MIT Free University -- Free Spanish Language/Culture Courses

A friend of mine was saying how much she enjoyed some of these free university courses offered by MIT over the Internet (though you still need to buy books for many courses). Looks pretty cool. A wide selection of courses including Intermediate and Advanced Spanish, a boatload of culture courses, and tons of other cool stuff.

Not tried it myself, but thinking about giving Intermediate Spanish a go. A list of courses and information can be found here.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm

By Man Tequila on Apr 20, 2007, 15:49 in Friendly Talkzone.

Terry2 says on Apr 20, 2007, 16:12:

Thanks! Appreciate the heads up.... gonna give it a try also.

Man Tequila says on Apr 20, 2007, 16:54:

Spanish is located in the Foreign Languages and Literature section.

The Basic Courses (Spanish 1 and 2 are in the Undergraduate/Graduate list, for some reason).

One of the basic courses seems to use a telenovela called Destinos, developed by WGBH. Destinos, by itself, is a 52 part telenovela teaching basic Spanish. These courses can be viewed for free over the Internet by registering at this site:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html?pop=yes&vodid=602431&pid=366#

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

Man Tequila says on Apr 20, 2007, 17:43:

One of the courses gives an intersting link to "Academic Research Resources" on Colombia -- a long list of websites including Colombian libraries and universities, business and market data, civil foundations, maps, government groups, Colombian news and magazines, travel information, culture, media and sports groups.

Old hat to many here, perhaps. Possibly useful for some.

http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/colombia/

Portena says on Apr 20, 2007, 18:52:

Thanks for the information Looks interesting.

I feel better! I can smile at it now, I feel better. Ohhhh, better! Gnarls Barkley

Terry2 says on Apr 20, 2007, 18:54:

Thanks again Man Tequila! Looks like a lot of good links.... I will check them out! I have tried to find local spanish speakers but they do not seem to want the extra income. I think I should learn so as to understand what my fiance is yelling about..... :)

CaptainHowdy says on Apr 22, 2007, 12:28:

Destinos.. We watched Destinos in my Spanish class and it's a great video. It was an intensive spanish class where we got all 4 semesters in the 11 week period after the Spring Semester and before the Fall Semester. We met 5 days a week for 5 hours and I learned Spanish at an incredible rate. I highly reccommend this method if at all available. On the first day of class, the teacher handed us a sheet of paper with Spanish names on it and we selected a Spanish name to use during the class. At the end of summer, we were all friends but no one knew anyone's real name...We only knew each other as the Spanish name used in class. Anyway, back to Destinos. I have Tivo'd all the episodes as it comes on our PBS channel every Sunday morning. They show 2 episodes every week and I still have my book to go with Destinos. I have enjoyed it more now that I understand a bit more spanish. I try to watch it without the caption but if I just can't understand something, I'll rewind (thank you, Tivo) and put the caption on. Channel 9411 (NAUHS) on Dish also has Spanish programs around 1:00 - 3:00ish and I watch those occasionally..

Teaching preteens the things they need to know!

Man Tequila says on Apr 22, 2007, 13:14:

All of the Destinos episodes are available over the net at the above website. I watched the first couple episodes, found the story interesting but the Spanish basic. It does look like it shows both the language and culture of Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Puerto Rico, though, which is helpful. First time I went to Argentina, I found the accent very hard to understand though with time it became clear.