Background Information
Villanova has been enjoying an academic connection with the University of Cádiz for the last twenty two years, through a summer program and other exchange programs with professors and students.
The City of Cádiz situated in the Southwestern part of Spain, Cádiz is a living relic of the Eighteenth Century, with the Caleta beach at the center of the city, to remind us of Cádiz' old Phoenician heritage, 3,000 years ago. Cádiz is a small port city that due to its location away from tourist routes, still conserves old traditions, and people live in a relaxed, safe and friendly atmosphere. The climate is warm during the entire year.
"Statement and recommendations from two Villanova students in Cádiz this semester: Jacqueline Toscano and Mallory Morgan"
Registration
Students need to register at least two months before the end of the previous semester, i.e. in March for the Fall semester and in October for the Spring semester. They need to discuss their study abroad plans with Dr. Silvia Nagy-Zekmi, who is the faculty in charge of Spanish programs abroad in the RLL Department, the professors in charge of Semester Programs Abroad in the different Departments and programs where they plan to also take courses, and then visit the Office of International Studies.
Duration and Dates
The program lasts 14 weeks. The fall semester begins in early September and ends the second week of December. The spring semester begins the first week of February and ends in mid -May.
Credits
Each semester, students can take five courses, equivalent to 15 credits. a total of 3 credits per course for a total of 15 credits of 45 hours (5 courses), the same way they do at Villanova University.
Recommendations and Academic Requirements
Participating students should be able to demonstrate upon arrival at least an Intermediate college-level Spanish proficiency for successful program completion.
Each course consists of 45 hours (42 hours of on-campus learning + 3 hours of guided autonomous learning).
ACADEMIC PROGRAM
Theme Areas:
The course offerings are comprised of four main theme areas (A, B, C and D):
A. Spanish as a Foreign Language.
Appointed coordinator: Dr. Mariano Franco Figueroa, professor of Spanish Language at the University of Cádiz. He received a Ph.D. degree in Spanish Language, Literature and Linguistics in 1988, and, since then, he has been researching and publishing in the history of Spanish language and its dialectal variants, as well as teaching Spanish as a foreign language.
B. Spanish and Latin American Literature.
Appointed coordinator: Dr. María Jesús Ruiz Fernández. Professor at University of Cádiz since 1987. Her teaching has been devoted mainly to popular Hispanic Literature and Spanish Golden Age Literature. She has written several books, and numerous essays on oral tradition, popular culture and ethnographic heritage, as well as a series of studies on the writers and works of the Spanish exile of 1939.
C. Cultural Studies.
Appointed coordinator: Dr. Rafael Vélez, professor of English Literature at the University of Cádiz and member of the research group Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas Ingleses (Studies on Mediaeval and Rennaisance English) at the University of Seville. His main research fields: Modern Age Culture and Literature, and Genre Studies. Professor Vélez Núñez have published several journal articles and edited two theses in the fields.
D. History, Sociology and Communication.
Appointed coordinator: Dr. Francisco Vázquez García, professor of Philosophy since 2004. He specializes in Spanish and French Contemporary Philosophy and in the cultural history of sexuality. He has published numerous books and papers on the aforementioned fields in international journals.
GROUP A. COURSES: Spanish as a Foreign Language: The courses aim at increasing language proficiency by developing all language skills (speaking, writing, reading).
SPA1131. Conversation and Composition (3 CREDITS, 45 hours): This course focuses on developing skills in Spanish through all types of oral and written compositions. Grammatical points will be emphasized to keep the grammar alive as students practice to use it.
SPA1132. Advanced Written and Conversational Spanish (3 CREDITS, 45 hours): The course focuses on developing communicative skills in Spanish through all types of oral, literary readings, and written productions, increasing the students’ vocabulary, syntax and difficult grammatical structures.
SPA1138. Advanced Specific Studies on Grammar I (3 CREDITS, 45 hours): A course that deals with specific grammar aspects of the Spanish language: morphology, syntax, etc.
SPA3412. Introduction to Spanish Linguistics II (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). This course will introduce the core disciplines of linguistics, the scientific study of language: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Additional topics to be addressed include dialects, social aspects of language and language change.
