Spanish Spring 2025
SPAN 1060 Accelerated Elementary Spanish with Daniel Colon and Matthew Street
MWF 09:00AM-09:50AM; 10:00AM-10:50AM; 11:00AM-11:50AM; 12:00PM-12:50PM
Develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through engagement with oral and written texts in Spanish and various interactive projects. Five class hours. Covers the material in SPAN 1010-1020 in an accelerated one semester format. Followed by SPAN 2010. Prerequisite: Previous background in Spanish (1-2 years of high school Spanish) and PLACE diagnostic score of 1.0-3.0, UVA placement diagnostic score of 0-325 (prior to May 2022), or SAT II score of 420-510.]
SPAN 2010 Intermediate Spanish with Sara Young, Kate Neff, Ciara Raczyk, Esperanza Gorriz Jarque, Paola Monteros-Freeman, and Daniel Colon
MWF 08:00AM-08:50AM; 09:00AM-09:50AM; 10:00AM-10:50AM; 01:00PM-01:50PM; 02:00PM-02:50PM
TR 08:00AM-09:15AM; 09:30AM-10:45AM; 11:00AM-12:15PM; 12:30PM-01:45PM; 02:00PM-03:15PM; 05:00PM-06:15PM
Further develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through engagement with authentic, culturally rich oral and written texts in Spanish. Enables students to perform linguistic tasks that allow them to communicate in everyday situations (e.g., narrating present and past activities and expressing desires and requests), and to express personal meaning by creating with the language. Three class hours. Followed by SPAN 2020.
SPAN 2020 Advanced Intermediate Spanish with Jennifer Hogg, Sara Park, Gabriela Dongo Arevalo, Rachel West, David Florez Murillo, Jennifer Barlow, Ana Piriz Moguel, Elizabeth Mirabal, Kate Neff, Germain Badang
MWF 08:00AM-08:50AM; 09:00AM-09:50AM; 10:00AM-10:50AM; 11:00AM-11:50AM; 12:00PM-12:50PM; 01:00PM-01:50PM; 02:00PM-02:50PM; 03:00PM-03:50PM; 04:00PM-04:50PM
TR 08:00AM-09:15AM; 09:30AM-10:45AM; 11:00AM-12:15PM; 12:30PM-01:45PM; 02:00PM-03:15PM; 03:30PM-04:45PM; 05:00PM-06:15PM; 06:30PM-07:45PM
Further develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through engagement with authentic, culturally rich oral and written texts in Spanish. Enables students to perform linguistic tasks that allow them to communicate in everyday situations with some complications (e.g., describing present, past and future activities, expressing opinions, and persuading), and to express personal meaning by creating with the language. Three class hours.
SPAN 3000 Phonetics with Joel Rini
TR 03:30PM-04:45PM
An introduction to the sound system of both Peninsular and Latin American Spanish. Class discussions focus on how the sounds of Spanish are produced from an articulatory point of view, and how these sounds are organized & represented in the linguistic competence of their speakers. When appropriate, comparisons will be made between Spanish & English or Spanish & other (Romance & non-Romance) languages. Course seeks to improve the student's pronunciation. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or a score of 641-800 on the SAT II Exam, or a 4 or 5 on the AP Exam.
SPAN 3010 Finding your Voice in Spanish with Alicia Lopez Opere, Carlos Velazco Fernandez, Patricio Arriagada Soto, Nicole Bonino, Josue Morales Vivas, Esther Poveda Moreno, Sergio Silva Ardila
MWF 10:00AM-10:50AM; 11:00AM-11:50AM; 01:00PM-01:50PM
TR 09:30AM-10:45AM; 11:00AM-12:15PM; 12:30PM-01:45PM; 02:00PM-03:15PM
Imagine the incredible sense of achievement and empowerment you’ll feel when you confidently express yourself in another language! In SPAN 3010, you will explore your evolving proficiency in Spanish by engaging with and creating three cultural texts: a brief memoir, a news story, and a film review. Through examining selected examples of these text types in Spanish, you will grasp the rationale behind specific writing techniques, stylistic choices, and linguistic structures within each genre and their impact on the construction of meaning. You will ultimately acquire a personalized toolkit of linguistic and stylistic devices for crafting your texts. This course treats reading, listening, speaking, and writing not merely as isolated linguistic skills but as interconnected methods for building effective communication. As a participant in this course, you will enhance your conversational skills in Spanish, assemble a portfolio of your written work, and engage actively with our writing community through discussions, peer evaluations, and various interactive activities.
