Cinema for Spanish Conversation, Third Edition

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Description

Cinema for Spanish Conversation 3/e includes the same stimulating exercises and conversation materials that have made the first two editions successful among students and instructors alike. The text is designed to be used in courses in which outstanding films from the Spanish-speaking world are used as springboards for classroom Spanish-language discussion. Using high-interest feature films, students hear Spanish as it is spoken in different countries and in a wide variety of situations and are encouraged to listen to and converse about the social and cultural aspects of Spanish-speaking countries around the world.

New in 3rd Edition:

-Five new films: La misma luna, Arráncame la vida, Machuca, Flores de otro mundo, and Volver.
-Five new readings with activities in the section Más allá de la pantalla for the five new films.
-Introductory information about each film, its actors and directors, has been updated.
-The exercises and activities have been re-assessed throughout and in some cases revised.

FILMS  For purchasing or renting the films: Information can be found here.

Market
Courses in Spanish language conversation taught at the firth semester or beyond, with an interest in the use of Spanish language feature films.

About the Authors

Mary McVey Gill has co-authored Mary McVey Gill is the co-author of ¡De película!, with Focus Publishing in addition to Cinema for Spanish Conversation. She has co-authored about a dozen books in Spanish. She lives in Stanford, California.

Deana Smalley has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Santa Clara University and Stanford University. In addition to Cinema for Spanish Conversation, she has co-authored ¡De Película!, with Focus Publishing. She has also translated a number of history and social sciences titles for Teachers’ Curriculum Institute. She lives in Redwood City, California.

Maria-Paz Haro( Valencia, Spain) is Professor of Spanish (Emerita) at Stanford University where she has taught courses on Spanish and Spanish American Cinema including "Spanish Society Through the Eye of the Camera," "The Films of Pedro Almodovar," "Women in Film and Film by Women," and "Cinema of the Southern Cone."  She participates in Film Conferences and publishes on Spanish Cinema.

Why a Spanish Conversation Book Based on Cinema? 

There are many reasons:
-Movies appeal to students of all ages.
-There have been numerous studies showing that authentic language is the best "comprehensible input." Cinema offers natural language in context.
-Movies provide a context in history and culture, as well as language, on which a course can build.
-Videos and DVDs are highly versatile teaching tools. Students can watch them in or out of class. Instructors can use film clips in class or include them on exams. DVDs can also be programmed.
-The sixteen movies in this book present a wide variety of themes, genres, and cultural experiences.

Organization of the Book and Teaching Suggestions

The book requires students to have intermediate Spanish skills and can be used most successfully at high intermediate or advanced levels. It can be a primary or secondary text for a course. Subtitles can provide flexibility—they should be used unless the students are advanced. As with any real-world experience, students will not understand every word—a certain tolerance for ambiguity must be cultivated—but they will be highly motivated to understand material that they know was created for native speakers of Spanish. While students will not all be able to spend time in a Spanish-speaking country, they can travel through the eyes of filmmakers to many parts of the Hispanic world. We expect that this highly motivating context will work well for students wherever the book is used, especially in classes where listening comprehension and conversation are emphasized.