Review of Garcia, Carmen and Emily Spinelli. Mejor Dicho. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1995, ISBN 066928906X (pbk). 307 pp

Lee, Lina

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryLanguages, Literatures, and Cultures Scholarship Languages, Literatures, and Cultures12-1-1996Book Review: Mejor DichoLina LeeUniversity of New Hampshire, Durham, lina.lee@unh.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/lang_facpubPart of the Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at University of New Hampshire Scholars'Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Scholarship by an authorized administrator of University of NewHampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationLee, Lina. Book Review: Mejor Dicho. Hispania, 79(4), 822-823, December 1996. https://doi.org/10.2307/345361  ReviewReviewed Work(s): Mejor Dicho by Carmen García and  Emily SpinelliReview by: Lina LeeSource: Hispania, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Dec., 1996), pp. 822-823Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and PortugueseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/345361Accessed: 31-05-2017 17:59 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusteddigital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information aboutJSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available athttp://about.jstor.org/termsAmerican Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to HispaniaThis content downloaded from 132.177.229.130 on Wed, 31 May 2017 17:59:42 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 822 HISPANIA 79 DECEMBER 1996 and work-book undergirds the hands-on ap- proach to language practice. Students take sur- veys, formulate lists, fill out charts and grids, observe comics and photos, which stimulate conversation. Tertulia's goals are stated in the preface and are attainable. The text aims to: (1)enrich the learner's vocabulary through structured and meaningful practice; (2)provide tools for conver- sational management; (3)provide students with stimuli for oral production; and (4) develop stu- dents' knowledge of culturally relevant content areas. Goal two allows students to experience and practice multiple entries and exits from con- versations, transitions and conversational fillers. Goal four expands the students' knowledge about cultural topics and builds on it in stages. This pushes students beyond only expressing cliches through exposure to well-chosen read- ings, realia, listening samples, and conversa- tional models. The authors exploit commonalities and dif- ferences between the Hispanic culture(s) and Anglo-American culture as added cultural infor- mation becomes fodder for conversation. Only occasionally did my students experience any "breakdown" with the cultural materials. These moments were remedied with further contextu- alization of the situation by the instructor. The readings are heavily drawn from Peninsular sources. However, the text is international in character. The origins of the readings and realia do not define them. Casting the Spanish-speak- ing cultures in their global context is ideal for today's postmodern student that engages a broad world and whose conversations do not know the limits of national borders. The international ori- entation is evident in the author's choice of se- lections and activities, as well as through the reference maps of Spanish-speaking countries, regions and the complete world map. The read- ings and realia are diverse, and they are solid examples of well-spoken and -written Spanish. Additionally, students are exposed to some dia- lectical variants, such as the voseo and vosotros forms. The text is easy to follow. Each chapter has three etapas. To introduce the topic, there are visuals that function as advance organizers or activators. The first stage includes a section called Hablando se entiende la gente that intro- duces the theme, vocabulary, and grammar for the chapter. Here the student finds model ex- pressions and activities for participating in "con- versations" guided by the exercises. In the first etapa there are activities accompanied by an audio cassette that introduces new material. These listening vignettes are brief, well-paced, and authentic. The remainder of the first etapa and th  second has abundant contextualized activities that move from the specific to more open-ended. There are matching exercises, se- quenced activities, self-tests, quizzes, surveys, role-plays and many questions. The text has enough activities that an instructor can pick and choose without undermining Tertulia's ap- proach. The third etapa is based on a journalis- tic reading with pre- and post-reading activities, which includes vocabulary work and nurtures speaking. For instructors that want to expand these topics further, optional assignments for r ading and writing are available. Although the title of the text targets one skill, the authors un- derstand the connectivity of speaking to the other skills. True to the definition of a tertulia, the book offers a whole language experience within the context of multiple conversations. Sheri Spaine Long University ofAlabama at Birmingham Garcia, Carmen and Emily Spinelli. Mejor Dicho. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Com- pany, 1995. ISBN 066928906X (pbk). 