Yo puedo: para empezar

Reviewed by Kate Neff, Lecturer, University of Virginia on 11/30/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook for true beginners presents vocabulary and grammar generally covered during first semester Spanish (it's important to note that this covers only first semester material; it does not introduce past tense). The focus is heavily on vocabulary and grammar, and cultural information is fairly minimal. It is meant to be used in the "flipped classroom" format, with students studying the material at home and coming prepared to practice communicating in class. As such, it includes scaffolded notes and homework in the form of workbook-style activities. It is also meant to be used with a well-developed list of ancillary online materials such as videos (housed on a separate website) which provide vital auditory input. Appendices include glossaries and a list of objectives by unit, as well as a comprehensive index. However, a simple, concise list of exactly which vocabulary themes and grammar concepts are covered in each chapter would be a helpful addition to the table of contents.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not find any major errors or biases in the content.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Since the content is mainly focused on grammar and vocabulary, it will not become outdated easily. The links to multimedia materials are housed on a separate website and presumably could be updated there. The text was made to be used at SUNY Geneseo, so there are some references to Geneseo, which could easily be changed by users at other institutions.

Clarity rating: 4

The grammar explanations are very thorough and accessible – it is clear that they were written by experienced teachers who can anticipate students’ common questions and problem areas, and terminology is clearly explained. In a few cases, the unit objectives themselves could be rephrased for more specificity and clarity (for instance, “Understand some grammatical structures in Spanish to form sentences and questions correctly”).

Consistency rating: 4

The use of grammar terminology is a bit inconsistent in the beginning-of-chapter objectives lists. E.g., in Unit 4, two of the objectives are “Create sentences with both direct and indirect objects pronouns” and “Express activities related to daily routines and personal care” – one objective seems grammar focused and the other communicative. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the grammar topics covered in each chapter were listed somewhere, as mentioned above. Units are structured consistently; the list of objectives is given at the beginning and each section in the unit corresponds to one objective.

Modularity rating: 4

Each unit contains multiple sections corresponding with each unit objective, and those sections are further divided into presentation and practice activities, so the text is easily divisible. There is a lot of recycling of material, though, which could complicate reorganization. Given that recycling material is good pedagogy in language learning, I am not sure how this could be avoided.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The units are so big and contain so much information that I find it hard to stay mentally organized with this text (again, a simple list of what is covered in each chapter would help here). The large amount of recycled material is a good thing pedagogically speaking but contributes to the sense of “I don’t know what is covered where.” In the same way, the vocabulary lists at the end of the chapters are alphabetical and up to four pages long, which makes them overwhelming – it would be more user-friendly if they were grouped thematically.

In terms of topics, detailed information about accentuation (and also a list of 100 random cognates, from angel to pine to virgin) is presented in Unit 1, before students have even learned greetings, which are presented in Unit 2. The rest of the vocabulary and grammar is organized more or less consistently with how it is often presented at the elementary level.

Interface rating: 4

There are no issues with the display, though I occasionally found the use of color coding in vocabulary lists and grammar examples to be a bit confusing. The text is a static PDF. It would be more user-friendly if it included navigational links and links to the online materials, instead of their being housed in a completely separate website.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Overall the grammar is correct, with the rare error (I noticed the missing preposition a in “aprendamos agrupar/pronunciar” in a few places in Unit 1). There are some minor punctuation and capitalization errors (e.g. "saludos Informales", p. 33; dónde/cómo missing question marks, p. 44; commas following a+pronoun phrases, pp. 54-56) that likely would not distract students and could be easily corrected.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Regional linguistic differences are often highlighted in the text; the discussion of regional difference in pronunciation in the first unit is excellent. The exception to this is that I did not see the use of vos mentioned anywhere. There is a detailed discussion in English of generalizations and stereotypes in Unit 4, as well as basic cultural information included in the form of brief readings in Spanish (a few examples of topics are Celia Cruz and naming conventions). While there is nothing in the text that is explicitly offensive, there is a lack of any discussion of the issue of gender and gender-inclusive language in Spanish (an absence underlined by the frequently used "girl with hairbow" and "boy with bowtie" clip art). The lack of images is also a missed opportunity to generate interest in the variety and diversity of the Spanish-speaking world.

Comments

This is a solid first-semester Spanish textbook in terms of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, and the authors obviously put time and effort into its creation and the curation of its ancillary materials. It is well-grounded in ACTFL can-do statements, targeting novice students and walking them through the language step by step, with lots of encouragement and useful metacognitive strategies along the way. The instructor will need to supplement this text with additional cultural materials.