Gente Hoy: Libro del alumno + MP3 descargable 1 (A1-A2) (Gente hoy, 1)

I am a Spanish teacher and have been using this book to teach Spanish.I am not very keen on the book for the following reasons:1. The book gives texts in each chapter. They are good texts but they are TOO difficult for beginners and completely inappropriate for the level. In just chapter one, when you are just beginner to learn, a passive past tense is used, which teachers would not usually introduce until a student has gained at least a good intermediate level. This is a shame, because the actual texts are quite fun to read. They are just not suitable at this level.2. The audio which accompanies the book is again TOO difficult for beginners. Having taught languages for 12 years, I find that beginners need to hear the language they are learning spoken clearly and slowly at the beginning. In this course, in the recordings, native speakers of Spanish do not slow down at all. You will hear a conversation exactly as you would if you were in Spain, which may seem like a good idea because it is authentic, but at this stage, beginners are still learning to pronounce things correctly and need to hear very clear Spanish. Spanish is a fast langauge when spoken normally and whilst I think it is important to expose students to the speed of Spanish, I think that in this book, it is too early. There is no gradual progress. You're dropped straight in the deep end.3. A lot of space is wasted in the book. There are huge pictures and some pages barely have twent words on them. I think this is a waste of paper and time for students who, especially at the beginning of the book, have to flick through "useless" pages before the book gets going.On the plus side, I like the fact that the book is quite cultural, eye catching and does contain some interesting texts - many of which are more suitable to intermediate level students.I will not be using this book in the future for beginners. However, I may use some of the cultural texts for my intermediate students.

I actually loathe this style of book. The illustrations are obscure and some of the exercises take more effort to fathom out what you are supposed to do than it does to learn the Spanish.

The book arrived perfectly in time with no issues. I didn't realise it was going to be completely in Spanish but that is not a problem either. I recommend.

Course book for Intermediate Spanish. I like the fact it is written completely in Spanish meaning that translating the text and instructions become part of the learning.

Arrived without the disk...

I have just opened the package and it's greasy? The pages are stained at the bottom. Disgusting

Great book, I use it at university. Delivery was spot on. Thank you.

Hard to find CD player, please consider online streaming for exercises