Customer Reviews

Lab Manual to accompany Puntos de partida

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

 

 

The book by itself would be lacking as another reviewer suggested. But it doesn't stand alone -- if you buy the package you get a lab manual, a workbook, audio CD's for vocabulary prep and for the lab work, and a software CD with more exercises. The lab manual works with audio CD's for listening & speaking related exercises, and the workbook has reading & writing exercises, plus if you do the software exercises and the additional exercises and quizzes on the website, you find you have learned the grammar and vocabulary of the chapter without having to resort to making your own flash cards or writing out sentences on your own. The volume of exercises is perfect. And the exercises in the workbook & lab manual have explanations of the purpose of the exercise, with lots of repetition. (e.g. "the purpose of this exercise is to listen for specific information. Don't get distracted by unfamiliar vocabulary").
I have not worked with other Spanish materials, but I have with German and Arabic and I think Puntos is excellent. Make sure you buy the whole package and not just the book.

This is the most comprehensive foreign language book I've seen. It's simple, a 6th grader could teach themselves Spanish with this book. Open it, read it, and memorize it. I had a terrible time with French and was not looking foward to learning Spanish, but I picked it up immediately as I went along with this book. When the semester was over, I spent the summer reading the rest of it at my leisure. As far as the other reviews go, I'm not sure what the problem was. It couldn't be explained any more clearly, perhaps they are moving too fast? Take a day for each page or something, whatever works. If you're not picking it up, it may be your study techniques and not the book. If you want extra practice, get the workbook. Both the workbook and the textbook have the answers to every practice exercise (of which there are an adequate amount) in the back of the book. Maybe the previous reviewers were unaware?

This book is touted as a beginners volume yet it fails to perform as specified. The contents are poorly written and few examples are given to help in the learning process. To further complicate the learning of a new language, Puntos de partida provides very little explanations and direction to ensure sufficient comprehension and understanding of the Spanish language. Unfortunantly, this review can speak for most Spanish text books on the market as my Universities Spanish program has realized. Puntos de partida will not help the beginner to learn Spanish. It will deter the beginner to seek further understanding and learning of the Spanish language. This is unfortunate.

Contrary to other reviews I find this textbook excellent. The chapters lead the student to learn Spanish with a minimal effort at a natural, comfortable pace. Recommended for beginners!

then this book is NOT for you. I tried to teach myself Spanish (I didn't know any) and this book just did not work out because of its poor construction. The concepts are not clearly described and all too often I found myself asking why is this grammar like this or what is the difference between the different tenses. The examples are not very helpful either.

However, I took a private introductory class and then returned to this book. Here, the book has provided some value with its vocabulary which is grouped by themes (festivals, family, etc). So the book has some value for a beginner if you are also receiving extensive instruction from another source.

I have not received the item yet! I ordered it about a month ago, wrote to the seller a week ago, the date by which it was supposed to arrive, and have not yet heard back.

I have used this book for three years with my students. It is the best Spanish text I have used. I only had the Teacher's edition and the cassettes and it worked marvelously. How much more if I had the other materials: Video,instructor's manual slide,etc.My students love this book. At the moment, I am looking at the Instructor's manual it's very supportive. At the High School level, this book can offer great reward for students doing the National Examination in my country. To conclude, my students left the course with more confidence after using the book. The book is authentic with up-to-date vocabulary and structures easy to use and understand. I hope to use it more in the future.

I found this book to be very difficult to follow. As a student the book jumps from one subject to the next with not much emphasis on vocabulary as I feel should be. The excercises given are obscure, and some are down-right useless. However, this book does give some extensive explinations on gramatics and usage of words.

This book is best for reviewing or referencing. Using this book as the only way to begin learning the spanish language not what it was made for.