Punto y Aparte: Spanish in Review / Moving Toward Fluency - Softcover

Foerster, Sharon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0070216614 ISBN 13: 9780070216617

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US, 1998

Synopsis

"Punto y aparte" comes from the Spanish expression used to indicate the beginning of a new paragraph. In the context of this book it implies a new experience in Spanish for students as they move toward a hight level of discourse and Spanish proficiency. "Punto y aparte" focuses on and recycles seven major communicative functions throughout: describing, comparing, reacting and recommending, narrating in the past, expressing likes and dislikes, hypothesizing, and talking about the future. What is unique about this approach and these materials is the idea of narrowing the focus of instruction to seven communicative functions, all of which appear in every chapter from the very first day of the course. The functions are moved to the forefront of the course so students are consciously forced to look at grammar in a different way.

About this title

From the Publisher:

While ideal for the 4th semester Spanish course for schools that use a 1st year book for 3 semesters, Punto y aparte can be used in the first semester of an Intermediate Spanish sequence.
Emphasis on 7 communicative goals which are presented and recycled throughout all 7 chapters.
7 icons in the book correspond to the communicative goals and assist students as they work through the activities.
Although each chapter highlights at least one of the seven communicative functions in turn, all seven are integrated into the chapter's oral and written work. The puntos clave are the grammar points needed to accurately realize these functions.
Green grammar pages found at the back of the book provide grammatical explanation and exercises for the structures that support the 7 communicative goals.
Vocabulary is contemporary and inspiring for an Intermediate Spanish textbook.
Materials have been extensively class-tested at the author's school and other institutions throughout the country.
The workbook/laboratory manual contains sections that provide practice with the chapter's new vocabulary and the puntos clave through a variety of controlled and open-ended exercises. In every other chapter a diagnostic test enables students to self-check their control of the grammar needed to accurately express the seven communicative functions. In addition there are pronunciation and listening comprehension activities.
Text-specific video focuses on the lives of 5 friends students meet in the activities. Video was shot in the Ruta Maya Café. Brief conversations serve as a jumping-off point for further exploration in the classroom.

About the Author:

Sharon Wilson Foerster retired from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001, where she had been the Coordinator of Lower-Division Courses in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, directing the first- and second-year Spanish language program and training graduate assistant instructors. She continues to teach in the Spanish Summer Language School at Middlebury College in Vermont. She received her Ph.D. in Intercultural Communications from the University of Texas in 1981. Before joining the faculty at the University of Texas, she was Director of the Center for Cross-Cultural Study in Seville, Spain, for four years. She continues her involvement in study abroad through her work as Director of the Spanish Teaching Institute and as Academic Advisor for Academic Programs International. She is the co-author of the following McGraw-Hill titles: Pasaporte: Spanish for High Beginners (2009); Supplementary Materials to accompany Puntos de partida, Eighth Edition (2009); Metas: Spanish in Review, Moving Toward Fluency (2008); Punto y aparte: Spanish in Review, Moving Toward Fluency, Third Edition (2007); Lecturas literarias: Moving Toward Linguistic and Cultural Fluency Through Literature (2007); Metas comunicativas para maestros (1999); and Metas comunicativas para negocios (1998).

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0070216614
• ISBN 13: 9780070216617
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320