SPAN 3015 Language, Culture and Composition for Heritage Learners of Spanish with Maria Esparza Rodriguez
TR 02:00PM-03:15PM
SPAN3015 is an intermediate Spanish language course tailored for students who use Spanish in informal settings and are first or second-generation Spanish speakers. The course emphasizes writing and speaking practice across various linguistic registers, including personal narration, academic research, podcasts, professional formats, and oral presentations. These activities are designed to enhance students’ existing Spanish language proficiency. By engaging with works of fiction, essays, film, media, and grammar review, the course strengthens each student’s command of formal language, preparing them for advanced academic work and professional contexts.
SPAN 3020 Elevate your Spanish: Mastering Writing and Grammar Ana Piriz Moguel
MWF 09:00AM-09:50AM
The objective of this course is to develop advanced communicative competence in Spanish through the reading, analysis, and in-depth discussion of journalistic and literary texts, and audiovisual materials from the Spanish-speaking world. We will focus especially on reviewing and consolidating your command of advanced and late-acquisition grammatical structures in Spanish that will enable you to write more complex texts: an op-ed, a literary review, and an academic essay.
SPAN 3040 Business Spanish with Maria Esparza Rodriguez
TR 09:30AM-10:45AM; 11:00AM-12:15PM
This is an intermediate level course in which students read, research, discuss, debate and write in Spanish about recent themes that are relevant to commercial and economic contexts in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a language class that focusses on Spanish in professional settings; no previous academic or practical experience in commerce is required.
SPAN 3050 Spanish for Medical Professions with Alicia Lopez Opere
TR 11:00AM-12:15PM; 12:30PM-01:45PM
This course is designed for students planning to work in the health care field and who want to develop written, oral skills and vocabulary for the assessment of Spanish speaking patients in a variety of settings. The course also provides a wide range of readings and discussions on culture related to the medical field in the Spanish-speaking world, including Latinx in the US. Students will gain cultural competency as well as familiarity with non-technical and semi-technical functional vocabulary, along with idiomatic expressions and situational phrases that are used in medical Spanish. This class has a contemplative approach, meaning that in most classes we will start with a contemplative practice such as breathing meditation, movement practice, reflective writing and other forms of group practices.
SPAN 3060 Writing for Social Justice and Change with Esther Poveda Moreno
TR 02:00PM-03:15PM
Have you ever wondered what kinds of change could you enact with more proficient Spanish writing skills? SPAN 3060 is an advanced, community-based language learning course that offers you the chance to enhance your advanced writing skills in Spanish. We will read and discuss selected works by prominent Latin American and Latinx authors who have used writing as a tool for social justice and change. Additionally, you will participate in a community project with the Equity Center’s Youth Power program, Starr Hill Pathways.
SPAN 3200 Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics with Lorena Albert Ferrando
TR 11:00AM-12:15PM
The course objective is to provide an introduction to the core areas of linguistic analysis using Spanish as the test case. During the semester, we will cover several areas including the sounds of Spanish (phonetics and phonology), word formation (morphology), sentence structure (syntax), meaning of words, phrases, sentences, and larger chunks of discourse, also in social context (semantics and pragmatics), history of the Spanish language, regional and social variation (dialectology and sociolinguistics), and language acquisition.
SPAN 3300 Texts and Interpretations with Erica Cobb, Paola Monteros-Freeman, Rachel West, Nieves Garcia Prados, Nicole Bonino
MWF 10:00AM-10:50AM; 11:00AM-11:50AM; 12:00PM-12:50PM; 03:00PM-03:50PM
TR 11:00AM-12:15PM; 02:00PM-03:15PM
This intermediate level course introduces the student of Spanish to the fundamentals of reading and understanding various genres, and to practice discussing, analyzing, and writing about them in an academic register in Spanish. It draws on texts and materials from both Spain and Latin America, and builds students’ specialized vocabulary. All work for the class, including reading, discussion, and writing, is done in Spanish. SPAN 3300 is a prerequisite for the survey courses.
