De nuevo: Spanish for High Beginners, Alternate Edition - Softcover

Armstrong Ph.D., Kimberly M.; Gavela-Ramos, Yvonne; Negueruela-Azarola Ph.D., Eduardo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0135001862 ISBN 13: 9780135001868

Publisher: Pearson, 2007

Synopsis

De nuevo is built from the ground up, with unique ways of addressing students who have had some Spanish before. The text's structure and approach provide students with a review of the communicative functions with which they are familiar - but not proficient. An initial focus on review material broadens to include engaging exercises that build vocabulary, an exploration of thematic readings, the presentation of more challenging grammatical structures, a multitude of communicative activities, and emphasis on the development of writing skills. Most activities involve brainstorming in order to acclimate students to working in groups and to provide opportunities for oral communication.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

De nuevo: Spanish for High Beginners was conceived and written for high beginners. Rather than condense a complete first-year program into one semester, De nuevo's unique structure and approach focus first on what is primarily review material before turning to the vocabulary and fourteen grammatical structures that are actively taught throughout the eight chapters of the text. Mastery of the vocabulary and grammar will enable students to participate fully in the intermediate course that follows.

Features

• A function-driven communicative approach in a work-text format
• High-interest chapter themes
• Brainstorming activities to start every chapter
• Serialized cartoon whose characters present the various grammatical concepts through their interactions with one another
• A recurring set of characters that are used to create a unique contextualized world for examples, activities, and assignments
• Student-driven review of basic grammatical structures
• Contextualized presentation of vocabulary
• Readings that reinforce the theme of each chapter
• Activities that allow students to work in small groups
• Spiraled activities that review structures and functions that have already been acquired
• Activities dedicated to the development of listening skills
• Writing assignments that become more complex as student progresses
• Communicative lab activities to improve oral proficiency

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

In the last few years, many colleges and universities have instituted a High Beginners course for Spanish (sometimes referred to as False Beginners or even accelerated Spanish). High Beginners are college students who, through a placement vehicle, begin their college language experience with the second semester of Introductory Spanish. Most students placed in this class have had one or more years of high school Spanish, but do not have sufficient abilities to place them in Intermediate Spanish. Furthermore, while these students may have all achieved scores within the same range, they most probably have not mastered the same set of grammatical structures, language functions, reading skills, and so on.

This situation presents the instructor with a particular set of challenges that can be summarized as follows: How does the instructor successfully teach to a group of students who have acquired different language abilities, who have been exposed to different language issues, and whose high school teachers emphasized different skills and taught with very different methodologies?

De nuevo addresses the special challenges that High Beginners of Spanish face. Rather than present all of the grammatical concepts that are normally included in a first-year text, we decided to focus on communicative goals for students in each chapter and reacquaint students with the grammatical structures that will help them achieve these communicative goals and participate fully in the intermediate course that follows.

De nuevo was designed to:

• address the issue of which items to treat quickly as review and what material to teach more slowly,
• address the problem of the disparate knowledge base of the students who place into this class,
• reduce the syllabus to a manageable load for one term,
• help students achieve the lower intermediate level by the end of the class,
• improve all four skills, and
• engage students in meaningful exchanges with peers through contextualized activities.

De nuevo

Topics

Our guiding philosophy throughout the text is based on the idea that language learning is about communication and students should have as many opportunities as possible to interact with each other. You will find that De nuevo provides ample activities that encourage students to talk with one another, negotiate meaning, and engage in meaningful exchanges from the Lluvia de ideas section that starts each chapter to the Contextos at the end.

Each chapter focuses on specific linguistic functions so that students are learning to "do things with words," to paraphrase J. L. Austin. In Chapter 1 we provide students with the tools and strategies that they need in order to talk about themselves, while by the end of the program students are using language to influence the behavior of others.

Within this functional language framework, we use a communicative approach. Students learn by doing: by making lists, by asking questions, by conducting surveys, by negotiating with classmates. Engaging activities provide students with opportunities to learn more about themselves, their classmates, and the Spanish-speaking world. We want students to keep connecting with one another in Spanish throughout the course.

