Review
As an educator, I see your book as one of the absolute best language learning tools I have ever seen. — Professor Woodward, North Harris College, 2002Chosen for “Titles to Watch” — Bookwire, 2003Students learning French or Spanish can now delve into their chosen language while being intrigued, and possibly frightened. — Education Week, 2003The Twisted Doors is so unique because itÂ’s a Spanish-English bilingual book, grammar book, and audio book all in one. — Laura K. Lawless, Spanish-language correspondent in her 5-star review, 2003Who says learning a foreign language can’t be fun? This is one of the most entertaining Spanish textbooks we’ve seen. — Gerald Ericksen, Spanish about.com guide, 2003
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Buy Las Puertas Retorcidas/The Twisted Doors: The Scariest Way in the World to Learn Spanish! at Amazon
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I just received this as a gift, and I have to say how impressed I am. I have been learning Spanish now for about 6 months, and this item is a goldmine!
First of all, it has all the elements that I have been looking for in Spanish practice texts. The Spanish text starts off with simple words and phrases that are must know and already in most beginner’s vocabulary. New words are introduced at a nice slow pace. An English translation is provided adjacent to the Spanish text. With each chapter there is a listing of new words and their meanings. There is an accompanying Audio CD that has a FANTASTIC reader (not too fast, not too slow, good voice interpretation for different characters, and is just lovely to listen to!) and a quick lesson (usually about 2 paragraphs)
Additionally, the order in lessons is quite unique. It does not follow traditional format (gender of words, singular vs. plural, verb conjugation, etc.) While these topics are discussed, they are presented in a fresh order and not drilled to death! I am thrilled that someone has finally explained reflexive verbs early on in their text so that it’s not a mystery why these “al, te, se, etc.” words keep popping up!
What they say about the story is true. It truly does make you want to turn the page and start in on the next chapter/lesson.
As far as downsides, I have only one complaint: A few chapters works a lesson subject into the story itself (i.e. the character must conjugate a verb to gain passage through a door.) I think this betrays the compelling storyline. However, these are infrequent enough to be forgivable in my book.
ATTENTION AUTHOR! Make more of these books for Spanish!!! Please!!!
This material came highly recommended and I enjoyed it very much. I found that reading the well paced chapters really increased my vocabulary and my understanding of Spanish phrases with little effort. I also enjoyed the opportunity to listen to the story, as that engaged an entirely different part of my brain. Trying to learn Spanish on my own has resulted in my becoming a reasonably good reader, but not a good listener/hearer for comprehension. I would like to try teaching this material to a gifted/talented group of students, as that seems to be what it was designed for. You won’t learn everything you wanted to know about Spanish, but it gives you a really great basis and broadens your vocabulary in a very engaging way. (The reader on the CD seems to use pronunciation of Spanish from Spain, which was somewhat difficult for me, as I am focusing on Latin American Spanish. But none-the-less, it was helpful.)