will work together to learn from literary texts selected by the instructor. This is neither a pure literature nor a pure language course, but rather a hybrid of the two, in which syntactical, cultural, or conversational instruction will be folded into comprehension and translation work with the texts.

Examples of texts to be studied include lengthy passages of Scripture from the Reina Valera 1960 (RVR) Bible, El Cid, El libro de buen amor, Don Quijote, Lazarillo de Tormes (a sort of Canterbury Tales of Spain), and the works of the 1898 Generation. Attention will also be given to the poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Unamuno, Machado, Borges, and Neruda.

The class will have a once-weekly Recitation period of two hours, during which time students and teacher will interact live with that week’s chosen text. The remainder of the week’s work will be conducted asynchronously through shared documents and a Slack workspace.

Students must confer with Profe Swait (joffre@kepler.education) before being accepted into this course. A good rule of thumb guide to know if your Spanish is at the level necessary to this course: if the student is able to understand Part Two of Tardy’s Easy Spanish Reader with minimal effort, and is able to read Part Three with just a bit of assistance from dictionaries or online tools, he is ready.

Course Objectives:

1. Upon completion of this course, students should:
2. Have their love for the Spanish language firmly embedded deep within their bosom.
3. Be conversant with the arc of mainstream Spanish letters from the 10th century to today.
4. Be confident in their ability to discuss real ideas in the Spanish language, both orally and written.
5. Have taken a quantum leap in their understanding of the language.

Texts:

• Bible, version RVR 1960 (Reina Valera 1960), not bilingual
• .pdf packet provided by teacher