GRAMATICA ESPANOLA DE REPASO.

ByProf. Francisco Ugarte. New York: TheOdyssey Press, 1958. 223pp.

Professor Ugarte states in his preface: "For the first time in the history of the teaching of Spanish in the United States we offer English-speaking students of Spanish an elementary review grammar written completely in Spanish." This book is, indeed, completely in Spanish except for a vocabulary of grammatical terms, the usual Spanish-English and English-Spanish vocabularies, and the index.

The book is intended for students who have had a beginning course and are, therefore, capable of reading grammatical explanations in Spanish. Each lesson begins with two or three pages of reading text about typical experiences of a North American and a Spanish American student in one of our colleges. There are co-eds present to make life more agreeable and adjectival agreement more apparent. There is transatlantic travel and description of incidents and scenes as our North American travels from Irún to Madrid. We accompany him in his summer school experiences and in his return to the United States at the summer's end. There are stimulating bits of description that should rouse the interest of the young (and which, undoubtedly, will bring Heimweh, Wehmut, morriña, — and, yes, saudades — to the hearts of the aging profesorado — and temptation to reminiscence). Who can ever forget "Vermut madrileño con gambas y aceitunas rellenas de anchoas," "El Gaitero" cider, or "La Verbena de la Paloma"!

There is a wealth of examples illustrating all essential grammatical points. Vocabulary is not disembodied; everything is always in context. An excellent review lesson follows each third of the fifteen lessons. With his experience in teaching North American students and his familiarity with life both here and in Spain Professor Ugarte brings a fresh approach to the study of his mother tongue. It should facilitate the transition to a direct, all Spanish method. Teachers of various origins will especially appreciate the opportunity for much repetition and review, the all- Spanish grammatical explanations, and the "vocabulario gramatical."

Wider intellectual vistas are present in the more than casual references to history, art and architecture, Spanish music, and literature from long before Don Quijote down to Ortega y Gasset and Garcia Lorca. Both student and teacher should enjoy using this book.