Malia LeMond,
University of Texas at Austin Cynthia Barlow,
Berkeley City College Sharon Foerster
ISBN: 0073513180 Copyright year: 2009
Feature Summary
Chapter openers provide students with stunning images from the country or country of focus. A brief self-test asks students to quickly assess their preexisting knowledge of the linguistic funtions and grammatical structures that will be used throughout the chapter to complete tasks. This serves to activate the students' previous cultural and linguistic knowledge and raise their cultural and linguistic awareness.
The ¡Vamos a... ! map activity familiarizes students with the geography of the counrty of focus and presents tidbits of history and cultural information. It also sets the tone of collaborative learning as it is the first partnered task activity. Students must work together to match the ten icons on the map with the description of the city or region they represent.
The two Vocabulario del tema presentations in each chapter feature a culturally rich drawing that depicts a scene in the country of focus. The subsequent vocabulary activities correspond to the scenes in the picture. The first is a listenining comprehension activity in which students hear one of the characters in the drawing use everyday language to describe the scene. More activites and personalized questions follow, asking students to describe the picture and finally to make some comparisons with a similar context in their own country.
The two main grammar points in each chapter are presented by means of a Gramática en contexto section, a conversation or short dialogue between characters depicted in the vocabulary picture and activities. The Explicación gramatical is given in English so that students can quickly review the specific linguistic points. Students are redirected to the Gramática en contexto and asked to demonstrate comprehension of each point of the explanation and its forms by underlining examples of their use. Finally, a short diagnostic exercise, Ponerlo a prueba, further verifies comprehension before moving on to more communicative activities targeting the used of the grammar point.
Appearing in odd-numbered chapters, Reciclaje gramatical is dedicated to reviewing the communicative goals presented in previous and current chapters. Each exercise is identified by its communicative function.
Appearing in even-numbered chapters, Reciclaje comunicativo is a picture-based activity in wehich students are asked to recycle all previously presented communicative tasks as they describe the images.
Portafolio cultural readings and activities encourage students to examine and compare the perspective of Hispanic cultures in this country with the perspective(s) of native Hispanics and to, hopefully, dispel stereotypes about the Spanish-speaking world.
In the Oportunidades globales section, students are porvided with an opportunity to use all four skills to explore, describe and react to the culture of the country of focus. After a brief Introducción activity, the Oportunidades globales section is divided into four parts.
¡A escuchar! is a listening activity in which students hear a native speaker relate his or her experience with the program in which he or she is participating. Students then answer simple questions to demonstrate comprehension.
In ¡A leer!, students are presented with four beautiful photos and four short paragraphs about the places or events depicted inthe photographs. Students must match each paragraph with the appropriate photo and answer comprehension questions.
¡A conversar! presents students with two oral proficiency situations to enact. In addition to recycling the grammar and vocabulary highlighted in the chapter, the context of each situation is culturally based so that students are encouraged to use the cultural knowledge gained in the chapter to complete the task. To help students acquire sociocultural competence in everyday situations, the particular conversational skill, or destreza conversacional, required in each situation is called out to the student and a list of Expresiones útiles is provided.
Finally, in ¡A escribir!, studens are asked to communicate in written form to complete a task.
Throughout the book, Pistas calientes, or short grammar explanations appear alongside activities calling for that grammar point to be used. Practice exercises and Ponerlo a prueba quizzes are available for each secondary point in the Instructor's Manual and on the Online Learning Center.
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2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education