As a Penn State University lecturer in Spanish at the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, I have had the opportunity to teach many different levels of Spanish. Nowadays, I focus my attention on Span002, for the College of Liberal Arts under the direction of the Spanish Basic Language Program. Beside that course, I have designed and I am currently teaching 3 Spanish courses for students in the agricultural sciences. Span105, Span106 and Span197 are a series of three courses offered for the College of Agricultural Sciences that mirror the requirement and specifications of Span001, Span002 and Span003 in the College of Liberal Arts.

 

The College of Agriculture follows the Liberal Arts Foreign Language Placement policy that dictates the minimum level language course a student is allowed to take for credit, based on the student's high school admissions information. In summary, the guideline is as follows:

 

• Students who took 1 year or less of high school Spanish are allowed to receive credit for Span001 or Span105 (and above).

• Students who took 2 or 3 years of high school Spanish are allowed to receive credit for Span002 or Span106 (and above - nothing lower!)

• Students who took 3 or 4 or more years of high school Spanish are allowed to receive credit for Spanish 107 (nothing lower!)

 

All these courses are designed in a 4 credits basis, however Span197 is 3 credits. Span002 is a hybrid course that meets 2 times a week for 50 minutes and has a considerable amount of homework. Span105 and Span106 meet 2 times a week for 75 minutes and it has a lower amount of homework.

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The average number of students attending these courses is 20 students for classroom, with a limit of 22. During class time, they normally seat in an “U-shaped” classroom facing the instructor and the projector screen. 

 

While or after completing these courses, students have the opportunity to travel abroad. Students in the College of Liberal Arts have the possibility to travel to Ronda, Spain for a 5 weeks faculty-led program in the summer. Meanwhile, the College of Agriculture offers a 5 weeks faculty-led program to Turrialba, Costa Rica.