Preface
Introduction
El Jardín del Lenguaje: A Collaborative Textbook for Intermediate Spanish is a comprehensive, open access textbook for 4th semester Spanish learners. It was developed at the University of Iowa as part of a broader initiative to transition our Spanish program from commercial materials to Open Educational Resources (OER). As the title suggest, this textbook was created as a collaborative experiment involving Spanish professors working at different higher education institutions across the United States. In addition to the newly developed lessons, this textbook also includes adapted materials from two previously published profession-specific OER textbooks that have been used successfully for many semesters at the University of Iowa: Salón de clase: Intermediate Spanish for Education Professionals (Castro Ortiz & Zimotti, 2021) and Maletín Médico: Intermediate Spanish for Healthcare (Zimotti & Jiménez, 2022). These lessons have been revised and integrated into El Jardín del Lenguaje to fit a the more general theme of this textbook.
This textbook was designed following backward design principles, meaning that learning objectives were identified at the beginning of the design process and all instructional components were developed to support those goals. . Grammar is not presented as a standalone topic; rather, it is seamlessly integrated into all parts of this book. We introduce grammar following the principle of presenting one thing at the time. Learners are first exposed to target grammar structures through meaningful input, and only after familiarizing themselves with a specific form, they are asked to manipulate it and produce output in the target language. Extra video grammar explanations in English for self-learning and to reinforce concepts seen in class are included at the end of each module.
We build this textbook to be used in our program, so each lesson is meant to be taught over the course of two to three 50-minute sessions. We believe in a student centered classroom, so we included multiple communicative activities that allow students to focus on meaning (e.g. brainstorming, group activities, all three modes of communication are covered, discussions) and learning by doing (using the actual language instead of just learning grammatical rules). This textbook is also organized within thematic modules and uses a variety of authentic and adapted language artifacts. It also includes task based projects to be used as formative assessments and guided discussion to facilitate development of critical thinking and to further investigate about specific topics related to education.
A key strength of El Jardín del Lenguaje is its adaptability. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, this resource can be reused, adapted, and redistributed in any format, provided appropriate credit is given. This flexibility allows instructors to modify content based on the needs of their students, the latest research in second language acquisition, and shifting pedagogical priorities.
List of OER Textbooks developed and used at the University of Iowa
Semillas, Elementary Spanish I (Zimotti, Olivares-Cuhat, Klevar, Jones, 2023) – Link
Semillas, Elementary Spanish II (Klevar, Olivares-Cuhat, Zimotti, 2024) – Link
Brotes, Intermediate Spanish I (Marcé & Jimenez, forthcoming) – Link
El Jardín del Lenguaje: A Collaborative Textbook for Intermediate Spanish (2025) – Link
Spanish for the professions
Maletín Médico: Intermediate Spanish for Healthcare (Zimotti & Jimenez, 2022) – Link
Salón de clase: Intermediate Spanish for Education Professionals (Castro-Ortiz & Zimotti, 2021) – Link