Spanish for Beginners: 1 (Language for Beginners Book)

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A beginner will also need to do different exercises to practice their grammar knowledge as well as to train their listening skills. Even though they may feel embarrassed, it’s also recommended that Spanish beginners join a conversation group so they get familiar with different accents and speeds. This will also help them to get more comfortable with their speaking skills. Wrapping Up Grammar is explained very clearly in a way that should be accessible to college undergraduates. However, the text doesn't contain any images that could be used to illustrate new vocabulary and clarify meaning. For example, pictures or drawings would be helpful to clarify a pair of dialogues in Chapter 1 in which a student is talking about him/herself in one dialogue, while in the second dialogue a professor and student are talking about someone else. As another example, images and floor plans would be helpful to identify house and furniture vocabulary in Chapter 3. In every chapter, there are activities for which students are instructed to read aloud or practice pronunciation at home, yet there aren't any recordings to provide models for students. These activities are likely to be futile for beginning Spanish learners to do at home. In Chapter 3, students are directed to 4 articles on El País, which are interesting authentic materials, but they are much too difficult to be accessible to a beginning Spanish student.

Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on. With over 2,500 Spanish idioms ranging in an array of uses—each translated into English—you’ll be hard pressed to put this book down. Dictionaries

With 40 lessons that include dialogues, grammar rules, usage rules, pronunciation information, cultural lessons and more, you’ll have all you need to get to an intermediate level of proficiency. “Ultimate Spanish Beginner-Intermediate” uses not only standard words and phrases, but also idiomatic expressions to give you a more complete view of the language.

Spanish I: Beginning Spanish Language and Culture by Matthew Dean (Humboldt State University) is a comprehensive introduction to the study of Spanish. It is organized in 5 thematic chapters (university, family, home, shopping, and hobbies) that offer fundamental vocabulary and grammar for the students who have never studied Spanish before. Each chapter clearly introduces the topic and provides a variety of activities for individual practice at home and interpersonal practice in class. The digital copy of the book includes audio files. The explanations of the grammar points, the instructions, the notes in each section are clear and concise and are in English. I believe the content of the textbook shows the author's experience as a Spanish instructor. The book follows the “flipped classroom approach”, so the practice of the grammar points in class is important to clarify any doubt. The content of the textbook is organized moving from simple to more complex grammar concepts. Each chapter is based on a theme (i.e., La casa) and vocabulary lists are presented related to that theme. Each topic is presented in English, followed by form-focused practice to be completed at home, then more interactive practice to be completed in class. The focus is on output with very little attention to input. It is written in a clear language, very accessible for the beginners. The learning objectives are clearly stated, the division of sections is consistent. The clarity of the text makes it easier to use for both instructors and students. On top of not having listening and speaking activities, this book was written a while ago and hasn’t been updated. For that reason, some vocabulary or situations will be a little bit outdated.I’d recommend it to beginners that want to supplement their learning and add more words to their brain. This textbook’s main aim is to help improve your conversation skills, which is a standard focus of many conventional intermediate-level courses. You’ll learn valuable conversational tools like giving commands, sharing preferences and persuading others. The exercises included in this advanced Spanish textbook require the learner to analyze the context and decide how to apply the vocabulary or grammatical structures presented. Since that’s what you’ll do in real-life situations, I think these exercises are great. One of my favorite things about this textbook is that it includes some nuances in meaning that can be caused by the presence or absence of a grammatical element. These types of topics can be very challenging for Spanish learners and they aren’t included in all Spanish textbooks. The content (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation) is relevant and will not change much. The information presented is up-to-date -- for example, there is mention of the use of -@ as a gender marker.

The text is well-organized, and topics are presented in a way that is consistent with other beginning Spanish textbooks. The textbook is organized into 5 chapters and each one of these chapters is divided into parts that are easy to use. The table of content provides information about where to find specific information. Mind you, the audios have a lot of English so if you’re expecting to get hit with pure Spanish language, this may not be for you. But what they do offer is a ton of resources for a cheap price.

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I think that the content is accurate and I didn’t find errors. I just believe there is a confusion in Pg. 99 (To learn the present tense conjugation of the verb estar) because it mentions that only the ending for nosotros and vosotros are the same as regular - ar verbs and the other forms are irregular. The topics are presented from easier to harder to understand. There are activities that help the reader review and reinforce grammar topics. First things first, vocabulary. It’s going to be hard to communicate with anyone if you don’t have a basic vocabulary. If you haven’t guessed yet, this book is very grammatically oriented. As a result, in each lesson you’ll find some theory and grammar elements and a bunch of exercises to practice what you just learned. If you’re the type of student who wants to focus on learning how to speak as soon as possible, this book won’t make you happy. Each new language is undoubtedly a challenge, so it is important to apply techniques and strategies that are beneficial and effective. Remember that much of our learning is by imitation; this way you will be able to familiarize yourself with the correct pronunciation and phonetics.