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Spanish curr. ??? Easy Spanish?
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We are looking at doing Spanish for our foreign language. My 6.5 y/o DD has been wanting to learn Spanish for over a year. Recently I had a friend post that she is selling her Rosetta Stone 1-3, but after reading some reviews on this forum I’m not sure it will be the best curriculum to use for my young children. I have also been looking at The Easy Spanish Jr., and I like that it is very CM friendly.
I took French in school, so while there will be some similarities between the two languages, I really know very little Spanish. Is this curriculum easy to use from a non-Spanish speaking parent? Or do I need to have some sort of background in Spanish to teach it to my kids? I also have a 4 y/o DS, so I figured he could learn along with us.
Or would Rosetta Stone be better for teaching since I don’t know Spanish? My friend was selling the first 3 levels for $225.
Alicia
Alicia,
I have purchased Getting Started with Spanish by William Linney for around $21. The reviews on this book are just great. Check out the link. I can’t report how it’s worked for us as I’m planning to use it for the first time with my 6yo son this fall, but I was very swayed by the reviews. For less of an investment, maybe it would be a good place to start? It is written with homeschoolers in mind.
Best to you!
A nice video program you can use on its own or with something else is here. http://www.knowitall.org/instantreplay/content/LanguageIndex.cfm
It was designed to be used in schools that want a foreign language program but don’t have a foreign teacher.
Have you seen the Learnables?
WOW! I’ve been researching language programs for a couple of days now, and its been driving me crazy. But the Learnables is the first one I’ve seen where you can get a really good look at what the lessons are – and I really like how they are presented. My nearly 7 year old is ready to learn German. He picked up a few things from his grandma and since his aunt and uncle just visited us from Switzerland – he’s totally primed! They brought us some children’s movies in German, which is unbelievably awesome, but at this point its just a little frustrating for him. He wants to SAY things! lol. Anyway, finding something that isn’t so completely childish but isn’t just a workbook or just travel phrases is hard! I thought Rosetta Stone would do it, but I also read all the comments about how its not that great, so then it was off to find something else….. whew.
Yes, my kids loved them. They don’t quite stand on their own (we are almost finished the 3rd level in German, and the kids I think are mostly lost now…) I plan to start again at the beginning with them next year and see how much more they pick up.
We were just given the Learnables for German (an OLD version… ie, audiocassettes) and will probably try them out. My main concern with them are that they are 30 min lessons – but I’m sure we can just stop after 10 or 15 minutes….
That’s something I didn’t look at. But I’m sure you’re right. I don’t know how other programs work, but I liked that they show several pictures of things, then of people Doing things (so they learn verbs too) and then quiz them without showing them a single word. My sis and bro in law brought some German books with them too, but they are like the word books we have for children – so they have lots of pics of things but then it has the word below it. This already has confused my son. He wants to “read” the word not realizing its a whole different ball game than he’s used to. This is the same thing I liked about the First Step videos you recommended – its all conversational.
So is it normal for other language programs to not really show how they work besides a verbal description?
I love Easy Spanish! It is very user friendly, very conversational, uses lots of gradual introductions to the language. The kids start by taking part in a conversation. It works for all levels and she has lesson schedules to pace it out according to your age group.
It looks like a winner to me. Now having said that, we will be using it full on for the first time this fall. Prior to this it was just in fits and starts and my dd is now 11. I wish I had started earlier and scheduled it in…but it was before I had my CM planner!
I also have Rosetta Stone for my older son and myself and my daughter uses it too, but she mostly just plays for a few minutes then wanders off. For real learning I think Easy Spanish looks great. It reminds me of the learnables I used to use but more fun and more laid out for ease of use.
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