Spanish Language Studies - 10 Levels
In Guadalajara
The size of our groups is no larger than 15 students. This enables us to give a more personalized attention, according to the specific needs of each student, and to encourage more interaction in the classroom.
Our year-long program schedule, with its rich variety of courses available, enables students to select a program of study that comes closest to their personal needs. A placement test will determine which programs students may attend. Each course lasts for fifty hours and earns three university credits. The school has morning and afternoon classes, from Monday through Friday. Students can choose between the following alternative patterns of study:
Intensive sessions These last five weeks.
1 Course = 2 Hours of class per day = 50 hours Total = 3 Credits
2 Courses = 4 Hours of class per day = 100 hours Total = 6 Credits
3 Courses = 6 Hours of class per day = 150 hours Total = 9 Credits
Students may register for one, two or three courses for a given period of studies. The majority of students register for two Spanish language courses and one supplementary course, either a content course or a creative workshop. In each year, there are eleven periods of study.
Learning is based on the Communicative Approach without losing sight of the need for grammatical accuracy. Spanish language courses are taught in Spanish and are designed to help students acquire fluency and sufficient communicative skills to cope with any situation that they are likely to encounter. The size of our groups is no bigger than 15 students. This enables us to give more personalized attention according to the specific needs of each student, and to encourage more interaction in the classroom. On arrival, students are tested for both written and spoken competence. On the basis of this placement test, they are assigned to the most appropriate level for their own benefit. CEPE operates ten levels of Spanish instruction, which are in turn divided into three areas:
Spanish for beginners: Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. The program for beginners focuses primarily on verbal expression, vocabulary expansion and listening skills. This approach is supplemented by work on reading texts for information, writing and basic grammar. We recommend that students follow between four to six hours of this course on a daily basis. Beginners can also enroll in supplementary courses Conversation I and Mexican Culture, the latter being the only content course taught in English.
Intermediate Spanish: Levels 5, 6, 7 and 8. The focus in these programs is on developing the grammatical competence needed to maintain both informal conversation and more formal communication, as well as developing sufficient vocabulary for reading and writing purposes. Students who on placement testing demonstrate sufficient competence to study at Level 7 and beyond may also enroll in a variety of supplementary content courses.
Advanced Spanish: Levels 9 and 10. Advanced classes concentrate on total mastery of the language, including reading excerpts from literature, the writing of essays and enhancement of oral expression. Advanced students can enroll in any supplementary or content courses, according to their needs.
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