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Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish (Student Edition)
 
 

Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish (Student Edition) [Hardcover]

Marty Knorre (Author), Thalia Dorwick (Author), Ana Maria Perez Girones (Author), William R. Glass (Author), Hildebrando Villarreal (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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Book Description

0073534420 978-0073534428 January 29, 2008 8
As the best-selling introductory Spanish textbook in the United States, Puntos de partida has long been a favorite of instructors across the country. For this new edition, the authors and editors of Puntos have turned to those very instructors to help formulate a plan that would respond to the needs of a changing discipline. We reached out to more than 275 students and instructors across the country, and the result is a thoroughly revised edition that we are confident will address new needs and preferences while continuing to provide the solid foundation in communicative language development that is the hallmark of Puntos de partida.


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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marty Knorre was formerly Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Coordinator of basic Spanish courses at the University of Cincinnati, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in language, linguistics, and methodology. She received her Ph.D. in foreign language education from The Ohio State University in 1975. Dr. Knorre is coauthor of Cara a cara and Reflejos and has taught at several NEH Institutes for Language Instructors. She received a Master of Divinity at McCormick Theological Seminary in 1991.

Thalia Dorwick retired as McGraw-Hill’s Editor-in-Chief for Humanities, Social Sciences, and Languages. For many years she was also in charge of McGraw-Hill’s World Languages college list in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese, and Russian. She has taught at Allegheny College, California State University (Sacramento), and Case Western Reserve University, where she received her Ph.D. in Spanish in 1973. She was recognized as an Outstanding Foreign Language Teacher by the California Foreign Language Teachers Association in 1978. Dr. Dorwick is the coauthor of several textbooks and the author of several articles on language teaching issues. She is a frequent guest speaker on topics related to language learning, and she was also an invited speaker at the II Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española, in Valladolid, Spain, in October 2001. In retirement, she consults for McGraw-Hill, especially in the area of world languages, which is of personal interest to her. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of Case Western Reserve University and on the Board of Directors of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Ana María Pérez-Gironés is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Spanish at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, where she teaches and coordinates Spanish language courses. She received a Licenciatura en Filología Anglogermánica from the Universidad de Sevilla in 1985, and her M.A. in General Linguistics from Cornell University in 1988. Professor Pérez-Gironés’ professional interests include second language acquisition and the use of technology in language learning. She is a coauthor of A otro nivel, Puntos en breve, Second Edition, and ¿Qué tal?, Seventh Edition. She is also a coauthor of the Student Manuals for Intermediate Grammar Review and Intensive and High Beginner Courses that accompany Nuevos Destinos.

William R. Glass is the Publisher for World Languages at McGraw-Hill Higher Education. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Spanish Applied Linguistics with a concentration in Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education (SLATE). He was previously Assistant Professor of Spanish at The Pennsylvania State University where he was also Director of the Language Program in Spanish. He has published numerous articles and edited books on issues related to second language instruction and acquisition.

Hildebrando Villarreal is Professor of Spanish at California State University, Los Angeles, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in language and linguistics. He received his Ph.D. in Spanish with an emphasis in Applied Linguistics from UCLA in 1976. Professor Villarreal is the author of several reviews and articles on language, language teaching, and Spanish for Native Speakers of Spanish. He is the author of ¡A leer! Un paso más, an intermediate textbook that focuses on reading skills.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 688 pages
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 8 edition (January 29, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0073534420
  • ISBN-13: 978-0073534428
  • Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

28 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (8)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing special, August 18, 2009
This review is from: Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish (Student Edition) (Hardcover)
I am a Spanish professor and my department requires us to teach from this text. I find the text's content to be quite grammar heavy and not engaging. The presentation of vocabulary appears random at times and the exercises are dull and not related to the chapter's content. Have you noticed that days of the week and months of the year are introduced in Chapters 4 and 5? Even in the 8th edition! Why aren't they introduced with classes?

It requires a tremendous amount of effort to actually engage students in the content. The text is not very communicative nor does it include much detail about cultural difference. I have found that this book promotes less fluency than others (namely Dos mundos or Vistas). I have taught from several Spanish texts and this one is one of the lowest on my list. McGraw-Hill hasn't done such a great job keeping up with technology or freshness of content. The way I see it, this text was useful and perhaps even cutting-edge when its first edition came around. Unfortunately the text hasn't evolved since. In all, the book is dated and needs some serious revising or needs to be phased out completely.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible textbook, February 4, 2010
This review is from: Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish (Student Edition) (Hardcover)
This is a horrible textbook to use for teaching an online course. My school uses it, and even after 2 years of Spanish in high school, the material is just way to far out there for most students to grasp easily. It starts out assuming a proficiency with Spanish words and sentence structure. The online portion is done at a normal conversation pace for native Spanish speakers, which is far too fast for this level of textbook. There is no way to slow down, or show textually what is being said on most of these online exercises.

The book is the equivalent of dropping you in the middle of Spain and saying "Figure it out".


I've self taught myself far more difficult languages with less trouble than this book is giving me.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Expensive and really dull, May 22, 2008
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This review is from: Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish (Student Edition) (Hardcover)
I was excited about seeing the new edition but there is nothing new and it still is tremendously dull and tired.
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