General description

This course is aimed at those students who wish to study the economics of Spain and of the main Latin-American countries through a great variety of activities. Also, the differences in culture and protocol for doing business with the Spanish and with the Latin-Americans will be studied. The methodology is eclectic, focusing on communicative and structuralist classroom tasks; that is individual work is as much emphasised as group work. Finally, material will be included related to the subjects analysed in each unit to develop tasks on the Internet. We wish to emphasise that the course contents may help to prepare several subjects included in the exams organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madrid for the attainment of the Superior Certificate and/or Diploma of Business Spanish.

Content

First section: Spain
Topic 1. The natural infrastructure of the Spanish economy.
Topic 2. Panorama of the population.
Topic 3. The farming industry.
Topic 4. The fishing industry.
Topic 5. The industrial sector and the construction sector.
Topic 6. Types of commercial societies.
Topic 7. The financial system.
Topic 8. The tourism sector and the environment.
Topic 9. Domestic trade, foreign trade.
Topic 10. Spanish investments in overseas trade.

Second section: Latin-America
Fundamentals of the economy of de:
Topic 1. Argentina
Topic 2. Uruguay
Topic 3. Chile
Topic 4. Peru
Topic 5. Colombia
Topic 6. Venezuela
Topic 7. Mexico
Topic 8. Cuba
Topic 9. Central America: Panama

Activities
Students will carry out a series of exercises based on the topics in the syllabus, selected texts as well as specifically prepared texts. Also, debates will be organised in class on topics related to each country besides articles from journals related to the field of economy Students, in pairs, will also give a talk on some important aspect of Spain or Latin-America.

Assessment
In order to pass the course students will have to attend and participate in classes
which will motivate students to construct reasoning, discuss their ideas with other students and the teacher and also to use the specific vocabulary related to the field of economy and business. This will be 25% of the final mark. There will also be a mid-term exam and a final exam, both written on the topics explained in class. Students will have to have attended 80% of classes and obtained a minimum mark of five for attendance, participation in class will also be taken into account in the final mark.

Bibliography
Text-book:
FELICES, Ángel; CALDERÓN, Mª Ángeles; IRIARTE, Emilio; NÚÑEZ, Emilia, Cultura y
Negocios. El español de la economía española y latinoamericana. Madrid, Edinumen, 2003.

Supplementary bibliography:
FELICES, ÁNGEL, RUIZ, Cecilia, Español para el comercio internacional. Términos y
expresiones esenciales en el mundo de los negocios. Madrid, Edinumem,1998.

GONZÁLES, Miguel y otros, Temas de economía española. Valencia, Tiran lo Blanch,1998
Supplementary material: Annuals, articles, reports and documents from diverse sources;
publications on current economic issues.