ALTHOUGH THIS SUBJECT IS OFFICIALLY PROPOSED AS THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE "EUSKARAREN ARAUAK ETA ERABILERAK"; NORMS AND USAGE IN BASQUE SUBJECT, IT IS IN FACT AIMED AT VISITORS OF ANY ENGINEERING DEGREE and therefore adapted to the point of view of students who do not know either Basque language or Basque culture, as ITS REAL NAME "BASQUE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE" REFLECTS IT. This course aims both to provide students with an introduction to the Basque land, people and culture, immersing them in the real sociolinguistic environment of the country, and to inform about the available basic resources we found for Basque to minimally manage with the language, focusing specially on the basic expressions and terminology. 

Although this area seems to relate only to linguistics, it has to underline that the desire to define the exact meaning of words/terms has always been a topic of interest of engineers since the beginning of communication in specialized areas. In fact, in the Royal Academy of the Basque Language, a great percentage of the members are engineers.

The course does not complement any specific course of the School of Engineering of Gipuzkoa, but it can be used to acquire a background in case of being interested in working with local teams or enterprises that give importance to the use of Basque. On the other hand, it offers the opportunity to experience the local culture of the Basque Country.

1. Critically discussing opinions and views on Basque language and culture
2. Becoming familiar with the main features of the Basque language, land and culture
3. Locating a given cultural product in time and space: texts, songs, buildings, etc.
4. Managing with the resources where Basque is involved, specialized terminology included.
5. Understanding the similarities and differences with regard to other languages.

CONTENIDOS TEÓRICO-PRÁCTICOS 

Block I. The language
- Typological outline of Basque and some language basics
- Theories on the origin
- Geography and sociology of the language: extension, dialects, standard variety, status, areas of use
- Basic vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation by traditional means and/or through the use of digital resources.
Block II. The land and people
- The Basque land from the historical, cultural and political perspectives
- Main landmarks or places of cultural, historical and geographical significance
- Traditions, identity, professions
- Current society
Block III. The culture
- Literature: main authors and creations; oral and written literature
- Music: main styles and trends
- Fine arts: main artists and creations
- Traditional sports and games,
- Festivals and feast days
Block IV. Basic resources
- Language learning resources
- The (digital) media: TV, radio, newspapers and magazines
- Wikipedia
- Specialized journals
 Tools: speller checker, euskalbar (toolbar of corpora and dictionaries); automatic machine translator

TEACHING METHODS

A number of materials included in eGela will serve as the starting point for each topic of the course. Home readings will be recommended and students will be expected to actively participate in class-discussions on the topics introduced by means of various texts, charts and audiovisual media. A number of activities will be suggested with the objective of reinforcing the acquired information and familiarizing students with new examples and cases that are relevant for each topic.
The language of the course will be English, as the main materials for reference and study. However, other language could be used in particular questions or some lectures, if the groups language skills make it possible. In some short exercises and in a part of a project the use of basic Basque will be required.

If possible, we will make some excursions in order to practice what we learn in class. Although in the schedule only lecture and practical classes are fixed, practical computer work will also carried out. These three teaching modalities will be combined according to the requirements of the contents, that is, one day of the week will not be necessarily for lecture class only and the other one for practical class and computer work. In case of such changes, students will be previously notified in class or through the forum.

TYPES OF TEACHING 

Legend: M: Lecture-based S: Seminar GL: Applied laboratory-based groups GO: Applied computer-based groups TA: Workshop TI: Industrial workshop GA: Applied classroom-based groups GCL: Applied clinical-based groups GCA: Applied fieldwork groups 

Evaluation methods:

• End-of-course evaluation

ORDINARY EXAMINATION PERIOD: GUIDELINES AND OPTING OUT

There are two assessment systems for the ORDINARY CALL: the continuous assessment and the final assessment.
However, the preferred method is the continuous one (without any final exam): Continuous assessment means: participation in class, following the contents of the subject, and doing and delivering all the projects on the fixed date. For passing the subject, it will be necessary to get at least 5 in the final grade. Regarding the participation, student will be asked to attend class. In case of not being possible, all the activities and exercises should follow and deliver via eGela, and tutoring should be used for questions. During the semester, a variety of exercise and activities should be carried out, and all of them will have a value in the final grade:
- Some of them will be short exercises to do and finish in class or during the week. They all should be uploaded to eGela. 20 %.
- In groups, (preferably of 3) choosing one topic from the list proposed by the teacher and making an oral presentation (in English) with its .ppt (or other format) writing support. 30 %.
- Individually, writing a letter to a friend who has not been to the Basque Country either does not speak Basque, and tell him/her about them. The part about the Basque Country should be written in Basque (short, and without using automatic translation) and the one about the Basque Language should be in English (longer). 20 %.
- A multiple choice test. 30 %
All these exercises and projects will be exhaustively explained and detailed in class and will be documented in eGela. This assessment plan may change in case teacher thinks it is necessary according to the group profile. If a student cannot attend class for a justified reason, he or she must report it to the teacher at the beginning of the semester. If the student in this situation wanted to participate in the continuous assessment, she/he should have to follow the contents of the course via the virtual platform "eGELA" and should have to attnd tutorials for feedback. If, eventually, this way of working was getting too difficult, he/she could do the final exam. Students who do not pass the continuous assessment may also take the final exam. Thus, the result obtained in the exam will be the final grade of the subject. Those who do not pass the continuous assessment and do not take the exam will have NOT APPROVED. Those who leave continuous assessment and do not present to the exam will have NOT APPROVED, unless they notify previously (10 days before the exam) to the teacher that they want to renounce the ordinary call. Those who directly do the final exam will have the grade got on it. Once presented to the exam, this call will run. Those who have not carried out the continuous assessment either the final exam will get the not presented mark.

