Textbooks

If you are interested in submitting textbook evaluations to this site, please add your comments on the strong and weak points of the material to this wiki.  If you don't have a Wikispaces account, [|click here] to register and add our wiki. **Textbooks for the Advanced Level** **Imagens Jornalisticas Brasileiras**, Malcolm Silverman, MacGraw-Hill. **Level:** Advanced **Method:**  **Strong points:**  **Weak points:** No grammar review. Pitched as a conversation book, its readings are difficult. Some of my less advanced Anglo-students could hardly finish the exercises that followed the readings. **Português Via Brasil**, Emma Eberlin Lima, Samira Abirad Iunes **Level:** Advanced **Method:** 10 units; each one teaches important aspects of the Portuguese language, including colloquial as well as formal usage. The book reviews previously introduced grammatical structures and introduces new structures as well. Written entirely in Portuguese. Strong points: Weak points:

**Weak points:** Tries to incorporate Brazilian and Continental usage, selling both a bit short.
**Viajando através do Alfabeto**, Clémence Jouët-Pastré & Patrícia I. Sobral, Focus Publishing **Level:** Intermediate to Advanced Intermediate  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** Each unit presents a //crônica//, pre-reading exercises designed to encourage students to converse, post-reading activities, and a grammar and vocabulary review. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Strong points:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Weak points:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Brazilians Working With Americans**, Kelm & Risner, University of Texas Press <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Intermediate/Advanced  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** Brazilians Working With Americans presents ten short case studies that effectively illustrate many of the cultural factors that come into play when North American business professionals work in Brazil. The authors summarize each case and the aspects of culture it involves, and American and Brazilian executives comment on the cultural differences highlighted by that case. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Strong points:** Presents cases in both English and Portuguese. Videos of the participants are available online. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Weak points:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Talking Brazilian**, Perini, Yale University Press <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Intermediate <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** Talking Brazilian is a complete course in the pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, especially designed with the needs of English-speaking students in mind. The exercises in the workbook deal with isolated words and full sentences. In addition, full dialogues are included to illustrate the use of the language in normal communicative situations. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Strong points:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Weak points:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Missa do Galo e Outros Contos, Vol. 1**, Machado de Assis <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Intermediate <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** This brand new book is a collection of short stories by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908). This collection includes 8 of his most well-known stories. Each story comes with footnotes and study questions. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Strong points:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Weak points: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Textbooks for the Beginner Level**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Ponto de Encontro**, Klobucka et al., Prentice-Hall <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** This program provides an ample, flexible, communication-oriented framework for use in the beginning and intermediate Portuguese classroom. It takes a highly interactive approach towards presentation and practice of the language and it integrates cultural information and exchange at every stage of instruction. Ponto de Encontro is the first Portuguese language textbook that allows the instructor to choose to teach either Brazilian or European Portuguese, while at the same time offering language learners a rich variety of insights into cultural, social and political realities of the entire Portuguese-speaking world, composed of more than 200 million speakers in eight countries on four continents. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Strong points:** Incorporates both European and Brazilian Portuguese; Supplemental materials available on web <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Weak points:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Working Portuguese for Beginners**, Rector, Santos, Amorim, & Gerber; Georgetown University Press <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** Lessons cover the important basics normally covered in any beginning Portuguese textbook, as well as business tasks such as negotiating a contract, presenting a new product, and writing a business memo. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Strong points:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Weak points:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Nova Avenida Brasil**, Eberlein, Lima, Rohrmann, Isthara, EPU <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** Three-volume set that combines textbooks, workbooks, and audio CDs. Designed for students of any nationality who wish to learn Portuguese as it is spoken in Brazil. Strong points:
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Horizontes: //rumo à proficiência em Língua Portuguesa//**, **Almeida & Barbosa, LiBreAr** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** Combines oral and written activities, encourages research and composition. Focuses on cultural and grammatical aspects and prepares students for the CELPE-Bras examination.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Bem-vindo,** Special Book Services <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Beginning to Post Intermediate <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**S****trong points:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Weak points:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Português Contemporâneo**, Abreu. Georgetown Univ. Press. Vols. 1 & 2. Also includes cassettes. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Method:** Created at the height of prestige of the audio-lingual learning method (tapes, language lab, drill exercises). Complementary set of notes (from UCLA APS), set of exercises developed at UCLA with this book in mind. Useful supplmentary resources for other methods. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Strong Points:** Cheap, excellent phonemic and phonic overview, contrastive pairs, etc. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Weak Points:** Students often complain about lack of transparent organizations, indexing, structure. Outdated: presents Brazil of 1950s in visuals and social context. Relative lack of material. Exercises are drill structures. Evaluated by Piers Armstrong.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Falando, Lendo, Escrevendo Português**, Lima & Iani. Editora Pedagogica of São Paulo. Also includes a teacher's manual and an answer book. *Note new edition is called: Falar, Ler, Escrever Português <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Method:** Good for "minimalist" explanation approach, i. e. where teacher simply presents material as cognitively self-evident, for example verb tense forms presented to students who already know paradigms from Spanish. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Strong points:** Numerous and varied exercises, cultural material is thoughtful and witty. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Weak points:** Lack of explanations problematic for students who like more orientation. Newer edition is 12X8 inches with color photos and is of a better quality material than original ones. Evaluated by Piers Armstrong.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Brasil: Lingua e Cultura**, Lathrop and Dias, Linguatext. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Weak points**
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">:**Português Básico Para Estrangeiros** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Level:** Beginning
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Canta Brasil**, Clarice Deal, Ana Maria Teixeira. Arizona State University. - Contact professor for possible purchase of textbook. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Travessia**, Tolman, Paiva, Jensen, Parsons. Georgetown University Press. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Method:** Linguistic Communicative <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Strong points:** Good Pairing Activities, Good Audio Workbook For Book One <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Weak points**: Too much linguistic technical language for beginners; second book is poorly organized. The videos have segments which are embarrassing to show in class, along with videos of Caetano, Chico singing which are decent; some segments--like on the Rio São Francisco have no subtitles and are too advanced for beginners.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Português Para Principiantes**, University of Wisconsin <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Level:** Beginning
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **A Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese**, Earl Thomas <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Level:** Beginning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Method:** Natural teaching in an order a child would learn at; introduces future subjunctive right after preterite; as children in Brazil learn. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Strong points: Succinct, lots of explanations in English; especially good are the use of pronouns, and the imperative. The emphasis is on spoken language, so it doesn't go into pompous grammar explanations. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **Weak points**:** No photos, many exercises are translation-based; old fashioned. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Pois Não, Antonio Simões <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Level: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Method: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Strong points: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Weak points:
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Português: Conversação e Gramática** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Level: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Method: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Strong points: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Weak points: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Um Passo Mais No Português Moderno** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Level:  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Method: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Strong points: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Weak points:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Tudo Bem**, Maria Harumi Otuki de Ponce et al. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Level: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Method: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Strong points: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Weak points: