Spanish for Specific Purposes - Business

Course description
Theoretical practical course oriented specifically at the communication contexts as
well as the topics and roles that characterize the institutional-labor framework of
business in Valparaíso –Viña del Mar. The course will have an emphasis on the
development of both oral and written comprehension, expression and interaction
through formal and informal communicative activities with authentic texts related
specifically to business.

General objective
Improve the intercultural communicative competence from a pragmatic-descriptive
perspective.

2

Specific objectives
• Develop the skill of oral expression and interaction based on authentic, diverse,
varied, and functional texts related to business in Valparaíso – Viña del Ma
• Develop the skill of understanding authentic, diverse, varied and functional oral
texts related to business in Valparaíso – Viña del Mar
• Develop the skill of understanding authentic, diverse, varied, and functional
written texts related to business in Valparaíso – Viña del Mar.
• Develop the skill of written expression and interaction through authentic,
diverse, varied, and functional texts related to business in Valparaíso – Viña del
Mar.
• Involve the students with the concept of interculturality through communicative
activities and fieldworks where they must interact in different scenarios in the
field of business from a pragmatic-descriptive perspective.

Content
Unit I: Immersion in a New Environment: Business Travel
Situation: simulated situation where the student needs to request information in
Valparaíso and /or Viña del Mar (transport, business, banks, lodging, etc.)
Functions: request general information, such as times, prices, means of
transportation, register in hotel, etc.)
Language: interrogative pronouns, prepositions, formal and informal register

Unit II: Human Resources: Job Search
Situation: simulated situations in which the student wishes to enter the labor market
in a regional company.
Functions: description of the position, curriculum vitae, request job position and oral
interview.
Language: passive reflexive, references to the past and subjunctive

3

Unit III: Family Business versus Mega Companies
Situation: observations, visits and interviews to representatives of family businesses
and mega companies of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.
Functions: comparative description of yesterday’s and today’s businesses
Language: past tenses, interrogative forms, personal appreciations with the use of
the subjunctive.

Unit IV: Valparaíso and Viña del Mar: Future Challenges
Situation: identification and analysis of problems related to future commercial plans
and activities in the region.
Function: description of future plans and activities, suggestions, and advice.
Language: use of the future indicative tense. Conditionals. Subjunctives.

Unit V: Advertising Campaign for a Local Product or Service
Situation: hypothetical situation in which the student must launch and advertise his
or her own product or service in Valparaíso or Viña del Mar.
Function: description of the product and elaboration of a brief for the concretion of
the advertisement campaign.
Language: use of the subjunctive, imperative mood, description techniques.

Activities
• Theoretical and expository lessons.
• Individual oral presentations
• Fieldworks.
• Conversation and debates.
• Reading comprehension and analysis.

4

Evaluation
This course includes successive formative assessments (class and out-of-class
work) and summative assessments that result in a final grade. The teacher will
present a calendar of evaluations and the instruments that will be used when
assessing different skills.

Bibliography
• Programa de la Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD). Desarrollo
Humano en Chile, Género, los desafíos de la igualdad. Santiago, Chile,
2010.
• Calsamiglia, H., & Tusón, A. (1999). Las cosas del decir. Manual de análisis
del discurso. Barcelona: Ariel.
• PIIE Dossier