MY BOOKS
Here is where my training in Linguistics and my experience teaching languages converge. Throughout my years of teaching, I saw many students struggling with grammar rules that were explained in their textbooks and that they were told to memorize. This way of learning was not really effective. So very early on, I began writing materials to clarify concepts and rules for my students or to present the grammatical system in a completely new way. This led me, over the years, to write the books I posted below, some of which were coauthored with Arie Vicente.
Have you ever had doubts on when to write e with accent in Spanish? or i with accent in Spanish? Why is Mario without accent, but María carries one? or when to use a with accent, or o with accent? Why is joven without accent, but jóvenes needs one?
You will find answers in The Written Accent Marks in Spanish.
And no, we don't need to memorize accented words, nor to remember what "aguda, llana, esdrújula y sobresdrújula" mean. The premise of this book is that there are no rules for writing the accent marks. There are, however, rules for speaking and placing the stress--oral emphasis given to certain syllables in speech. In this book you will find:
-
Explanations in English
-
Multiple examples in Spanish
-
Differences between Spanish and English
-
Exercises for practice
-
If you wish to delve deeper, look for boxes named “FOR MORE.”
Whether you are a Spanish learner or a teacher who wants to teach this topic in a simple way, this book is for you.
A complete reference grammar book of Spanish.
Readers on Amazon call it "one of the best." Among its qualities are "precision, organization, clarity," and a different approach to tricky grammar points, such as por vs para, pretérito vs imperfecto, and much more.
Some of the features are:
-
Explanations provided in English, examples translated, for easy understanding
-
Completely cross-referenced for quick access to further information if needed
-
Summary charts for an overview of each topic
-
Complete conjugation tables for immediate access to verb forms
-
Appendix with a list of more than one thousand verbs with their complement structure
-
Self-correction strategies to help users diagnose and correct their own errors, as they learn the language and use it to communicate their thoughts orally and in writing.
This book is a good companion to any language textbook and a useful tool for learners and teachers alike.
This book was originally designed for the preparation of the Texas Oral Proficiency Test.
-
Vocabulary, grammatical structures, discourse strategies, and practice situations for each function.
-
Two CD's with oral exercises for practice and reinforcement.
Great, used in combination with the Spanish Grammar for Independent Learners.
(280 pages) Originally written for my students at MIT, this grammar book uses the fine-grained knowledge provided by systematic grammatical research to create a clear and helpful tool for achieving language accuracy.
It presents the following features:
-
A flash-card presentation allows for a glance of each grammar point. Rules are explained as easy-to-apply step by step processes.
-
A significant reduction of exceptions has been achieved, with a lot of exceptions being integrated into new rule formulations.
-
Strategies for oral and written self-correction are presented.
-
Explanations are given in English and examples translated.
-
Phonetic transcriptions are added for accurate pronunciation
