Global Contexts

How people communicate across languages, cultures and borders. You'll see why English became the world's lingua franca (a shared language between people with different first languages), what speaking several languages does for you, and how speakers of Indigenous languages like Quechua and Guaraní, each spoken by millions, use the internet to pass them on.

You'll explore nature in the Spanish-speaking world, from the Amazon rainforest to the Galápagos Islands, and the threats it faces, like deforestation and climate change. Expect readings on conservation, such as how Costa Rica brought back much of its lost forest.

This topic looks at key moments in the history of Spanish-speaking countries, such as the independence movements in Spanish America, the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War, and at how people remember them today. You'll practice using past tenses to tell what happened and explain why it still matters.

Policy and planning is about how governments and communities make rules and plan for the future, especially in cities. You'll read about public policies (políticas públicas) and projects like Medellín's social urbanism, which brought new libraries, parks and cable cars to poorer hillside neighborhoods.

This topic covers how people get around: buses, metros, high-speed trains and even cable cars, like the Mi Teleférico system linking La Paz and El Alto in Bolivia. You'll compare ways to travel and weigh their cost, convenience and impact on the environment.