Using VENTANAS: Lengua and VENTANAS: Lecturas Together Instructors who are teaching an intermediate course in which they would like to cover principles of grammar while including cultural and literary readings will want to consider using VENTANAS: Lengua and VENTANAS: Lecturas together. The two main components of the VENTANAS program—VENTANAS: Lengua and VENTANAS: Lecturas—are coordinated by lesson theme, grammar structures, and vocabulary and can therefore easily be used together in a course to the advantage of both instructor and student. Instructors benefit from having multiple readings (four per lesson in VENTANAS: Lecturas) to choose from, all of which make use of the grammar presented in the corresponding lesson of VENTANAS: Lengua. Students benefit from seeing the grammar in use in context and from having interesting readings linked to the lesson theme that easily stimulate discussion. COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TWO VOLUMES OF VENTANAS Let us look at the different elements of VENTANAS: Lengua and VENTANAS: Lecturas to see how they are coordinated and can easily be used together: VENTANAS: LENGUA Contextos introduces new vocabulary within the context of various aspects of the lesson theme. The themes and vocabulary introduced here can be referenced as appropriate when discussing the Conexión personal questions that precede each reading selection in VENTANAS: Lecturas, as well as when discussing the readings themselves. Fotonovela provides students with an opportunity to see and hear Spanish in context, with engaging characters. The theme of the episode always relates to the lesson theme, so that students can be encouraged to imagine what a character’s reaction might be to one of the readings or to explore how a cultural aspect discussed in a reading may have influenced a character. Exploración consists of readings on cultural topics about the Hispanic world related to the Fotonovela video episode. These may also be used as background information for some of the reading selections in VENTANAS: Lecturas. Because the Exploración readings are short and straight-forward, these can be assigned as homework, leaving more in-class time for discussion of the ideas presented and analysis of the readings in VENTANAS: Lecturas. Estructura provides students with the grammatical structures expected in an intermediate-level course and that students will find in the literary and cultural readings in VENTANAS: Lecturas. As mentioned above, students can prepare this section as homework; the concepts are clearly presented and self-explanatory. Students will practice the grammatical structures by doing the activities in VENTANAS: Lengua (including A conversar and Manos a la obra), as well as by recognizing the structures in the readings in VENTANAS: Lecturas and by using those structures to discuss the readings both orally and in writing. Actualidades provides an interesting and brief current-event piece for students to discuss. These pieces can be assigned as homework, and the discussion of their content and implications can be linked to the themes and content of both the readings in VENTANAS: Lecturas and the short subject film of the corresponding Videoteca section in VENTANAS: Lecturas. VENTANAS: LECTURAS Literatura consists of a section opener and two reading selections. The quote and painting on the section opener can be used as discussion points for the lesson theme, with reference to the aspects of the theme, and thus the vocabulary, presented in Contextos in VENTANAS: Lengua. Instructors may choose to cover one or both of the readings, focusing students on the vocabulary and grammar used in the readings, as well as on the themes. The culminating activity for Literatura, Atando cabos, provides students an opportunity to use the language taught in VENTANAS: Lengua in a structured writing exercise. Cultura, like Literatura, consists of a section opener and two reading selections. These can be used as discussed above for Literatura. Instructors may find that the Exploración and Actualidades sections from VENTANAS: Lengua are easily connected to either or both readings of a lesson. The culminating activity for Cultura, Abriendo ventanas, provides students an opportunity to make a presentation on a subject that is linked thematically with the readings and encourages them to use the grammar and vocabulary presented in VENTANAS: Lengua. Videoteca, which appears in every odd-numbered lesson, provides students with an opportunity to hear authentic language in engaging short subject films. Each video is connected to the lesson theme, relies in some way on the culture presented in VENTANAS: Lengua and VENTANAS: