Krizom-krazom. Slovencina B1 s CD

Textbook Krizom-krazom, slovencina B1 follows successful A1 and A2 textbooks. The following is the textbook's introduction.

Introduction by the Jana Pekarovicova (Project Supervisor) and the Authors

Dear friends,

It is our pleasure to introduce you to a new textbook of Slovak as a foreign language for intermediate students, Krizom-krazom: Slovencina B1, which is the third volume in the series of the Slovak language textbooks, Krizom-krazom, following the A1 and A2 levels. It is designed for learners like you who would like to improve their Slovak in an interesting and attractive way.

As in the previous books, this one also contains 10 units where you will learn how to communicate in everyday situations in school, at work, with friends, or during your travels throughout Slovakia. It also includes a set of 2 audio CDs with the recordings of the dialogues, texts and exercises. As you go through the book, all the basic skills of acquiring a foreign language are practised (reading, listening, speaking and writing) in line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) assigned for the Level B1 – Independent Speaker (Threshold or Intermediate).

The textbook was developed by teachers and researchers of the Studia Academica Slovaca Centre (The Centre for Slovak as a Foreign Language), which is a research and educational centre of the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University in Bratislava. It is published as part of the project called The Learning Programme of Slovak as a Foreign Language supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. The project is later intended to cover study materials for all language levels.

All the units (except for Unit 10 which was designed as a Slovakia travel guide) have an identical structure that is easy to follow. In each unit there are two dialogues which are recorded on the CDs and which reflect current social issues. They are followed by texts covering the same issues and give you an opportunity to practise all four skills and to express your opinion on those topics as they are usually presented in a confrontational way. New words are explained by both their synonyms and explanations as well as illustrations, schemes and word groups that make them easier to learn and remember. They are practised in vocabulary and word formation exercises. There are also phrases and idioms mentioned in the units which you can learn and use to enrich your vocabulary in discussions. The grammar sections of the book were adjusted to the topics of the units and cover grammar phenomena on the B1 level, namely plural forms of nouns, adjectives and pronouns, use of prepositions (their division into groups, meaning, function), verbs (aspect, reflexive verbs), the most frequent conjunctions and particles as well as some aspects of the sentence structure, especially word order. Each unit contains comprehensive exercises practising reading, listening, speaking and writing skills. Various exercises, texts, idioms, photo stories and cartoons were also added to the units to make the book even more interesting and increasingly challenging for the students.

At the back of the textbook there is a key to the exercises and a Slovak – English glossary with the entries ordered alphabetically as well as according to the units. A very useful part of the book is the grammar reference section with tables explaining grammar rules, a list of all the verbs used in the book with their both aspect forms (perfective and imperfective) and verb phrases.

We hope that you enjoy working with our textbook and that it becomes a useful handbook and companion on your way to learning Slovak. We wish you a lot of fun, enthusiasm, and great achievements.

Good luck and enjoy Krizom-krazom: Slovencina B1!