A more Pan-Hispanic language that presents various accents from different Spanish-speaking countries, which makes learning more dynamic while students are immersed in the culture. This is the Spanish language that can be spoken at Idiomas EAFIT thanks to the Maravillas del Español (The Wonders of Spanish) book. It is a multimedia collection full of texts, cartoons, audio, and other aids that help to strengthen the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of Spanish learning. This collection was created almost 10 years ago by the institution with the support of the University of Bergen (Norway).
A decade ago, the EAFIT Publishing Division and the University Communications Office created three volumes that, during that time, allowed hundreds of students to develop their acquisition capacity of this language. The fourth series was released this year and it is now for sale on the Amazon platform.
"This idea arose from the need to have a book to learn through a more Pan-Hispanic focus that included all Spanish-speaking countries and not just the Iberian one as happened when books came from Spain," says Jaime Alberto Naranjo Hernández, academic coordinator of the Spanish for Foreigners program.
As explained by the academic, the material also includes Latin American cultural traits, which provide students with the opportunity to get to know the idiosyncrasies, geography, the way of living and expressing themselves in other Spanish-speaking places without excluding the European country. In fact, this latest release is inspired in South American countries and the United States.
"Teachers have seen it as a great tool that helps them to structure the language acquisition process and it shows a high curricular impact because it allows a better sequence of the contents for students," adds Mr. Naranjo.
A tool to transcend borders
In general, the response of students who have used the modules has been very positive, and we have even made reprints so that the book can reach more people, states Jaime.
For its part, Adriana Paola Atehortúa Velasquez, one of the Spanish teachers, notes that one of the advantages of Maravillas del Español is that there is a short story across the four modules in which a group of travelers goes through Spain and Latin America, thus making each class more relevant to students.
"Another great advantage is that, in addition to the Spanish grammar topics that can be found in any guide, students here have the chance to see other uses of the language in accordance with the areas explained in the texts, since there are different ways to speak it in each zone," says Paola, who has taught students from countries like Germany, Japan and the United States.
The four volumes of the collection cover the levels required by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. For this reason, the material has become a big help that has also been used by other allied universities in Caldas and Bogotá, which in turn have taken it to countries such as Vietnam and Kazakhstan, as well as to some Caribbean areas.
Currently, it is also being implemented by diplomats and executives in Trinidad and Tobago who attend courses promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia and led by Idiomas EAFIT.
And this is how the University continues to take its knowledge to other parts of the world, showing its educational abilities and opening the door so that more people can live the languages.
More information for journalists
Alejandro Gómez Valencia
Press and Information Area of EAFIT
Telephone: 2619500 ext. 9931
E-mail: jgomez97@eafit.edu.co