SPAN 3400 Spain: From Kingdom to Empire (1200 - 1700) with Fernando Riva
MW 03:30PM-04:45PM
This course will explore medieval and early modern works written in Castilian from El Cid to Calderón’s theater. We will focus on the function of these literary texts in the European and Mediterranean context. Taught in Spanish.
SPAN 3410 Perspectives on Modern Spain (1800 to the Present) with Kelly Moore and Jesus Jativa Fernandez
MWF 11:00AM-11:50AM
TR 09:30AM-10:45AM
This course focuses on the emergence and consolidation of modernity in Spain from the eighteenth century to the present. Readings and discussions of representative literary and artistic movements of modern Spain, including the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, the Avant Garde, Modernism, and Postmodernism in terms of their historical, intellectual, artistic and cultural contexts.
SPAN 3430 Contemporary Latin American Voices (1900-Present) with Manuel Acevedo-Reyes
MWF 12:00PM-12:50PM
Spanish 3430 provides students with a survey of Latin American literature and the context in which it has developed from 1900 to the present. Students will leave this course with a general understanding of the region’s major literary trends, including their social and political dimensions. “Literature,” in this course, refers to a wide range of cultural production from literary texts (novels, stories, essays, poems) to visual art, film, and song lyrics. Throughout the course, we will consider the following questions: How has Latin America’s cultural production shaped and been shaped by its cultures, peoples, and historical events? How do the consciousness, memory, and imagination expressed within the region’s literature both reflect and create the region’s realities? And perhaps most importantly, who has (and has not) had access to Latin America’s literature and how has that shaped the way the region has represented itself through both the written word and image?
SPAN 4040 Translation Spanish to English with Nieves Garcia Prados and Erica Cobb
MWF 01:00PM-01:50PM
TR 09:30AM-10:45AM; 11:00AM-12:15PM
What is literary translation and why is it a challenge? This course is designed to answer these questions, from a theoretical and practical point of view. The objective is to develop specific skills and creativity through in-depth discussions and translation practice. The students will become familiar with the basic concepts, common problems, techniques and strategies of literary translation into Spanish and English, and also strategies of literary translation in both languages. In class, we will read and discuss diverse material on theories of literature and literary translation; compare translations with different approaches and different strategies of literary
literary translators; and we will (re)translate literary passages or texts from and into Spanish. We will also have the
the opportunity to talk with some literary translators from various countries around the world.
SPAN 4203 Structure of Spanish with Joel Rini
TR 02:00PM-03:15PM
This course is intended to give the student a profound understanding of the fundamental structures of contemporary Spanish through both synchronic and diachronic analysis. Topics to be studied include: pronominal phenomena, word structure, grammatical gender, changes in grammatical gender, etc.
SPAN 4210 History of the Spanish Language II with Omar Velazquez Mendoza
MW 03:30PM-04:45PM
The course examines the development of the Spanish language through texts produced from the Middle Ages to the present day. The main goal will be the interpretation of individual texts as a source of linguistic data and the analysis of language in its cultural, social and historical context. Including texts from Latin American and Spain, the commentary will cover the analysis of phonological, grammatical and lexical aspects.
