Pasajes

Rating:
Summary: Confusing text lacking meaningful exercises
Review: I have used Pasajes: Lengua and Pasajes: Cultura for two years now for Intermediate Spanish and have found it quite difficult to use and to appeal to the interest of the students. Tons of vocabulary words are presented at the beginning of each chapter in Pasajes: Lengua with some weird pictures and no follow-up dialogue to reinforce or recycle the vocabulary. Then quite a few difficult grammatical concepts are presented in each chapter and often mixed together into several confusing exercises which don't allow the student to sort out the usage of one concept before being bombarded with another one. I would use this approach if I purposely wanted to confuse and lose my students. Often the students are at a loss as to how to react to the exercises and instructions. Sometimes out of frustration, I have to simply change the instructions of the exercises or bring in my own exercises to supplement the text. I have noticed a decline in the proficiency of our students after using this text and a definite lack of interest in the material. After over twenty years of teaching, I am no newcomer to teaching languages and only continue to use the text because some faculty who are recent graduates have latched onto it. The bottom line for me is that in order to do a good job using this text, the instructor must basically rewrite the text and bring in a lot of original material to achieve the desired results with students. A class that used to be a lot of fun for me with wonderful interactions with my students, now is often drudgery.

Rating:
Summary: Students love Pasajes
Review: I have taught out of Pasajes from time to time over the last 10 years throughout several editions. The Fifth Edition appears to be their hottest edition yet. The presentation in the book is sharper and more comprehensible than ever. While many texts just lose steam after several editions, Pasajes has hit its peak!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent text.
Review: I've had my experiences with a wide variety of Spanish language learning materials, and out of the textbooks I've used, the Pasajes series (especially when used as a series, including the Literatura and Cultura components) ranks as the best. Pasajes strikes the perfect balance between a text for rank beginners and advanced students.
It is abundantly clear to me that the authors of this wonderful work are acutely aware of the difficulties the student of Spanish -- especially intermediate Spanish -- is likely to face. As such, the text reads as more of a "conversation" between "teacher" and student, then a stern, authoratative text handing down the received wisdom to your unworthy soul. A real pleasure to work through.
Although one is more likely to encounter this text as part of a college Spanish program, I would highly recommend it to any serious Spanish student intent on reaching a higher level of accomplishment.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: This book was confusing - Too much similiar information packed into the same chapter, very confusing for students.....