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Anastasio
Somoza de Bayle. Last of the [in]famous Somoza clan to rule
Nicaragua. He was overthrown by the far- left Sandinistas. and
was assassinated while in exile in Paraguay. |
Take a short quiz to see whether Level VIII is right for you
Level
VIII Samples:
Entire Unit 52 Text 26pp (.pdf)
Audio
52.22.2 (partial) (mp3pro) (1.16)
For detailed contents of Level VIII, go here.
The Historical Context
The second half of the twentieth century has seen a sometimes slow and fitful progress toward democracy and economic development in Latin America. While marred with a great deal of internal violence [the Guerra Sucia in Argentina; Sendero Luminoso and its siblings in Peru; AVC in Ecuador; the continuing FARC insurrection in Colombia; and the Chiapas rebellion and 1968 Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico], there has been practically no fighting between countries, and no military dictatorships since the mid-1980's. While there has been general progress, much remains unresolved. Poverty and oppression still exist; the former may have even worsened in several countries at the end of the 20th century. At least one country (Chile) has had a genuine political and economic transformation. Spain, after the death of Generalísimo Franco, re-established a constitutional monarchy, and has since made great advances both politically and economically, including inclusion in the European Union.
Level VIII Overview
In addition to more work with Spanish sentence structures, and more complicated uses of the subjunctive, Level VIII presents the 2d person plural vosotros form--of importance to those who wish to learn the Spanish of Madrid and much (but not all) of Spain. The vosotros 1st person familiar form is also presented, which is used in some parts of Central America and the Southern Cone. Also, the Spanish future tense is presented. Why didn't it come earlier in the course, you may ask. The main reason is that it's not really necessary: in Spanish the plain old present tense can also be used to express future, and the commonly used "periphrastic future" was in Level II. The future tense is usually used for emphasis, and is one of the most easily learned aspects of the Spanish language.
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Course
Content |
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Unit 50.
Idioms and sentence structures; past subjunctive in main clauses; past subjunctive after ojalá,
aunque and como si; Spanish indirect clitic for English "for";
Spanish second person familiar commands; Past I (preterit), past perfect, and present
perfect in contrast; readings/vocabulary enrichment.
Unit 51. Sentence
structures and idioms; indicative and subjunctive after expressions of uncertainty; the
future and conditional of probability; the passive voice; formal and familiar forms of
address in Past I (preterit); Past I (preterit) and Past II (imperfect) in contrast;
commands with velar stem extended verbs; readings/vocabulary enrichment.
Unit 52 . Sentence structures and idioms; pero vs. sino: special uses of
sino; constructions with desde, desde que, hace, desde hace, hacía, desde
hacía; adjective position; English noun-noun: Spanish noun-relator-noun; sequence of
tenses with subjunctive constructions; readings/vocabulary enrichment.
Unit 53. Sentence structures
and idioms; irregular --ndo forms; relative pronouns; second person plural vosotros
forms; por and para; the indirect command; future and conditional;
readings/vocabulary enrichment.
Unit 54. Sentence structures
and idioms; short answer patterns; correlatives; the familiar vos forms (the voseo);
subjunctive after clause relators; readings/vocabulary enrichment.
Unit 55. Sentence structures and
idioms; common derivational suffixes; the noun-forming suffix --idad; the
noun-forming suffixes --ero and --ería; the noun-and-adjective forming
suffixes --ante and --(i)ente; the noun-forming suffix --dor(a);
the noun-forming suffix --ción; the noun-forming suffix --miento; the
noun-forming suffix --ista; the noun-forming suffix --ez; the
noun-forming suffix --eza; the adjective-forming suffix --oso(a); review
Units 31-55; readings/vocabulary enrichment.
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Eva Duarte de Perón, to give her her official married name, reinvented herself, from a mediocre actress to the "First Lady" of Argentina, and a political power in her own right. Most historians believe her concern for the poor was genuine, but she was surrounded by some pretty unsavory characters, including her brother. She is credited with mobilizing Argentina's labor movement to keep Juan Perón in power when the military decided to oust him and went so far as to arrest him. Evita is also an example of another Latin tradition: the casita. Her father was a rich landowner, who kept her mother as a mistress and had several children by her. The casita family was barred from the old man's funeral by the legitimate wife, a hurt that stayed with Evita forever. From Platiquemos Level VIII. |
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| 181 pages of text, 49 illustrations, and 7 ½ hours of audio |