Textbook Spanish

[gingersmom]

My 7/8th grade daughter is still struggling with Spanish after many years instruction :confused:

 

We have tried Breaking the Barrier Spanish which she claims is too hard.

 

I am thinking of going back to her old school textbook Ven Conmigo. Which from what I can tell is from 2003 and they have newer books out but not in this series.

 

It drives me crazy to keep spending money on Spanish program after Spanish program.

 

Any suggestions for a Spanish textbook?

[Julie in MN]

The problem I had with textbook French was that by level 2, all of the teacher materials were written in... French.

 

We did French 2 at home and she used a grammar workbook called French The Easy Way (inexpensive) as well as mostly library materials for listening/speaking (Pimsleur CDs, French In Action VHS, etc.). At the end of the year, I scheduled several lessons with a French teacher (who was off for the summer), and she pronounced my dd had mastered French 2.

 

Julie

[Matryoshka]

I'd recommend Spanish Now! by Barron's - it's inexpensive (about $20) and comes with CDs. I've been using Spanish the Easy Way with my kids and a couple others - the old edition (just was changed) is virtually the same text as Spanish Now! just without the CDs. It's a text/workbook all in one.

 

I've really liked it. Every chapter starts with an amusing story, then there are comprehension questions and then a grammar lesson and grammar exercises. There's also a Level 2, which we'll be starting before the end of the year.

[Amy in TX]

learn it with the child.

 

Like you, we tried a variety of computer-based Spanish programs over the years, and dd learned very little. We just can't shell out any more $ for Spanish CDs, kwim? We tried textbooks, but after the very early material, I couldn't help her any more, and I don't have the time to learn it along with her. She really needs a teacher to interact with.

 

Before she started high school this year, I gave her the option of doing Spanish or any other language of her choice via an online course with a live teacher, such as what OSU offers, or doing German with me using a textbook, since I studied German for four years in high school. She chose the German. That's going much better so far.

 

As far as which textbook to use, I think for Spanish "Spanish the Easy Way" is excellent. I like that it's pretty much all in Spanish, and the variety of ways the book offers for learning (dialogues, stories to read, etc.) is great.

 

HTH,

Amy

[Kendall]

I read the amazon reviews on Spanish the Easy Way and Spanish Now which appear to be very similar and by the same author. Reviews for both books complained about errors. Since I don't know Spanish, I'm concerned about getting a book with errors in it! Comments?

 

Also, are these books deductive or inductive?

 

 

Thanks,

Kendall

[Matryoshka]

I read the amazon reviews on Spanish the Easy Way and Spanish Now which appear to be very similar and by the same author. Reviews for both books complained about errors. Since I don't know Spanish, I'm concerned about getting a book with errors in it! Comments?

 

 

I was a bit worried by those comments, but I also noted that only 3 or so of the 35 reviews mentioned typos and the vast majority of the reviews were 4-5 stars and gushed on, so I ordered it. I have not noticed anything egregious. I find it easy to teach from and the kids enjoy it. I am fluent in Spanish.

 

Spanish the Easy Way has actually been discontinued and is only available used (well, there are new copies available through third parties on Amazon, but it's no longer being published). It's been replaced by a text called E-Z Spanish that claims to have the same authors, but the stories and illustrations are all different. I haven't had a chance to look at it closely enough to tell if that's a good or bad thing (or just neutral).

 

Spanish Now! still has the same content as before, which is almost the same as Spanish the Easy Way except the last couple of chapters and some of the exerciese are organized a bit differently, and SN! comes with CDs.

 

I do think any textbook is best taught rather than self-taught, but if you're going to self-teach with a text, I think this is pretty good. If you're self-teaching, I'd get the one with the CDs. For extras you can always use Mi Vida Loca and Destinos which are free online.

[Kendall]

Thanks! Knowing that you know Spanish and haven't noticed anything egragrious is enough for me. This sounds like a good option.

[Julie in MN]

Spanish Now! still has the same content as before, which is almost the same as Spanish the Easy Way except the last couple of chapters and some of the exerciese are organized a bit differently, and SN! comes with CDs.

 

Thanks for that info, Matroyshka.

 

I also wanted to add that at least for French, the book was probably at least levels 1-3 for high school. I know when the French teacher was evaluating my dd, she wanted her to get through the Perfect Tense in verbs, and that was probably about halfway through the workbook.

 

You don't need to do the whole book for year 1!

