¡Que viva la música!: Repaso de conversación en español

Reviewed by Martha-Elena Granados, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Grace College on 5/6/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I appreciate the concise table of contents. Easy for the students to select the item to study.
This text presents to the student not just the actual songs with its video to follow and enjoy. It also defines the type pf grammar that is expected to use due to the specific topic of the song.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The section "Canciones y actividades" directs accurately the student attention towards, meaning of the song. Then, the following series of questions immerse thee students mind towards grammatical forms of communication. Each song will call for grammar that clearly is heard in the song. The student will be able to answer questions related to the Spanish figurative speech, which challenges the students intellect. The student will not just be able to translate the lyrics, but they will thrive on the understanding of its discourse meaning.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This is a relevant text. At the "Principios y temas de gramática viva" it will be a straightforward implementation when needed.
For example, in the table of verbs, the periphrasis of verbs is illustrated interestingly and with a clear explanation of each case.

Clarity rating: 4

Although the explanations are accurate, relevant and comprehensive. The students will need indeed to be taught the Spanish grammar sometimes in depth. This will include thee use of proper terminology.

Consistency rating: 5

I agree, the text offers overall consistency. The grammar recommended for each section is in depth.

Modularity rating: 5

I appreciate that the modules are concise.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text offers guidelines and tools that step by step will assist the student to complete assignments.

Interface rating: 4

I agree, the text has a simple sequence.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I did not find grammatical errors

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The cultural content is inclusive of all Latin cultures.

Comments

Thank you !

Reviewed by Amy Schumann, Assistant Professor, Grand View University on 11/11/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less
This book does a great job giving a survey of Spanish through songs. Although this is not intended to be an exhausted grammar resource, this source would be beneficial to enhance a Spanish conversation class through music. There is an activity for every song, but I would definitely appreciate more activities to help practice grammar concepts mentioned.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content Accuracy rating: 5
The authors did an excellent job of accuracy and avoiding bias. They chose a varied selection of songs to represent various countries. There were no glaring errors that I noticed.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5
This depends on your goal of using new songs or older classics. There are a few songs from the 2000’s, but there are quite a few songs from the 80’s and 90’s. If you want newer songs, this is not the book for you. However, I enjoyed bringing some classics back to the classroom and also gives a variety of genre through the years and exposure to various countries. The songs may not be as relatable to students but great exposure to “new” to them songs.

Clarity rating: 4

Clarity rating: 4
It definitely is very clear. Again, some further elaboration on certain topics/concepts might make it even more clear (e.g., examples, more detailed explanations, and so on).

Consistency rating: 5

Consistency rating: 5
I didn’t see any issues with the consistency. Overall , this book does a great job of holding together and keeping the format of the songs and activities clear. It speaks to the clarity of the text.

Modularity rating: 4

Modularity rating: 4
The book felt modular more than linear; in other words, it feels like the book could be used in any order or activities isolated as an entity on its own as a lesson. The activities do not build on the previous one, but rather bring out various grammar concepts to help improve their grammar foundation.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5
The book is organized and the guides they included on elaborating on your summary, self evaluation, reading texts and oral presentation are helpful for students and teachers.

Interface rating: 4

Interface rating: 4
I chose to read this on my computer as well as my iPhone. Both platforms worked well in PDF. It was easy to read and navigate for me. I wanted to try using it on my iPhone as many of my students use that if they do not have a computer.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Grammatical Errors rating: 5
The book’s grammar looked excellent. I didn’t notice any particular issues. The grammar included does not build on one another, but rather help intermediate to advanced speakers work on common pitfalls and deepen their grammar foundation.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Cultural Relevance rating: 5 The songs the author chose represented various countries, language, and culture examples. This book provides great opportunities to have rich discussions within their cultural context.

Comments

Overall, it’s a great text to be used as a supplemental source in an intermediate to advanced Spanish course to expose more types of music to students and Spanish content. I appreciated the Spanish Presentation rubric the authors included as well as a few tips on common fossilized errors students make to help Spanish language learners improve their fluency.

