Introductory Medical Spanish

Catalog description

The language program objectives of our department are based on the premise that students must be able to demonstrate increased proficiency in interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational communication skills as well as growth in cultural, literary, and interdisciplinary knowledge as they move through a sequence of study. This course is the second part of the first-year experience in Spanish during which the development of communicative and cultural competencies is at the center of this experience. At the end of the course, successful students will be able to handle a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations. They will also develop a sense of the cultural aspects of peoples who speak the target language. This course offers an additional focus on the use of Spanish across a variety of medical professions. Students interested in careers in medicine, nursing, counseling, physical therapy, chiropractic education, healthcare communication, public policy or other related fields will benefit from the linguistic (i.e., vocabulary and grammar) and sociocultural topics examined in this course. In addition to learning grammar and vocabulary that will translate into real-world skills in medical and healthcare professions (e.g., talking to patients, navigating a hospital setting, diagnosing illnesses), students will also explore sociocultural topics on how Latinx communities in the United States relate to medical and healthcare services and industries. In order to take this course, students must have taken Spanish I ( SPA 100 ) at Rider or placed into Spanish II or Introductory Medical Spanish ( SPA 101 or SPA 103 ) on the Foreign Language Placement Test.