Required Outcomes for this Goal

(list below)

Relevant Course/Institutional Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

Specific Assessment Method for Outcome

Outcome 1:  Understand the culture, society, and history of groups outside of the Western European Tradition

Wk. 1    Readings, Lecture, Discussion.  Sample topics: Precolumbian civilizations: Mayas, Aztecs, Incas.

African & Oriental influence  in Latin America

Quiz:  Students will match characteristics with the appropriate Indigenous tribe (Mayas, Aztecs, Incas).
Tracking:  Question worth 10 points.  Track students receiving 1-10 pts.

Essay question:  Students will discuss the concept of "mestizaje" as it relates to the African influence in Spanish America.

Tracking: Essay question worth 15 pts.   Track students receiving 1-15 pts.

Outcome 2:  Employ an appropriate vocabulary and rational argument to discuss complex issues involving race, nationality, gender, ethnicity, class, or sexual orientation

Wk. 10    Readings, Lecture, Discussion. Sample topics:  (1)Students will trace the changing roles of women in the history and civilization of Spanish America.
(2)Class structure in Argentina during the Peronist years.

Essay Questions on Final Exam:

1.  Trace the role of Spanish American    “feminists” from Colonial times to Modern society.  Use specific examples of women studied in class and show why they are considered important.

2.  Discuss the importance of social/economic class structure in Argentina during the Peronist Years.
Tracking:  Each essay worth 15 pts.   Percentage of students scoring from 1-30 pts.

Required Outcomes for this Goal

(list below)

Relevant Course/Institutional Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

Specific Assessment Method for Outcome

Outcome 3:  Understand the concept of ethnocentrism

Essay question for Mid-Term Exam:  Discuss the concept of the “other” to describe someone “different” from the viewer.  Explain this concept as it relates to the encounter (“discovery”) of the Indians by Christopher Columbus, and give at least two examples of its application in modern Spanish America.

Essay question worth 20 pts.  Tracking:   percentage of students receiving 1-20 pts.

Outcome 4:  Differentiate between personal discomfort and intellectual disagreement in situations where cultures may conflict

Week 1: Readings, Lecture, Discussion

Essay Question:  What are the stereotypes commonly given to Spanish Americans (including nicknames)?   How do you think these stereotypes were formed and what effects have they had on relationships between Spanish Americans and people from the U.S.

Essay worth 20 pts.  Tracking: percentage of
students receiving 1-20 pts.

Outcome 5:  Distinguish between facts and cultural assumptions relating to issues of diversity

Wk. 12:  Readings, Lecture, Discussion

Art, Music, Literature in Spanish America.   Quiz question:  Discuss the contributions of Spanish America to the world of art, music and literature, paying special attention to the concept of transculturation.

Essay question 50% of quiz.  Tracking:   percentage of students scoring from 1-50 pts.

General Education Criteria

Relevant Course Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

1. Teach a disciplinary mode of inquiry and provide students with practice in applying inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving

This entire course is conducted in the target language.  Students will have extensive readings, lectures, discussions, outside cultural activities, movies, and satellite broadcasts.  Sample activity: In pairs students will role play a dialogue between the Nicaraguan Ambassador to the U.S. and Ronald Reagan concerning the support of the Contras against the Sandinistas. Each partner must explain in detail why or why not the U.S. should intervene in the affairs of Nicaragua and what repercusions U.S. intervention will have.  Following the role plays, those students representing Reagan will share their reasoning, then those representing Nicaragua will counter with their own opinions.

2. Provide examples of how disciplinary knowledge changes through creative applications of the chosen mode of inquiry

Students will discuss the controversial role of religion in Spanish America, beginning with the Conquest, continuing through Liberation Theology, and up to the present.  

Students will define and analyze the concept of "pigmentocracia" as a means to segregate Spanish Americans by race.

3. Consider questions of ethical values

Lecture, Readings, Discussion:

Discuss the Argentine “Dirty War” and the role of torture in “cleansing the country” of dissidents. Why did some people refer to this war as the "Holy War?"  Can you think of other, more recent situations similar to this one?  

General Education Criteria

Relevant Course Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

4. Explore past, current, and future implications of disciplinary knowledge

Readings, Lecture, Discussions, Research.

Trace the historic role of the U.S. in Central America, specifically in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.   How has U.S. intervention in these countries affected their current situation and their relationship with the U.S?

5. Encourage consideration of course content from diverse perspectives

Readings, Lecture, Discussions. 

"Caudillos", Dictators, Oppression, and Tough Love—

Sample Test questions:  1. Name three Spanish American dictators and discuss the “good and bad” things for which each is known.  

2.  Discuss the influence of Eva Perón in Argentina, paying special attention to the contrasting views held by various sectors of the Argentine population.

6. Provide opportunities for students to increase information literacy through contemporary techniques of gathering, manipulating, and analyzing information and data

Throughout the course students will view satellite TV broadcasts, read electronic versions of Spanish American newspapers, and present material obtained from outside readings and internet sites as a supplement to class lectures and textbook readings.  Students will use these resources as well as the MLA database and other library resources to analyze an issue and produce a research paper using Spanish word processing softward.

General Education Criteria

Relevant Course Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

7. Require at least one substantive written paper, oral report, or course journal and also require students to articulate information or ideas in their own words on tests and exams

Students will write a 6-8 page research paper using correct MLA documentation procedures, on an approved topic related to Spanish American culture/civilization.   They will give a 5-10 minute oral presentation on the major findings and conclusions presented in their papers.

8. Foster awareness of the common elements among disciplines and the interconnectedness of disciplines

Throughout the course, students will be continuously refining language skills; connecting the study of art, music, history, sociology, politics, geography, etc. to the study of Spanish America.  Ex: Students will discuss Colonial life in Spanish America—its education, commerce, laws, family life, professions, and leisure time activities, and will explain how these all led to the discontent and eventual decision to rebel against Spain.

9. Provide a rationale as to why knowledge of this discipline is important to the development of an educated citizen

Competence in more than one language enables people to look beyond their customary borders and act with greater awareness of self, other cultures, and their own relationships to those cultures.  Drawing on the cultural and historical knowledge gained through this course, an educated citizen leader will consider world historical events from a different point of view. Example essay question::  Taking into consideration the material studied throughout this course, discuss the importance of Spanish America to the United States today.   Comment on as many areas as possible:   economy, politics, art and literature, medicine, science . . .What do you see as disadvantages/problems associated with the increasing number of Spanish Americans living in and/or entering the U.S. and what are the major advantages?