Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish (Student Edition) Review

Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish (Student Edition)
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Destinos is a set of materials (books, videos, audio cassettes) that function together. The primary learning tool is the video. It allows the learner to listen to conversations in Spanish, but unlike audio cassettes, you have the aid of contextual clues provided by the scenes acted out on the video to help you understand the dialog. I found that to be an excellent learning tool. The chapters are designed to start with a basic vocabulary and add more with each chapter. Each chapter incorporates new vocabulary, and that vocabulary is tailored to include what a visitor to a Spanish-speaking country is most likely to use. The video is written in a soap-opera format, which "hooks" you into the story and characters, thus helping you to maintain interest and not quit the learning process. And the story introduces you to several different Spanish-speaking countries. The audio cassettes provide further listening practice, and the book provides the core of the grammatical curriculum.
I think it's better for an intermediate student rather than a complete beginner.
All in all a good way to improve listening comprehension and learn travelers vocabulary. For speaking, there's no substitute for live practice with a fluent teacher.

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DESTINOS is an innovative beginning Spanish program based on a 26-week television series premiering on PBS in the fall of 1992. The 52 half-hour shows of the series use the powerful appeal of a uniquely Hispanic genre -- the telenovela (soap opera) -- to make language and culture come alive. The situation and context of each episode introduce students to the basic structures, language functions and vocabulary groups of Spanish that are then presented in the print materials. (Most grammar explanations and exercises are in the workbook/study guides.) This complete one-year course is designed to help students develop communicative proficiency -- listening, speaking, reading, and writing -- as well as cultural awareness in Spanish. The plot of DESTINOS is designed to engage student viewers from the very beginning. A wealthy Mexican patriarch, nearing the end of his life, reveals a secret he has kept from his family for many years. His revelation leads to some important questions that must be answered before he dies. Raquel Rodríguez, a Mexican-American lawyer, embarks on a search for those answers, a search that takes her to Spain, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and back to Mexico. Students and viewers can join in the search -- learning Spanish and about the rich and diversified cultural context in which it is spoken throughout the world.

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