Organization of De nuevo

Each of De nuevo's eight chapters centers on a topic that reflects students' interest and promotes conversation and interaction both inside and outside the classroom. Students will enjoy working within the themes of the chapters as they engage in linguistic functions that complement each topic and practice the vocabulary associated with each theme.

Lluviu de ideas opens each chapter and students see a series of images that reflect the theme. We begin by asking students to brainstorm in small groups about these pictures in order to encourage them to make connections between the pictures and the chapter topic and to begin interacting from the very start with the concepts, vocabulary, themes, and basic linguistic functions to be studied. Because each chapter opens with group activities, students approach the material collaboratively through sharing opinions, making guesses, and taking chances—all hallmarks of successful language learning. Through this interaction students realize that they can communicate in Spanish.

Si, recuerdo reviews structures and vocabulary with which students are already familiar. The section asks students to recall their previous knowledge of Spanish, encourages them to look for patterns, and builds their confidence in their skills. Rather than present some of the more basic concepts and vocabulary in Spanish to them in De nuevo, we ask them to tell us about what they already know about this topic. We provide contextualized cartoons, e-mail messages, postcards, etc., in order to draw their attention to those words and structures. We encourage them to form their own hypotheses about the patterns that they find and to articulate these patterns.

Vocabulario presents new lexical items that are semantically related. We remember vocabulary better when we learn it contextualized with other words within the same semantic field. In almost all cases we reinforce this learning via visual representations that will help students remember the vocabulary. This section also has activities that give students opportunities to practice the new vocabulary through word games and exchanges with other students.

Lettura tematica provides a reading that complements the theme of the chapter. Each lectura has a series of pre-reading activities that encourage students to start thinking and guessing about the subject of the reading. In addition, we also include a list of cognates to help students start guessing about word meaning. We find that students at this level are often too preoccupied with trying to understand the meaning of every word; instructors need to reinforce reading strategies that encourage students to rely on cognates and be willing to take an educated guess at times. Because the reading reflects the focus of the chapter, students can also reinforce their knowledge of related vocabulary. Post-reading activities assess comprehension and allow students to engage in discussions, debates, and role-plays.

Gramatica introduces grammatical concepts through contextualized examples so that students can approach the material inductively. The explanations are thorough and clear and the follow-up activities provide wonderful opportunities for students to practice the new structures in exercises that become progressively more open-ended. We provide opportunities for students to focus on form; however, there are a wide variety of activities that let them use those forms within a stimulating context.

A escrihir guides students in process writing, beginning with short paragraphs that focus on the self. As students progress in their skill level, the assignments ask them to make their writing more complex. We provide opportunities for peer editing as students advance in their skill level and each section concludes with a checklist to encourage students to proofread.

Contextos concludes each chapter with unique, high-interest activities such as role-playing, student presentations, and dialogues, to encourage students to incorporate and practice the functions and structures that they learned or reviewed in the chapter in new and different contexts.

Supplements

For the student

In-text audio, 0-13-111793-9
The In-text audio contains all of the passages that accompany the listening activities from the student textbook.

Gramatica viva: Interactive Spanish/Grammar CD-ROM, 0-13-111796-3
The Gramatica viva CD-ROM is a flexible, interactive tutorial through which students can review and practice Spanish grammar. A dynamic Video Instructor provides detailed explanations of 60 grammatical structures in English. These video grammar presentations are followed by extensive written and oral practice activities, which provide students with immediate feedback.

Companion Website, www.prenhall.com/denuevo
The Companion Website features automatically graded vocabulary and grammar self-tests, as well as Web-based culture activities that tie into the Lluvia de ideas, Nota cultural, and Contextos sections in the text. In addition, the site features links to Spanish language resources on the Web for both students and instructors.

For the instructor

Annotated Instructor's Edition, 0-13-111794-7

Instructor's Resource Manual, 0-13-111795-5
The Instructor's Resource Manual includes information on the features of the textbook, its chapter organization, and suggestions on how to teach these various sections. The IRM also contains sample syllabi, a sample lesson plan, and additional suggestions on teaching with the textbook.

Image Resource CD, 0-13-185066-0
All images (except photos) are provided on the Image Resource CD to enable professors to use the images in creating their own activities, adapt the images for testing, create unique transparencies, etc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pearson
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0135001862
• ISBN 13: 9780135001868
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1