Spanish Language

Program Overview

The RC Spanish Program is the largest of the five intensive language programs; not surprising considering the rising prominence of Spanish in American culture and society.

Program Head: Olga Lopez-Cotin (olcotin@umich.edu)

The Residential College Spanish program offers the Spanish lunch table and Spanish coffee hours (Tertulia) to provide the opportunity to practice Spanish in informal situations. See this link for the days and times of the Tertulia and lunch tables. Anyone - students, faculty and friends - who can say something in Spanish are welcome. The Spanish table is held in the South Dining Hall. There are always several teachers on hand ready to converse with students and on occasion, we invite special guests to join us.

Courses & Activities | Highlights | Faculty

Spanish Immersion Overview

The RC Spanish program is built to get you to real proficiency, not just through a language requirement. It pairs intensive classroom work with steady chances to use the language in everyday settings, so what you learn holds.

The path is straightforward. You start in RCLANG 194 (Intensive Spanish I) and continue into RCLANG 294 (Intensive Spanish II). If you've studied Spanish before, take the LSA Placement Test and start at the level that fits you. When you're ready, you sit the RC proficiency exam, which covers listening, reading, writing, speaking, and grammar. Passing it opens the door to the Readings Seminar (RCLANG 324), where the work shifts from learning the language to using it on Spanish texts and culture.

What makes the program work is everything around the classes. Four days a week you can practice over lunch at the Spanish table, and each week there's a Tertulia, the Spanish coffee hour, where students, faculty, and the occasional guest sit and talk. These are low-key and open to any level, and they're where a lot of the language becomes second nature.

The program also sets you up for study abroad, through the University of Michigan or independent programs, so you can put the language to work somewhere it's actually spoken. Whether you're starting from zero or already have some Spanish, the program meets you where you are and builds from there.

Courses & Activities

The RC Spanish program runs two standing ways to practice outside of class, and enrolled students are expected to take part regularly. Both are open to anyone who can say a little Spanish, students, faculty, and friends alike.

Spanish Lunch Table: four days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 11:00 to 12:00, in the Private Dining Room at the East Quad cafeteria. Several teachers are always on hand to talk with students, and guests join now and then.
Tertulia (Spanish coffee hour): weekly, Mondays 2:00 to 3:00, in the Greene Lounge. Casual conversation and cultural exchange, sometimes with visiting guests.

Courses

RCLANG 154 ELEMENTARY SPANISH: 4 contact hours per week (4 credits). Fall only.

The goal of this non-intensive course is to provide students with limited or no previous background inthe language with a basic knowledge of Spanish grammar and functional vocabulary as well aspractice in speaking and writing. It also provides strategies for studying a second language that willprepare them for an intensive Spanish class during the winter. A selection of verb tenses andgrammatical structures are used in real-life contexts and practiced daily in small groupactivities.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to comprehend and interpret simple journalistic articles and analyze short oral passages. It prepares students to write and sustaingeneral simple conversations with native speakers about self, family, academic life and interests.

RCLANG 194 INTENSIVE SPANISH I: 8 contact hours per week (8 credits)

This course meets twice a day, 4 days a week and covers in one term the equivalent of two non-intensive courses. Its goal is to provide students with a basic but comprehensive knowledge of Spanish syntax, functional vocabulary, and practice in speaking and writing. The lecture gives a thorough introduction to Spanish grammatical structures as used in cultural contexts.

Students also meet in small daily discussion groups for intensive practice of the material. Students also attend lunch-tables and coffee-hours regularly. Upon completion of this course students can understand non-edited journalistic texts without the aid of a dictionary, and oral passages of medium length, and can also initiate and sustain a general conversation with a native speaker.

RCLANG 294 INTENSIVE SPANISH II: 8 contact hours per week (8 credits)

This course meets twice a day and covers in one term the equivalent of two non-Intensivecourses. Its goal is to bring students to a level of competence in Spanish that allows communication with ease in speaking and writing, and understanding a written or spoken text ofa more specialized interest.

The morning lecture is devoted to a thorough review and expansion of grammar in Spanish, training students to develop their listening comprehension skills and fine-tuning their vocabulary. The discussion focuses on the critical analysis of authentic texts addressing issues pertinent to communities in the Spanish-speaking world. Students attend lunch-tables and coffee-hours regularly and develop advanced proficiency as measured by a comprehensive final exam.

By the end of the term, they can read journalistic or academic prose with ease as well as write essays of anacademic nature with a minimum of English interference. They can also sustain a conversation with anative speaker.

RCLANG 314 SPANISH ACCELERATED REVIEW: 4 contact hours per week (4 credits)

This course is designed for students with a fairly extensive background in Spanish, who have already taken the equivalent of three/four semesters of language but still need further reinforcement in two or more linguistic areas, and are too advanced for second year intensive.The main focus of this class is the discussion of primary source materials of literary, cultural and political nature pertaining to the Spanish-speaking world, as well as the review of advanced grammar.

