Author Description

"Oye, ¿sabes qué? - a colloquial conversation starter in a natural oral exchange, reflects this book's pedagogical approach and its promise to promote Spanish skills for participating in everyday conversations. Designed for students who have completed two semesters of college level, elementary Spanish, or who are at the intermediate-low level on the ACTFL Oral Proficiency scale, this text addresses a critical gap in college-level language instruction: teaching students the conversational language, discourse strategies and practices that are typical in the Spanish speaking communities students encounter at home or abroad. As seasoned professors of Spanish, the authors of Oye, ¿sabes qué? understand that these skills will not develop automatically from accumulating vocabulary and grammar structures, reading literature, and writing essays, i.e. the material that dominates most intermediate and advanced college Spanish courses, and which is primarily based on a written standard. To become proficient in Spanish conversation, students must learn and practice the actual oral language that Spanish speakers use to carry-out specific communicative functions and tasks in interaction. Guided by three simple goals, Make it fun, Make it feel easy, and Make it effective, Oye, ¿sabes qué? offers engaging topics, jokes, games, and other fun communication activities, easy to follow, functional grammar, and real spoken language, including common colloquial expressions. With Oye, ¿sabes qué?, students will develop the confidence to initiate, participate in, and manage conversations in Spanish in ways that will better connect them socially with Spanish speakers and thereby provide them with even more opportunities to practice their skills"--