Spanish at Haverford College

Majoring in Spanish

Six courses in Spanish and Spanish American literature, film, or cultural studies are required, along with enrollment in both semesters of Spanish 490.

Of the six required courses, three should be at the 200 level and three at the 300 level. Students who qualify by precollege training or study abroad may substitute 300-level courses for the 200-level offerings. The program must include at least two courses that focus substantially on literature prior to 1898.

Pablo Neruda, pondering his options, and posing.

Minoring in Spanish

Six courses at the 200 or 300 level, with a minimum of one course at the 300 level to be taken at Haverford or Bryn Mawr.

One of the six courses should focus substantially on literature prior to 1898.
The Department of Spanish offers a range of courses which may be grouped in three distinct but complementary categories:
  • Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced Intermediate language instruction focused on developing skills in speaking, listening comprehension, reading and writing.

  • These are followed by courses in literature, film, and culture & civilization that introduce writers and significant themes in Spanish-speaking cultures. By combining advanced language training and college-level subject matter these courses further develop and test the student's linguistic and interpretative abilities (Spanish courses at the 200 level).

  • Advanced offerings that explore in greater depth a specific line of inquiry, literary, cultural or historical issue, or theme in Spanish and Spanish American writing and thought (Spanish courses at the 300 level).

In addition, the Department offers courses in English, designed to bring to a wider audience and across disciplinary boundaries important themes, issues, and accomplishments of the Spanish-speaking world (Contemporary Spanish American Literature, Latin American and Iberian Culture and Civilization, Inter-American Relations, Quixotic Narratives, the Latin American Novel).

The teaching of Spanish at Haverford has been enhanced with the opening of the state-of-the-art Language Learning Center, an already popular multimedia and computer facility linked to the campus high-speed network and to the Internet. All department members are actively focused on the opportunities that emerging technologies bring to language teaching, and some are engaged in the creative development and application of computerized materials and techniques.

 

Professor Ramón García Castro, advising

From the start, emphasis is placed on language as a vehicle for global understanding and solidarity, which is an important aspect of the tradition of the College. At an early stage of their training, students are exposed to films, poems, stories, newspaper and magazine articles, music, radio and television in the original language, with the aim of simultaneously developing linguistic proficiency and cultural awareness.

The department also encourages students to have personal contact with people of the Spanish-speaking world. For this purpose conferences, films, concerts and lectures are scheduled on campus, and study programs in Spain and Latin America are coordinated for varying lengths of time.

Students interested in using the language and organizing discussions and other activities may also live in La Casa Hispánica. Advanced courses may be taken by non-majors and non-concentrators with adequate training who wish to learn about the cultures of Spanish an Spanish-American societies from the Middle Ages to the present. The department also coordinates the Latin American and Iberian Studies Concentration.

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This page maintained by Roberto Castillo, Last updated 6/2005