Trying to piece together a beginner spanish program...

[robsiew]

My oldest ds(10) will be going into Logic next year. I've been busting my brain trying to figure out what to do for Spanish. He currently is doing Latin and using Latina Christiana I. He'll continue with First Form next year. We've decided that he'll start with Spanish and see how that goes. Of course, my limited foreign language knowledge is limited to German and French and just a touch of Swedish... we decided on Spanish because there are so many resources and our church does mission trips to Mexico. That's the closest he's going to get any time soon to a foreign country! (Well, okay... I guess he could speak French in Canada which is closer to us than Mexico!)

 

I know I want something different than a computer program. I don't like any of them that I've seen and IMO they are way too much money for what you actually learn. So... here's my initial idea and I'm hoping you can help me flesh it out....

 

1. I like the looks of "Getting Started with Spanish" for a guide. We're both beginners and I want to learn alongside him. This is inexpensive and seems easy to follow.

 

2. I'd really like to have him watch a video a week in Spanish. Like a cartoon or something he would enjoy... just watch it in Spanish. Is there a good way to go about this, or just have him watch whatever looks good to him? This is not an instructional video... it would more be to hear the language and hopefully, eventually understand it.

 

3. I'm also going to look for some simple children's ABC books in Spanish or something along that line....

 

4. I think our library may have a "Spanglish" story time. I'm going to check into that....

 

Is there something I'm missing that would be helpful? I am hoping at some point to find a native speaker, but right now I don't know anyone.

 

I'm trying to figure out how much we really need to do in Logic stage. Anything he takes now, of course, won't qualify for HS credit so I guess for now it's mainly exposure.

 

Ideas? Thanks!

[wapiti]

I don't have advice; I can merely tell you my plan. I loved GSWL so we'll be doing GSWS (for dd9). However, at the middle school level, that's only going to last you a semester, probably alot less, depending on how fast your child goes through it :). I would use it prior to starting a more rigorous program - a way to ease into things. If your child would not be overwhelmed by the Spanish program you choose, I might not bother with GSWS, especially if he has had a fair amount of Latin grammar.

 

I'm not sure what we'll do after that, but Galore Park Spanish is something I plan to consider.

[cathmom]

Just set the DVDs that you own on Spanish, like Disney movies or other animated things. That way he already knows the story and you don't have to buy anything.

[robsiew]

I don't have advice; I can merely tell you my plan. I loved GSWL so we'll be doing GSWS (for dd9). However, at the middle school level, that's only going to last you a semester, probably alot less, depending on how fast your child goes through it :). I would use it prior to starting a more rigorous program - a way to ease into things. If your child would not be overwhelmed by the Spanish program you choose, I might not bother with GSWS, especially if he has had a fair amount of Latin grammar.

 

I'm not sure what we'll do after that, but Galore Park Spanish is something I plan to consider.

 

Hmmmm.... I **have** read that it is rather easy. He's a rather bright kid and will have 2 years of Latin under him... maybe I should seek something else? I've seen Galore Park mentioned... I will take a look at that. I hate to sink money into something that we'll go through in no time.

[robsiew]

Just set the DVDs that you own on Spanish, like Disney movies or other animated things. That way he already knows the story and you don't have to buy anything.

 

Yes! This is my plan! We don't own a ton of DVD's as we use Netflix, but we can check a lot out of the library too! I'm guessing Netflix must have some things too... oh! Off to see!

[HeidiKC]

We do DVDs like that. One I found that I really liked was the series by Scholastic where they do books (Danny and the Dinosaur, Pete's a Pizza, etc.). There is one (at least one, anyway) in Spanish! So the stories are simple and familiar (check the book out in English from the library if unfamiliar), and best of all - the words from the story are also on the screen. The one that we found was Curious George Rides a Bike and other stories. I think Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was on there, too. Or maybe that was another Scholastic DVD.

 

We like Whistlefritz, too. For beginners, but not as boring as some of the DVDS like Hola Amigo. Whistlefritz is kind of funny.

 

My son is 11, and of course he thought it was all a bit babyish, but when I gave him the choice of watching it or doing some "Spanish work", of course he wanted the video. And of course he ended up enjoying it some.

 

Also, I just discovered these free online videos!

http://www.knowitall.org/instantreplay/content/LanguageIndex.cfm?offset=0

 

We use The Learnables w/ CD. It is a bit boring, but I think my son is learning a lot and I like how it is all immersion and I don't have to instruct. It's nice because it is a change of pace - listening to a CD instead of seatwork or DVD.

[HeidiKC]

Oh, one more thing! I have a friend who only speaks Spanish, so about once every two weeks I have her read him a picture book very slowly, after he's read the English version. Then she asks him some simple questions in Spanish. I would think it would be pretty easy to find someone to do this, even a kid that might do it for CHEAP. Shoot, my 11-year-old would be over the moon if someone would pay him $5 to spend 20 minutes reading simple books aloud!

