Gente [Paperback]

Ernesto Martín Peris (Author), Neus Sans Baulenas (Author), Julia Caballero (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131101412 | ISBN-13: 978-0131101418 | Publication Date: October 9, 2002

For Beginning Spanish courses. Gente is the North American adaptation of the most successful text in Europe. Gente takes a task-based approach where students learn by doing. The tasks are activities that have contexts, non-linguistic and linguistic goals, and non-linguistic and linguistic outcomes. By performing the various tasks required of them, students learn Spanish in a fast and pragmatic way and are able to express themselves in real-world contexts and solve real-world problems. Conceived as a classroom manual, Gente offers a rich supplements package to support student learning outside of class. One of the most innovative supplements is the Student Grammar CD-ROM, which contains a video teacher who actually teaches grammar.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Si tal categoria existiera, sin ninguna duda a GENTE se le podria conceder un premio Pulitzer a la enseñanza de español como lengua extranjera: un libro de texto inteligente, dinámico y realmente dirigido a un publico de nivel universitario." — Manel Lacorte, University of Maryland

"GENTE truly immerses students in the language from day one and stretches language competence beyond most traditional texts ...Grammar, vocabulary, and discourse levels of the language are seen as tools to accomplish tasks!" — Maria Jose de la Fuente, Vanderbilt University

"GENTE is far superior in its graphic design, use of illustrations, and wealth of authentic cultural materials. It is superior in up-to-date information, its creative and varied activities, and its appeal to students." — Virginia M. Garlitz, Plymouth State College

Language Notes

Text: Spanish, English

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (October 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131101412
• ISBN-13: 978-0131101418
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,340,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great--but only for some of us!, September 24, 2004

By 

Matthew G. Sherwin (last seen screaming at Amazon customer service) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gente (Paperback)

First of all, I'd like to agree with the reviewer who writes that this can be a very frustrating textbook for beginner Spanish students. It uses the "immersion" method of learning a language which insists that the learning be in the actual language itself from day one. This is much different from the "traditional" method of language learning which says that it's OK to use a fair amount of English in the classroom.

Nevertheless, this book can be helpful--in some cases. To see if you can profit from this book and the "immersion" method, ask yourself some questions first. Question 1: Do I already know a little bit of Spanish? Question 2: Am I interested in speaking and listening as a priority? (If you want to know grammar much faster choose the "traditional" method of language learning and please move on.) Question 3: Can I get to a school that uses this book in a structured classroom setting with a bilingual teacher? If you already know a bit of Spanish and want to get up and running very quickly learning grammar a bit at a time in a school setting, then this book might well be for you. I personally have used it with a great deal of satisfaction. This is not to say that my learning experience was always easy; but I am satisfied because this method worked for me.

The quality of the paper isn't very good but then again it's a textbook in which students write so this is no surprise. The drawings are not great either. If you can, get both the workbook and the audio tapes that come with this textbook--they are helpful. Although the people speak at the normal rate of speech on the tapes, you'll be surprised at how you'll be able to pick up the key words and phrases that let you know at least the "gist" of what they are speaking about. You also get to hear native speakers talking.

In short, this book is great if the immersion method is for you! Good luck learning Spanish whatever road you choose! GRIN

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Buy only if you live in Europe and already know Spanish!, August 4, 2006

By 

ARCO IRIS (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gente (Paperback)

I used this textbook for two semesters to teach an Elementary Spanish class at college.

The instructions for grammar and exercises were in Spanish. It was allright when students were in class and I could translate and explain everything to them but when they tried to study or do any of the exercises at home, they had many difficulties.

The exams taken from the test bank had questions and exercises which had not been taught yet. They asked me why they were being tested on something they had not yet learned. I made up my own exams.

The hispanic students were confused with a lot of the vocabulary from Spain. I gave them additional vocabulary in Latin American Spanish. A young woman said that her husband's company had been thinking of sending their employees to our college to learn Spanish because they do business with Latin American countries but now were having second thoughts. Many of the books began to fall apart as the bindings and soft covers were not strong enough.

In fairness, they did provide an excellent "GENTE Que Canta" CD with companion song book which the students enjoyed. Also, there was enough materials and variety to satisfy native speakers. I have a copy of their recent Second Edition which now includes many instructions and explanations in English. The layout and illustrations are very improved. There is a new video which accompanies GENTE.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for rank beginners...., November 24, 2003

By 

J. Zenteno (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gente (Paperback)

This book has been used in courses for beginners, and I don't know why... There are hardly any grammar explanations... directions for the exercises are in full-blown Spanish which only a person who has studied the language could ever really understand...Spanish, once you know how to form verbs from the infinitives of same, is pretty regular.. Students should be discouraged so soon in their studies from such an important and relatively straightforward tongue (at least at the earliest stages) please discard this book as quickly as possible from introductory courses and pick a more explanatory textbook, like Facetas, Dos Mundos, Así es, etc. which worked very well for me.