Spanish

Develop language skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing) and cross-disciplinary skills (teamwork, critical thinking, communication, problem solving, empathy, and intercultural awareness).  

Taking Spanish classes as part of your studies at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées is an opportunity to join a large community of Spanish speakers who share this official language in twenty countries in Latin America, Equatorial Guinea, and Spain. This choice also allows you to broaden your exchanges even in English-speaking countries such as the United States, where Spanish is also widely spoken (one in ten American residents speaks Spanish at home). Studying Spanish therefore also means discovering and immersing yourself, through the language, in a rich array of material, intellectual, artistic, and emotional elements that characterize Spanish-speaking societies and their social groups.

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The teaching program 

The general language courses 

These are the “Beginners,” ‘Elementary’ (false beginners), "Intermedios Lengua y culturas hispanas A2-B", "Interacciones y culturas B2".  The curriculum for these courses is based on the approach recommended by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In this sense, students become “social actors who have to perform tasks (not only linguistic ones) in given circumstances and environments, within a particular field of action” (CEFR, Didier, 2006). In other words, they use Spanish in a wide variety of communication situations according to their level and needs. The development of cross-curricular skills (creativity, methodology, autonomy, adaptability, interpersonal skills, etc.) goes hand in hand with learning the spoken and written language. Exposure to the cultural diversity of Spanish-speaking populations plays an important role in the courses.

Thematic-linguistic classes 

Another way to consolidate your Spanish is to approach it through specific themes, such as history, music, visual arts, contemporary political or economic issues, theater, cinema, and literature. These include courses such as: “Mirando la actualidad” (Looking at current affairs), “Caribe hispano” (Hispanic Caribbean), “Lengua y música hispana” (Hispanic language and music), Intercultural Management, “Lengua y cine hispano” (Hispanic language and cinema), “Escribir y narrar relatos” (Writing and storytelling), “Filosofía en español” (Philosophy in Spanish), “Debate,” Reading Club, etc. These courses give future engineers a humanistic perspective in addition to language learning. Some of these modules, such as “Escribir y narrar relatos,” involve multilingual projects where Spanish students interact with international students. 

Guided self-study courses 

Students with a very advanced level of the language can carry out an individual learning project supervised by a teacher. They can conduct research on a specific issue or topic with oral and written activities.
The remote “Reading Club” is also an opportunity to improve Spanish. Contact with the language through books and exchanges with the teacher and other students greatly enriches the learning experience.