Reviewed by Mariana Segovia, Professor of Spanish, Hutchinson Community College on 10/8/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The songs and activities are relevant to the topics and questions assigned for each song. The organization of the Table of Contents and ease of navigation is good.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The grammar and topics are accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content in the text itself includes an explanation of the different activities and rubrics that teachers can use to assign presentations. The song activities are easy to work with and use many open ended questions which facilitates conversations between students.

Clarity rating: 5

At first I was looking at this eBook as a textbook that I could possibly use with students and It seemed confusing, but when I started seeing it as a resource eBook for teachers, it made more sense. The explanation of the assignments, the rubric for students' presentations, the song activities and the grammar explanations at the end are excellent resources for teachers to use in a conversational class.

Consistency rating: 4

The text has a consistent design and framework in all the song activities. Each song has a link to the video and different activities where students have the opportunity to analyze, reflect and converse with others in a meaningful way. There is only one song (Mau y Ricky Montaner) that has a fable to be read and students have to relate its meaning to the song.

Modularity rating: 5

The division into sections is well-conceived and easy to follow once you realize that it is a resource for teachers and not a textbook.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization is good. I like how it starts by giving out the instructions for different activities and rubrics. Then it transitions into the songs and activities and finishes with grammar explanations for teachers to use when explaining certain grammatical points.

Interface rating: 5

The text is accessible as a pdf file, eBook or hardcopy. There are no clickable or fillable activities, something that's appealing to students for practice activities, but in some songs it does ask the students to research certain people or aspects of the culture. It offers activities to every song and they are conversational centered. It's a great resource for teachers to use in their class.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

This text is highly accurate and cleanly edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Each song covers different cultural topics. It has a variety of artists and the cultural relevance of each activity and song are fun and interesting.

Comments

This text is a great resource eBook for teachers to use in a conversational course. These activities would be fit for Spanish III and above. The topics and the activities for each song are interesting and students would definitely learn about different cultural aspects. The last section, grammar explanation can be used by teachers in order to review and explain grammar points in an easy way for students to understand. I would not use this eBook as a textbook replacement, but rather a resource for teachers to use.

Reviewed by Margaret Jordan, Adjunct Professor of Spanish, Massasoit Community College on 5/27/21, updated 6/8/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This open textbook focuses on universal conversational themes that are perfect for fourth semester Spanish: describing and comparing people and places, the narration of events in the past, expressing oneself using the future of probability, as well as hypothetical situations using the imperfect subjunctive mood and conditional tense. Learning through song engages. The design of the textbook provides many useful resources for the students embedded in section 1.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content is error-free and unbiased

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The song lyrics and fables are timeless and will remain relevant for student self-expression. As a former high school AP Spanish Language and Culture teacher with 35 years in the classroom, it is my opinion that students will enjoy learning via the 9 songs and themes presented. It is fun, more immersive, and less anxiety-ridden to learn and improve language acquisition through song. Inductively introducing grammar through song is an effective way to increase listening skills.

Clarity rating: 5

The clarity is excellent with ample embedded resources for the student within section 1. Guias y herramientas de trabajo and section V. Canciones por estructuras gramaticales clave. A glossary of pertinent vocabulary to best analyze the form and content of music is included with definitions of linguistic terms such as “sinalefa”. The Spanish dictionary from the Real Academia Española is beneficial to easily look up new words within the lyrics.

Consistency rating: 5

The framework is user-friendly with terminology that remains consistent throughout all sections of the textbook.

Modularity rating: 5

The modularity is flexible and promotes the use of songs in any order desired. This is accomplished by listing the communicative goal and grammatical structure after the title of each song in section II Canciones y actividades. The 9 songs list the artist and country so one may easily focus on a specific country, or artists such as Shakira, or the communicative goal of describing likes and dislikes, or the goal of presenting the imperfect and preterit inductively with the song Noé by Rubén Blades.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Very well organized with 5 sections after the detailed overview in the introduction that boasts the many benefits of mastering the Spanish language through song. The students will enjoy the creativity in the song activities: Actividad en clase, Minidiscusión, and Minidiálogo, which have them engaged in listening, speaking, reading, and writing within context. The sections are Guides and Tools, Songs and Activities, Beginnings and Grammatical Themes, General Biography, and Songs (organized) by Grammatical Structures with additional songs that may be studied.

