Students in Professor Marisa Kalbermatten’s Spanish Composition class are reading and discussing El cartero de Neruda (Neruda’s Postman) the Chilean novel on which the film Il Postino is based. Professor Kalbermatten’s innovative approach means that students are learning about Chilean culture and political history at the same time as they are studying advanced grammar and writing. With the novel as the starting point, students also learn many idioms and expressions they will need to be fluent in Spanish.