Lecturas, and encourages students to use the lesson vocabulary and grammar in oral and written activities. Tertulia, the wrap-up activity for each lesson in VENTANAS: Lecturas, focuses on a class discussion of ideas related to the lesson theme. Students should be encouraged to incorporate ideas from any of the readings and the videos in both volumes of VENTANAS into their discussions. While instructors will readily find other ways to use VENTANAS: Lengua and VENTANAS: Lecturas together to enrich their teaching and provide an exciting and stimulating course for their students, here are some specific examples of the richness of the connections that can be exploited: In Lección 1, the Exploración reading in VENTANAS: Lengua on Mexico City could be used as helpful background information for the Literatura selection Aqueronte in VENTANAS: Lecturas. In Lección 2 of VENTANAS: Lengua, the Exploración reading on El nuevo rock latino provides an excellent introduction to the reading in VENTANAS: Lecturas about Shakira. In Lección 2, the Atando cabos activity in VENTANAS: Lecturas has students use gustar and similar verbs, a grammatical concept that is presented in the corresponding lesson in VENTANAS: Lengua. In Lección 3, the Actualidades reading in VENTANAS: Lengua, Ahora disfrutan su día cinco veces más, provides an example of a food that might be seen in the film, Adiós, mamá, of the Videoteca section in VENTANAS: Lecturas. Students can be asked to find and explain the use of each instance of por and para in El contrato (Lección 4: Literatura in VENTANAS: Lecturas and Estructura 4. 2 in VENTANAS: Lengua). The Exploración reading in Lección 8 in VENTANAS: Lengua about democracy and monarchy in Spain can be used as a background reading to deepen students’ understanding of the profile of Carmen Maura that appears in Lección 9 of VENTANAS: Lecturas. The poem La mejor tinta from Lección 10 of VENTANAS: Lecturas is an excellent choice for the anno in the VENTANAS: Lengua Instructor’s Annotated Edition for Estructura 10. 3 that suggests using a poem as the basis for having students practice si clauses with compound tenses. In Lección 11, students can explore the tone conveyed by the use of diminutives in Lorena X301 (Literatura in VENTANAS: Lecturas and Estructura 11.1 in VENTANAS: Lengua). In addition, Contextos in VENTANAS: Lengua provides an introduction to the concept of science fiction, the genre of Lorena X301. GENERAL ADVICE FOR USING THE TWO VOLUMES OF VENTANAS TOGETHER Instructors with motivated students who are willing to work with an aggressive schedule may be able to cover all or most of the material in both books. More realistically, instructors will want to modify their lesson plans to accommodate the incorporation of material from both books with an emphasis on certain sections. When using VENTANAS: Lengua together with VENTANAS: Lecturas in the same course, it is recommended that instructors focus on Lengua’s Contextos, Fotonovela, and Estructura sections because these three sections present the vocabulary and grammatical structures that are active in each lesson’s activities and in the VENTANAS Testing Program. Students can watch the Fotonovela sitcom video episodes and study the grammar explanations in Estructura as homework, thereby freeing up class time to focus on the activities in those sections. The Exploración and Actualidades sections in each lesson of VENTANAS: Lengua can also be assigned as out-of-class reading that is followed up in class by the Coméntalo and the Después de leer activities, respectively. In VENTANAS: Lecturas, instructors can then pick and choose among the two literary and two cultural readings provided in each lesson, assigning some for in-class work and others as outside readings for which students turn in activities from the textbook as written homework or for which they may earn extra credit. In addition, instructors may want to alternate between assigning Atando cabos and Abriendo ventanas rather than assigning both in each lesson. Alternately, they may want to assign Atando cabos as a written assignment in each lesson and then alternate between assigning Abriendo ventanas and Tertulia since both focus on the development of oral skills. It is strongly recommended, however, that instructors not skip the film-based Videoteca section that appears in each odd-numbered lesson. These sections provide unparalleled opportunities for students to build their listening comprehension skills, to gain invaluable perspectives on Hispanic culture and thinking, and to use the vocabulary and grammar of VENTANAS: Lengua to express orally and in writing questions about and reactions to the films.