Final assessment:
The final assessment is an exam-only system where the grade is based entirely on a final exam.
The final exam will consists of 3 blocks, similar (but not the same) to the tasks proposed in the continuous assessment:
- A multiple choice test: 40 %
- Development of a topic chosen from a list that will be provided previously by the teacher and make an oral presentation (in English) with its .ppt (or other format) writing support. 30 %
- A writing task. One part should be written in Basque and the other in English. 40 % The exam will be hold in the computer lab, so that students can use the appropriated resources.
According to Article 12.2 of the UPV/EHU Evaluation Regulations, students wishing to resign from the ordinary call must notify it to the teacher at least one month before the end of the semester. The student who renounces the ordinary call will have the mark of not presented.

IF THE EVOLUTION OF THE PANDEMIC FORCES US TO RETURN TO NON-PRESENTIALITY:
- The tasks and percentages of continuous assessment would be maintained.
- Some tasks, whether oral or written, would be done synchronously and through BbC in the class hours, and other tasks should be done asynchronously and delivered on the fixed date to the teacher via eGela. Regarding tasks designed to perform in groups, we will try to keep them as such, carrying out them either synchronously through the BbC, or delivering them to the teacher.

EXTRAORDINARY EXAMINATION PERIOD: GUIDELINES AND OPTING OUT

In the extraordinary call only a final exam system can be carried out, where the student gets her/his entire grade. This exam will have the same structure as the proposal in the ordinary call. For the preparation of the exam, the student will have the possibility to hold as many meetings or seminars as necessary with the teacher for the resolution of exercises or doubts.
According to Article 12.2 of the UPV/EHU Evaluation Regulations, in the final evaluation, the fact of not presenting to the exam on the official date will automatically determine the waiver of the corresponding call and, as a consequence, the mark of not presented.
Once again, if the evolution of the pandemic forces us to return to non-presentiality, the tasks and percentages of assessment would be maintained and the students would perform the tasks through Egela the date set up by the School, and, if necessary, would agree with the teacher the intervals to perform each of the sections of the exam.

MANDATORY MATERIALS

The contents of the course (program, evaluation, notes, exercises, tasks to be delivered, articles, addresses...) will be hung on the virtual platform eGELA. To follow the contents and know the deadlines of the tasks, a basic document Diary will be available in eGELA, where the activities that we carry out daily and the decisions or notes that are made in class are briefly collected. Other issues such as changes in tutoring hours, notes that have not been explained in class, will be communicated through the forum.

BIBLIOGRAFIA

Basic bibliography

Ayuso, M., Zallo, R. (2009) The Basque Country. Insight its culture, history, society and institutions <http://www.euskadi.eus/r332732/es/contenidos/informacion/ezagutu_eh/es_eza_e /adjuntos/eza_en.pdf>
Douglass, W., Zulaika, J. (2006) Basque Culture: Anthropological perspectives. University of Nevada, Reno.
Etxepare Institute (2012) Publications. Basque Culture Series
<http://www.etxepare.eus/en/publications#Basque%20culture%20series>

Detailed bibliography 

Etxegoien, J. C. (2006) Orhipean. The Country of Basque. Ed. Pamiela.
Garabide Elkartea (2010) Language Standardisation. Garabide.
Jaka, A. (2005) Translating Basque Literature. University of the Basque Country
<http://www.basqueliterature.com/basque/itzulp>
Knorr, G. (2010) Kaixo! English-Basque conversation guide. Ed. Txertoa.
Kurlansky, M. (1999) The Basque history of the world. Penguin Books.
Laka, I. (1996) A Brief Grammar of Euskara, the Basque Language
<http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/eins/basquegrammar>
Olaziregi, M. J. (2008) "Mapping the nation in contemporary Basque literature", Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca
Julio de Urquijo: International journal of basque linguistics andphilology, Vol. 42, No. 1, 2008, pgs. 387-398.
<http://www.ehu.eus/ojs/index.php/ASJU/article/view/2748/2360>
Rehm, G.; Uszkoreit, H. (eds.) (2012) The Basque Language in the Digital Age. White Paper Series, ed. Springer <http://www.meta-net.eu/whitepapers/e-book/basque.pdf>
Trask, L. (1995) "Origins and Relatives of Basque" in Hualde et al. 1995: 131, 65-99. in Hualde J. I., Lakarra J. A. & Trask
R. L. (eds) (1995) Towards a History of the Basque. Language, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 131.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Zuazo, K. (2013) The Dialects of Basque. Center for Basque Studies.

Journals 

Aldiri, arkitektura eta abar aldizkaria (UEU)

Elhuyar Zientzia eta Teknologia aldizkaria (Elhuyar)

Web sites of interest 

Dictionary - Morris Student (eu-en, en-eu)
Dictionary - Elhuyar (eu-en, eu-es, eu-fr) 
Dictionary  Euskalterm
Elhuyar Foundation
Trask, Larry. Some important Basque words and a bit of culture.
Basque cinema 
Basque legends 
Basque proverbs
Various online resources 
Tools:
Xuxen, the speller-checker corrector: www.xuxen.eus
Euskalbar, Firefox toolbar: corpus and dictionaries
Elia, auotomatic machine translator.

OBSERVATIONS

ALTHOUGH THIS SUBJECT IS OFFICIALLY PROPOSED AS THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE "EUSKARAREN ARAUAK ETA ERABILERAK" NORMS AND USAGE IN BASQUE SUBJECT, IT IS IN FACT AIMED AT VISITORS OF ANY ENGINEERING DEGREE and therefore adapted to the point of view of students who do not know either Basque language or Basque culture, as ITS REAL NAME "BASQUE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE" REFLECTS IT.