307 pp. Mejor Dicho, an advanced-level conversation textbook, focuses on a functionally-based ap- proach to develop students' oral discourse skills through presentations of cultural information, linguistic awareness, and situational activities. Perhaps inspired by the ACTFL proficiency guidelines, the topic of each chapter is based on a particular functional skill. For instance, Chap- ter 1, "Las descripciones y las emociones," teaches how to describe people, places, and things in the present tense, and Chapter 11, "Las hip6tesis y las acusaciones," deals with hypoth- esizing and how to react to an accusation using the subjunctive. A student tape, instructor's edi- tion of the text, and tapescript accompany the text, although none of them was supplied to the reviewer. The text contains a preliminary chapter and twelve regular chapters. Each of the twelve chapters follows in the same sequence: Asimilacidn cultural, Primera situacidn, Segunda situaci6n, and Estructuras. Each chapter begins with a brief geographical and cultural orienta- tion with question-answer exercises concerning a particular country or region and a useful lin- guistic information with dialectical variations commonly used in the speech patterns of the country. In addition to cultural components,This content downloaded from 132.177.229.130 on Wed, 31 May 2017 17:59:42 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms REVIEWS 823 each chapter provides two situations, Primera and Segunda situacidn with high-frequency ex- pressions for functions in the Asise dice sections, followed by two listening passages with pre- and post-listening activities. Following each listening activity is a Para su informacidn section illustrated with photos, and a reading passage which allows students to ex- plore Hispanic cultural phenomena, behaviors, and values. Occasionally, there are authentic reading materials. One of the positive attributes of the text is the presentation of Tgcnica de comprensidn which teaches practical listening strategies to facilitate the listening process. As advertised, the actual conversations, interviews, news reports, announcements, and other types of authentic input expose students to extended discourse with a wide range of accents, lan- guage, and cultural contexts. Finally, a review of essential grammatical structure related to each chapter's language functions is provided in Estructuras. The authors encourage students to use the information in Estructuras while completing exercises through- out the chapter. Included at the end of the text are worthwhile maps of Mexico, Central America, South America, and Spain. For quick reference, a grammatical index, and two useful appendixes with the list of common weights and measures, and an introduction to business cor- respondence in Spanish are included at the end of the text. The most distinguished feature of the text is that the authors present a text that focuses on a learner-centered approach with a variety of situ- ational activities for pairs and groups in each chapter so that students can use the language in a creative and practical way to improve their communicative skills. The authors have done a good job of incorporating cultural and linguis- tic information into each chapter as well. Occa- sionally, the activities require students to incor- porate the cultural information to contexts which students are likely to encounter in a Span- ish-speaking environment. However, this re- viewer found some of the questions unclear and difficult (116-17). Perhaps examples of how to use Dichos y refranes might be helpful to stu- dents prior to the exercises. In addition, the exercises of Prdctica y conversaci6n in the sec- tion Primera situacidn should be more open to allow students to express ideas with more than the one possible answer for each question. Nev- ertheless, the exercises are generally very in- teresting and succeed in engaging students in speaking and interacting with each other. The authors suggest their book for advanced students; however, there are occasional cases where one might find the grammatical structure in the Estructuras section not too advanced. For instance, there are four pages of information onhow to ask questions (12-15), not a difficult matter in Spanish. And the exposition of the use of adj ctives seems unnecessarily long and ba- sic, for students of Spanish at an advanced level, with examples like bajo(a), alto(a), or peque~io (a) (21). Perhaps instead of basic expla- nations, vocabulary for specific content areas could be added so that students could gain lexi- cal knowledge while developing higher levels of language proficiency. Overall, Mejor dicho's no- table strength is that it emphasizes the intergration of culture and language learning through simulated and creative activities and is designed to progress smoothly from an easy level to a more difficult level toward the end of the book. The text will certainly help students improve their speaking skills. Lina Lee SUNY at Plattsburgh T mar6n, Marques de, editor. Elpeso de la lengua espaflola en el mundo. Madrid and Valladolid: Fundaci6n Instituto de Cuestio- nes Internacionales y Politica Exterior, Fun- daci6n Duques de Soria and Universidad de Valla olid, 1995. ISBN 84-7762-547-6. 285 pp. This volume contains six essays which highlight the importance of the Spanish language in world affairs and global communication. The authors include two philologists, two diplomats, a histo- rian, and an engineer. Documentation in the ar- ticles is relatively sparse, consisting primarily of references to newspapers, popular magazines, and publications of international agencies, al- though some scholarly publications are also cited. The collection begins with "El papel interna- cional del espafiol" by the Marques de Tamar6n (13-75). According to that author, the pressing issue addressed by the collection of articles begins with Nebrija: "jEs siempre la lengua compafiera del imperio?" (13). His own view, however, suggests something quite different: "...ese nuevo matrimonio entre imperio propio y lengua ajena" (22). The author refers to the use of English as a lingua franca throughout the world, and he predicts that by the first decades of the next century, the major Asian economies of China and Japan will constitute the dominant force throughout the world. Asians and Ameri-This content downloaded from 132.177.229.130 on Wed, 31 May 2017 17:59:42 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Book Review: Mejor Dicho

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Book Review: Mejor Dicho

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