GROUP B. COURSES: Spanish and Latin American Literature These courses examine works of the most representative writers of Spain and Latin America. At the same time, the courses will help develop students’ communicative skills through reading and discussion over a range of the literary texts under analysis.
SPA3513. Currents and Poetic Genres in Spanish Golden Age Literature (3 CREDITS), 45 hours. The course aims to provide deep insight into the understanding of Spanish poetry as a dynamic and complex creative phenomenon. The course offers an intertextual approach that tries to relate the world of popular poetry (oral poems arising from folk-songs) and the polished poetry by educated writers. It will determine the origin of poetic genres and how they developed from its origin in European mediaeval times to the diverse forms in Latin America.
SPA3923. The Origin and Development of the Modern Novel: from Cervantes to Pérez Galdós (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The connecting thread from the hybrid discourse of Cervante’s Novelas Ejemplares (‘Exemplary Novel’) to the late 19th century novel is essential in understanding the creation and development of the novel features in the Spanish language and in determining the complex relationship between story and fiction in novel writing.
SPA4140. Latin American Poetry and Narrative (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The start of a genuine Latin American literature in the early 20th century established the conventions and defined the way contemporary modernism developed in the following decades.
SPA3412. The Latin American Avant-Garde Movement, (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The experimentation and departure from the canon that took place at the beginning of last century gave rise to experimentation and continued until it reached its maturity in the eighties and nineties.
GROUP C. COURSES: Cultural Studies: These courses provide deep insight into contemporary cultural aspects of Spain, including its literature, art, history, geography, festivities, gastronomy, as well as current affairs, so as to help students shape their own opinion and take part in social and cultural debates.
PS Culture, Ideological Context and Democracy: from the Republican Regeneration to political transition (Spain, 1931-1975), (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). A good grasp of today’s Spain requires good understanding of its political development throughout the 20th century. This course focuses on the understanding of today’s Spanish society organization based on the period from pre-war political and philosophical regeneration and its intermittent stability until the democracy transition period.
SOC4000 Tradition, Identity and Interculturality in Today’s Spain (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The course aims to reveal the key components underlying a culture, namely the Spanish culture which is built upon three different foundations: traditions and cultural conservatism, the quest for a unique identity but showing overlapping nationalities, and the renewed make up of religions and customs reflected in today’s immigration.
COM3290 Representation, Image and Communication: Today’s Spanish Society (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). Influenced by Romanticism, in the 20th century Spain became an iconographic repertoire which, through time, ended in the portrayal of the Spanish tipismo (portrayal of Spanish society’s customs). The main objective of the course is to provide students with the tools to critically identify the topics and realities of Contemporary Spanish and analyze to what extents today’s Spanish culture has its foundations in the memory of its own history, image and representations created from the foreigners’ perspective.
LA 2993/BA 2002 Business Internship (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). Our Internship Program offers several exchanges in a typical Spanish atmosphere. This program is thought to help the students to improve their linguistic skills in a business environment. The most important enterprises at the Bay of Cadiz are involved at the moment in this project. These companies are distributed in different sectors such us: naval one, aeronautic, services, etc.
GROUP D. COURSES: History, Sociology, & Communication. The courses seek to provide the students with an analytical and thoughtful view on the most important landmarks in contemporary history and other disciplines of Spain. They also seek to encourage and promote critical thinking over the aspects that shape Contemporary Spanish society.
HIS3950. Spain’s Cádiz Constitution of 1812 (Constitución Gaditana) and its repercussion on the constitutions of the Americas (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The new period after the French Revolution gave rise to the Constitution of 1812; a Carta Magna that set the basic principles underlying modern democracy and served as a model for the organization of the Americas’ states. The aim of the course is to analyze such a process from a historical, social and political approach.
HIS3950. The Al-Andalus Civilization throughout its texts (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The main objective of the course is to provide students with an insight into the most important aspects of al-Andalus through its texts, both original Arab written texts and their translations that stemmed from this culture.
