Course Description

This course focuses on global environmental issues as an entry point for further development of Spanish technical vocabulary, conversational skills and global competencies. Through an exploration of current freshwater issues in Spanish-speaking countries, and an experience studying overseas, students will address relevant issues concerning environmental resource management, and engage in community projects. Group 1 course.

Credit Hours

3

Contact Hours

3

Lecture Hours

3

Required Prerequisites

3-4 years of high school Spanish

Corequisites

WSI 290

Recommended Prerequisites or Skills Competencies

Listening Skills-understand sentence-length utterances; Reading Skills-able to understand main ideas and/or some facts from the simplest connected text; Speaking Skills-able to handle successfully a limited number of uncomplicated communicative tasks by creating with the language in straightforward social situations; Writing Skills-able to meet limited practical writing needs.

General Education Outcomes supported by this course

Communications - Direct, Critical Thinking - Direct

Other college designations supported by this course

Degree Req:Cultural Persp/Div

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge:

• Develop technical vocabulary.
• Initiate, sustain, and close a general conversation with a number of strategies appropriate to a range of circumstances and topics.
• Construct simple narrations and/or descriptions.
• Sustain understanding over longer stretches of connected discourse.
• Identify the physical features of the local country.
• Identify key components of successful interactions with the local community.

Application:

• Use technical vocabulary in a professional setting.
• Write short, simple letters regarding daily routine, everyday events, and other topics connected to the experience of crossing cultural boundaries.
• Use Web 2.0 and varied technology tools to communicate across geographical boundaries.

Integration:

• Analyze and compare water management practices across different communities.
• Communicate effectively across different cultures.
• Integrate knowledge across different disciplines to address problems concerning environmental resources management.

Human Dimension:

• Identify the influence of human activities on natural resource management practices.
• Appreciate different perspectives in best management practices of natural resources.
• Appreciate and value cultural differences.

Caring - Civic Learning:

• Develop awareness of the interdependent nature of problems and solutions involving natural resource management.
• Interact respectfully with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Develop empathy toward people who live in high-risk areas and take action to promote their well-being.

Learning How to Learn:

• Set individual learning goals.
• Understand how to use technology as a tool for ongoing individual and collective learning.
• Improve conversational skills by making long-term connections with native speakers.
• Read study independently.
• Interact constructively with other learners to build solutions to problems in a local community.