Spanish Proficiency Exercises @ University of Texas

These Spanish Proficiency Exercises at the University of Texas web site look very interesting. They include more than 80 different topics at 4 levels of proficiency. Here is their description of the material:

Spanish Proficiency Exercises is a compilation of brief video clips in which native speakers of Spanish from various locations throughout Latin America and Spain demonstrate various language tasks. The objective of the exercises is to provide students of Spanish with the necessary tools to be able to talk about the same topics in Spanish. In order to do, this Spanish Proficiency Exercises contains five major components. First, there is a simplified video clip. This simplified version is scripted, the native speakers talks slower, and he or she uses simpler words and less slang. Second, there are video clips of native speakers who also perform the proficiency tasks. These clips are not scripted. What the native speakers say is what they really said. Some may talk fast, others talk slow, and some have specific regional dialects.

Third, to help perform the same task, we provide a Spanish/English glossary of vocabulary words that students may need in order to talk about the topic. Fourth, we also provide sample sentences that one may want to use in order to talk about the topic. Finally, we offer a brief, mini-grammar explanation on some grammar principle that is related to the proficiency topic. After reviewing the simplified version, the vocabulary, the phrases, the grammar, and the video clips of the native speakers, we believe that students will be more prepared to perform the same proficiency tasks.

The gray menu bar at the top of each page contains proficiency topics, divided by level of difficulty: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior. Click on any of these levels to see a list of topics. Then click on any of the specific topics to see the video clips, vocabulary lists, phrases lists, and mini-grammar explanations.

A site index offers a comprehensive list of website components — including video podcasts and a topical grammar index.

This appears to be something I can use to sharpen my listening skills since it includes the audio as well as the transcripts and speakers are from different Spanish speaking countries.