Format
Destinos uses the telenovela (Spanish soap opera) format to teach Spanish-language communication and comprehension skills. Early episodes have English-language narration in addition to the Spanish-language dialogue, but the English language content decreases continually, eventually disappearing entirely. The viewer is introduced to various accents and dialects and the cultures of various Spanish-speaking countries.
The series consists of 52 videos that cover virtually the entire scope of Spanish grammar, including verb tenses of present, future (including future of uncertainty), imperfect, preterite, perfect, pluperfect, participles, and the present, imperfect, and perfect forms of the subjunctive. It also covers a variety of country-specific usages: for example, it uses both the verb extrañar (to miss somebody or something) and the phrase echar de menos (which means the same thing). After the early episodes, conversation is done at more or less normal speaking speed, improving the student's comprehension. Spanish subtitles are included on both VHS and DVD versions — translations are not provided. The DVD's are available from the Annenberg/CPB project website.
An accompanying set of materials is available to complement the series. These include a set of audio tapes and textbook, the latter of which follows the series episode-for-episode but provides a more systematic presentation such as would be used in a classroom course.
Destinos is also characterized by frequent reviews of preceding episodes. This characteristic has led many people to criticize the series for being overly long and boring, but there is a purpose to the reviews: it provides extensive repetition, which helps many people learn the material.
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