Product Description: A fun and easy new way to quickly acquire or enhance basic reading skills
These unique guides are based on the premise that the best way to learn a language is to start reading it, immediately. Suitable for raw beginners to intermediate-level language learners, the new editions of these popular titles feature engaging readings of progressive difficulty that allow learners to rapidly build comprehension.
Easy French Reader begins with the adventures of two friends, an American and a Parisian, as they learn about their respective cultures. This is followed by readings on the history of France, from ancient Gaul to the present. The final section features four abridged short stories by famous French authors.
Similarly, Easy Spanish Reader begins with the story of two high school seniors involved with their Spanish Club, followed by a history of Mexico, from the Conquistadors to the present, and an abridged version of the classic story of "Lazarillo de Tormes."
Progressive format makes it easy to quickly build comprehension
Marginal word glossaries conveniently present new words and phrases
Exercises challenge comprehension and build reading skills
Attractive new editions, fully updated and featuring appealing new artwork and expanded exercises
Great Way To Practice Comprehension and Speaking The beginning passages of this book are simple and relatively easy to understand even if you barely know Spanish at all, but by the end of the book the readings are more complex and challenging. This is a great way to get into Spanish if you know very little. My only complaint is that the exercises are fairly pointless because the answers are whole sentences straight from the text. However, the great passages and formatting make this book worth buying as an introductory Spanish text.
A great review of Spanish if you need to brush up- like I do! I studied Spanish for six years, with the last being the 1996-1997 academic year. I have tuned in to Spanish media and read a few Spanish language magazines. I wanted to return to the nuts and bolts of the language, with an affordable textbook. I picked up Easy Spanish Reader because it was affordable and promising.
Like any good student, I began with the first story about the two high school students. I regained my confidence with the language. The second part, a short history of Mexico, was fascinating and encouraging. I learned new vocabulary words. I was able to understand each passage, referring to my dictionary only a few times. The last section, the story of Lazarillo, was difficult. Not very difficult, definitely didn't frustrate me, but it did make me work on my comprehension. The Q&A, after each passage, focused on pulling information from said passage.
Teach yourself spanish reader Dictionary does not have all the words. Have to use your own dictionary as well as there. Gets cumbersome.
Incorrect grammar!!!
This book is often missing the correct usage of the third person indirect object pronouns "le" and "les". There are several instances in which its says "dar a alguien" where it should be "darle a alguien". This is very bad because I started using it with my students when they began to learn these pronouns. They noticed right away that they were missing.
p. 90: "entonces dijo a sus soldados" should be "entonces LES dijo a sus soldados"
p. 90: "y pronto estos ofrecieron su ayuda a Cortes" should be "y pronto estos LE ofrecieron su ayuda a Cortes".
p. 78: "La directora inicia la ceremonia y habla a los presentes" should be "la directora inicia la ceremonia y LES habla a los presentes".
p. 78: "Despues la directora entrega los diplomas a cada uno de los alumnos" should be " Despues la directora LEs entrega los diplomas a cada uno de los alumnos."
They're all over the place.
There are better readers out there My students hated this book. I read it years ago but it was far too boring for my eighth grade class. If you're looking for a reader, I'd recommend the Blaine Ray series. It's easy vocabulary; the first book uses only 300 words and has 9 chapters. I had my students read a chapter for homework and then we acted it out in class.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
