Earl W. Stevick

“ It therefore adopts the strategy of building into the student the best set of structural habits it can, before tempting him with much vocabulary or with completely free conversation.
One conspicuous feature of SPC is in fact the smallness of its vocabulary. The first 100 hours contain only about 4.2 new words per hour, even if different forms of the same verb are counted as separate words. ”

“ A number of possible 'augments,' grouped into 'orbits,' are the following.
Inner orbit (no new structural matters brought to student's attention, no production of Spanish by student beyond what is in the original lesson) .
1. Tape recording of a Spanish-speaking teacher taking the roll in class. Students identify stress patterns on surnames, and incidentally hear what a Spanish roll-call sounds like.
2. Tape-recorded or live, list of nouns related to fisheries. Students are not told meanings, but are only assured that they are names of things connected with fishing. ”

“ He may, for example, be learning to pronounce their names in a non-irritating manner, or making himself able to produce the names of people, places and things that may soon be part of his world. It is this constant, close tie-in with the student's non-linguistic purposes that keeps a good 'augment' from being just more 'additional material.' It is this same tie-in that keeps the writer of the original materials from putting augments into the textbook itself. ”

“ In Unit 3, augment 2, the students began to talk about their daily routine, but without verbs. Now, add 1 pl. and 1 sg. present content verbs to form an action chain based on the remaining parts of the routine: 'We get up at (6:00) , we eat breakfast at (7:00) , etc.' To maintain strength, much should be made of each student also answering factually for himself where individual schedules vary.
Outer orbit.
5. 'What is your address?' 'Where is your house?' Cummings devices and/or dialogs, with a map of the area. ”

“ Usted tiene 30 años, ¿verdad? ¿Cuándo nació su-esposa (-o) , en 1930? ¿Su-esposa (-o) no es americana (-o) ? ¿Que es su-esposa (-o) , colombiana (-o) ? ¿Usted tiene que-preparar la lección siempre o a veces? ¿Usted no preparó la lección? ¿Clark tampoco preparó la 1ección? Part 3. Be prepared to be engaged by your instructor in the following conversation.
Note: In some conversations you will find English and Spanish phrases. ”

“ In order to 'pin-point' it more clearly, let's illustrate this by using word (a) but followed only by the first sound of word (b) .
(a) ⁠ (-) ⁠ (a+-) ⁠ (a+-) 73. Finally, here it is again, in its natural form.
(a) ⁠ (b) ⁠ (a+b⁠ (a+b) 74. (You are now ready to begin learning the dialog.)
DIALOG
(Recorded)
Every Unit will have a conversation in Spanish which must be memorized. To help you achieve this memorization, the conversation has been recorded in four different manners, each of which is a progression toward complete memorization:
Step l. ”

“ The Spanish dialogs and/or Cummings devices to enable students to perform augment 2, above, in Spanish instead of English.
Unit 5.
Linguistic content:
(1) Review of segmental pronunciation points covered in units 2-4. (2) First steps in teaching pronunciation of /r/.
(3) Meanings of verb endings without meanings of verb stems: (a) 1 sg. present vs. 1 pl. present, (b) 1 sg. present vs. 2/3 sg. preterite, (c) 1 sg. preterite vs. 2/3 sg. preterite.
Social content: continued from dialog of Unit 4.
Topical content: describing and identifying people. ”

“ In this augment, instructions that are actually needed in the conduct of the class (e.g. Open, close your books.) are preferable to instructions that are not normally. given to adult students (e.g. Stand up.) .
Unit 2.
Linguistic content:
(1) Identification of pure, unreduced vowels in contrast to some common English substitutes for them. Repetition of isolated syllables with special attention to these matters.
(2) A dialog of five. sentences , with meanings in English (see pp. 97 - 98 ) .
Social content: Polite (usted) forms between adults who already know one another. ”

“ In terms of the three checklists (Chapter 3) ,SPC concentrates almost entirely on the linguistic dimension. Its individual lines are generally light and transparent. The principal problem is lack of strength. ”