"Destinos" revisited

Well, I just finished watching the last episode of "Destinos" on my computer. There are fifty-two episodes and each episode is about a half an hour long. I have been watching them at the rate of about one a day so I have given up at least one full twenty-four hour day of my life dedicated to this series. Actually I have spent more time than that. In the fall of 1998, just before I came to Mexico, I was feverishly studying Spanish in preparation for my journey and I stumbled upon the Destinos program on the Public Broadcasting System Channel. Destinos was created by a genius named Bill VanPatten at the University of Illinois and funded by the Annenberg CPB Project with additional funds from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. I owe a big debt of gratitude to all of these folks. When I first started watching Destinos I only understood about forty percent of what was being said. Nevertheless, I found the story intriguing and it was fairly easy for me to follow the plot. I didn't get to see all of the episodes before I left for Mexico and I remember wondering if I would ever get to the point where I could understand a program like that completely. When I found out rather recently that I could access all of the episodes on my computer through my broadband connection I just had to go back and see how I am doing now compared to how I was doing back then. I am pleased and proud to report that this time I understood every word and that I enjoyed the story so thoroughly that I was truly sad when I came to the end. Not only does the story introduce the student to Spanish in very creative ways but it is a story so interesting and well told as to hold one's interest completely.

I urge anyone who is beginning to learn Spanish to take advantage of this program. It is free and it can be accessed at: http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html . It is in a streaming video format called "Video on Demand" (VOD). You can't download the episodes to your hard disc but you can watch them for free online and you can purchase the whole set if you want to on DVD. Just open the web page and go to the first lesson and click on the box that says "VOD". The video will appear in a "pop-up" window. If your browser is configured to prevent "pop-up" windows you need to click on your browser "tools" and "options" and make an exception for this program. You can also open the program full screen but I had no problem with viewing it in the small window. There are all kinds of books and study materials for Destinos available on Amazon.com and although I didn't use any study aids, in retrospect, I think that in the beginning this would have been very nice. I would like to hear from other people who have found Destinos to be helpful and if there is anyone who has questions and needs a little help please let me know. Here is a page of helpful notes that will give you an idea of what the episodes are all about: http://www.helpfulnotes.com/destinos.html

¡Qué tengas mucha suerte!