Intermediate Lessons

[Harv]

Will there be any intermediate lessons in the first week, or in the next few weeks?

[Joseph]

Hola Harv,

Gracias por tu pregunta. We do expect the Intermediate Series to be going live shortly. It's a little early to give an exact date, but I would imagine in the next few weeks you can expect to see them. And rest assured, we'll let everyone know when they'll be published. Hold tight! They're coming!

Saludos,

Joseph

[hemntjrseth]

Fantástico!

Soy un Senior en la escuela secundaria y este año que decidía no tomar a los españoles 4. Sin embargo, deseo continuar aprendiendo la lengua y mirando adelante a las lecciones intermedias.

[Joseph]

hemntjrseth,

¡Escribes muy bien! Parece que sí te sirvirían las lecciones intermedias. Estamos en proceso de publicarlas, ¡Qué tengas paciencia no más! Vendrán de todas maneras. Mientras tanto, quisiera recordarte que los Audio Blogs son de nivel intermedio, así que estoy seguro que podrías aprender algo de la gramática ahí.

También, te comento que tenemos varios alumnos de nivel intermedio y juntos participamos en muy animadas conversaciones tanto aquí en el foro como en los comentarios como respuestas a las lecciones. Pues, desde ya agradezco tu paciencia y espero ver tus comentarios y/o preguntas.

¡Que te vaya bien!

Joseph

[hemntjrseth]

Escucharé ciertamente los blogs audios.

¡Gracias!

[Joseph]

I just want to thank everyone for holding tight, as we're still working to get the intermediate series up and running. In the meantime, however, I'd like to direct you to our Regional Series. I think for students at the Intermediate level, this series will provide insightful material and will expand your vocabularies and knowledge of usage.

And this last factor is 'importantísimo', ya una de las grandes metas para los estudiantes intermedios es llegar a entender el uso actual del idioma. Moreover, when you compare the Regional Lessons to each other and to the Core Curriculum, you will surely find aspects of the language which were either outside of your field of knowledge or simply transparent.

Espero que les guste el cicio regional y buscaré sus comentarios en el futuro.

¡Muchos saludos y que sigan estudiando!

Joseph

[nohablo]

We do expect the Intermediate Series to be going live shortly. It's a little early to give an exact date, but I would imagine in the next few weeks you can expect to see them.

Hmmm...that message was written more than three months ago. I'm on my trial subscription, so I'm not familiar with the entire site, but I don't recall seeing any Intermediate lessons. Are there any?

[watermen]

It will be a good idea to abolish the audio blog and regional series and replace it with lower intermediate and intermediate level. Just my 2 cents. May be we can have survival phrases too.

[rodney]

Not only are there no Intermediate lessons, there have been no further responses from the SpanishPod101 staff.

Someone really should let us know what the status of the intermediate lessons are.

[Joseph]

Thanks so much for expressing your enthusiasm about the Intermediate Series. I know that it has been a while since I last commented on it, but please don't think that it is not one of our priorities; it definitely is.

We've taken some steps to incorporate this into our publication schedule and work-flow, and we're working out the kinks before we release it.

What you can expect:

1) A more intensive treatment of grammar that hasn't been covered in the other series
2) Early lessons given in 50/50 English/Spanish and, the later ones 25/75 English/Spanish
3) Longer lesson conversations
4) Use of more grammatical terms in explanations (in Spanish and English)
5) More sophisticated vocabulary
6) A faster pace than the other series

I know that many of you who have already mastered the Newbie and Beginner content are very anxious to get your hands on the Intermediate Series, and I want to assure you that they will come.

We've taken some big steps in the past couple of months to get the Regional Series running and widening the spectrum of the Spanish we teach you, and as a result, we're now delivering on a regular basis lessons from three key regions: Europe (Spain), Central America (Costa Rica) and South America (Peru).

The addition of the Intermediate Series will create a new challenge for our students, a challenge which is key to the learning process: you will no longer only be studying Spanish as a "topic"; you will also be using it as a "medium".

Again, your patience is very much appreciated! It's amazing to think about how far we've come in just a few months. It's great to have you with us as we grow, incorporating your needs into our development.

I will be sure to keep you posted on a release date of the Intermediate Series. Thanks for your collaboration.

Saludos,
Joseph

[rodney]

I will be sure to keep you posted on a release date of the Intermediate Series. Thanks for your collaboration.

We're still waiting...

can you give us any type of update? Maybe even a guess as to when we can expect the first intermediate lesson to appear? Next month, in three months, this year???

[Joseph]

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for your patience, as we've been developing our Intermediate Series. I'm happy to say that the official release date will be Friday, June 6th, 2008. So. the Core Curriculum will be Mondays (Newbie), Wednesdays (Beginner) and Fridays (Lower Intermediate).

You're hosts will be Kathy Vargas and Ana Madrigal, two lovely university professors who are just as excited to deliver the lessons to you as you are to receive them! We're dividing the Intermediate Series up into two levels (Lower and Upper). Here's why, as I imagine you're wondering.

At the Intermediate level, there are two main goals:

1) to learn grammar in depth. This means that all the verb tenses will be covered and that the vocabulary taught will not be confined to everyday situations, but rather it will be vast, so as to help students learn to express their ideas with greater concision.

2) to learn Spanish in Spanish. The first Lower Intermediate lessons will be given in 50/50 Spanish/English and as we move on, the percentage of English will decrease. When we release Upper Intermediate Lessons, the lessons will be given mainly in Spanish, with some English translations here and there; but for the most part, by that time, students should feel comfortable listening to instruction in Spanish.

As we continue to develop the Intermediate Lessons (Lower and Upper), we would appreciate your feedback. I know this has taken longer than anyone probably wanted, but I would just ask you to bear in mind that we launched Dec. 17, and since then, we've been working day and night to deliver you 7 lessons per week (a feat you'll find in very few on-demand language courses) as well as Regional Lessons from Europe, Central and South America. To quote Carlos, from a Costa Rican Lesson, "this project is almost a teenager". I think what we've done in our first six months should give us all a lot to look forward to in the near future. And again, you'll have to pardon my redundancy, but this would not be possible if listeners like you did not participate by telling us what you want out of the course. Thanks for your patience.

Saludos,
Joseph

[rodney]

I'm happy to say that the official release date will be Friday, June 6th, 2008.

GREAT! I'm really looking forward to this. You guys have done a great job IMO, and I know the intermediate lessons are going to be worth the wait.

Now, while I am a fan of grammer, I hope that you all will also be emphazing spoken Spanish, the way people actually use the language (grammatically correct or not) on a daily basis as well.

This is VERY exciting news! Mil gracias!

[Bouks]

Two levels of Intermediate - that is worth the wait! I wish some of the sister language sites would do that. (I'm on three others, maybe because I am crazy.)

I could have known by looking at the lesson release dates, but I really hadn't taken into consideration that you only started in December. So considering that, you really have come a long way.

[Joseph]

Lower Inermediate Season 2 - Spain

Back in our Studios in Madrid, keep your eyes open for David and Megan who will bring us a series on European Spanish at the Lower Intermediate level as a compliment to Ana and Kathy's Season 1, which focuses on Latin American Spanish.

1) You can expect early lessons in this series to be given 50% in Spanish and 50% in English.

2) Like Season 1, Season 2 of the Lower Intermediate Series is the next step up from the Beginner.

3) Topics are presented in greater depth, allowing our hosts to teach advanced grammar topics comprehensively, going back and forth between Spanish and English.

Listen for News Updates as to it official roll out date. We will also post here with more details. Please feel free to submit Lesson Suggestions for this series. [/url]