Interface rating: 4

Grammatical charts are formatted correctly within the PDF version and the etext. This book is also available to purchase in hard copy. Embedded links are easily accessible. I did encounter one technical glitch. The video was restricted with the song “Qué sueñen los tambores.”

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no apparent errors in grammar.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The beauty of this textbook is the abundance of culture that may be explored in greater depth if desired. The songs are inclusive and display diversity via the countries, musical genres, instruments, and range of vocabulary specific to the origin of nationality. The text is not culturally offensive in any way.

Comments

Thank you Doctora Norma Corrales-Martin for writing such a wonderful text and making it available to all students in OER. The organization, theme, and activities allow for maximum engagement, joy, and immersion while gaining increased proficiency in the Spanish language and culture.

Reviewed by Elena Arranz Alonso, Adjunct Instructor, Worcester State University on 5/26/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Manual completo orientado a niveles intermedios-altos. Cada canción anima a los alumnos a revisar temas culturales, gramática, vocabulario, escritura y destrezas orales.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

El texto contiene algunos errores tipográficos que no impiden la comprensión del contenido. Los errores son mínimos. El texto es preciso y cuidado en la forma.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Las canciones no son actuales. Sin embargo, los alumnos seguramente reconocerán a algunos de los artistas. Esto también podría llevar a organizar actividades en las que los alumnos busquen canciones actuales de los artistas, por ejemplo. Además, en el manual se incluye una sección con otras canciones ordenadas por temas gramaticales, lo que ayudaría al profesor a expandir los contenidos de la clase.

Clarity rating: 4

La estructura constante en las actividades de las canciones ayuda mostrar los temas de forma clara. La sección gramatical propuesta al final de manual parece demasiado avanzada para estudiantes de niveles medios que no tengan una buena base lingüística. El texto proviene de un estudio publicado por la autora, que quizás ayudaría al profesor a presentar la gramática siguiendo su propuesta de manera adaptada al nivel de los alumnos.

Consistency rating: 5

El texto sigue en todo momento la misma propuesta de elementos gramaticales, organización, etc.
El uso de la negrilla ayuda a centrar la atención de los alumnos en ciertos conceptos, vocablos, etc. Sin embargo, en algunos puntos del escrito no queda clara la razón por la que una letra o sílaba está en negrilla o por qué otras no están resaltadas de esta forma.

Modularity rating: 4

La Lista de los “Fósiles” más comunes en estudiantes de ELE propone varios errores comunes. Sin embargo, no se presentan actividades para que los alumnos practiquen el evitar esas equivocaciones.
La organización de las canciones y las actividades que les siguen son ideales para organizar cada sección acorde al tiempo que se tenga en clase cada semana. El número de actividades es constante y también lo son los temas, lo que ayuda en la organización del curso.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Las guías propuestas para los alumnos son informativas, claras y concisas. La relevancia de las rúbricas que se proponen variará según la estructura y la organización de cada clase. La guía de análisis de las canciones ayuda a los alumnos a expandir su análisis de las canciones de forma detallada, más allá de su opinión personal o su contenido.

Interface rating: 5

Los gráficos son adecuados y el estilo es simple. No distrae del contenido, ni impide la comprensión de los diferentes temas.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

La gramática se presenta de forma contextual en cada canción. Se da por sentado que los estudiantes tienen un nivel de cuarto semestre (se menciona también en la introducción) y las secciones gramaticales coinciden con el nivel intermedio.
La gramática presentada al final del manual bajo el título “Principios y temas de gramática viva” puede ser de ayuda en la explicación teórica de la gramática. Sin embargo, la novedosa propuesta parece quedarse corta. Algunos profesores podrían necesitar del texto completo del que proviene (“Gramática viva: una gramática centrada en el verbo”) para obtener una visión completa de la propuesta y transmitirla así a los alumnos. El texto no se encuentra en formato abierto y esto puede dificultar su acceso.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Los refranes y fábulas que se presentan a los estudiantes les proporcionan una visión cultural de las canciones. Además, las actividades que se proponen animan a los alumnos a investigar cantantes, lugares, vocablos locales, etc. Esto ayuda a los alumnos a expandir sus competencias culturales y las conecta con las canciones.