Destinos

A while ago, I had to take science and other classes for a teaching certificate I was going for (which I ended up never using, but that's another story). I ended up taking language classes to help balance out the dreaded education classes I had to endure, and one of them was Spanish through the television: a telecourse called Destinos.

Destinos teaches speaking, listening, and comprehension skills in Spanish. This telenovela, or Spanish soap opera, immerses students in everyday situations with native speakers and introduces the cultures, accents, and dialects of Mexico, Spain, Argentina, and Puerto Rico. Understanding of Spanish and appreciation of many Hispanic cultures increase as students become absorbed in the mysterious and entertaining story.

An excellent series. I didn't know Spanish when I started out, so I didn't understand everything, but by the end of the first section, I was paying attention to the story, not thinking about the structures (ie, not analyzing the language itself). So I got engrossed in the story as I was learning--which is the point.

Of course, I didn't learn how to speak because it was about listening and learning grammar and vocabulary, but at the beginning of foreign language acquisition, we're passive anyway. So it suited me fine. Even when it comes on the TV now, I still watch it--it has good memories for me.