Spanish 201 • European University Institute
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Spanish

Spanish 201

Communication and Grammar Skills

Intended public
All EUI members
Department or Unit
All Departments and Units
CEFR level
A2

All students except complete beginners must take a placement test. The placement test must be completed before the beginning of the term in order to be able to enroll in the correct level. Once the test is completed, the teacher will grade it and recommend the right level for enrollment. Level adjustments can only be made during the first two weeks of classes.

Please take the test without any external help: remember that a successful and rewarding learning experience comes also from starting at the right level. Allow 30/40 minutes time to complete the test. You may only, you can take the test only once.

Access the placement test here.

For further information contact, Dr. Miriam Tombino.

COURSE NOT AVAILABLE THIS TERM

Teacher
Miriam Tombino,
Location
Convento di San Domenico, Room TBC
Time slots

Monday - 13:00- 14:30

Wednesday - 13:00- 14:30

Timetable

First term
From 13 October 2025 to 05 December 2025 (8 weeks - 24 hours)
Second term
From 12 January 2026 to 20 March 2026 (10 weeks - 30 hours)
Third term
From 08 April 2026 to 15 May 2026 (6 weeks - 18 hours)

Learning outcomes

Spanish 201 is a course designed to reinforce a basic knowledge of the Spanish language. The goal is to build communication skills in Spanish through listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture. This course requires continuous, independent work outside of the classroom to ensure successful performance in all class sessions. At the end of this course, students will have reached an A2/B1 level and will be able to:

  • Talk about holidays and celebrations, describe past events in detail. Give and receive directions, make travel arrangements, book and talk about hotel accommodations. Discuss clothing preferences, discuss art, make comparisons, describe the state of objects and people.
  • Give instructions, talk about unplanned occurrences, talk about the future, talk about what you have done.
  • Discuss the environment and the animal world, talk about relationships, talk about popular culture, discuss health issues with a doctor.
  • Express opinions, express doubt and certainty, express desires and give recommendations, discuss emotional reactions to events. Discuss hypothetical situations, express condition, purpose, and time, tell what had happened prior to other events in the past.

Course contents

The course includes work on the following:

  • Introduction to new verbal forms and their use: uses of the preterite and the imperfect, estar with the past participle. Future tense, present perfect, subjunctive with impersonal expressions, subjunctive with expressions of doubt.
  • Future tense, present perfect, subjunctive with impersonal expressions, subjunctive with expressions of doubt. Subjunctive with expressions of desire, subjunctive with expressions of emotion, subjunctive with adjective clauses.
  • Conditional, imperfect subjunctive, subjunctive with adverbial clauses and conjunctions, past perfect, reciprocal verbs. 
  • Expansion of vocabulary of shopping, art, animals, geography and environment, relationships, activities, health and emergencies. 

Additional information

Students will be asked to buy a textbook for this course. This could be either a physical or digital copy. Additional material will be provided by the teacher. More information on the first day of class.

Learning Methods and Activities

Please be aware that this course follows a flipped classroom instructional approach, rather than a traditional instructional method. Under a traditional method, students come to class to learn the material, then go home to practice. However, for this course, you are required to study the material at home and then you come to class to practice, in context, what you have learned. The textbook will offer a digital platform for homework and extra activities.

In class, you will interact with other students and with your teacher only in Spanish, and you and your classmates will engage in activities and projects to use the Spanish language creatively and to give meaning to the grammar you are learning through a communicative and collaborative approach.