SW Florida Spanish
Spanish Classes for Adult Learners
Intermediate Spanish
Intermediate Spanish builds on concepts and skills learned in beginner Spanish including alphabet, numbers, pronunciation, basic vocabulary, and present tense regular and irregular verb conjugation and usage. Participants review the Spanish present tenses, and are introduced to the past, future, and conditional tenses. A variety of grammatical concepts are explained. Participants also work on comprehension, listening and speaking skills as well as reading and writing.
Conversation skills are refined through conversational practice. Appropriate readings are used to reinforce intermediate grammar comprehension. Video series are also incorporated to acclimate participants to listening to Spanish speakers - one of the most challenging aspects of learning a new language.
Intermediate students use Practice Makes Perfect Complete All-in-One (provided) and various reading materials which include but are not limited to short stories, readers, magazines, etc.
Students advance through the program at the same pace, engaging in grammar, reading, writing and listening activities each week.
Intermediate Spanish topics include:
-
Review of subject pronouns and present tense regular and irregular verbs
-
Past tense - preterite and imperfect indicative verbs
-
The near future, nouns, and articles
-
Gustar, ser, and estar and expressing opinions
-
Adjectives, adverbs, and comparisons
-
Past tense - preterite and imperfect indicative verbs
-
The progressive tenses
-
Questions, answers, and exclamations
-
Reflexive verbs and reflexive pronouns
-
Direct and indirect object pronouns, commands, and double object pronouns
-
Demonstrative and possessive adjectives and pronouns
-
The future tense
-
Prepositions, phrases, and conjunctions
​
The instructor and participant make a mutual joint decision regarding when the learner should move to the advanced level classes.
Intermediate Spanish
Outcomes & Topics
Introduction
Intermediate outcomes and associated topics to achieve them are included in the following sections. Topics are from Practice Makes Perfect All-in-One Spanish and other instructional resources.
Learners may encounter some English-language discussion in intermediate-level classes, but instructors will speak in Spanish most of the time.
​
Duration: How many sessions/classes before moving to the advanced level?
SW Florida Spanish offers seven six-week sessions per year, with at least a one-week break between sessions.
Intermediate learners typically attend four-to-five intermediate-one sessions (24-to-30 classes) before enrolling in intermediate-two for another four-to-five sessions (24-to-30 classes). Intermediate classes involve learning additional grammar, improving reading and listening comprehension, and strengthening conversational abilities.
When a learner feels that she/he has achieved the outcomes listed below, she/he can enroll in advanced-level classes, concentrating on conversational skills and advanced grammatical topics.
Outcome & Topic List Uses
The intermediate topics list can be used to self-assess comfort-level with and understanding of each topic. Self-assessment results help instructors determine topics to include when they develop instructional plans.
Instructors use this information to develop lesson plans and track student progress.
Outcomes
Intermediate classes are designed to achieve the following outcomes.
-
Comprehension: Can factually describe objects, places, and people, narrate a series of events and describe various situations. Can respond to questions and statements with a moderate amount of elaboration.
-
Vocabulary: AHas extensive vocabulary. Can say and identify many Spanish words. Recognize most words when reading, needing to translate only occasionally.
-
Grammar: Can express ideas using pronouns (e.g., I gave it to him.), conjunctions (e.g., and), prepositions (e.g., to), and adverbial phrases (e.g., later, unless, on the other hand).
-
Verbs:
-
Use verbs in the preterite, imperfect, future, command, and conditional tenses. Aware of other verb moods, including the Spanish subjunctive form.
-
Able to conjugate, understand and use future & conditional tense -ar -er -ir verbs.
-
-
Conversation: Can converse in and comprehend Spanish using the simple past tenses (preterite/imperfect) and future tense. Able to discuss everyday topics, such as childhood and other life stages, celebrations, clothing, the body, animals, professions, household items, sports and games, the bathroom, physical condition, moods & emotion, within the limits of vocabulary appropriate to intermediate Spanish.
Topics
Some topics that were taught in beginner Spanish are repeated again at the intermediate level for additional emphasis and to ensure full understanding. New topics are also introduced. Decisions about topics that are taught each session are made by the instructional team based on student level and recent class topics.