[robsiew]

thanks everyone! Lots of great ideas! I'm actually leaning toward Galore Park now... I think that will take us further than the other.... thanks for the great ideas on vids! I'm going to do some digging and see what I can find!

[mazakaal]

I'm using GSWS with all my kids right now. It is an easy introduction to the language, but I still think it can take you a full school year to go through it. There are a few lessons that I combine, but usually we just do one lesson a day. It's easy for my 12yo, and he could probably do more if I forced it, but why force it and rush, especially if he's already doing Latin, too.

 

In addition to watching videos in Spanish, you could try to find the Spanish PBS show. I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be designed to help people learn Spanish by watching it.

[robsiew]

Thanks Megan! That's a really good point to consider... that he is also doing Latin. Also... just how rigorous does a 5th grader need to be in a language program? :001_smile: Good things to think about... I'd rather leave him wanting more than burn him out at age 10! ;)

[Colleen in NS]

My oldest ds(10) will be going into Logic next year. I've been busting my brain trying to figure out what to do for Spanish. He currently is doing Latin and using Latina Christiana I. He'll continue with First Form next year.

 

I'm actually leaning toward Galore Park now

 

We aren't doing Spanish now, but I did start ds off in grade 5 with doing Spanish. He has studied the MP Latin courses (PL/LC1/LC2) and is now working through Henle 1...so, similar to yours. For Spanish, after much research and asking questions (you can search for threads I did, esp. with questions to, I think it was, Patty Joanna and Laura Corin), I bought Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish. And what I did with it was I made it to be studied just like how we studied Latin with LC2. I made up vocab/grammar/saying cards to use as flashcards, and I went through those cards every day and then did the book/exercises/listening to CD/etc.. I also had ds writing in a Spanish notebook, things like the vocab/grammar forms/sayings, and writing out the English to Latin translations. I modeled it after our Latin studies as much as possible, since we already had a Latin study rhythm going. The SYRWTLS course was much more fast-paced (lots of vocab to memorize), but that could be adjusted. I really really wanted to continue with Spanish study, but had to drop it for lack of time. But I was quite happy with how it was going. And like you mentioned, I also would pick up Spanish books in thrift stores (rarer here in Canada to find Spanish books) for ds to look at. I also had the first set of Learnables, but IMO it was useless. But I wanted ds to learn grammar/vocab first, and immersion later. It just depends on what your goals are. Anyway, I think you have some good ideas. And now this thread is "old" in forum-speak, so I'm curious if you went with Galore Park.

[robsiew]

We aren't doing Spanish now, but I did start ds off in grade 5 with doing Spanish. He has studied the MP Latin courses (PL/LC1/LC2) and is now working through Henle 1...so, similar to yours. For Spanish, after much research and asking questions (you can search for threads I did, esp. with questions to, I think it was, Patty Joanna and Laura Corin), I bought Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish. And what I did with it was I made it to be studied just like how we studied Latin with LC2. I made up vocab/grammar/saying cards to use as flashcards, and I went through those cards every day and then did the book/exercises/listening to CD/etc.. I also had ds writing in a Spanish notebook, things like the vocab/grammar forms/sayings, and writing out the English to Latin translations. I modeled it after our Latin studies as much as possible, since we already had a Latin study rhythm going. The SYRWTLS course was much more fast-paced (lots of vocab to memorize), but that could be adjusted. I really really wanted to continue with Spanish study, but had to drop it for lack of time. But I was quite happy with how it was going. And like you mentioned, I also would pick up Spanish books in thrift stores (rarer here in Canada to find Spanish books) for ds to look at. I also had the first set of Learnables, but IMO it was useless. But I wanted ds to learn grammar/vocab first, and immersion later. It just depends on what your goals are. Anyway, I think you have some good ideas. And now this thread is "old" in forum-speak, so I'm curious if you went with Galore Park.

 

Colleen,

 

Thanks for responding, even if this is an "old" thread! ;)

 

I actually did read several of your posts on your quest for a spanish program! It's what led me actually to Galore Park.

 

I haven't bought anything yet though... probably won't for a bit yet. We won't start it until summer or fall.

 

I have 2 different directions I'm thinking about. One would be to start with the simpler Getting Started With Spanish over the summer (we school year round) just to get him into it. Then, start with GP in Sept. The other thought is just to start right out with GP. I'm not sure which at this point.

 

I think my one concern with GP is that it looks like a lot. I don't want to overwhelm my ds (10) or me (as I will be learning with him). Thank you for sharing how you broke it down similar to your Latin study. We are in LC1 right now and I finally have a good routine for that. It took me awhile to realize LC1 is much different than Prima! I had to find a new pattern for our study. Now it's going much better! I think if I did a similar thing with Spanish we'd be okay. I wouldn't care if we took longer to get through the book.... I'm not one who has to finish a book in a certain amount of time.

 

I see your reason for dropping Spanish was that it was too much. How much time did you spend a day on it? When I look at the WTM recommendations for time on things in Logic stage sometimes I wonder how we would ever get it all in! I'm sure I'm going to have to do some things differently because my ds10 works. so. slow. My dd8, on the other hand, has no problem with speed.

