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At this point I think they know enough about grammar to get by and some Hispanic culture but little about literature or current/contemporary topics. (Jean J 11/18) Low credit requirements for major, not all "real" majors, Spanish not always first major.
 * -What does a student with a major in Spanish from UW-L look like? What are the strengths and skills they have?**

We don't know? Spring program assessment will give us the answers.

Based on ACTFL GUIDELINES for language proficiency.
 * -What should (do we want) a student with a major in Spanish from UW-L look like?**

Hello everyone - I'm not sure if I'm putting this in the right place, but I would like to cull from the ideas expressed yesterday in the Spanish sectional meeting, many of which I agree with, and synthesize them in my own words. Here's what I think we could do: 1. Create a core for our Spanish majors - something that would include enough literature and culture (humanities stuff) that we would be satisfied that we were meeting students' minimum needs of exposure in those areas. Darlene mentioned that this was her biggest concern about "trackign" 2. With that said, I'm totally in favor of tracking, although I'm not sure that's the right word for what I'm thinking. We already have a diverse array of courses, but we could "package" them differently. 3. What could these packages look like? a) Core + literature and culture, w,hich would include more literature, 390, films, more Civ, etc. This "track" might also contemplate requiring 2 semesters of another language and MLG 299;; and b) Core + translation / interpreting / linguistics / Spanish for the professions, or some combination thereof. Final thoughts: 1. Other institutions "package" their majors in a similar way. Marquette offers Spanish majors in Spanish Language and Literature and Spanish for the Professions; UW-Madison offers Track A Language and Hispanic Studies, and Track B Literature and Hispanic Studies. I will try to post links to their sites on this wiki. 2. I agree as well with Darlene that we would do well to consider upping the ante and raising the credit threshhold. I've mentioned this before, but even Viterbo requires more than we do. 3. The Senior Exit Survey is a clear and resounding call for more rigor. Unfortunately I will not be able to join you at the "retrete" as I'll still be in Alicante, but I wish you all godspeed as you tackle a lot of very thorny challenges which could lead to some very interesting new directions for the Spanish section. Melissa

Be aware of the history of Hispanic cultures and how they effect contemporary society. They should be familiar with the most prominent contemporary issues such as immigration, political tendencies, etc, etc. as well as canonical literary, artistic and other cultural works and periods from Spain and Latin America. (Jean J 11/18)
 * -What should they know?**

How to be able to communicate with native Spanish speakers on an intermediate/advanced conversational level with little errors and "decent" pronunciation. (Jean J 11/18)
 * -What should they be able to do – taking into consideration the five C’s and the ACTFL proficiency guidelines?**

Students should meet the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Foreign Languages at the Transitioning or Refining Level. If anyone would like to see these, I will leave a copy of the Curriculum Planning Guide for Learning World Languages in my copy box. The performance standards start on p. 228. (Jean H 11/23)

Students should also know how to write cohesive essays in Spanish (Description, Narrative, Exposition and Creative). (Jean J 11/28)

I'm attaching a handout from a workshop I went to over break that dealt with High Impact Practices in Undergraduate Education. Specifically these High Impact Practices are: First Year Seminars & Experiences; Common Intellectual Experience, Learning Communities, Writing-Intensive Courses; Collaborative Assignments and Projects; Undergraduate Research; Diversity/Global Learning; Service Learning / Community-Based Learning; Internships; and Capstone Courses and Project. Our curriculum in many ways already includes several of these practices, albeit not always in a systematic manner. I am wondering if something to consider is not a capstone / senior seminar / final undergraduate research course, especially in light of conversations on increasing credit requirements and also concerns regarding the fact that our students earn a large portion of their credits-in-the-major abroad. A capstone / senior seminar / research course could be a 3-credit course that the student must complete here at UW-L. Also, Deb Hoskins mentioned that there is support (funding and research/statistics support) here at UW-L if someone is interested on carrying out research on Writing-Intensive courses in our department. (Kelly 1/22)
 * -What are the “best practices” for undergraduate curricula?**

Great idea Kelly, our students have also mentioned this several times on our senior survey. (Jean J 1/23)


 * -What courses in our curriculum help students to attain this knowledge or develop these skills?**