SPAN10001: Spanish 1

2 x online assignments [20%]
2 x written compositions [20%]
1 x group presentation [10%]
1 x individual oral presentation [20%]
1 x final exam [30%]

This subject was great fun! As the previous review said 5 years ago, the class dynamic is fantastic and full of camaraderie. Depending on what other subjects you're doing, it can be really refreshing to walk into an environment that feels far more collaborative than competitive.

The general pace was much faster than I expected, but it was still manageable- maybe even beneficial, since there isn't much time to forget previous concepts. Despite the speed, the topics were still taught thoroughly and in such a way that older skills were continually reinforced by the new. I also found that the tutors were quite good at giving English equivalents for concepts, so linguistic jargon was largely avoided when teaching grammar. That being said, they didn't spend much time explaining some ubiquitous concepts like grammatical gender, presumably because people would just pick them up through actual use. So familiarity with linguistics or a similar language is still a minor advantage.

In general, the subject was coordinated decently. Although there were no past exams available, there were always plenty of other resources. My biggest criticism was the way some assessments were communicated to students. The assessments themselves were pretty simple, but the expectations were not always made clear. This resulted in mass confusion in the days leading up to the first group task. So, here's an easy breakdown of what we did:

• Online assignments- these basic exercises consisted mostly of fill-in-the-blanks and similar primary-school-style questions. They were done in your own time and you could use your textbook. They were computer marked, so even though they were simple, care was required as even minor differences in phrasing were considered wrong. There were also a lot of exercises (50+ per assignment), so it would be extremely unwise to leave them to the last minute.
• Composition 1- ~300 words on yourself, your family, a piece of art by an Hispanic artist, and a culture or subculture you identify with.
• Group presentation- a 10-minute oral presentation, complete with notes and slideshow, entirely in English. You picked a topic relating to Hispanic or Latin American culture, and interpreted a bunch of art pieces with respect to that topic. You also tied in and reflected on your own experiences. Afterwards, you received questions and feedback from the rest of the class.
• Oral presentation- this was essentially a recital of Composition 1, with enough added content to fill up 6 minutes.
• Composition 2- this was the same content as the group presentation, except translated to Spanish and put into an Instagram format.
• Exam- similar in format to the online assignments, with a small writing section. I found the exam to be pretty challenging. The marking was strict, including when it came to fine points like accent placement. The exam writers also liberally applied new words that required context to figure out. There was definitely more to this exam than rote learning of the vocab and grammatical structures, so it was educational in its own way, I guess

Given the intertwining of language and culture, it should be no surprise that there was a cultural project. Called "Proyecto Selfi", this was built right into the various art-related assessments, as well as a trip to the NGV. It was a nice idea and a good way to connect the assessments, but the overall execution felt a bit flat as it didn't actually facilitate cultural discussion with any Spanish-speaking people. One tutor even remarked that some past presentations had ended up being mildly (and unintentionally) offensive because of this.
This is not at all to say the cultural aspect of the subject is bad or unnecessary- quite the opposite, in fact. You do learn plenty of new things about various Hispanic cultures, and usually in an engaging and respectful way. It's just that, in hindsight, the result still feels kinda shallow. And interpreting abstract art just isn't everyone's cup of tea.

YMMV vastly depending on your tutors. Tutes are split between two of them, and the differences in teaching style are so noticeable, it takes some getting used to. My tutors were a lot of fun, which was great for people who needed a relaxed environment. However, some students might prefer the more structured approaches that other streams offered. No matter who you had, though, you were in good hands- the tutors are all very capable and are always willing to help.

En resumen, I found Spanish 1 to be a solid, well-taught and enjoyable subject. It is straightforward and unlike high school language classes, manages to be neither dry nor very difficult. Of course, some effort is required to do well, but the assessments are nicely balanced and it's not too hard to stay motivated. Plus, you gain an immediately useful skill! This might only be the first step in properly learning Spanish, but it's surprising how much you can comprehend (in reading, anyway) with the basics you learn here.
Spanish is a very beautiful and useful language that is definitely taught well at Unimelb, so do yourself a favour and give Spanish 1 a shot!

No

4 out of 5

Exploraciones, 2nd Edition, 2016 (Blitt & Casas). You have to get this new (with the access code) as a decent chunk of the assessment is directly connected to the online copy.

2 x 2 hour tutorials

Sem 1, 2018

H1 (88)

2 written assignments (600 words each) during semester [30%](15% each)
Oral presentation (equivalent to 400 words) during semester [10%]
Online work (equivalent to 400 words) during semester [10%]
1 Oral exam (equivalent to 800 words) in week 11 [20%]
2-hour final written exam (equivalent to 1200 words)during exam period [30%]

Overall, this was a pretty fun subject. The most attractive element of it was the class dynamics. There was a really strong sense of belonging to a class, which is a nice departure from the way science subjects are run if you choose to take this subject as breadth.

Studying Spanish at University level is certainly very different to high school languages. The content was covered much, much more quickly and there wasn't as much time for revising the content. Strictly speaking, there wasn't actually time for revision, rather, skills previously learned were revised in the context of a new skill. This was a particularly refreshing way of doing things, as it allowed the content to be covered quickly and thoroughly.

The assessment was fairly basic. Almost all of it allowed you to use your textbook, save for the exams of course. The online activities were easy, with answers provided so you can put them in on your second attempt anyway (they were mainly there as a home revision exercise—a useful one too!). The tareas (assignments) were somewhat more challenging, though with the textbook at hand it was relatively easy to attain a good mark. The oral presentation was in English, and so was just a matter of actually getting it done properly. The oral exam and the exam posed the biggest challenge. The oral exam consisted of a role play, an interview component and a description of an artwork. This certainly posed a challenge to most students, though the tutors were quite fair in their marking. As mine remarked "you have only been learning Spanish for ten weeks, we don't expect you to have all that much to say". The exam was exactly like the tareas, but posed quite a challenge because a dictionary wasn't available to students taking the exam. It would be fair to say that it was probably everybody's weakest piece of assessment.

For students who hadn't studied a language before (probably about 50% of everyone), some of the grammar topics were ridiculously complicated. The biggest criticism I have for this subject is how some of the grammar was approached. Everything was explained very technically, with no pauses to explain what any of the terms meant. Even after having taken French to year twelve, I found it really difficult to follow what the tutors were talking about at times in terms of the grammar, as their explanations were very jargonistic. This put a lot of people off-side, including myself at times, and made things necessarily complicated. Another criticism I would have is that the tutors didn't seem particularly interested in developing the lower band, or the middle band of students. They were particularly focused on making the best students better. This certainly turned a lot of people off the subject, and in an area of study that can be made a lot easier with a bit of confidence, this complicated things a lot for some students. The fact that there were 20 classes for Spanish 1 in 2013, but will only be 14 for Spanish 2 does say something!

At the end of the day, Spanish is relatively straight forward. If you want good marks, you have to be committed to the subject but more importantly, committed to learning a language. There is certainly a feeling that learning the language was more important than doing well on exams, which was particularly refreshing! The class size and camaraderie was a highlight, but at certain times, the way things were taught invited justified frustration.

All in all, a good subject, so give it a go!

¡Adiós!

No, though the exams are modelled on the assignments

4 Out of 5

Exploraciones (Blitt/Casas). You do need to buy this textbook new. Part of the assessment predicates itself on having access to the online form of the book!

2 x 1.5 hour tutorial per week, 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

2013, semester 1

H1 (94)