Avanzando: Lengua y cultura is the intermediate-level continuation of Conectando con mi herencia: Lengua y cultura, an introductory book for heritage learners of Spanish. Like its predecessor, Avanzando takes into account that these learners live in an environment in which another language is dominant and that they have been exposed to varying degrees of Spanish. While it is hoped that learners using Avanzando will be at an intermediate level of their study of Spanish, it may be that their familiarity with and use of Spanish will vary from full oral fluency and literacy to a limited inferential and interactional proficiency owing to different factors. Taking this into account as well as the fact that some concepts require re-acquaintance to ensure mastery, the first unit in Avanzando is a brief review of major concepts studied in Conectando con mi herencia; however, even these and others are reprocessed and advanced to a higher level throughout Avanzando. It should be noted that Avanzando may be the text for an exit course for some learners, but in essence it looks beyond this level and seeks to prepare heritage learners to be successful as they undertake advanced Spanish courses. In the same vein as the introductory textbook, activities in Avanzando have been carefully designed to engage heritage learners of Spanish with a methodology more attuned to language arts in order to progressively develop their literacy as well as their aural and oral skills, and to develop and enhance their critical thinking skills. In this way learners will develop an understanding of and appreciation for their inherited language, build their confidence in using it, and enhance their critical thinking by applying a guided inductive approach.
