Beginners and intermediate students need to hear lots of comprehensible input to develop their listening skills (which in turn will contribute to developing speaking skills). The problem is nearly all programs in Spanish are simply to advanced (regular Spanish language shows for native speakers) or often too easy - shows like Extr@ geared to total beginners and too short (13 episodes) to take you very far. Even though it is now 28 years old, it fills a need not filled by any more recent production by providing a nice mix of Spanish comprehensible to the beginner advanced beginner and Spanish still challenging for intermediate student. It does this by mixing very clear, simple, distinct narration and speaking directly to the camera with standard, albeit somewhat simplified dramatic dialog between characters, and context, with lots of repetition. More advanced students can fast forward through the 4 or 5 minutes of review at the beginning of each episode of they like. It would be nice if someone would make something newer that does what this does but it the meantime, I recommend it highly. I learned a lot of Spanish from it. Anyone studying Spanish on their own should check it out. It's free online.
Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish
(1992– )
Fills an important need for those studying Spanish on their own.
17 September 2020