BARCELONA

Summer 2018

Objectives: Within a week and a half of the program, regardless of level, students will be able to communicate on at least a basic level with native speakers. The key word is “communicate.” On the most basic level, students will use a combination of words and body language to tell their hostess, for example, that they will not be home for dinner, that they will be gone for the weekend, that they need a towel, etc. Students who begin the program on a higher level will become more comfortable with their ability to communicate in Spanish and will develop the fundamental skills they already have and then build on them. By the end of the four-week program, students will be thinking in Spanish to a large degree and will feel comfortable conversing with the host family and moving about the city. Also, because language and culture cannot be divorced, students will be familiar with churches, parks, museums, and other sites of cultural interest, as well as shops and restaurants and the local customs that are part of life in the city.

Placement: On Monday morning, May 25, students will take a placement test. European standards differ greatly from American standards, and the placement test completely ignores the 1001, 1002, etc., designation. Two students getting the same level of credit (e.g., 2001 and 2002) in the U.S. may be placed at different levels in Barcelona. The student on the lower level should expect to have to demonstrate higher grades/greater progress than the student on the higher level.

Requirements:

Attendance and complete participation in the class. The degree of participation will be determined by both the instructors and the program director, who will observe classes. Failure to participate fully can result in a lowering of the student’s grade.

Homework. Failure to do homework regularly will result in a lowering of the student’s grade.

Power Point grammar. Because students get very little grammar in class compared with how much they would get in an American classroom, they must learn level-appropriate grammar via Power Point presentations designed specifically for them. These presentations MUST be done before the program begins. Students will e-mail the grammar exercises in each Power Point to the program director. During the program, students will take a brief test over the grammar studied. If a student does not do well enough to convince the director that he himself did the grammar presentations, he will be required to take a four-page test and score at least 65% in order to be able to pass his courses.

Click here to find the presentations according to level that must be done before departure. A good time to do this is right after final exams. You will seriously regret your lack of preparation if you are required to take the four-page test in Barcelona, which will take a serious bite out of your free time.

You’ll notice that on each line are a presentation and the words “exercise 1,” “exercise 2,” etc. There are exercises contained in each of the presentations. The only reason you would need to click on “exercise 1,” etc., on the main page is if the links in the presentation don’t work for you.

Compositions. Students registered for 2002 and above are normally required to submit compositions. A student’s grade will be lowered by a letter for every assigned composition he fails to turn in. Compositions affect the student’s grades only if he is making errors completely unacceptable at that level (e.g., writing “Juan’s libro” instead of “el libro de Juan”). Students at the 2201/2202 level are expected to have mastered all the grammar from the lower levels and demonstrate that mastery in their compositions.

Journal. Students are required to keep a journal and write at least 150 words in it three times a week. The student’s grade will be lowered one letter grade if he fails to meet with this expectation.

Visits to places of cultural interest. Students will be taken on 7-8 required excursions to places of cultural interest (museums, parks, churches, palaces, etc.) and will be required to participate in at last one other excursion if the group goes out of town on a weekend. Students are also usually required to go on one weekend excursion unless they are out of town all weekend. Excursions usually include 7-8 of the following:

Modernist Walk

Roman Walk

Sagrada Familia

Palau de la Música Catalana

Parc de la Ciutadella

Weekend excursion:

Montserrat

Students will be told a time and place to meet. The group leader will not wait for you, even if you tell that person that you intend to be there. “I thought it was at 3:30, not 3:00,” “there was a subway accident,” I was just 30 seconds late,” etc., will not be acceptable excuses. You must complete all required excursions, regardless of circumstances. Students may not leave the excursions early.

Failure to complete the required number of excursions will result in a lowering of the grade. The student’s grade will be lowered half a letter grade for each excursion he fails to make. That is, if he is required to make 8 visits and makes 7, his grade will be lowered by 5%. Missing two excursions will result in a 10% lowering—an entire letter grade.

Attendance: You may miss 4 hours of class without your absences affecting your grade. For every half hour missed thereafter, your grade will be lowered 5%. Short of hospitalization, there are no excused absences.

Tardies: Accumulated minutes of tardiness can add up to an absence. Six tardies of five minutes each, for example, would add up to an absence of half an hour and cost the student half a letter grade.

Classroom behavior: You may not eat or drink in class. You must turn off your cell phone before entering. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late, you will not be allowed to enter the class until the next break. If your behavior in class is in any way disruptive, you will be told to leave class, and your absence will be considered unexcused. You will also receive a rules violation warning, unless you have already received one, in which case you will be expelled from the program for having committed a second violation.

Excursions: You must go with the group; seeing the sight on your own will not satisfy the requirement. You must check out with the excursion leader before you may leave any site. When there is an excursion, do not make any other plans for that day until after the evening meal.

Grading: Enforex gives you grades from 1-10 in seven areas: grammar, vocabulary, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, oral expression, written expression, and pronunciation. Following is the scale:

9-10 A

8-8.99 B

7-7.99 C

6-6.99 D

Below 6 F

Therefore, if the average of your seven grades is 8.5, your grade would be a B. However, students MUST place at the appropriate level in order for this scale to apply to them. If a student receiving 2001/2002 credit places at the novice level, for example, he will not receive a B for grades in the 8-8.99 range but rather a C or D, depending on progress. Also, students are evaluated in two other areas: progress and participation. As a matter of course, instructors give the student a rating of “excelente” if his progress/participation is satisfactory. Therefore, if the student receives a rating of “bueno” (“good”) or “normal” for progress or participation, his grade may be lowered. While all students receive credit for two courses and therefore get two grades, the grades are treated as one, since there is no clear division between courses.

Unlike in American classrooms, instructors cannot give you an idea of what your grade is at any given point. Only when they sit down at the end of the four weeks and evaluate your overall performance can they arrive at a grade. Therefore, students will receive nothing more than a bewildered look if they ask, “What is my grade in the class so far?” The best thing a student can ask is, “Should I be doing anything differently?” or “Where do I need to improve?”

This scale is provided as an absolute so that students will understand why they receive a particular grade. However, rather than focusing on numbers and grades, students should concentrate on getting the full benefit of class and making the most of their study abroad experience. A student who makes the most of his experience in Barcelona by spending time with his host family, seeing sites of cultural interest that are not required, and participating with enthusiasm in his classes and excursions may receive mercy if his grades are borderline; a student who complains about excursions, classes, homework, etc., makes classes or excursions unpleasant for his classmates, and/or elects to spend the majority of his time at the beach can expect to receive the grade indicated above.