ˇArriba! Comunicacin y cultura (4th Edition) [Hardcover]

Eduardo Zayas-Bazán (Author), Susan M. Bacon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0131175297 | ISBN-13: 978-0131175297 | Edition: 4

This book is clearly structured, easy to learn from, and written to motivate. Material contained in this book reflects the diversity of the Spanish speaking world through art, history, geography, and songs. For those beginning to learn Spanish.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I think that Arriba has a more flexible approach than I have seen in other first-year textbooks." — Carmen Schlig, Georgia State University

"It is a clear and organized approach." — Tanya Wilder, Washington State Community College

"The text seems quite easy to teach from, and would be easy to use in a large program with TAs such as ours." — Timothy McGovern, University of California at Santa Barbara

"I give a big yes to the new "Ritmos " section... it is very motivating for students to learn another language through music." Carmen Carraceles-Juncal, Amherst College

About the Author

Eduardo Zayas-Bazán is a native of Camaguey, Cuba. He holds an M.S. in foreign languages from Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, KS, and a Doctor en Derecho degree from Universidad Nacional José Martí, Havana, Cuba. He is a Professor Emeritus in Foreign Languages from East Tennessee State University, where he was chair of the Foreign Language Department from 1973 to 1993. Over the course of his distinguished career, Zayas-Bazán has received numerous awards in recognition of his professional achievements and has held noteworthy positions within many organizations dedicated to teaching Spanish. In addition to writing numerous articles in regional and national journals, he is the co-author, co-editor, and translator of seventeen books, including Conexiones, an intermediate Spanish textbook published by Prentice Hall.

 

Susan M. Bacon earned her Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education and Spanish Linguistics from The Ohio State University. She has taught at the University of Cincinnati since 1985 and is currently Professor of Spanish and Acting Director for the Institute for Global Studies and Affairs. She has been Project Director of a four-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a Fulbright-Robles Scholar in Mexico. She has published extensively in the area of foreign language acquisition and methodology, particularly in the use of authentic listening and reading text. In addition to ¡Arriba!, she has co-authored Conexiones  and Leyendas del mundo hispano.

 

Holly J. Nibert earned her Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000. She has eighteen years of experience teaching Spanish language and linguistics at three different institutions, including UIUC, Penn State University at University Park, and Western Michigan University (WMU) in Kalamazoo.  Presently, she is Associate Professor of Spanish Linguistics and Director of the First-Year Spanish Language Program and TA Training at WMU. Nibert has published various articles on Spanish phonol­ogy and phonetics (on intonation in particular) and the use of technology in teaching Spanish.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131175297
• ISBN-13: 978-0131175297
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #665,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

About the author

Eduardo Zayas-Bazán is Professor Emeritus of Foreign Languages from East Tennessee State University. He was chairman of ETSU's foreign language department for twenty years. Zayas-Bazán has a M.S. in foreign languages from Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas, and a Doctor en Derecho degree from Universidad Nacional José Martí, Havana, Cuba. He has been president of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and of the National Association of Cuban-American Educators. He is the coauthor, coeditor and translator of eighteen books, among them the best sellers ¡Arriba!, Conexiones, and Fusión, published by Pearson-Prentice Hall. Zayas-Bazán is the coauthor of The Flying Fish, a historical novel about the sequence of events that led to a chaotic transformation of political allegiances in the western hemisphere and brought the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe. The Spanish version of the novel, El pez volador, is also available in Amazon.

Zayas-Bazán is married to Lourdes Abascal. He lives in Miami, FL since his retirement in 1999.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not easy to use, January 4, 2005

By 

Sarah Pride "language lover" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ˇArriba! Comunicacin y cultura (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

I had a very bad experience with this textbook in my Spanish class at school. While it is very easy to do well on the accompanying tests, it is also easy to escape without learning very much Spanish at all. The main drawback is that the book uses much of its vocabulary without ever having officially introduced it. Then, when you go look words up in the back to find out what they mean, they aren't there! Further, although topics are introduced in logical order, they are not organized in the chapters in a standard format. This makes it difficult to locate a previous concept if you wish to review it.

I have found so many other Spanish products that are much better. I would not, therefore, recommend this one.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty bad choice for the learner, November 6, 2006

By 

CT12F3 (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ˇArriba! Comunicacin y cultura (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

I used this text for Spanish 2 and Spanish 3 at the collegiate level.

Pros

-Vocabulary is introduced.

-Most grammar points are explained.

-Most every chapter has a theme around one Spanish speaking country.

-There are practice exercises.

-If a motivated student is persistent and resourceful -she/he can learn Spanish with this as their main textbook.

Cons

- This book presents Vocabulary/Grammar/Practice. But wastes the student's time and efforts on each item.

-Grammar points are difficult to find (buried, almost hidden! Difficult to come back to - for reviewing etc).

-Grammar points are not explained for their target audience: the American high school graduate. (i.e. can the average high school graduate spot a dependant clause? Not in my experience. So the authors need to define dependant clause when they use "dependant clause" to demonstrate a grammar point- which they don't).

-Vocabulary is spread throughout the chapter and indeed throughout the book. (look for careers and an example). Not all of the presented vocabulary is defined, nor is it in the in-book dictionary.

-Practice exercises are more like exercises in creative writing. By the time the student gets the exercise figured out (not the grammar or vocabulary portion - rather the construct of the exercise) what one is supposed to learn from this exercise is lost. Not an effective learning/practice technique.

Other gripes:

-Expensive! The required package for my class was over $200. The book alone is over $100 bucks on Amazon.

-The book is not self-contained. You must have reference books to use this book. Including an English grammar book and a Spanish - English dictionary, and preferably a supplemental exercise book.

-Table of contents is difficult.

-Color scheme is bland.

-The book tries too hard to be everything to everyone (especially politically conscious educators) and it ends up being a Spanish textbook second.

Overall this book hovers between one * and two **. Which is really a shame - the authors obviously worked very hard on this expensive book.

I can't recommend this book.

I would recommend: - "The ultimate Spanish review and Practice", "Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses". Both are available on Amazon for about 10 bucks each! The "Schaum's outlines" are also well done.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not recommended, October 31, 2005

By 

Karen (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ˇArriba! Comunicacin y cultura (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

This textbook makes it very hard to learn the vocabulary because they do not define the words they use. Many of the directions for the exercises are confusing. The culture sections are decent and contain contemporary pop culture. I find the textbook to be of very little value.