I thought of Rocket Spanish as an audio course with some added-on PDF ebooks, but actually the ebooks bring a great deal to the program. I just opened all seven of them to have a good browse.
Here are the PDFs you get with Rocket Spanish. Maybe you get more now or I missed some… I have changed computers twice since I downloaded it!
That reference librarian background of mine does come out… I simply had to list how many pages each item has!
- The Conversation Course, 119 pages
- Instruction Manual, 11 pages
- MegaCards for Beginners, 28 pages
- Megacards Advanced Series, 20 pages
- Rocket Spanish Beginners Grammar, 218 pages
- Rocket Spanish Advanced Grammar, 162 pages
- Rocket Vocabulary Supplement, 50 pages.
Here is what each one does. You can print out the entire files or selected pages.
[1] The Conversation Course: I knew this had supplemental material for the audio lessons, from when I got the program a while back, but just now looking at it again, I am very impressed with what is here.
First – there’s a neat feature where you can click on a word that’s in the vocabulary box and hear it pronounced. Very useful for getting the right pronunciation! Also, there is a lot of explanation of context and politeness. Being polite is very important in Spanish-speaking cultures!
This screenshot shows both features (though I am not advanced enough in my computer skills to actually make the Spanish words clickable!)
[2] The Instruction Manual: gives you guidelines for how to make the best of the course. It’s also available as an mp3 file.
[3] The Megacards for Beginners: Basic vocabulary cards you can print out and cut apart.
[4] The Megacards, Advanced series: more of the same. Suggestions for how to play the MegaCard “game” are included with both sets. It’s vocabulary drill with some flair.
[5] Rocket Spanish Beginners Grammar: Tied in with the lessons, this is the most enjoyable grammar book I’ve seen. I like that it explains exceptions a lot too. Here is an example screenshot:
Now I never claim to have great grammar – I’ve learned much of my Spanish just by conversing and reading – but I was surprised that I picked up several things in the basic grammar book!
[6] Rocket Spanish Advanced Grammar: More of the same, divided because the books are pretty big. I think it would be a good idea for me to go through this one!
[7] Rocket Vocabulary Supplement: Each section contains vocabulary, but it doesn’t stop there. Next is a story written using the new words, followed by questions you can answer.
The more I browsed through these books, the more I liked the Rocket Spanish course – and I was already a fan! Click the link to go to the Rocket Spanish homepage.