Requisites Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 (or equivalent) and SPAN 3000; or SPAN 3010 (or equivalent) and 3200
SPAN 4500 Special Topics Seminar: Literature with Fernando Valverde
MW 05:00PM-06:15PM
SPAN 4500 Special Topics Seminar: Literature with Fernando Riva
MW 02:00PM-03:15PM
SPAN 4500 Special Topics Seminar: Literature: Encoding Maya Stories with Allison Bigelow
TR 09:30AM-10:45AM
Ancient Maya literature plays a critical role in contemporary life, informing grassroots movements for language preservation, water rights, and Indigenous sovereignty. In this class, co-taught by Allison Bigelow in Spanish and Rafael Alvarado in the School of Data Science, students will spend the first half of the semester reading the longest and most complete Maya narrative to survive the Spanish conquest, the K'iche' story Popol Wuj. The second half of the course will involve hands-on work in textual encoding, database content, and Indigenous data sovereignty, as students will mark up an edition of the Popol Wuj for digital publication by the Multepal Project (https://multepal.github.io/). Maya faculty based in Guatemala and students from UVA's Department of Statistics may collaborate with students on their projects. Technical/coding workshops will be conducted in English; all other discussions and written work will be in Spanish.
SPAN 4510 Special Topics Seminar: Literature with Fernando Valverde
MW 06:30PM-07:45PM
SPAN 4520 Special Topics in Culture and Civilization: Spain, the Pacific, and Asia with Ricardo Padron
TR 11:00AM-12:15PM
When we think about the Spanish empire, we immediately think about Spain’s colonies in the New World, but forget that it actually extended across the Pacific to the Philippine Islands. From its outpost in the Philippines, the Spanish established contact with China, Japan, Cambodia, and what is now Indonesia, countries that they had no hope of conquering militarily. In East Asia, it was the Spaniards who were the “barbarians,” in the eyes of the highly sophisticated people of China and Japan. This course explores what happens when we center the study of Spanish imperialism on the Pacific rather than the Atlantic. How does our understanding of the world change when we think of East Asia as the Far West rather than the Far East? Pre-Requisites – SPAN 3300 and one survey course (3400-3430).
SPAN 4530 Special Topics Seminar: Language with Lorena Albert Ferrando
TR 12:30PM-01:45PM
Have you ever wondered how you learned Spanish? Are you curious about why certain teaching methods worked for you—or didn’t? Are you interested in how research can enhance your language acquisition process? Do you want to understand the science behind language learning and teaching? Are you considering a career in Spanish education or thinking about volunteering in the field? Whether you are planning a future in language education or simply eager to explore your own language journey, this course will guide you through key linguistic theories and approaches. Through class discussion of papers, we will investigate the processes behind the acquisition of Spanish, discover how cognitive mechanisms interact with teaching methods, and learn to apply these insights to practical settings.
SPAN 4559 Special Topics Seminar: Literature: Gender and Dissent in Spanish Perspective with Kelly Moore
TR 11:00AM-12:15PM
In this course we will examine the intersections of gender, affect, and dissent in contemporary Spanish culture. Discussion will center around novels, films, music, and digital culture. Among other themes, we will explore histories of Iberian feminism, anti-racism, and the spatiality of protest.
SPAN 4700 Spanish Culture and Civilization: Todo sobre Almodóvar with Sam Amago
TR 12:30PM-01:45PM
It has been said that it is impossible to understand contemporary Spain without looking at Pedro Almodóvar’s films. This class will test this hypothesis by studying the multifaceted identity politics of that country as seen through his movies shot between 1978 and today. Each week we will view and analyze a film in terms of how it reflects contemporary Spanish culture, art, history and politics. Critical and historical readings in Spanish and English will complement viewings and provide additional themes for class discussion. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
SPAN 4710 Latin American Culture and Civilization: Mexico and Argentina with Fernando Operé
MW 02:00PM-03:15PM
This course intends to acquaint the student with the history and culture of two important countries in Latin America: Argentina and Mexico. We will start with pre-Columbian cultures, and the historical and social evolution from colonial times, the Independent period and national period up to the present. The second part of the course will be dedicated to study cultural and social topics: identity; race and ethnicity; city and countryside; migration, artistic and music production; food and cuisine; fluctuations in the economy; religion and its many manifestations; and violence and resistance among others. The methodology is the consistent comparison of these two countries in the most important faces of their history, culture and development.
