Puntos (Student Edition)

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 class, Puntos delivers proven pedagogy with clear and effective presentations, comprehensive teaching resources, and powerful digital tools.

Now in its eleventh edition, Puntos continues to build on the holistic, five-skills approach it pioneered, and offer a wealth of resources for every instructor and every learner.  

Puntos hallmark features include:

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

A carefully arranged organization that 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 that focus 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.  

An integrated five-skills approach:  One of the defining features of Puntos is its careful sequencing of activities, moving students from controlled to free-form tasks. Building off of the improved scaffolding in the tenth edition, the eleventh edition includes Proyectos, engaging communication tasks positioned at key moments in each chapter that guide students to create in the target language and accomplish a culturally significant goal.

Engaging and Immersive Digital Tools:  McGraw-Hill’s Connect course management system is rooted in research on effective student learning practices, integrating 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.  Practice Spanish: Study Abroad, the market’s first 3-D immersive language game, brings the Spanish language to students in a fun, engaging experience. Students study abroad virtually in Colombia where they create their own avatar, live with a host family, make new friends, and navigate a variety of real-world scenarios using their quickly developing language skills. Recordable Video Chat powered by GoReact, is a chat tool, now available on Connect, that allows students to practice live, synchronous communication. Voice Board, by GoReact, is a new asynchronous voice tool that gives students the chance to post video, audio, or text comments related to the topic and respond to their classmates’ posts.