I could make a long list of books that have changed my life and I'll bet you can too.

Let me share with you my short list.

The Bible - Has any book influenced more people in more ways than the Bible? I count myself among them.  

 

The Boy Scout Handbook and Fieldbook

- My mother influenced me to follow this track. Worth more than I can say.

 

The Greatest Salesman in the World - In high school I spent ten months with Og Mandino's masterpiece reading each chapter three times a day for a month apiece. Reinforced positive attitudes.  

 

Why Johnny Can't Read - Rudolph Flesch's book still inspires me. Led me to focus on teaching reading through explicit phonics instruction.  

 

Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong - William Kilpatrick's book influenced me to read each of the 100+ recommended books that build character. Many of the novels we select for Language Safari come from this list.  

 

Clutter's Last Stand - Lighthearted, but inspiring message on de-junking your life. The battle continues on this front, but I am still in the fight.  

 

Spanish Through Spanish - Conversations in the Classroom - I'll tell you how this one changed my life below.

 

Spanish Through Spanish - Conversations in the Classroom

About thirty years ago I was working at Bart's Books, a used book store in Ojai, California.

One day a Spanish book arrived to be shelved, but I didn't shelve it. I stuck it in my box behind the counter--each employee had a cubbyhole where he could put the books he wanted to, sooner or later, buy. I bought it. And read it. And read it. And read it. Since then I've let go of a lot of books, but I haven't let go of this one. That's because:

1. There aren't a lot of them around. Right now you can find 4 used copies available on amazon.      
2. Spanish is taught using only Spanish--simple stuff first, complex stuff later.       
3. I never found a better book for teaching or learning Spanish.

The only thing I didn't like was that there was no audio.

That brings us to why I'm talking about it today.

Gaby and I have recorded the lessons on audio. All the lessons are now complete and we are posting one a day on the Language Safari website--so that the entire set of audio lessons will be available within the next few weeks.

Even if you started listening to the lessons now, we are far enough ahead of you so that you won't be able to catch up before we have them all posted. (Unless you REALLY want to).

FREE Spanish Lessons

Since you are a subscriber of the newsletter, Spanish Through Spanish is FREE to you for the next year.

1. Go to the sign up page here.
2. Enter the promotional code: free
3. Complete the sign-up process.

Our hope is that by using Spanish Through Spanish to build a strong foundation in Spanish you'll keep coming back to the Language Safari website and realize that learning vocabulary in context--from movies, TV shows, novels, non-fiction books, poetry, the Bible and music is the best way to build up your vocabulary.

And then subscribe to our premium content ($24.95/month or $249/year) so we can help get you to fluency.

Maybe Spanish Through Spanish will change YOUR life, too.

-Scott

 
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