SPAN 4711 1492 and the Aftermath with Fernando Operé
MW 03:30PM-04:45PM
1492 is possibly the most significant date in Western history. That year two worlds met or collided. The results were many, but a new America emerged, and Europe was transformed at an astonishing pace. In this class we will study what both continents were like before the encounter, and what radical transformations took place on both sides of the ocean. After that, new borders appear, the first one, the great Atlantic border, while on both continents new ones were created or erased. Europeans and Americans were protagonists and witnesses of these transformations. From the indigenous world, mestizajes of all kinds emerged,- racial, cultural, and social. The scars still linger.
SPAN 5350 Golden Age with Ricardo Padron
R 03:30PM-06:00PM
This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the field of early modern Hispanic studies, emphasizing the themes that are prevalent in contemporary scholarship: empire, race, gender, and material culture. The list of primary texts strikes a balance between coverage of canonical monuments and attention to works that are at the center of contemporary critical debates. Students who wish to specialize in early modern studies are expected to supplement the course syllabus with their own reading in the texts of the period. The secondary readings provide surveys of literary history meant to situate the individual texts in broader contexts, as well as examples of the latests forms of research in the field.
Students who complete this class should have a general understanding of the issues and methods that shape the field of early modern hispanic studies today. They should be able to read and analyze early modern literary texts with an appropriate level of critical acumen, embedding their analysis in an existing critical conversation. They should be equipped to teach the subject at an undergraduate level.
SPAN 5800 Spanish America: Colonial to 1800 with Allison Bigelow
TR 02:00PM-03:15PM
SPAN 5960 Spanish Creative Writing Workshop
MW 02:00PM-03:15PM
SPAN 7220 History of the Language with Omar Velazquez Mendoza
MW 02:00PM-03:15PM
SPAN 7850 Themes and Genres
M 03:30PM-06:00PM
SPAN 8530 Seminar: Realism & Generation 1898 with Sam Amago
T 03:30PM-06:00PM
K’iche’ Spring 2025
KICH 1020 Introduction to Maya K'iche' II with Allison Bigelow
TR 04:00PM-05:15PM
This class is the second part of a year-long introductory sequence to K’iche’, a Maya language spoken by about a million people in the western Highlands of Guatemala, and one of the major indigenous languages in the Americas. Students will enrich and expand their conversational skills and cultural knowledge from K’iche’ 1010. It is offered as part of the UVa-Duke-Vanderbilt consortium for distance learning in less commonly taught languages. The completion of KICH 1010 with a grade of C- or higher.
Requisites Must have completed KICH 1010 with a grade of C- or higher.
KICH 2020 Intermediate Maya K'iche' II with Allison Bigelow
TR 02:00PM-03:15PM
KICH 2020 is the capstone course in a four-part sequence in K’iche’, a Maya language spoken by a million people in western Guatemala. Students will build from earlier coursework to write an original essay in the target language, integrating primary and secondary sources like published works and interviews that they conduct. The class is offered as part of the UVa-Duke-Vanderbilt consortium for distance learning in LCTLs. The completion of KICH 1010, 1020 and 2010 with a grade of C- or higher.
Requisites Must have completed KICH 1010 and 1020 and 2010 with a grade of C- or higher.
Portuguese Spring 2025
PORT 2050 Intensive Portuguese for Speakers of Spanish and other Romance Languages with Lilian Feitosa
MWF 12:00PM-12:50PM
Portuguese 2050 is an accelerated Portuguese language and culture course that condenses two semesters (PORT 1110 and PORT 2120) into one. PORT 2050 is designed specifically for UVA undergraduate and graduate students who already possess an advanced level of fluency in one of the Romance languages. The pedagogical approach to PORT 2050 is both proficiency-oriented and task-based and the class will be conducted completely in Portuguese.
PORT 2120 Intermediate Intensive Portuguese with Lilian Feitosa
MWF 11:00AM-11:50AM
Continued study of Portuguese through readings, vocabulary exercises, oral and written compositions, and grammar review. Prerequisite: PORT 1110 or equivalent.
PORT 4610 Luso-Brazilian Language & Culture with Lilian Feitosa
MW 02:00PM-03:15PM
Studies topics in Portuguese or Brazilian linguistics or culture. Prerequisite: One course at the 3000 level or higher, or Instructor Permission.
