Customer Reviews

Dicho y hecho, Workbook: Beginning Spanish

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I watched this book grow from drill and kill in earlier editions to its present, bloated 6th edition. I have taught out of the 5th and 6th editions of this book for 4 years. The students absolutely hate it. It is cluttered and confusing. The order in which grammar and vocabulary are presented defy logic and all current research in second language acquisition. This book has been torn down and put back together so many times, that it is a hellish mess. Language methodology has changed and evolved over the nearly 25 years this book has been in use, and now this book doesn't know what it is or wants to be. The exercises in the book are worthless. All the instructions are in Spanish from chapter 1 on, and the students cannot interpret them, which renders the activities useless. Dicho has had a good, long run. It's time to shelve it and move on. The only reason I still use it is because I have no choice in textbook selection where I teach.

This book is very straight forward and easy to use. Students can follow easily the progressive path of the chapters through the series of exercises. Students have found the sofware very entertaining and helpful to remember the important points of the lessons. I find the software a very good reinforcement of every lesson because it follows the book closely. Small variations can be found in books from the same edition but they don't interfere much with the goal to be achieved. Generally, it is a good standard book to use for beginners and intermediate students. Pictures are clear, modern, and reflects life as it is today. Chapters are progressive and deal with what most book would present to beginner and intermediate students. Most of the exercises are well chosen and the stories are written in a very easy to understand way. They are well spaced in each chapter to emphacise the important points. Grammar is well explained and visually easy to remember. Tests already prepared for the teacher are good and simple enough to facilitate the teacher's job. Students like to use the software and should be part of the book package rather than the audio disk.

Dicho y Hecho is clearly one of, if not the best, Spanish Text books on the market. It is skillfully structured to capture the attention from beginner level and gradually progresses in difficulty from chapter to chapter to the advanced stage. The book is easy to follow, with illustrations that are timely, pertinent and colourful, masterfully using visual recognition to further cement the new vocabulary at the center of successive chapters. This is a must buy for any one wishing to learn Spanish and its grammar and is also a good place for persons with an advanced aptitude but little practice to rebuild their skills. The accompanying workbook and cassette further augment listening and comprehension skills.

Never have I encountered a text that embodies the Spanish world and experience like this one. Es un libro de pura calidad!!

This is by far the best beginning text that I have found in twenty-four years of teaching. The high-interest level of the text with the easy-to-understand explanations and interactive activities make this book very accessible to even the student with no prior background in Spanish. At the same time, the wealth of activities including proverbs, cartoons, business Spanish, dialogues, open-ended conversations, problem solving, cultural information along with the CD's, videos, and internet activities, also challenge and interest the student who may already have some knowledge of Spanish. The text uses a communicative and personalized approach that allows the student to develop skills in speaking, reading, writing, and listening comprehension. The writing assignments and classroom drills are not dry and boring as in some texts but very creative and often humorous which helps make teaching with this text a joy. Each edition of the text has incorporated new material to meet the needs of our students. I especially like the segments in this edition on computer technology, letter writing, medical Spanish, and environmental and social discussions. After completing this text, most of my students are inspired and encouraged to continue their study of Spanish. Many of my Spanish majors enjoy this text so much that they keep it for reference instead of selling it back to the bookstore. I have built several successful Spanish programs using this text and have many fluent students who adored the text. The bottom line is that this text has personality as well as being highly useful. I love it!

This book is extrodinarily easy to follow and learn from. I have not found a better book for new-comers to the Spanish language.

As a beginnng Spanish student, I find the book cluttered and overwhelming. Also, a more organized approach to the subject would help. My foreign language background is French, so I am familiar with how to study a different language.

I found this book quite easy to understand and well organized compared to previous spanish textbooks I've worked with. It's loaded with tons of practical examples and activities, and unlike many other texts has a heavy concentration in internet and high tech terms.

This book could be very educational...except if you're using it for an online class as I am. When I originally bought this book, I bought the audio sections with it. The book itself is very difficult to learn anything from unless you have the CD's to go with it. I also feel like it is geared toward high school students rather than college students, but that could just be my preference in styles. Overall, the book is a good book if you can learn from it and ignore the elementary style of the pictures, etc.

This book, along with the CDs, were required for my college Spanish class. I didn't know Spanish before the book, and seriously after almost a full semester of taking my Spanish class (1 month short, I dropped), I can't even form a full phrase by myself. The book is very unstructured, and often teaches the same thing two or three times as though you've never learned it before. The book, along with the lab manual lack ENGLISH! My teacher said the best way to learn a foreign language is to teach in the language (ie. not English). This may be true for very young kids who are still piecing together their own native language, but you cannot achieve adequate immersion in a classroom setting for only an hour or two every couple days.

This book's Spanish to English and visa versa reference is horrible. It doesn't even reference certain key words in phrases you're supposed to be able to translate for the assignments. It's completely fundamentally flawed for anyone over the age of 13. As I said, for younger kids, it may work, but for those of us who have a solid understanding of English - save your money. You'll only become confused and frustrated if you don't have a lot of help.

I moved to spain a year ago, but in the 6 months before i left nyc i decided to take a spanish class to give me a head start.
my teacher was a native spanish speaker, so i trusted his decision when he required this book. i should'nt have.

i quickly realized (after 3 lessons) that you don't learn a foreign language by memorizing list of related vocabulary. i'm sure we all remember that from high school, but how many of us actually learned how to speak a language that way, no one.

once in spain and entered in a school with a real book, i realized that you learn by natural assimilation of ideas. A chapter or theme might start with a silly picture or story, and go from there. as the topic is further discussed, it brings in further vocabulary in a way that is natural.

memorizing lists works for no one!