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Suenos
World Spanish is a beginner Spanish course, complete with 4 cassettes
and coursebook. The pack is £39.99 which I think is reasonable
as you are getting a traditional coursebook as well as real Spanish
on cassettes.
The coursebook
has 20 units each with a language learning section divided into
three parts, a cultural section, and a review and revision section.
At the end of each unit there is a checklist so you can record your
progress. After every five units there is a set of revision exercises
so you can make sure you can practise the Spanish language you have
already learnt.
I found it best
to concentrate on five units at a time, as I could re-test the knowledge
I had gained in the revision exercise. I didn't want to try and
do anymore that this, as I thought I would be learning too much
at one time. The great thing about this course is that you can do
as much or as little as you want to do.
The units in
the book work alongside the audio tapes. There are exercises where
you have to listen to the dialogues and then answer the questions.
I found this helped me to really do the course, as with the
question and answer sections you learn the language and don't get
bored as you are reading, writing and listening all at the same
time. I find the courses that are just reading or just listening
hard to complete as there is nothing to 'engage my brain'.
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There
are exercises ... which ... helped me to really do
the course, as with the question and answer sections you learn
the language and don't get bored.
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In the
coursebook, the BBC introduce cultural elements by using songs,
or facts about certain Spanish-speaking countries. This is fun,
as it gives you a break from the course but you are still learning
important and interesting things to do with Spain. At the back of
the book you have the answers to the questions, so you can check
on your progress and see what you are getting wrong and how to correct
it. There are also transcripts of the tapes, which again helps as
sometimes I found it hard to fully understand the tapes (so I used
the transcript to see what it was I didn't understand and then listened
to the tape again). In the section 'word groups', you have a list
of words grouped into different topics to act as a very handy reference
point, in case you have a memory block whilst doing the course (I
had a lot of these!). Finally, you have the common English-Spanish
glossary (in other words a dictionary). There's a lot there!
The tapes are
75 minutes long and can be used separately as well as with the book.
I found it easier to work along with the units in the coursebook
rather than just listen to one full tape at a time. But as I mentioned
earlier, the great thing about this course is you can do it exactly
how and when you want to (although I think the book is slightly
too big to be able to take on a bus!).
I just love
how the BBC give you music at the start of each course. You can
almost guarantee that you will hear flamenco or maracas when you
switch on a BBC Spanish course (thankfully this one didn't fail).
The tape has a man and a woman who go through the steps of Spanish
with you. They give you the words in Spanish and then repeat the
same sentence in English. You then have pauses in the tape so you
can repeat what you have learnt. I found the pauses to be the right
length of time and so there is no need to stop or rewind the tape.
You are asked questions for example "are the speakers well?".
You don't actually answer the questions, it's more to make you think
and then the narrators on the tape answer for you and go on to give
you other examples of words you could use. I think I would have
found it more helpful if I could have answered the questions and
then got their answer. In order to do this, I stopped the tape and
then pressed play once I answered to see if I had the correct answer.
The tape also provides you with a basic grammar section including,
for example, the use of tu and usted. I found this useful as I learn
more when I hear it rather than read it, so I found I learnt these
grammar sections faster and could remember them easily. The tape
is so easy to use alongside the book - it's great. They also explain
cultural things such as two surnames, or certain dates important
in Spanish culture.
As you get closer
to the end of the cassettes they do get harder (as expected), and
on the fourth cassette there are more paragraphs of spoken Spanish
instead of a Spanish sentence and then an English one. You don't
have to answer any questions on the paragraphs but it is good practise
for your listening skills.
The tapes combine
learning new Spanish with learning other areas of Spanish, such
as history or culture. For example in Unit 15, you have a listening
exercise where you have to match the dates to the events that are
said on the tape. This is really good practise for your numbers
and you are also learning new things about Spanish history.
This course
is for beginners and gives you a good solid level of Spanish, as
it really tests you and makes you work. The BBC know how to do language
courses and they have not failed with this one. I would recommend
this to anyone who wants to learn Spanish in a more traditional
way, but who also want to carry on their Spanish language studies
after they have done this course. It doesn't give you just the basics,
it gives you much much more and is definitely worth a go.
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BBC Suenos World Spanish
doesn't give you just the basics, it gives you much much more
and is definitely worth a go.
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Click
here for more information and to purchase BBC
Suenos World Spanish language courses.
There are other BBC comprehensive language
courses for French, German and Italian at beginner level.
Click
here for more information about all BBC
Languages courses.
Click here for more information about other Spanish
language courses.
If
you require any further information,
please contact us!
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