Italian Spring 2025
ITAL 1020 Elementary Italian II with Stella Mattioli and Sarah Annunziato
TR 09:30AM-10:45AM; 11:00AM-12:15PM; 12:30PM-01:45PM; 02:00PM-03:15PM
Elementary Italian II is the second class in the four-course sequence that is necessary to complete the world language requirement. In this course, students will learn to narrate in all tenses of the indicative, express opinions, make hypotheses, and give orders. They will improve their writing skills by producing a number of original texts, including blog posts, essays, and stories. Students will also develop their ability to understand spoken Italian by listening to songs, commercials, and movie clips, and they will read and study song lyrics, newspaper headlines, poems, and some short stories. Students of Elementary Italian II will also have many occasions to learn more about life in contemporary Italy as they study the country’s language.
Prerequisite: passing grade in ITAL 1010 or the equivalent.
ITAL 2020 Intermediate Italian II with Francesca Calamita
MW 02:00PM-03:15PM; 03:30PM-04:45PM
ITAL 2020 Intermediate Italian II is the fourth class in the four-course sequence which fulfills the world language requirement. In this course, students will further develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills as well as deepen their cultural literacy in Italian. You will accomplish these goals with the guidance of your professor, through review of grammar, short readings, compositions, and listening and speaking activities. Students will also have the opportunity to listen to songs, comment on works of art, watch commercials and films, read newspaper articles, analyze how the Italian language reflects the movement towards gender equality, and meet natives of Italy in your quest to become more confident and competent users of the Italian language. In this class we will learn Italian with a focus on gender equality, inclusion and diversity.
Prerequisite: passing grade in ITAL 2010 or the equivalent.
ITAL 2030 Intermediate Italian II for Professionals with Stella Mattioli
TR 03:30PM-04:45PM
This is the fourth class in the four-course sequence that fulfills the language requirement with modules on issues applicable to the work context. Films, TV series and articles from Italian newspapers will help students to learn more about the Italian society of the new millennium and strengthen their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at a high intermediate level appropriate for an intercultural professional environment.
ITAL 3020 Advanced Italian II with Enrico Cesaretti
MWF 11:00AM-11:50AM
Emphasis is placed on conversation, as well as composition and vocabulary. Students attending this class will deepen their knowledge of Italian culture and society, with a special focus on socio-cultural debates concerning politics, migration and gender issues. This course is designed with a series of activities focused on experiential learning to achieve fluency in Italian through real-life situations. Prerequisite: ITAL2020.
ITAL 3559 Small Screen Italy: Italian Television and Society with Sarah Annunziato
TR 12:30PM-01:45PM
On January 3, 1954, Radiotelevisone italiana beamed into Italian homes for the first time. This brand-new invention would ultimately become a staple item in households throughout the boot-shaped land. However, television signified much more for Italy than just a trendy fad. In the 1950s it symbolized the miracolo economico that transformed the country from a mostly agrarian to a predominately industrialized nation. Television also finally cemented the use of standard Italian everywhere and provided a window that enabled viewers to learn about ways of life in other parts of Italy and the world itself. This course will explore the evolution of Italian television from its golden age in the 1950s to the rise of the sceneggiato in the 1960s to the eventual birth of “quality television” in the 1980s, and finally the streaming revolution of the present-day. Within each of these eras, we will examine how television intersects with domestic and international politics, new technologies, and language. Taught in Italian.
ITTR 3680 Eve's Sinful Bite: Foodscapes in Women's Writing Culture and Society with Francesca Calamita
MW 05:00PM-06:15PM
This course explores how Italian women writers have represented food in their short stories, novels and autobiographies in dialogue with the culture and society from late nineteenth century to the present. Looking how cooking and serving meals to others, while denying themselves the pleasure of eating, are depicted in Italian women’s writing helps us understand the role food and food-related-activities have played, and still play, in women’s lives. These lectures will offer a close reading of the symbolic meaning of food in narrative and the way it intersects with Italian women’s socio-cultural history and the feminist movement, addressing issues of gender, identity and politics of the body.