One of the most attractive characteristics of this four-year programme is its flexibility.
In Years 1 and 2 your pre-honours years you will choose option courses from a wide range of disciplines in addition to your core subjects of Spanish and History.
As well as broadening your education and skill set this may enable you to change the focus of your programme in Years 3 and 4 your honours years.
Year 1
Spanish
You will study either Spanish 1A or 1B depending on your language skills and a selection of literary texts and films from the Spanish-speaking world.
History
History courses in Year 1 are broad survey courses that are designed to prepare you for more specialised study in Years 3 and 4.
Current courses range from the Middle Ages to the present. You will take one of these courses and also a compulsory course in historical skills that engages with broader questions about:
the nature of history as an academic discipline
the methods and skills required for historical research
Option courses
You will complete your Year 1 studies with option courses chosen from a wide range offered by the University of Edinburgh.
You can for example opt to study another language such as Portuguese which you can start as a complete beginner.
Other options include but are not limited to courses in:
linguistics and language sciences
business economics and informatics
politics social policy and social anthropology
art and architectural history
history classics and archaeology
Celtic and Scottish ethnology
philosophy divinity and law
Year 2
Spanish
You will continue to develop your spoken and written language skills and to study Spanish and Latin American culture.
History
As in Year 1 History courses offer broad surveys that are designed to prepare you for more specialised study in Years 3 and 4.
Extending your range geographically and chronologically these courses currently cover various periods and themes in American European British Scottish and global history.
You will choose one of them and also take a compulsory course on historiography.
Option courses
As in Year 1 you will also choose other courses from a wide range offered by the University.
These include a great selection in European languages and cultures allowing you to study literature film and theatre in themed and comparative contexts.
You can take up Portuguese or continue it from Year 1.
You can also opt to study Catalan or explore different aspects of linguistics.
Year 3
International travel restrictions permitting you will spend Year 3 in a Spanish-speaking country immersing yourself in the language.
The University has exchange places in a wide variety of universities in Spain and Latin America. Alternatively you may be eligible to do a teaching assistant placement with an organisation such as the British Council – or other work placement – instead.
Our graduates report how much the year abroad has benefited their general life experience and skills as well as their understanding of cultures in context and the Spanish language.
During your year abroad we will aim to ensure your overall experience is as beneficial as possible to your final year as well as to your wider language learning cultural awareness and skills development.
You will complete prescribed work in both History and Spanish for example taking an e-learning language course which will count as part of your Year 3 mark and prepare you for your final year language courses.
If international travel is not possible you will be offered an alternative means of engaging with your subjects enabling you to meet your learning outcomes and preparing you for your final year.
Year 4
You will study advanced language courses in Spanish.
You will also choose from a range of specialist honours-level courses in Spanish and in History.
For Spanish these courses cover aspects of Spanish and Latin American:
history
literature
film
linguistics
cultures
You will complete your dissertation or long essay.
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