Spanish Ra and Ca will combine next year into a single intermediate course offering both conversation and reading practice. Subject to Faculty approval, the change will "eliminate the stiff boundary now separating the two courses," according to Edward J. Geary, associate professor of Romance Languages and Literatures.
The new course will offer three sections. Two will roughly correspond to this year's Ra (translation) and Ca (conversation and composition). Students in the third, or intermediate section, will concentrate on improving their aural-oral skills and at the same time on increasing reading speed and comprehension. Under the present system, Ra is conducted in English, Ca in Spanish.
"We hope for progression from one section to another," Geary said. "The change is not an attempt to force everyone to take an equivalent of this year's Ca. There will be sections for students who have only translated, especially those from high schools which do not emphasize oral comprehension."
A similar combination of French Ca and Ra will not take place next year, Geary said, but if the experiment with Spanish Ca and Ra proves profitable, the French department might try the change the year after.
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