Español Contemporáneo

Book excerpt: This text is designed for use in college 3rd-4th year Spanish language classes. Each of the fifteen chapters begins with a brief selection in Spanish from a recent Spanish-language publication. Following the reading selection a questionnaire based on the content of the reading material channels the student into using vocabulary employed in the reading. Three topics are then given, suggested by the content of the reading and designed to provoke conversation in class or to serve as themes for compositions. The second part of each chapter is a study of language difficulties often encountered by American students at the junior or senior level of Spanish language study. Each of these sections is based on a word or phrase appearing in the reading. The third section of each chapter is a grammar lesson which presents one of the principal topics of Spanish syntax, stressing those points of the topic which continue to be problematical to advanced students. Each grammar section consists of a clearly worded explanation of the basic theory underlying the topic under discussion, which is further clarified by a large number of example sentences.