EXPLORACIONES CURSO INTERMEDIO is an engaging program that will help you build proficiency in all the language skill and communicate in many contexts. This program also includes a full suite of learning aids to help you achieve at the intermediate level, including a mobile app with online flash cards, eReader, pronunciation quizzes, and more.
PRELIMINAR: REVIEW CHAPTER
Regular and irregular verbs (including tener, ir, ser, estar); Verbs like
gustar; Saber and conocer; Interrogatives; Negatives; Por and para; Object
pronouns; Reflexive verbs; Preterite of regular verbs / irregular verbs /
stem-changing verbs; Imperfect and imperfect; Present subjunctive verb forms;
Past progressive
CAPĶTULO 1: GENERACIONES Y RELACIONES HUMANAS
Communicative Objective
After completing the chapter, you will be able to: Discuss personal relations
and cultural values; Improve your ability to narrate past events
Estrategia para avanzar: Indicating time
Vocabulary: Family and personal relationships
Grammar
A perfeccionar: Preterite and imperfect
Estructuras: Pronominal verbs (reflexive se and process se); Reciprocal
verbs
Culture (5Cs)
Conexiones a la economķa: Los tiempos cambian; Comparaciones: De generación
a generación; Cultura: Cambios en la sociedad y en las familias mexicanas;
Comunidad
Writing
Un diario (Write a journal entry based on a day in your life)
Listening
A escuchar: Los ancianos y su papel en la familia
Video and Literature
Cortometraje (short film): Un dķa de estos (6 min.)
Cįpsula cultural: Uruguay regala tablets a sus jubilados
Literatura: La foto, por Enrique Anderson Imbert
CAPĶTULO 2: COSTUMBRES, TRADICIONES Y VALORES.
Communicative ObjectiveAfter completing the chapter, you will be able to:
Discuss traditions and celebrations; Describe cultural values and aspects of
relationships; Express opinions; Express desires and give recommendations
Estrategia para avanzar: Using circumlocution
Vocabulary: Traditions, customs, and values
Grammar
A perfeccionar: Commands; Estructuras: Subjunctive with impersonal
expression; Subjunctive with verbs of desire and influence
Culture (5Cs)
Conexiones a la antropologķa: Los valores culturales; Comparaciones: Los
apellidos:tradición y cultura; Cultura: Artesanķas del mundo hispanohablante;
Comunidad
Writing
Ensayo informativo (Explain a tradition common in a Spanish-speaking
country)
Video [ Short film] and Literature
Cortometraje: Rogelio (5 min)
Cįpsula cultural: Cometas gigantes para los muertos
Literatura: Celebración de la fantasķa, por Eduardo Galeano
Listening
A escuchar: æCómo son las fiestas?
CAPĶTULO 3: A LA MESA
Communicative Objective:
After completing the chapter, you will be able to: Discuss eating habits;
Express your opinions on what is healthy; Express preferences and make
recommendations; Compare and contrast eating habits across cultures
Estrategia para avanzar: Connecting ideas
Vocabulary: Eating habits, food, diet, and measurement terms;
Grammar
A perfeccionar: Ser, estar and haber; Estructuras: Subjunctive with verbs of
doubt. Subjunctive with expressions of emotion
Culture (5Cs)
Conexiones a la gastronomķa: El pan dulce: æuna tradición en peligro?;
Comparaciones: Comparaciones: La hora del café; Cultura: La comida y los
valores culturales; Comunidad
Writing.
Descripción (Discuss your eating preferences and describe a favorite dish)
Video [ Short film] and Literature.
Cortometraje: La suerte de la fea a la bonita no le importa (8 min)
Cįpsula cultural Las tapas: Las reinas de la revolución gastronómica
Literatura: Sobrecitos de azścar, por Hjalmar Flax
Listening
A escuchar: æCómo es la dieta en Espańa?
CAPĶTULO 4: LĶDERES DEL PRESENTE Y DEL PASADO
Communicative Objective.
After completing the chapter, you will be able to: Discuss the
characteristics of leaders; Narrate and describe past events with more
accuracy
Estrategia para avanzar: Rehearsing narratives
Vocabulary: History and politics
Grammar
A perfeccionar: Preterite vs. imperfect; Estructuras: Imperfect subjunctive;
Subjunctive with adjectives
Culture (5Cs)
Conexiones a la historia: César Chįvez y Dolores Huerta; Comparaciones: La
Malinche; Cultura: La cultura de los antihéroes: Comunidad
Writing
La biografķa (Write a biographical sketch of a person you admire.)
Video (Short film) and Literature
Cortome
Mary Ann Blitt began her Spanish studies at the age of 13 while living in Madrid, Spain. She received her B.A. in Spanish from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and after spending a year studying at the Universidad de Granada, she returned to the university to obtain a teaching certificate. She later attended Colorado State University, where she received her master's degree in Spanish with interdisciplinary studies in French. After teaching Spanish and coordinating the study abroad program at Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods in Kansas City for fourteen years, she joined the faculty at College of Charleston in 2014. Mary Ann has studied in Spain, Mexico, France, and Canada and has trained teachers of English as a Foreign Language in Asunción, Paraguay. She is currently actively involved in professional development workshops. Margarita Casas was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She completed her bachelor's degree in sciences and techniques of communication in Guadalajara, Mexico. She holds two master's degrees from Colorado State University, one in Spanish literature with an emphasis on education, and the other in Teaching English as a Second Language. Currently, she is faculty and Chair of the Foreign Language Department at Linn-Benton Community College. She has collaborated on two textbooks prior to EXPLORACIONES and has published a novel, Italia en cuatro estaciones, winner of the first literature contest of the Universidad de Guadalajara. She is an avid traveler who hopes to inspire her students to travel and see the world by themselves. Mary T. Copple joined the Department of Modern Languages at Kansas State University in 2007; she currently coordinates the Spanish Language Program and teaches courses in linguistics, second language acquisition, and foreign language pedagogy. She also works with graduate students in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) MA degree programs. Working from a usage-based perspective, her research focuses primarily on language acquisition and Spanish linguistics in the areas of language variation and change, and sociolinguistics. She is currently involved in a project that explores how students acquire second language sounds and variation among speakers of different backgrounds.
