The game starts at the moment you get hired to work as a photojournalist scouting sensational images of political events, cultural celebrations, pop-idols and artists in Latin America and Spain. You were very eager to get this job—so you wrote in your resume that you speak Spanish, which is only half-true. You managed to get your way around the interviews by speaking in English and saying something is Spanish every once in a while.

Now the editor Juan Martinez is sending you to Argentina—where your Spanish skills are about to pass a trial by fire. Can you do the job and live up to the expectations you have set?...

The game simulates a virtual journey into the Spanish-speaking world, which becomes a context for the practice and learning of Spanish. The player is given a set of specific missions: he or she tries to discover and photograph events related to the politics, economics, and culture of a given country. Each scenario invites the player to operate in situations that can happen to him or her when she visits the given country: booking a hotel, asking for directions, learning the local traditions. The game provides a context for developing one’s skills in grammar, vocabulary and cultural awareness.

It’s important to note that such a project does not try to replace the traditional classroom teaching of Spanish. Instead, it tries to provide a context in which the students can explore the concepts they have learned and solidify their knowledge through practice. // continued >>