- UCAS course code
- RRK5
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA Spanish and Portuguese
Gain specialist language and culture skills with a focus on Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
Duration: 4 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: RRK5 / Institution code: M20
- Key features:
Study abroad
Study with a language
- Typical A-level offer: ABB including specific subjects
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC including specific subjects
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC including specific subjects
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,5,5 at HL including specific subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
- Find out more from student finance
- Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
- Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
- Many students work part-time or complete a student internship
Course unit details:
Reading the Rain Forest: Visions of the Amazon
| Unit code | SPLA30801 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 20 |
| Unit level | Level 3 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world, home to almost half of the world’s living species and hundreds of indigenous cultures. From the time when the first Europeans sailed the waters of the Amazon river, the region has also captivated the imagination of travelers, businessmen, scientists, writers, and artists from other regions. With the independence of Brazil in the 19th century, the Amazon became the subject of frontier disputes, often playing a contradictory role in the new nation’s quest for identity: it was the “savage”, “uncivilized” territory that brought both shame and pride to nationalist discourses of all ideologies, which alternated between calling it an “earthly paradise”, and “green hell”. This course will examine how the Amazon is portrayed in a variety of media and genres: indigenous narratives, travel-writing, literature, and film.
Pre/co-requisites
| Unit title | Unit code | Requirement type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese Language 5 | SPLA52050 | Pre-Requisite | Compulsory |
| Pre/Co/Antirequisite units | Pre-requisite - SPLA52040 Portuguese Language 4 Co-requisite - SPLA52050 Portuguese Language 5 (or equivalent) |
| Free choice | Yes, as long as the student has adequate knowledge of Portuguese |
| Available on which programme(s)? | SPLAS, Portuguese |
| Medium of language | English and Portuguese |
Aims
-
Teaching and learning methods
Lectures
Task-motivated group work
Presentations given by groups of students
Active and informed participation in seminar discussion. Each student will receive a mark for their participation in the seminars, which will consist of mid-term participation mark (50%) and final participation mark (50%).
Active contribution to online discussion forum on the Amazon forest. Each student will receive a mark for their contribution to the forum, which will consist of mid-term participation mark (50%) and final participation mark (50%). Participation in the forum will be assessed according to frequency and quality of contribution, as well as engagement with other participants.
Knowledge and understanding
- Have a better understanding of the history of the Amazon region
- Have a better knowledge about the Amazonian environment
- Have a better understanding of social conflicts in the Amazonian region
- Have a better understanding of how different discourses about the Amazon have been constructed
Intellectual skills
On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:
- Display cultural analytical skills (literary analysis, film analysis, and analysis of colonial and ecological history).
Practical skills
On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate a clear enhancement in their Portuguese vocabulary
Transferable skills and personal qualities
On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate independent and critical thinking
- Demonstrate ability to present material and ideas individually and collectively in oral and written form.
- An ability to participate in group discussions
- An ability to participate in internet discussions
Employability skills
- Other
- - Improved command of Portuguese - Independent and critical thinking - Ability to express ideas and plans in writing - Knowledge of environmental issues - Ability to read and interpret written and visual works - Team work - Ability to create online presentations - Ability to participate on online discussions - Ability to do oral presentations to a group
Assessment methods
| Assessment task | Formative or Summative | Weighting within unit (if Summative) |
| Short Essay | Formative | |
| Final Essay | Summative | 60% |
| Group Presentations | Summative | 20% |
| Active contribution to internet forum on current Amazonian topics. | Summative | 20% |
Feedback methods
- Written feedback on presentations
- Written feedback on essays
- Written feedback on contribution to discussion forum
- Additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or by making an appointment)
Recommended reading
- Hecht, Susana, and Alexander Cockburn. The Fate of the Forest. Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon. Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
- Slater, Candace. Entangled Edens: Visions of the Amazon. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 11 |
| Seminars | 22 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Lucia Sa | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
Please check your ‘My Manchester’ timetables for days/times. Any queries can be directed to salc-languages@manchester.ac.uk or the Languages Student Information Office.
This module must be passed with a minimum overall mark of 40% in order to progress.
Following successful completion of the first part of this course, it is strongly recommended that students continue working on their independent learning dossier over the Christmas vacation and the January examination period.