Hola {{first_name|amigo}},
Three things this week: a free masterclass for anyone who teaches Spanish, the first real step towards an immersion trip in Argentina, and a new podcast episode about two countries that — by every rule of nineteenth-century geopolitics — shouldn't exist.
If you teach Spanish, block out 3 September
MASTERCLASS GRATUITA · 3 DE SEPTIEMBRE
Repensar la enseñanza de ELE con nuevos lentes
Con Melisa Miralles · 60 min en directo · en español · en colaboración con Spanish Minds
Melisa Miralles — teacher, researcher and pedagogical advisor, and a contributor here — is running a free masterclass with us: Repensar la enseñanza de ELE con nuevos lentes. Sixty minutes, live, in Spanish.
It's about why we might need to rethink how Spanish gets taught, the three principles that can guide that, and — the part I'd care about most if I were standing in front of a class on Monday — what it actually looks like in the room.
Everyone who registers gets a complete didactic sequence to keep: «El rulo siempre vuelve». Dulce moves to the United States, a classmate says something about her curly hair, and she starts trying to change it — until a memory of her grandmother in an art class makes her look again. Story and audio, comprehension and interpretation activities, contextualized grammar and vocabulary, a critical-thinking corner and a mini creative project. ACTFL Intermediate Low–Mid · CEFR A2+–B1. Ready to teach the following Monday.
Jueves 3 de septiembre · 19:00 ET · 16:00 PT · 20:00 Buenos Aires
60 minutes · in Spanish · free, no card, and nothing sold at the end. Can't make it live? Register anyway — the recording and the sequence go to everyone.
Four days in Argentina — help us decide where
An asado is not a meal. It's a five-hour argument about meat, conducted by people who love each other.
You've done the apps. You can read a story, follow a podcast, hold a careful conversation. What you probably haven't done is spend four days somewhere Spanish isn't a skill you're practising — it's just how the day works.
We're planning the first 4-day immersion in Argentina, for B1 and above. Small groups. Language, food, music, and the people you go with.
To be straight with you: the trip doesn't exist yet. No dates, no price, no booking page, because we haven't decided them. The form below is how we find out whether enough people want the same place, at the same time of year, at a price that works. If they do, we run it and you'll be first to hear. If they don't, we'll tell you that too.
Two minutes. No payment, no commitment.
Teachers — there's a separate page for you
Come yourself, or bring a group of your students. Most teachers haven't been properly out of their depth in a very long time, and four days of that changes what you take back to the classroom more than any workshop.
The teacher form asks about the things that actually decide whether a trip happens: approval chains, term dates, budget cycles, group size.
New podcast: two countries that shouldn't exist
Nuevo episodio · 20 min · B2–C1
Look at a map of South America and something looks like a glitch. Two small countries — Uruguay and Paraguay — wedged between Argentina and Brazil. By every rule of nineteenth-century geopolitics they should have been swallowed whole.
They weren't. And the reason has very little to do with destiny and a lot to do with rivers, customs revenue, an impatient British diplomat, and a language the enemy couldn't understand.
Lord Ponsonby, who brokered the treaty that invented Uruguay, described what he was doing as «poner algodón entre cristales» — putting cotton between panes of glass. Something soft between two empires that would shatter on contact. Uruguay survived by opening its windows. Paraguay by boarding them up.
Twenty minutes, in Spanish, for upper-intermediate and advanced ears.
Four words you'll walk away with:
un Estado tapón — a buffer state
la aduana — the customs house, and the money it made
clausurar — to seal shut
un empate técnico — a stalemate, a technical draw
There's a free study guide for this one too — every word and milestone on paper: get the study guide.
And if you want the stories on your phone
Legends is the same idea as everything above — culture first, language through story — except it's the myths people across Spain and South America actually grew up with. La Llorona. El Pombero. El Silbón. Twenty-two of them, in natural Spanish, across three levels.
Tap any underlined word for an instant translation. Flashcards that stop asking once you've got it. Narration on nineteen of the twenty-two, downloadable for the bus. Start free with two complete legends — and if you want the rest, it's one payment of $4.99, yours forever. No subscription.
One question before you go, and your answer changes what we do next: Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Bariloche, Salta, Córdoba or Iguazú? If you only ever had four days in Argentina, where would you want them? Hit reply — I read all of them.
Nos vemos,
Will & Daniela
Spanish Minds — Your Spanish, Your Journey.