Julie

[Matryoshka]

that was probably about halfway through

 

Yes, somewhere in the Amazon reviews it said that the first book was about 1 1/2 years of high school Spanish. I planned to do the book over two years - though I think we may move into level 2 before the end of this year.

 

I do wish it had some built-in review. I'm just taking two weeks off to review, but I'm just making it up and using worksheets from Hayes' Exercises in Spanish Grammar for review practice.

[Julie in MN]

Yes, somewhere in the Amazon reviews it said that the first book was about 1 1/2 years of high school Spanish. I planned to do the book over two years - though I think we may move into level 2 before the end of this year.

 

I do wish it had some built-in review. I'm just taking two weeks off to review, but I'm just making it up and using worksheets from Hayes' Exercises in Spanish Grammar for review practice.

 

You got my curiosity up, because I remembered her doing less.

 

Our book may be different than the new ones, as you said, but French The Easy Way had 352 pages of worksheets (not counting appendices etc). Dd finished through page 193 for French 2. Again, I had a teacher evaluate dd and that's all she felt was needed to be equivalent to a public school French 2 level. My dd went into French 3 at the public school without problem. French 3 is where they spend a lot of time reading literature in French (The Little Prince).

 

Of course, there may have been other reasons, such as materials my dd used beforehand or something. And Spanish may well be a different ballgame. But I thought you'd want to know that she didn't even finish the book for French 2.

 

julie

[Matryoshka]

You got my curiosity up, because I remembered her doing less.

 

Our book may be different than the new ones, as you said, but French The Easy Way had 352 pages of worksheets (not counting appendices etc). Dd finished through page 193 for French 2. Again, I had a teacher evaluate dd and that's all she felt was needed to be equivalent to a public school French 2 level. My dd went into French 3 at the public school without problem. French 3 is where they spend a lot of time reading literature in French (The Little Prince).

 

I looked at the French book at B&N, and it didn't seem to be the same book at all as the Spanish one, except for the same black cover, so they may not cover the same content - although the Spanish book is every bit as long at over 350 pp. Hey - I just looked at Amazon and the French book has review tests every 5 chapters. No fair!

 

I also remember my Spanish 3 class reading a lot as well as doing some of the more advanced tenses (conditional, subjunctive). Though I was talking a while ago to a girl taking Honors Spanish 3 at her high school, and she said they weren't reading any books and didn't even have a text - the teacher just photocopied grammar worksheets for them! :blink: I don't think it's that bad everywhere, though, I'm friends with one of the high school Spanish teachers in my town, and I know she's doing a lot more than that with her kids...

[Julie in MN]

So how are we supposed to know what to do if the teaching profession hasn't figured it out yet!

 

I'm still experimenting with what we'll use for high school Spanish for youngest ds. Rosetta Stone won't tell me how many levels are equivalent to high school years -- they say it's up to the teacher <grr> But MFW now has lesson plans so that may work. I should add that I trust MFW, since after all languages have been important in their mission of Bible translation. I just don't like my ds on the computer any more than he already is...

 

I also am thinking about The Easy Spanish or just doing a mix like I did with French (such as the Easy Way workbook), or mixing those in with Rosetta.

 

I also want some real-time conversation, but every time I have set that up in the past, it dwindles off to mostly English conversation <sigh>

 

I told ds that we *must* figure this out during next semester so he is ready for high school Spanish!

 

Julie

Edited January 14, 2010 by Julie in MN

[Amy in TX]

So how are we supposed to know what to do if the teaching profession hasn't figured it out yet!

 

... Rosetta Stone won't tell me how many levels are equivalent to high school years -- they say it's up to the teacher <grr>

 

I was wondering this, too, for our German studies. I discovered that OSU has syllabi on their website for their first, second, and third year high school German courses. So, comparing their first year syllabus to the German textbook I am using led me to conclude that our book could be considered a two-year text. This was *so* helpful, as I had no idea how much to do for each year.

 

You might try googling "high school spanish syllabus" to see what high schools do in the first year.

[Matryoshka]

I think it's fairly common for schools to take two years to complete a "first-year" text. I know in high school I had a text called Usted y yo, and I know that the first year course was the first half of the book, and the second year was the second half of the book.

[goin4thewyn]

"Getting Started with Spanish" by William Linney

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Spanish-Homeschoolers-Self-Taught/dp/0979505135/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263524852&sr=8-1

 

HIGHLY recommend!! 9th grader with no foreign language experience. Found and started this after our initiation into "Tell Me More"/Auralog too intense. Has helped tremendously. We should have used this gentle but sufficient intro first. (Also comes in Latin version)