Middle and senior high school students who dread the idea of having to learn a second language are likely to change their minds when they open this book. Each of its 17 lessons teaches an important and interesting aspect of the Spanish culture while also presenting a lesson in Spanish vocabulary and grammar. All lessons have Spanish titles with English translations, followed by a brief passage written entirely in Spanish. Immediately following the short essay is a vocabulary list with English equivalents covering all key words in the essay. Brief exercises that follow cover grammar, more vocabulary, pronunciation, idioms, and cognates—words that are written alike in English and Spanish, but are pronounced differently. Written passages in English discuss various aspects of Spanish culture and history. Structured in a workbook format, with exercises to test comprehension of the subject matter, Painless Spanish is a language immersion course, but with this important difference: it immerses students gently and painlessly into the Spanish language.
