¡Buen viaje Level 1, Student Edition (Glencoe Spanish) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a native speaker. I have a degree in linguistics. I have taught French, English and Spanish. I have been teaching Spanish in high school for the last 4 years. Unfortunately, I've had the "pleasure" of working with this book.
My biggest problem with this book is that the authors assume students will learn the way they did. They rely heavily on deductive learning, which is a critical thinking skill not present in the majority of students. Kids are presented with a lot of information and then, they are supposed to answer questions. How if they didn't even have an idea of what is going on? Many of the exercises don't have a clear purpose, as demonstrated by the following -and I quote from the Teacher's book- "When students are doing the activities, accept any answer that makes sense. The purpose is to have students use the new vocabulary, not to recall facts" This makes my students really anxious because they don't know what's expected from them. Gifted students find the exercises boring and unproductive. It isn't until the end of the chapter that vocabulary and grammar are explained. Why not explain and demonstrate from the beginning?
I also dislike how it devotes too much time on one subject (school- a total of 4 chapters!) but other topics of more relevance (like ordering food at a restaurant) have only one brief chapter cut in half and that is reintroduced later.
The book is organized more by grammatical topics rather than vocabulary. In my experience, the most effective way for students to learn and remember information is learning in a communicative approach.
The only salvageable part is the cultural readings. But paying $85 for a book that has just a few interesting cultural readings/activities is not worth it. I wish I could recommend books but I haven't had the chance to work with any others. I mostly supplement my classes with my own materials or some found on the internet.

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Step up to success with ¡Buen viaje!¡Buen viaje! is a comprehensive three-level program that encourages meaningful, practical communication by immersing your students in the language and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. The text and its integrated technology resources help you meet the needs of every student in your diverse classroom.¡Buen viaje! Level 1 has 14 manageable chapters. Chapters 13 and 14 are repeated as Chapters 1 and 2 in Level 2 for flexible pacing. Topics provide students with the skills they need to communicate when shopping, talking about home, family, and friends, participating in activities, and traveling.