Department Overview

The Spanish Department at Irvine Valley College invites you to become a part of our dynamic and interactive Spanish program. We offer four levels of classes, from Low Beginning to High Intermediate. All of our classes are conducted in Spanish.  Our professors are highly skilled at using images, objects, and sound effects to convey meaning without using English.  The only way to gain fluency in Spanish is to be surrounded by the sounds of the language and given many opportunities to both hear and speak it.

The emphasis in Spanish 1 and 2 is on learning to understand native spoken and written Spanish and to express yourself in basic situations. In Spanish 3 and 4 spoken Spanish continues to be a focus as more detailed grammar and more complex reading materials are presented.

We provide small conversational groups on campus and many opportunities for extending your new skills in the Hispanic community through field trips and various cultural activities. The materials used at IVC is the text book Dos mundos and the electronic Cuaderno de actividades (lab manual/workbook to accompany Dos mundos). These materials include free access to the Dos mundos Online Learning Center (www.mhhe.com/dosmundos7) where students may listen to audio material, watch animation and practice Spanish.  These materials are used for Spanish 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B and 3. Students who continue on to Spanish 4 use a more advanced set of materials.  Extra practice is available through the McGraw Hill's Centro site after purchase of the electronic Cuaderno de actividades.

We believe that listening and reading are the foundation for solid language acquisition. You cannot expect to acquire native-like competence in a foreign language in one to two years, but you can expect to be able to communicate with native speakers of Spanish even though you make mistakes. Enhance your acquisition of Spanish outside of class by reading magazines and newspapers, interacting with native speakers, listening to radio, watching television and using the Internet. The goal in our program is communicative competence not grammatical perfection.

Native speakers of Spanish are encouraged to enroll in Spanish 3 or 4 where reading and writing receive more emphasis.