Puntos (Student Edition) Standalone Book

It’s more than a text. It’s a program.

Success in the language classroom requires so much more than just a text. In any language-learning setting, students require numerous and various opportunities to read, write, hear, and speak.

Puntos de partida sets the standard for Spanish-language teaching. An innovative program that has been continuously refined for today’s classroom, Puntos delivers proven pedagogy with clear and effective presentations, comprehensive teaching resources, and powerfully adaptive digital tools.

Now in its anniversary Tenth Edition, Puntos builds on the holistic, five-skills approach it pioneered. It’s the Puntos you know. It’s the Puntos of today.

Puntos hallmark features include:

Engaging and Immersive Digital Tools:  Connect Spanish is the most powerful and flexible course management system available. Rooted in research on effective student learning practices, the platform integrates adaptive learning tools with dynamic, engaging language practice activities.  McGraw-Hill’s LearnSmart provides each student with a personalized and adaptive learning experience based on individual needs.  Connect Spanish also provides the instructor with both the ability and flexibility to pull from the robust set of content available in the platform and craft a unique learning path based on the goals of the course. With Practice Spanish: Study Abroad, the market’s first 3-D immersive language game designed exclusively by McGraw-Hill, Puntos brings the language to the students in a fun, engaging, and immersive gaming experience.Students “study abroad” virtually in Colombia where they will create their very own avatar, live with a host family, make new friends, and navigate a variety of real-world scenarios using their quickly developing Spanish language skills.  The first and only analytics tool of its kind, Connect Insight is a series of visual data displays—each framed by an intuitive question—to provide instructors at-a-glance information regarding how your class is doing.  Connect Insight provides analysis on five key insights, available at a moment’s notice from your Connect course.

A Comprehensive scope and sequence: The comprehensive scope and sequence allows instructors to choose what to cover throughout the course without having to supplement their own materials to fill gaps present in other texts.

Carefully arranged organization: the overall organization carefully progresses from formulaic expressions to vocabulary and grammar relevant to daily life and personal interests (studies, family, home,leisure activities), then goes on to prepare students for survival situations(ordering a meal, traveling), and finally branches out to broader themes(current events, social and environment issues). This forward progress is reinforced by a cyclical structure where vocabulary, grammar, and language functions are continuously reviewed and recycled.

Clear and effective vocabulary and grammar presentations: Puntos’ approach to vocabulary and grammar focuses on the acquisition of vocabulary during the early stages of language learning and then at the start of each chapter throughout the text.Grammar is introduced in thorough explanations, with careful attention given to skills development rather than grammatical knowledge alone.  These explanations are now even more accessible to students, featuring conversational language, increased clarity,additional examples, and organization of complex, dense explanations into manageable chunks of concise grammar summary.

Integrated four-skills approach:  Puntos carefully sequences activities, moving students from controlled to free-form tasks. In the tenth edition, this overall scaffolding is improved and introduced at the individual activity level.Starting with the very first activity fol

It’s more than a text. It’s a program.

Success in the language classroom requires so much more than just a text. In any language-learning setting, students require numerous and various opportunities to read, write, hear, and speak.

Puntos de partida sets the standard for Spanish-language teaching. An innovative program that has been continuously refined for today’s classroom, Puntos delivers proven pedagogy with clear and effective presentations, comprehensive teaching resources, and powerfully adaptive digital tools.

Now in its anniversary Tenth Edition, Puntos builds on the holistic, five-skills approach it pioneered. It’s the Puntos you know. It’s the Puntos of today.

Puntos hallmark features include:

Engaging and Immersive Digital Tools:  Connect Spanish is the most powerful and flexible course management system available. Rooted in research on effective student learning practices, the platform integrates adaptive learning tools with dynamic, engaging language practice activities.  McGraw-Hill’s LearnSmart provides each student with a personalized and adaptive learning experience based on individual needs.  Connect Spanish also provides the instructor with both the ability and flexibility to pull from the robust set of content available in the platform and craft a unique learning path based on the goals of the course. With Practice Spanish: Study Abroad, the market’s first 3-D immersive language game designed exclusively by McGraw-Hill Education, Puntos brings the language to the students in a fun, engaging, and immersive gaming experience.Students “study abroad” virtually in Colombia where they will create their very own avatar, live with a host family, make new friends, and navigate a variety of real-world scenarios using their quickly developing Spanish language skills.  The first and only analytics tool of its kind, Connect Insight is a series of visual data displays—each framed by an intuitive question—to provide instructors at-a-glance information regarding how your class is doing.  Connect Insight provides analysis on five key insights, available at a moment’s notice from your Connect course.

A Comprehensive scope and sequence: The comprehensive scope and sequence allows instructors to choose what to cover throughout the course without having to supplement their own materials to fill gaps present in other texts.

Carefully arranged organization: the overall organization carefully progresses from formulaic expressions to vocabulary and grammar relevant to daily life and personal interests (studies, family, home,leisure activities), then goes on to prepare students for survival situations(ordering a meal, traveling), and finally branches out to broader themes(current events, social and environment issues). This forward progress is reinforced by a cyclical structure where vocabulary, grammar, and language functions are continuously reviewed and recycled.

Clear and effective vocabulary and grammar presentations: Puntos’ approach to vocabulary and grammar focuses on the acquisition of vocabulary during the early stages of language learning and then at the start of each chapter throughout the text.Grammar is introduced in thorough explanations, with careful attention given to skills development rather than grammatical knowledge alone.  These explanations are now even more accessible to students, featuring conversational language, increased clarity,additional examples, and organization of complex, dense explanations into manageable chunks of concise grammar summary.

Integrated four-skills approach:  Puntos carefully sequences activities, moving students from controlled to free-form tasks. In the tenth edition, this overall scaffolding is improved and introduced at the individual activity level.Starting with the very first activity following the grammar explanation,additional Pasos have been added to give students the opportunity to use the new grammar in a controlled but more personalized way, facilitating practice and communication with their peers as soon as new concepts are introduced. The activities following each vocabulary topic and grammar point also build up to one or more free-expression activities in which students get to communicate more independently and creatively.

Inclusion of all Spanish-speaking countries:  The tenth edition of Puntos highlights the proven concept that introducing students to the Spanish-speaking world goes beyond asking them to simply absorb information about each country. Instead, a few key cultural insights, appearing at various moments throughout each chapter,serve to spark students’ interest and, by closing with a question that asks students to reflect on cultural comparisons, encourage them to create personal connections with the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.

Comprehensive Teaching Resources:  Puntos was designed to provide novice and experienced instructors alike with the tools needed to walk into the classroom—be it face-to-face or online— well-prepared to teach an engaging class.  As a comprehensive program, Puntos offers a wide array of resources and supporting materials, so it functions as a flexible framework that can be tailored to individual teaching situations and goals.  The program’s user-friendliness and solid teaching support are strengthened in this edition with extensively rewritten annotations in the Instructor’s Edition.  A key part of the instructor resources is the comprehensive testing program, now completely rewritten and available in both print and digital formats.

Updated supplemental activities manual:  The tenth edition can be accompanied by the updated Supplementary Materials to Accompany Puntos de partida, by Sharon Foerster. The supplementary materials are an updated teacher's guide to Puntos and consist of worksheets, short pronunciation practice, listening exercises,grammar worksheets, integrative communication-building activities,comprehensive chapter reviews, and language games.