SPAN401 is not a systematic study of Spanish grammar (that is the purpose of the SPAN 200 and 300 prerequisites for this course). In SPAN401 students will practice and apply what they have learned in previous courses, as well as broaden their vocabulary through different kinds of writings (i.e.: summaries, opinion papers, narrations, feature articles, descriptions, poems, short stories, etc.), projects and class participation. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to study and practice more in-depth those structures that traditionally cause the most problems: subjunctive vs. indicative, past tenses, prepositions and pronouns, reflexivity, active vs. passive, text progression, determination, word order, direct vs. indirect speech, sequence of tenses, use of complex tenses, etc. The SPAN 401 textbook contains an array of authentic readings about the culture, history, and politics of Spain and Latin America. The overall goal of SPAN 401 is to help students reach the ACTFL Language Testing Advanced-Low Level.