
Winner, Merit Plaque, Association of Hispanic-Canadian Professors, 2008.
Textbook
Second Printing, 2008.
A continuing storyline follows the adventures of three young Canadians who study and travel in Latin America and Spain. The situations these characters find themselves in provide a recognizable context for learning new vocabulary and grammar, while the characters themselves serve as a cultural lens through which the students will learn about Hispanic cultures.
This Canadian edition concentrates on profiles of immigrant communities salient in Canadian society, including Canadians of Chilean and Central American heritage. In addition, it includes a chapter on Cuba, a country overlooked by US Spanish textbooks. Whether it be in the “notas de texto” following chapter-opening dialogues, in the brief “Cultura” essays found in each chapter, or through exercises and activities, Intercambios provides a wealth of insights into Hispanic cultures.
Intercambios has been a big success. In order to compete with it, other textbook companies have prepared Canadianized versions of their introductory Spanish texts. The result of our initiative is that the majority of Canadian university and community college students will now be taught using textbooks which reflect Canadian realities, Canadian approaches to language-learning and Canada’s relationship with the Hispanic world.