Glitz, glamour, romance, class conflict and tragedy – the Spanish television series Velvet has it all. Galerías Velvet is a family-run department store in 1950s Madrid. As the first-born son, Alberto stands to inherit the business. However, his family sends him away to school when they discover he is in love with Ana, a dressmaker who works tirelessly to outfit Madrid’s fashion elite in Velvet’s haute couture. Will love prevail…?

The first three seasons of Velvet are currently available on Netflix and are a fun way to keep up with your Spanish comprehension skills over the summer. Here’s a trailer from Season One. Enjoy!

“Tuitear,” “tuit,” “tuiteo” and “tuitero” are all Twitter-related words formally recognized by the Real Academia Española and included in its dictionary. If you are on Twitter or would like to start, there is a wide range of Spanish-language accounts you can follow. In no particular order, here are our favorites. (You can also access these by visiting – or better yet, following – Prof. Martha Davis on Twitter. You can find her at @ProfaDavis.)

El Tiempo Latino
@eltiempolatino

Washington Hispanic
@WashingtonHisp

BBC Mundo
@bbcMundo

The Hispanic Council
@HispanicCouncil

Daniel Alarcón (host of NPR’s podcast “Radio Ambulante”)
@DanielGAlarcon

Lead with Languages (this one isn’t in Spanish, but there are some inspiring stories and informational articles)
@LeadWLanguages

Museo Sorrolla
@MuseoSorolla

Biblioteca Nacional
@BNE_Biblioteca

Museo del Prado
@MuseodelPrado

Real Academia Española
@RAEInforma

Spain (This one isn’t in Spanish either but it has amazing photos that will make you want to drop everything and travel there!)
@Spain

Zambombazo
@zambombazo

MexCultureDC
@MexCultureDC

Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico)
@PalacioOficial

Instituto Cervantes
@InstCervantes

Univisión
@Univision

Jorge Ramos
@jorgeramosnews

Looking for a way to maintain your Spanish listening skills over the summer? Check out Radio Ambulante, a weekly podcast from NPR that covers stories from Latin America and the U.S. Recent episodes have included a two-part, heart-wrenching tale of the toll that unregulated elective plastic surgery takes on patients and their loved as well as growing up as an immigrant in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. There are several ways to listen: http://radioambulante.org/quienes-somos/donde-escuchar

Listen to it anywhere and everywhere. Pause, rewind and repeat as necessary.