ART ARTAAHH 3009. History of Spain throughout its artistic manifestations (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The course focuses on the most significant landmarks in the Spanish history and their related artistic manifestations.
CST2100. Spanish Exile: artistic and editorial activities in Latin America (1937-1977), (3 CREDITS, 45 hours). The Spanish Civil War and the postwar years interrupted a process of cultural regeneration in Spain. However artistic production kept alive in the exile of many intellectuals, especially in the United States, México and Argentina. This course analizes the artistic and literary legacy of Spanish writers in their American exile in their most representative manifestations: popular and children theater, Spanish oral tradition, journalism, fiction and the fine arts. It will also study the material conditions in which the exile culture developed.
Academic Program: Description and Requirements
The academic program is limited to 15 credits. Courses are 3 credits each and are grouped in four main theme areas: “Spanish as a Foreign Language”, “Spanish and Latin American Literature”, “Cultural Studies” and “History, Sociology & Communication.” Students may take five courses of the ones listed, but not more than two courses from one Section.
Syllabus. In their first class, students will be provided a detailed syllabus describing the course contents, required text books, objectives and assessment criteria, as well as a schedule of the daily and weekly activities.
Final Exam. At the end of the program students will do a final examination. The percentage awarded is fully explained in the evaluation criteria detailed in the syllabus provided to the students on their first day of class.
Grading. Villanova students will receive a letter grade from A to F from the Instructors at the University of Cádiz. A, B, and C are considered satisfactory grades, while D and F are unsatisfactory. Only satisfactory/unsatisfactory grades for the courses taken abroad will go into the student’s transcript. Upon program completion and transcript elaboration, certificates shall be issued and submitted to the academic coordinator or mailed to the address suggested by Villanova.
Optional Extracurricular Activities Program
This optional program offers several extracurricular excursions to various locations throughout Spain. The cost of these trips is additional.
Trip to Seville: 1-day field trip to Seville. Morning departure from Cádiz. Sightseeing tour of the most emblematic monuments and neighborhoods (barrios) of the capital city of Andalucía: the Jewish quarter of Barrio de Santa Cruz, the Cathedral, La Giralda and the Alcázar.
Trip to Madrid: 1-weekend trip to Madrid. Departure on Friday morning and return to Cádiz on Sunday afternoon. This includes visits to the Prado and Reina Sofía Museums and a tour of the city’s most emblematic parks and neighborhoods (barrios and districts).
Trip to Granada: 1-weekend trip to Granada. Departure for Granada on Friday morning and return to Cádiz on Sunday afternoon. This includes visits to the Alhambra Palace, Nasrid Palaces, the Palace of Carlos V, Mirador de San Nicolás (San Nicolas viewpoint) as well as walk tours of the city’s most popular sights and neighborhoods through.
Room and Board
The Centre for Modern Languages (CSLM) provides host family accommodation to students enrolled in any of its courses.
Staying with a family enables students to achieve a high level of immersion in terms of using the language and helps them to form part of everyday life in a Spanish home. There is no doubt about the advantages of residing with a local family for increased integration into the culture and social environment, as well as a comprehensive and practical learning period of the language being studied. This period of family life will provide not only the opportunity to put into practice the Spanish language theory the student is learning, but will also promote the knowledge of the customs, values, food, habits and culture of the Spanish families.
All students have the option to request family accommodation for the period of their course by filling in a request form, essential for adapting the needs of each student to the characteristics of the families. After the form has been reviewed and enrolment finalized, the student will be assigned family accommodation according to their prior requirements.
The students can choose between full-board accommodation (breakfast, lunch and dinner included) and half-board accommodation (breakfast included and lunch or dinner at their choice).
The person responsible for the accommodation will be available to the students throughout their stay for any help that may be required. The accommodation service will coordinate the pick-up at the train or bus station in Cádiz with their assigned family. On their arrival, both parties (student and family) will sign the corresponding cohabitation agreement.
Resident Director
The program has an on-site resident director, Dr. María Jesús Ruiz Fernández, professor at University of Cádiz. She will serve as a local adviser to students.
