Read & Think Spanish is an engaging and non-intimidating approach to language learning. A dynamic, at-home language immersion, Read & Think Spanish is intended to increase Spanish fluency while teaching you about life and culture in Spanish-speaking countries.
This language learning tool is designed to build on and expand your confidence with Spanish, presenting vocabulary and phrases in meaningful and motivating content emphasizing all four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and understanding the spoken language.
Read & Think Spanish brings the Spanish language to life! Our diverse team of international writers is excited about sharing their language and culture with you. Read a travel narrative from Spain and a documentary on Colombian folk music. Explore the geography of the Amazon and the jungles of Costa Rica. And don’t forget, while you are enjoying these intriguing articles, you are learning Spanish.
Read & Think Spanish is used by educators and students of all ages to increase Spanish fluency naturally and effectively. Using this as a complement to classroom study or as a self-study guide, you will actively build grammar and develop vocabulary.
The cultural information provided in each chapter creates a deeper understanding of the traditions and cultures in Spanish-speaking countries and in turn fosters greater interest and success with learning Spanish. Each article is accompanied by a bilingual glossary. You can read and learn without stopping to look up words in a dictionary or phrase book.
Read & Think Spanish accommodates a range of skill sets from beginning to advanced:
• Beginning: We recommend that the student have the equivalent of one semester of college- or high-school-level Spanish. Your previous experience with Spanish may have been through studies at a private or public school, self-study programs, or immersion programs. Read & Think Spanish will allow you to immerse yourself in the language and the culture, and your understanding of sentence structure and use of verbs will be reinforced.
• ntermediate: As an intermediate student, you will learn new vocabulary and phrases. You will notice increased fluency and comprehension. You will also learn nuances about the language and the culture as you experience the authentic writing styles of authors from different countries.
• Advanced: The advanced student will continue to gain valuable information, as language acquisition is a lifelong endeavor. The diverse topics from a team of international writers offer you the opportunity to learn new vocabulary and gain new insight into the language and the people.
Whatever your current skill level, Read & Think Spanish is an effective, fun, and accessible way to learn Spanish. Experience the enthusiasm that comes with learning a new language and discovering a new culture. Read, speak, enjoy—think Spanish!
Read & Think Spanish is based on articles from Think Spanish, an online language learning magazine and memberhip published by Second Language Publishing. The writers for Think Spanish are native Spanish speakers, including college and high school Spanish instructors, travel experts, and journalists. Articles in this book were coordinated under the direction of Kelly Garboden, founder of Second Language Publishing. For membership information visit www.thinkspanish.com.
Read & Think Spanish is divided into chapters guiding you through the cultures and traditions of different Spanish-speaking countries. At the end of each chapter is a “Test your comprehension” section. This section encourages development of reading comprehension and the understanding of written Spanish in different voices.
It is not necessary for you to read Read & Think Spanish from start to finish or in any certain order. You can read one chapter at a time or pick an article or chapter that is of particular interest to you. You can complete the test questions by article or by chapter. This flexibility allows you to go at your own pace, reading and re-reading when needed. The high-interest articles encourage enthusiasm as you study and make the material more enjoyable to read.
• Read through the article to get the general idea of the story line. Do not get frustrated if the first time through you do not fully understand the vocabulary.
• After you gain an understanding of the article, read through the story again and focus on vocabulary that is new to you. Notice how the vocabulary is used in context.
• Practice reading the article aloud.
• If you have access to an audio recorder practice recording the articles or ask a fluent speaker to record them for you. Listen to the recording and notice how your listening comprehension improves over time.
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat! This is especially important for memorizing important parts and forms of words. Sometimes only active repetition will secure your memory for certain hard-to-retain items. Frequent vocal repetition impresses the forms on your “mental ear.” This auditory dimension will help you recognize and recall the words later. With Read & Think Spanish you have the opportunity to repeat different learning processes as often as you’d like and as many times as you want. Repeat reading, repeat listening, and repeat speaking will aid in your overall success mastering the Spanish language.
A custom bilingual glossary is provided next to each article to facilitate ease and understanding while reading in Spanish. With uninterrupted reading, comprehension is improved and vocabulary is rapidly absorbed.
Every article contains new grammar, vocabulary, and phrases as well as repetition of previous vocabulary and phrases. The repetition throughout the articles enhances reading comprehension and encourages memorization. The articles are written in different perspectives. Most articles are written in third person while some are written in first person. This change of voice allows you to recognize verbs as they are conjugated in different tenses.
Spanish instructors often recommend that students “create an image” or associate foreign words with something familiar to enhance memorization of new vocabulary. As you are learning new vocabulary with Read & Think Spanish, however, you will not have to “create” these images. The images will be automatically created for you as the story unfolds. Take your time as you are reading and imagine the story as it is written, absorbing the new vocabulary. If a vocabulary word is particularly difficult, try focusing on an image in the story that the word represents as you say the word or phrase aloud.
Verbs in the glossary are written first in their conjugated form as they appear in the article as well as in their infinitive form.
For example: salimos/salir: we went/to go
aportaban/aportar: they carried/to carry
The test questions provided at the end of each chapter are designed to further develop your reading comprehension skills and ensure your overall success with Spanish. In addition to determining the general meaning of the article by word formation, grammar, and vocabulary, you will also learn how to use context to determine meaning. Understanding context allows you to make educated “guesses” about the meaning of unfamiliar words based on the context of a sentence, paragraph, or article. Answers are provided at the end of the book and within each chapter.