Easy Spanish Reader 2nd Edition

The media could not be loaded.  Easy Spanish Reader is a book that is designed to help beginners learn how to read Spanish. One thing that really stands out about this book is that you will find yourself not only improving your ability to read Spanish but you will also notice that you are enjoying reading about the culture, history and literature of the Spanish speaking world. Another thing that stands out is that the book uses a progressive teaching format that allows you to gradually build your grammar and vocabulary skills with respect to speaking and reading Spanish.The book is divided into 3 sections. The first section introduces you to two high school students involved with their school’s Spanish club. Maria and Enrique. Maria is from the U.S. and Enrique is from Spain. The objective of the first section of this book is to help you expand your knowledge of Spanish vocabulary and expose you to cultural and historical information while helping you to learn how to read in Spanish. In this section of the book, you’ll certainly improve your Spanish by reading more and more about these two teenage students attending Spanish club meetings, going to the movies and other activities that high school students are in involved in.Section 2 is a section that I really enjoyed. The section consists of a brief history of Mexico. In this section, you will learn about famous personalities in Mexican history such as Cortez, Moctezuma, Miguel Hidalgo and Benito Juarez.'Section 3 introduces you to reading Spanish literature by providing an abridged adoption of the classic story “Lazarillo de Tormes.” This is also my favorite section of the 3 sections. That’s because I found it to be the most challenging. And the challenge of reading Spanish literature really increased my confidence with both reading and speaking Spanish.One thing that I found really helpful about this book is that each reading passage is followed by a short quiz. (There’s an answer key at the end of the book). And after every five or six reading passages, the student is given a “repaso” (review) to reinforce the newly learned Spanish. Instead of the typical question and answer exercises found in most learning-Spanish books, the review exercises also consist of fun methods to test your knowledge of the Spanish language. For example, in the first section of the book, you will find lots of “crucigramas” (crossword puzzles).There are also word glossaries in the margins of the book which help define your newly acquired vocabulary words. This feature was very helpful because it helped save me time and avoid the distraction of having to look up some of the words in a dictionary.You will find also find lots of interesting drawing or pictures in Easy Spanish Reader that will help expand your knowledge of the history and culture of the Spanish speaking world. For example, there are pictures of a famous cathedral in Mexico city, the pyramids that were built by the indigenous people of Mexico, Aztec art, paintings of Hernan Cortes, drawing of Moctezuma, painting of Benito Juarez, etc.I also found it quite helpful that this book has an 18-page “Vocabulary” section which lists a lot of the vocabulary words that you will be learning with this book.The books does not contain complete translations of the reading passages. Although some people may not agree with me, I think it was helpful not having complete translations in the book of the reading passages. By not having the complete translations of the reading passages, it required me to “think” in Spanish instead of trying to translate in my head. And since the reading material sometime required me to look up words that I did not know, this may have helped to reinforce the new Spanish words and phrases that I learned with this book.Besides the fact that I learned so much about Mexican history and Spanish literature, another thing that I love about this book is that it comes with a CD-Rom. You can use the CD-rom with your laptop computer to listen to the audio from the book. The disk also has a feature that lets you download the mp3 files from the disk. This allows me to listen to the audio on my smartphone and improve my Spanish while enjoying learning about Mexican history and Spanish literature.Before I end my written review, I want to give you a helpful tip to help you get the most out of this book. Read the passages in the book out loud in the presence of a native Spanish speaker. Ask him or her to correct any words that you incorrectly pronounce. I have tried this on the advice of a friend who teaches Spanish at a university, and I think that this technique has really helped to improve my Spanish pronunciation.If you have any questions about Easy Spanish Reader, please post your questions below and I will do my best to answer your questions. In closing, I want to leave you with a list of my favorite three learn-Spanish products available here at Amazon:1.  501 Spanish Verbs (501 Verb Series)  If you think you can accomplish fluency in Spanish as an adult without mastering conjugating Spanish verbs, you are only fooling yourself. This book is an absolute essential resource for learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs. It will show you how to conjugate every Spanish verb tense imaginable. This is my number 1 resource for learning Spanish and the version I have also includes a bonus CD which teaches both regular verbs and irregular verbs.2.  Accelerated Spanish: Learn fluent Spanish with a proven accelerated learning system  is my favorite learning Spanish paperback book and that is because it does double duty. It has taught me numerous Spanish-learning hacks. And I have also learned countless techniques to enhance my memory. Not only am I able to use these techniques to remember all the vocabulary and grammar I learn when studying a foreign language, but I can also use the techniques to effectively remember anything, from small, minute daily tasks to insights that can have an everlasting impact.3.  Learn Beginner Spanish Bundle: The Ultimate Spanish for Beginners Bundle: Lessons 1 to 30: From the Original Learning Spanish like Crazy Level 1  One thing that stands out about this audio program is the style of teaching used. The teaching style is very reciprocal or mutually dependent on the instructor and the student. This allows the student to not only listen but also to participate. But what appeals to me most is that there is a major emphasis on everyday, conversational Spanish unlike the Spanish taught in most audio programs which teach more academic or formal Spanish. I am also impressed with the bonus package which allows you to attend a free, live, interactive monthly Webinar taught by a Spanish teacher from Colombia. Besides the beginner program, there is an intermediate version:  Learn Intermediate Spanish Bundle: The Ultimate Learning Intermediate Spanish Bundle: Lessons 31 to 60 from Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level Two  There is also a version for advanced students:  Learn Advanced Spanish Bundle: Includes Both New Version & Original Version of Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level Three: The Ultimate Learning Advanced Spanish Bundle

