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Libro Libre: An Introduction to Spanish I
Erin Huebener, Spokane, WA
Handy Acosta Cuellar, Baton Rouge, LS
Yelani Feldman, New Orleans, LS
Publisher: LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA
Reviews
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Although the book talks about basics, it does not follow the established order while introducing concepts or topics. For instance, it talks about family in chapter 4 which is strange: students usually want to know all family ties and relations... read more
Although the book talks about basics, it does not follow the established order while introducing concepts or topics. For instance, it talks about family in chapter 4 which is strange: students usually want to know all family ties and relations early. This is what raises my questions about comprehensiveness - the order of introduction of topics.
In terms of accuracy, I did not notice anything significant. No mistakes, all accents are in place.
This is where my concerns are quite serious. I did not find the book relevant to the Introduction of Spanish I course as in its very beginning the book introduces the concept of "hispano" and "latino" in Spanish. At this point students does not even know how to read, so what is the point to do that? Yes, the translation follows but again: what is the point in it? What did students learn after all? In the following activities students are supposed to fill in the blanks in the text written entirely in Spanish. It is not only irrelevant but also illogical.
I had a trouble following the logic of topics that appear in the book and the way how these topics are supported. In fact, they are supported by a minimum number of exercises. They are definitely not sufficient to reinforce the concept that has been introduced. Also, there are way too many references to the on-line supporting material while I, as an instructor, would like to have everything in front of me, embedded into the book itself. In my classes, for instance, I do not allow phone, tablets or computers, so it makes it impossible for students to work with those on-line materials in my class.
As I have already mentioned, I do not find logic in the introduction of concepts or topics. Therefore, the lack of logic hurts the concept of consistency of the textbook.
The book is divided into too many sections and subsections that made me absolutely confused while I was trying to navigate myself through the text.
Because the topic presented in not sufficiently supported by a significant number of exercises, I cannot say that the book is organized properly. I had a feeling that I am jumping from one topic to another without being able to mull it over well before moving myself, and my students, to another one.
Regarding this, I have no comments although it would be very helpful to develop a more attractive cover for the book.
No grammatical errors have been detected.
Spanish culture is very rich and there so many things to talk about. I would like to see a more conservative approach to this. The eternal values of Spain should be introduced first, values that Spain has been and will always be proud of: Cervantes, Don Quixote, Prado gallery, Madrid as a capital and Barcelona as the main cultural attraction. Talking about history is important as well: Spanish Civil war, for example. In connection to this, the Spanish cinematography can be discussed, as well as Spanish music. It makes sense to talk about the guitar, the instrument invented in Spain, and flamenco dance, and corrida, and much more. I did not find anything in the book.
I would not use this book myself for my classes. Therefore, I am not able to recommend it to other instructors.
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This book is intended for students with little or no knowledge of Spanish who want to begin their path of learning the language. The textbook contains an Index organized into four chapters, each focusing on a specific aspect of Spanish culture,... read more
This book is intended for students with little or no knowledge of Spanish who want to begin their path of learning the language. The textbook contains an Index organized into four chapters, each focusing on a specific aspect of Spanish culture, grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, followed by a reflection on the learning outcomes at the end of each chapter. The chapters are further divided into lessons that include explanations, examples, and practice exercises. The exercises range from simple fill-in-the-blank questions to sentence construction exercises, readings, and speaking activities appropriate for the level. The book received multiple additions from the original source which made it more complex but accurate for the level. The textbook has a good focus on practical usage of grammar. The authors provide numerous examples of how grammar is used in real-life situations, such as with family and friends.
The grammatical and vocabulary content was accurate and correct. The examples and activities for practice were appropriate for the level. The practical focus and numerous exercises make it an effective tool for both self-study and classroom use.
The textbook contains a lot of current videos and texts showing cultural issues common of the Hispanic world. The organization of the content made it easy to follow. In addition, because it is for language learning, the content was continuous and evocative of previous lessons/ideas.
When something is culturally different, the authors did a good job at explaining concepts and manners proper of the Hispanic world. The sentences are clear and precise and the language always felt professional, but not extra formal. I liked the user-friendliness of the content.
The textbook keeps a good structure of the objectives and the terminology associated with it. Each chapter held a clear path for learning the vocabulary and the context in which it is used.
I enjoyed the multiple ways of learning through explanations, readings, images, and self-quizzes. There were different modules for each topic and it had multiple categories for evaluation. All of it aligned nicely with the objectives too. I liked the practicality of the reflections at the end because it forces the students to study the chapter and its structure and evaluate themselves in that learning path.
The books flows well. I thought the variety of activities made it increasingly challenging as you move from one page to the other, but without over-saturating the students minds. It is a smooth and continuous growth. The authors use different sentences length, titles, and subtitles to make the content logical.
The textbook is available in different formats to allow for easy access; among them in PDF, Online, EBook, XML, and MS Word. I found the Online version much easier to follow. It was easier to complete some of the activities by dragging the answers and even checking if those answers were correct immediately after completion. The left tab also made it easy to navigate between chapters without having to scroll up and down like in other versions. Additionally, the surface felt cleaner and more user-friendly. The textbook does have a lot of adaptations of activities from other open source books online. While this does take a bit of originality away from the book, it also makes the newest version more complete.
Overall, “Libro Libre: An Introduction to Spanish I,” is a great resource for beginning Spanish learners. It is clear and free from grammatical errors in both English and Spanish.
The textbook shows attention to diversity, although I would have liked to see more variety in that representation. For instance, more images of people having an indigenous background or from a different socioeconomic status; as this is very common in the Hispanic world. The book does not have offensive content.
I recommend the book for AP students, college students, self-learning, and online classes.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Author Page
- Attribution Statement
- Table of Contents
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I. Capítulo Uno: Sobre Mí
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II. Capítulo Dos:¿Cómo somos?
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III. Capítulo Tres: Nuestra Rutina
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IV. Capítulo Cuatro: Mi familia
- Appendix
Ancillary Material
Submit ancillary resourceAbout the Book
Welcome to Elementary Spanish!
This textbook was designed in cooperation with the Louisiana Board of Regents Open Educational Textbook Pilot program. Designed by Elementary Instructors as a cooperative effort across Louisiana, this textbook will introduce you to the basic elements of the Spanish language through the use of self directed and active learning.
This book is an adaptation of the open textbook “¡LIBRO LIBRE!: A free textbook for introductory Spanish” (which can be found at http://librolibre.net/) and was written by Erin Huebener. We have adapted Libro Libre: A Free Textbook for Introductory Spanish, originally released in 2018, to better fit a traditional 16-week semester schedule. “Libro Libre: A Free Textbook for Introductory Spanish” is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
This textbook was created as part of the Interactive OER for Dual Enrollment project, facilitated by LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network and funded by a $2 million Open Textbooks Pilot Program grant from the Department of Education. This project supports the extension of access to high-quality post-secondary opportunities to high school students across Louisiana and beyond. This project features a collaboration between educational systems in Louisiana, the library community, Pressbooks technology partner, and workforce representatives. It will enable and enhance the delivery of open educational resources (OER) and interactive quiz and assessment elements for priority dual enrollment courses in Louisiana and nationally. Developed OER course materials will be released under a license that permits their free use, reuse, modification and sharing with others.
The target audience for this project and this textbook are dual enrollment students. Dual enrollment is the opportunity for a student to be enrolled in high school and college at the same time. A dual enrollment student receives credit on both their high school and college transcripts for the same course.
About the Contributors
Authors
Erin Huebener, Spokane Community College
Handy Acosta Cuellar, Louisiana State University
Yelani Feldman, Dillard University