Course description
BA Spanish and English
Programme
First year
In Spanish you will choose from a range of modules which cover the History of Spain, Contemporary Spain, Latin American Society and Culture, and Spanish and Latin American Literature and Film. Beginners in Spanish take an intensive language course in written and spoken language which brings them up to post-A Level standard as quickly as possible. In English you will take a number of modules such as Approaches to the Study of Literature, Renaissance Drama: Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, and A Literary Genre (The Novel).
Written skills in Spanish are developed through the production of small pieces of creative writing, and other activities, including online language learning and the use of satellite television. Oral teaching is conducted in small groups by native speakers. The School of Modern Languages also offers special training for linguists with its Core Skills module for language learners. At the end of the first year you will normally follow a three-week summer programme in Spain, subsidised by the University.
Second Year
In addition to developing your language skills, you will take European texts in translation and choose one Spanish option from a wide range of cultural, linguistic and literary topics which could include Catalan, The Theatre of García Lorca, Contemporary Spanish and Mexican Cinema, Popular Culture in Spain and Mexican Culture. In English, modules include Renaissance Poetry, Critical Theory, and From Satire to Sensibility: Literature 1660 to 1789.
Third year – Study Abroad*
The third year is spent in either Spain or Mexico, either in a university or as an English language assistant in a school.
You may, if you wish, make your own alternative arrangements for the year abroad, subject to approval of the Head of School.
*This degree can also be completed in three years, without a year abroad.
Fourth Year
In your final year a wide range of options in Spanish allows you to specialise in areas of studies that most interest you. Students take Modern and Postmodern in World Literature and one Spanish option which may include, for example, Almódovar, The Cinema of Luis Buñuel, Latin American Boom Literature, The Spanish Picaresque, Spanish Drama (The Grotesque), Art and Society in Spain, Catalan. In English, you will study Postwar to Postmodern; literature 1945-Present Day and will choose from a wide range of specialised options.