 

Thanks for your help!:001_smile:

[Colleen in NS]

I see your reason for dropping Spanish was that it was too much. How much time did you spend a day on it? When I look at the WTM recommendations for time on things in Logic stage sometimes I wonder how we would ever get it all in!

 

Well, because I wanted to do just as good of a job with Spanish as we were doing with Latin, I had to spend probably a half hour a day on it with ds, and then maybe have him do a couple of written things. But I also wanted to do thorough jobs on grammar, Latin, writing, and math, and spelling for dd, and talking about books, so to give another half hour for Spanish was too much for *us.* I'm not one to spend 6 or 7 hours on schoolwork for what was then a 5th and 2nd grader, so I dropped it. I hated dropping it, though - I so wanted to do a modern language, and felt I was losing a window of opportunity. But that doesn't bother me so much anymore - ds is progressing with Latin, and I am more sure now that if he picked up Spanish in high school, he could tackle it pretty well, even if his accent never got perfect. I care more about the grammar and reading learning part, anyway. And anyway, he is now talking about studying Gaelic (!) in high school, and has already taught himself some just from a library grammar book, so I guess our concentration on Latin only right now will serve him well for future language study, in the way I want him to study.

[RootAnn]

It took me awhile to realize LC1 is much different than Prima! I had to find a new pattern for our study. Now it's going much better!

 

I plan on adding GSWS to my oldest dd's list next year & alternating work in that with Spanish in 10 Minutes a Day that I have lying around. We have access to a library with lots of children's books in spanish after we get through the above stuff.

 

However, I'm mostly posting because I saw your note on LC1 vs. Prima and I'm hijacking this thread! We're using Prima. What is your new pattern & how was it so much different? I plan on continuing on with LC1 next year with my two olders and need the heads up now! Spill the beans, woman!

[robsiew]

Thanks for the heads up Root Ann! I've been busy around the house the last couple days!

 

Well, Prima to me, was mostly just memorizing vocab. LC1 goes much more into grammar concepts such as declining nouns and conjugating verbs and noun/verb agreement. You start to learn the masculine nouns... that's as far as we are so not sure if you learn any more. There's much more translating and much more derivative work. The nice thing is a lot of the vocab is from Prima with new mixed in so the vocab doesn't become overwhelming in the midst of learning the declensions. So far we've learned 2 declensions and there are 5. I don't think you learn all of them in LC1.

 

I'm planning on making a blog post about how we do Latin now... just haven't gotten to it yet. I will give you a heads up when I have that done if you want. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll get to that. Until after Christmas I'm not doing a lot on the computer. If it would help I'd send you the files I've created after you see what they are on the blog. We've really settled into a nice pattern. Wish I had thought of it from the beginning! (We're only in lesson 10 though so we have some time left).

 

My dd is in Prima this year and I find we really just need to go through vocab. and do the 2 sheets. We also take the first few minutes to review vocab.

 

I do have to say though, Latin for us is not a central figure. We're doing it because I think it will help them in a lot of ways, but as soon as it becomes too much we'll drop it. I told my ds I want them to go through First Form (next year) and if he wants to drop after that he can. He really enjoys it though so I'm guessing he may continue. We'll be adding in Spanish next year though so we'll see how 2 languages go...

 

PM me again if you have more questions... I don't always check the threads... especially this week! :D

[robsiew]

Well, because I wanted to do just as good of a job with Spanish as we were doing with Latin, I had to spend probably a half hour a day on it with ds, and then maybe have him do a couple of written things. But I also wanted to do thorough jobs on grammar, Latin, writing, and math, and spelling for dd, and talking about books, so to give another half hour for Spanish was too much for *us.* I'm not one to spend 6 or 7 hours on schoolwork for what was then a 5th and 2nd grader, so I dropped it. I hated dropping it, though - I so wanted to do a modern language, and felt I was losing a window of opportunity. But that doesn't bother me so much anymore - ds is progressing with Latin, and I am more sure now that if he picked up Spanish in high school, he could tackle it pretty well, even if his accent never got perfect. I care more about the grammar and reading learning part, anyway. And anyway, he is now talking about studying Gaelic (!) in high school, and has already taught himself some just from a library grammar book, so I guess our concentration on Latin only right now will serve him well for future language study, in the way I want him to study.

 

That makes sense! I look right now at Logic recommendations and I don't know how we'll do it all! Something may have to go... this ds is slower. than. slow. If I go by all the recs he may be doing school 24 hours a day! :001_huh:

[atozmom]

Just in case you weren't aware --- GSWS has FREE audio downloads recorded by the author on the GSWS site. There are pronunciation files and lectures for each lesson.

[robsiew]

Just in case you weren't aware --- GSWS has FREE audio downloads recorded by the author on the GSWS site. There are pronunciation files and lectures for each lesson.

 

Thanks! :001_smile: