Reviews wanted for Speaking Spanish with Miss Mason and Francois, Volume 1

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)
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  • mrsmccardell
    Participant

    Does anyone have any input? Comments on how you do it are welcome and appreciated!

    Thanks,

    Leslie

    missceegee
    Participant

    We will be implementing it in our CM co-op of 20+ families next year. 15-20m per week. 1 series every couple of weeks.

    luveezmum
    Participant

    We started earlier this year.  I think it is low pressure and simple!  My boys are 7 and 9.  We spend no more than 10 minutes 3-5 times a week learning a series.  The series are getting longer as we progress, so we are breaking them up a bit more.  Basically, I read to them the english sentences and verbs several times, acting it out.  For instance, Take the pencil.  Put the pencil in the pencil case.  Then I read the sentences in spanish, highlighting the verbs, and act it out again.  Then I have the boys say it and act it out a few times.  We repeat the same series all week.  By the end of the week, we can usually switch it up a bit by changing nouns.  Using the same example as before, I might now say, Put the pencil in the backpack (since we learned that noun in another series).  The boys will often start to play around creating their own sentences, using English were they don’t know the Spanish yet.  For instance, Pongo the shoe en la caja de lapices.  Then they’ll giggle and try to make up an even funnier sentence.  But it reinforces the words they have already learned.  Hope that makes sense.  I think this can be a fun way to learn and the acting out of it (while it took some convincing them at first) makes it easier to remember.

    The book itself is well made and since there is no writing involved, will last for years.  Both volumes are meant to be used to several years.   I think it’s really important to read about how to teach using the Gouin series (The Teaching Languages with Miss Mason book).  If you know Spanish, then you can come up with your own series using the teaching book.  I don’t know Spanish, so I have Volume One and the audio of the series to help my pronunciation.  If I’m really off in my pronunciation (I can’t roll my r’s!) then I play the MP3 snipet for my boys, but usually I just use the audio so I learn how to say it properly.

    Hope that helps!

    nebby
    Participant

    Do you think an older child (8th grade) could do it on their own? It seems very interactive. I have been considering the new French one for my dd. We have been through 3 French curricula and they all get very boring after a while.

    Nebby

    luveezmum
    Participant

    I think an older child could do much of this on her own.  In addition to each series, at the bottom of the page there is usually a recitation that can be learned.  Sometimes it is a Bible verse or the days of the week or a short story or something like that.  All of these things could be learned independently.  However, there are some questions/comments listed that the teacher (or other student, I suppose) can ask the student.  For example, in series 5, one of the sentences is “I see the grandmother”.  The teacher can ask “Who do you see?”  The teacher can also use commands such as “Listen” or “watch me”, so that the student gets used to hearing questions or comments.  

    jamilanette
    Participant

    I’ve read everything I can about this series (which isn’t saying much). I haven’t seen anyone who has used it for more than a year talk about successes/struggles with it. We have been studying Spanish a couple of years now and I am not happy with our progress. We definitely need something more oral. I am hoping this is our solution.

    Anyone on this thread continued to use this curriculum and can give an update? I would surely appreciate it. I am about ready to give up on foreign language. We know a lot of words, but conversationally we cannot do much.

    4myboys
    Participant

    Like Jamilannette I’ve not read anything recent on how people are enjoying this series or if they have stuck with it now that it has been out for awhile.  I would love to read some genuine feed back as to ease of use, effectiveness, etc.

    cedargirl
    Participant

    Bumping this up again because I too am pondering the French. Too many tries and crashes with other curriculums.

    Shanna
    Participant

    I am glad you bumped this. I was just looking at adding this to our school this year. We are looking at French as well.

    MountainMamma
    Participant

    Bumping this post again. Today’s SCM blog post has me thinking about foreign language studies. Have the folks who have implemented this program seen sustainable success?

    missceegee
    Participant

    It crashed at our CM co-op in 2014-2015. This was in great part due to differing commitment levels by families at home and we discontinued it. I did not try to continue at home. I’m now looking for something for dd10 to do mostly independently for the coming year. I’m considering this and Classical Academic Press’ Spanish for Children.

    bethanna
    Participant

    Missceegee, May I ask why you didn’t continue it at home?  Do you think it would work in a home setting as an introduction to a foreign language?  I have been wanting to purchase it, but our budget hasn’t allowed yet.  My oldest child is 11 so I need to get a language going in our school.  We would have all the younger children participate as well.

    bethanna
    Participant

    Bumping again 😊.  I am also wondering how to use this with a wide age range of children.  My niece and nephews with participate in this with us next year, but two will need high school credit. What should I add to achieve that?

    TailorMade
    Participant

    I’m curious, too?  We’ve had no Spanish at our house, only French.  We used Mission ABC.  Awesome when you use it!  And, my kids and I have retained all we learned, even after over a year off.  I want to continue with their older program, but we are in a position with our youngest being our only student in just a month’s time.  She has the possibility of a mission trip in two years that would mean Spanish speaking ability would be an huge benefit.  She’ll be in 7th grade, so we are trying to determine whether to continue with French and just go on a trip needing an interpreter, drop French for Spanish, or keep going with French and add Spanish.  That said, I’m leaning to Spanish for Children (mentioned in this thread), but have always been curious about Miss Mason and Francois.

     

    TailorMade
    Participant

    Bumping.

     

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)
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