--- Forwarded Message from RLD Watson <[log in to unmask]> --- >User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.0.0.1309 >Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 14:51:15 -0500 >Subject: Re: #7869 VISTA Spanish Books >From: RLD Watson <[log in to unmask]> >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]> >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> We've been using it at Nebraska Wesleyan University for a few years now. There are tons of things that come with the text itself: CDs, a dictionary, the entire video program, workbooks, etc. Overall, the potential is wonderful, but in practice . . . We've had good results with it. However, the students are not required to do their work in the language lab, since all the homework is available online. This has been a blessing and a curse. If you take the time, you can set up the homework pretty much any way you want it to be done: graded, ungraded, a specific number of attempts, or just practice. Of course, the computer grading is merciless; a student may only forget an accent and will receive no credit for the answer. Personally, I've found that students tend to go on "autopilot" when doing the online homework; they don't really pay attention, particularly when they know they can do an exercise as many times as it takes to get all the answers right. Also, some have figured out they can just cut/paste the answers. If you take the time, the online work could be used to great benefit, but it will take a lot of teacher editing to get things to work smoothly. The text itself is okay. It seems to be of the newfangled "web style" I see popping up so much on menus and in advertising. The pages are just filled with little asides and colored columns that sometimes contain the most important grammatical information, which most students simply pass by. The grammar explanations are, in general, very good and clear. So, ultimately, if you're willing to put a lot of time into it initially, the rewards are promising. I find that the younger the teacher, the easier the implementation of the newer technologies. Finally, I am worried about the students not having attend the lab at all, except when they take oral exams; they just don't get enough listening and speaking practice. That's my opinion, however, from an old teacher's point of view. P.S. I teach at Nebraska Wesleyan but work in the lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. -- Randall Watson, PhD Assistant Lab Director, UNL 304 Burnett Hall (402)472-1786 [log in to unmask] http://www.unl.edu/langlab http://langlabcalendar.unl.edu/ > > I wonder if any of your Spanish departments are using the Vista Higher > Learning textbooks for 1st year Spanish. We are considering changing books > and I'd like to get feedback (positive or negative) regarding the textbook > and the lab materials. > > Thanks! > Karl *********************************************** LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) ***********************************************