The idea of a "communicative teaching method" is that the grammar, vocabulary and phonetics (pronunciation) that students learn has to be put into a broader context. What we try to do at Interhispanica is emphasize this larger context and expand your learning process as much as possible, so that you are constantly learning about the culture and society of Argentina and Latin America at the same time you are learning the basics of the language.

We do this because culture affects language in many different ways, and it affects how you use it. Consider the example of when you are first learning Spanish. You discover almost immediately that there are broad differences between informal language (for example the informal "you" which is expressed with tú in most Spanish speaking countries) and formal language (the "you" expressed with usted ). Learning how to manage these structures, you soon realize, is not simply a matter of learning how to employ the correct grammar (i.e. choose which verb form is correct and match it to the "tú" or "usted" pronoun). You also need to learn how that grammar is used in day-to-day contexts - for example, which form will you choose when you buy things, when you write a letter, or when you meet people in formal or informal settings? How the grammar is used can change and is often dependent on cultural factors, such as how formal or informal the society is as a whole.