Students attend lunch-tables and coffee-hours regularly and develop advanced proficiency as measured by a comprehensive final exam. By the end of the term, they can read journalistic or academic prose with ease as well as write essays of an academic nature with a minimum of English interference.They can also sustain a conversation with a native speaker.

RCLANG 324 SPANISH READINGS: 3 contact hours per week (4 credits)

The Spanish Advanced Readings are open to all students who have passed the Proficiency Exam. These interdisciplinary seminars are the capstone course for the Residential College Spanish program. They offer the opportunity to develop advanced Spanish mastery through readings, discussions, presentations and essay writing on a range of contemporary cultural, artistic, historical and sociopolitical issues in the Spanish-speaking world. Class sessions are carried out as discussions where emphasis is placed on student participation.

Study Abroad With Spanish!

Students in the Residential College Spanish Program may participate in the Study Abroad opportunities offered by the University of Michigan or may consider other possibilities available to them through a variety of independent organizations or other colleges and universities. If interested, contact the faculty in the Spanish Program or the Center for Global and Intercultural Study (CGIS).

What do students say?

"Learning Spanish through the RC opened doors to opportunities I never imagined. It played a key role in my decision to pursue International Studies focused on Latin America. The linguistic and cultural tools I gained gave me the confidence to contribute meaningfully in international relations and nonprofit work. This program not only equips students with valuable skills but also fosters self-discovery."

- Michael Orrange, RC Class of 2019

Class Placement Policy
The Proficiency Exam

Placement Policy

First-year students with some background in Spanish should take the LSA Placement Test and consult with an academic counselor for placement at the appropriate level, either RC Lang 194 or 294. Some students with no background at all can only take Spanish 194 in the winter term or by permission from the Program Head.
Students entering the program with more extensive backgrounds and higher scores on the LSA Placement Test will consult with an academic advisor whether they are eligible to take the Residential College Spanish Proficiency Exam. Dates and times for this exam (administered before the term begins) will be posted outside 107 Greene, East Quad, at the end of August.
Students who do not pass the Proficiency Exam normally enroll in RCLANG 314, Spanish Accelerated Review. This is a 4-credit review course for students who have not quite reached the required level of proficiency at the end of RCLANG 294 intensive course and for incoming students who do not need the 8 hours of the RCLANG 294 intensive course to reach our proficiency level. Depending on performance some students who do not pass the Spanish Proficiency Exam may still be advised to enroll in RCLANG 294 (8 credits).

The Proficiency Exam

The Spanish Proficiency Exam is administered three times each year: at the end of August right before classes start, at the end of the Fall Semester in December, and at the end of the Winter Semester in April. All RC students who have completed the second-year level or the Accelerated Review, including RC students who take Spanish through LSA, are required to pass proficiency before they can take the required third-year Readings seminar.

The Proficiency examination is a five-part, comprehensive test of language ability:

listening comprehension;
reading comprehension;
mastery of Spanish grammar;
ability to write and,
ability to speak (interview).

Students who let more than one semester elapse between passing the profiiciency exam and enrollment in the Spanish Readings course (without having taken a Spanish course or lived in a Spanish-speakingcountry in the interim) must re-take the Spanish Profiiciency Exam.

Class Placement Policy

Placement Policy

First-year students with some background in Spanish should take the LSA Placement Test and consult with an academic counselor for placement at the appropriate level, either RC Lang 194 or 294. Some students with no background at all can only take Spanish 194 in the winter term or by permission from the Program Head.
Students entering the program with more extensive backgrounds and higher scores on the LSA Placement Test will consult with an academic advisor whether they are eligible to take the Residential College Spanish Proficiency Exam. Dates and times for this exam (administered before the term begins) will be posted outside 107 Greene, East Quad, at the end of August.
Students who do not pass the Proficiency Exam normally enroll in RCLANG 314, Spanish Accelerated Review. This is a 4-credit review course for students who have not quite reached the required level of proficiency at the end of RCLANG 294 intensive course and for incoming students who do not need the 8 hours of the RCLANG 294 intensive course to reach our proficiency level. Depending on performance some students who do not pass the Spanish Proficiency Exam may still be advised to enroll in RCLANG 294 (8 credits).

The Proficiency Exam

The Spanish Proficiency Exam is administered three times each year: at the end of August right before classes start, at the end of the Fall Semester in December, and at the end of the Winter Semester in April. All RC students who have completed the second-year level or the Accelerated Review, including RC students who take Spanish through LSA, are required to pass proficiency before they can take the required third-year Readings seminar.

The Proficiency examination is a five-part, comprehensive test of language ability:

listening comprehension;
reading comprehension;
mastery of Spanish grammar;
ability to write and,
ability to speak (interview).

Students who let more than one semester elapse between passing the profiiciency exam and enrollment in the Spanish Readings course (without having taken a Spanish course or lived in a Spanish-speakingcountry in the interim) must re-take the Spanish Profiiciency Exam.

Faculty