This course is designed to help students develop an ability to communicate in Spanish in everyday, practical situations that they might encounter both in the U.S. and abroad. A second and equally important goal is to acquire a knowl- edge of and sensitivity to Hispanic cultures. Since improving communication skills is a primary course objective, the intermediate sequence of courses combines content-based language instruction with an interactive task-based approach. Students will be expected to participate actively in a variety of interactive small and large group activities. These courses are not based on lectures, but rather on active learner participation in multiple tasks that require students to use Spanish in various situations that reflect normal use of different varieties of Spanish. As a result, class will be conducted entirely in Spanish.