This review covers only parts I and II of the book, not the adaptation of Lazarillo de Tormes at the end, because, frankly, I didn't get that far before I gave up. (I might pick it up again, and if I still find it insufferable, I might skip ahead to that section and check it out.) It should be possible to find a similar adaptation online for free, anyway. Or, if you're in the mood for a challenge, of course you can see if you can read it in the original archaic Spanish... heck, I found one free online version in supposedly modernized Spanish with a side-by-side English translation. (I say "supposedly" because I haven't looked at it in detail yet.)I bought this in the hopes that I'd have something easy to read. Well, it certainly is. It starts out a little TOO easy, reminding me of my lessons from Spanish I in high school. The language in the first part is very simple. Simple language doesn't necessarily mean boring language: just ask Dr. Seuss. The language gets more complex as you progress through the book. But no matter how simple or how complex it is, it's flat-out BORING. There are no jokes. There is no dramatic tension. There are almost no entertaining anecdotes; there was ONE that gave me a chuckle (while I simultaneously rolled my eyes): a character who starts talking about stamps and is apparently incapable of shutting up. But, in short, there is no incentive to keep reading. True, the focus is to study Spanish and not enjoy a good story, but who says you can't do both at the same time? I couldn't stand to read this stuff if it were written in English; reading it in a somewhat unfamiliar language only makes it worse.The first part is about two students named Enrique and María, and their friends and family and school. This is a fine setting, because words for the situations that are likely to come up are a high priority for many students. But NOTHING HAPPENS. There's no story. It's a coherent and consistent narrative, not a random collection of sentences, but no matter how I try I just can't give a darn about any of the characters or anything they do. A good writer could put together a good story no matter how simple the language needs to be and no matter what vocabulary items he wants to put into it. Or, at least, one that doesn't make the reader want to fall asleep.The second part is about the history of Mexico. The first half or so of that part focuses on Hernán Cortés and the Aztecs. It reads like an oversimplified history book. History isn't necessarily boring, but history books are usually not fun to read because they're so dry. Here's what I think is the, uh, highlight of the whole book:"El pueblo azteca estaba tan enfurecido por la cobardía de su emperador que le tiró piedras. Una de estas piedras le dio al emperador en la frente y causó una herida grave. Algunos días después, Cortés mató al pobre emperador."For those of you whose Spanish hasn't reached this level yet (and if it has, don't even bother with this book), it says this:"The Aztec people were so enraged by the cowardice of their emperor that they threw stones at him. One of these stones hit the emperor in the forehead and caused a severe wound. Several days afterward, Cortés killed the poor emperor."Please! This could have been FUN to read. I could have been held in suspense, wondering what the Aztec people were going to do, and after they hit the emperor, wondering if the emperor is going to make it... no, there's no tension or suspense at all. There's a book on programming (Writing Solid Code by Steve Maguire) that talks about how code needs to be as clear and simple as possible, rather unlike a mystery novel. But about that mystery novel, it says, "If you wrote, 'Somebody walked up and stabbed Joe,' you'd put your reader to sleep." A book on PROGRAMMING -- something that has very little to do with writing -- demonstrates a better grasp of storytelling principles than this book does. Doesn't the part I quoted above come down to little more than "Somebody walked up and stabbed Joe"?The reason that this book doesn't get one star is that it does get a couple of things right. The text is easy to understand, and for words I don't know, there is usually either a quick definition in the margin or, failing that, one in the back of the book. If you have an urgent need to read something, anything, in Spanish that you can understand, it'll do the job. If you're intimidated by Spanish and want to build confidence, this book can probably help if you absolutely can't find anything better. But this book is strictly for studying, nothing else. If you're looking for any entertainment at all, look elsewhere!

