Product Description

Each chapter of this successful beginning Spanish program weaves together solid language instruction and opportunities for real-life communication with the rich and colorful threads of Spanish-speaking cultures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #213117 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-23
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Review
"The most significant improvements are apparent in the activities; here the authors have made the right choices in simplifying directions, introducing more variety in the activities, and refining their focus. The same holds true for the integration of cultural information in all of the activities."

"Plazas is the most appealing program to teach elementary Spanish because of its vast array of electronic materials. This variety of materials make teaching and learning Spanish a world open for students’ exploration and entertainment."

"I’m really impressed with the changes you’ve made to Plazas. The layout and structure of the book has obviously been enhanced and improved."

"The authors clearly demonstrate a knowledge of how students go about learning a language and are supremely faithful to their approach. The emphasis on re-integrations of re-presentation of materials is really revolutionary for recent Spanish textbooks!"

"I am impressed with the thoroughness of the approach. The authors have identified difficult tasks (integrating culture into the course, making grammatical explanations understandable, promoting communication) and seek to offer a variety of remedies."

About the Author
Dr. Robert Hershberger is an Associate Professor of Spanish at DePauw University. Before working on PLAZAS, Bob authored Heinle's ¡TÚ DIRÁS! and INTERCAMBIOS CD-ROMs and was the lead author and project manager for the TEMAS CD-ROM. In addition to his teaching at DePauw, Bob serves as a technology liaison for the Department of Modern Languages and directs the Film Studies Program.

Customer Reviews

Not recommended
I have been teaching with this book for 2 years and the more familiar I am with it the less I like it and the more mistakes I find on it. It was not chosen by me and I hope we'll change it soon. The textbook and workbook have plenty of mistakes even though it is a second edition.
This book claims to cover cultural elements from most Spanish speaking countries but it only sets each chapter in a different country, with very little cultural information about each place. The "encuentro cultural" section is the only cultural information in the book (apart from the video section) and most times is inaccurate or just plain boring or not interesting at all. Another problem is that many of the communication exercises are not communicative at all and not very involving for the students. Finally, I think that a book which costs more than $100 should, at least, have more pictures and color pages and it should try to make learning a language a more rewarding and fun experience.

Great beginner textbook
I have been using this text book for my Spanish 101 and 102 at the Seattle language academy and I find it very useful. The explanations in the book are clear and are based on English grammar. The exercises are helpful in testing out your Spanish skills. I like the summary at the end which is a useful reference tool. I recommend this textbook for a beginners course.

DOES NOT COME WITH ILRN
Despite the description the book does not come with the ilrn code or the CD-ROM of the book. If you need the ilrn DO NOT! buy here. If you buy the ilrn by it self it is hundred bucks. Amazon sent me two copies because they were not smart enough to know if the book actually came with it or they didn't ship it. Wasted my time and forced me to take a 0 on my first assignment. They did provide free shipping for both returns though and took them back without question. Book is good just don't buy from amazon.