Perfect book to start reading Spanish.Each short piece of writing is followed by some questions that are helpful to test your understanding. The answers are at the back of the book to check. New words are listed at the side of each piece of writing and a full vocabulary list is at the back of the book. It starts by using just the present tense and introduces simple past tense/s about half way through section 1. I can't comment on sections 2 and 3 as I haven't got there yet.Take advantage of the 'look inside' feature as it gives a really good feel for the book.

I am very happy with this book. It assumes that you know very little Spanish, but then builds on your knowledge step by step.The stories are engaging and I like the way that the authors cleverly introduce the various Spanish tenses into the stories.This is very helpful because you can see how Spanish works in context , instead of just a list of verbs and conjugations.The stories increase in difficulty as you progress, this is a good thing, as it challenges you to learn and understand more.I would thoroughly recommend this book for beginners in Spanish.

I have been learning Spanish at evening classes for some 2 years. I have a number of course books, a verb work-book and a dictionary. I bought this book based on my teachers recommendation to provide another approach alongside the course work. It has done exactly that. It is progressive and takes you through the easier texts to the more advanced ones and brings in the use of the present, past and future tenses in a well-constructed manner. The texts are not too long and are broken up with questions at the end to reinforce you understanding. The final section of the book is an abridged version of a classic Spanish story.The main feature of the book is that new words and phrases are translated in the margin of the text which saves having to refer to the vocabulary at the end of the book. In addition there are model answers to questions posed as you make your way from chapter to chapter.I liked the book and the approach so much that I purchased another copy for my daughter who lives in Spain and is also learning the language. Heartily recommended.

If you learn through reading then this book is a good way of getting into Spanish. The progression is not too fast and the written pieces help learning by using simple to recognise scenarios. I had a dictionary and the Hugo Spanish in 3 Months book handy because the grammar is a bit tricky, but I have found the book an enjoyable read particularly the second section where there are some unusual words.If you want to learn conversational Spanish then this is perhaps not the best for you. But my goal is to read Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (Spanish version) so this book is helping.

I can't recommend this book enough.My Spanish teacher said that if you really want to learn to read Spanish, don't bother with dual language books and recommended this one instead. It starts with very simple stories and builds through to a history of Mexico and ends with an adaptation of Lazarillo de Tormes.At some point during reading the stories, I noticed I was flying through the text. It was at that point I realised I was reading Spanish - not doing the translating in your head thing. Don't get me wrong, I take a Spanish class too but if you want to improve your spanish reading and are willing to put the effort in, this book is for you.