JadeOrchidSong Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 My boys 8 and 10 are at Lesson 130 (of 170 or so). I would like recommendations for a follow up program. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 Bump! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Berlitz Self-teacher Spanish has been around for a LONG time, but is easy to teach at home. And the price is right! The sample gives the first 2 lessons, so you can try it out, and see if you like it. Most libraries have a molding copy on their shelves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 aomom, we would spend a week on a lesson. The boys did a lot of notebooking. They drew pictures and labeled them. They composed a lot of snarky dialogue and drew comic book figures. We liked this book because every sentence has a phonetic pronunciation under the Spanish. I've seen Say it Right in Spanish and B&N and it looks like another good book for pronunciation help and basic vocabulary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 We are using Spanish for Children A this year to beef up the vocab. However, I am less than impressed. It is short on *everything* (practice, translation) and has a weird order to how they explain things. So, just in case you looked at that as one of your options, I wouldn't recommend it. I like the "10 Minute a Day" series for vocab, but haven't found a good way to integrate it with more grammar-driven programs. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom27 Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 My 10yo is using Breaking the Spanish Barrier. We like it, but we've only recently started. I think you can get the book for $15 on your ipad if you have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 aomom, we would spend a week on a lesson. The boys did a lot of notebooking. They drew pictures and labeled them. They composed a lot of snarky dialogue and drew comic book figures. We liked this book because every sentence has a phonetic pronunciation under the Spanish. I've seen Say it Right in Spanish and B&N and it looks like another good book for pronunciation help and basic vocabulary. Hunter, I was a Berlitz teacher of English and Chinese for three months before I found another more stable job. The teacher who interviewed me made sure I knew my English grammar by orally testing me with questions that I had to answer grammatically correctly. When I taught Chinese, the poor student (a businessman) was red frustrasted because I was not allowed to use any English at all when teaching him. Lol! I will take a look at the Spanish. We are using Spanish for Children A this year to beef up the vocab. However, I am less than impressed. It is short on *everything* (practice, translation) and has a weird order to how they explain things. So, just in case you looked at that as one of your options, I wouldn't recommend it. I like the "10 Minute a Day" series for vocab, but haven't found a good way to integrate it with more grammar-driven programs. :bigear: I bought and sold Latin for Children, unable to understand who in the world can make sense of that program! We are happily using Lively Latin now. I will not make another mistake buying Spanish for Children. So I do know how you feel. Thanks! My 10yo is using Breaking the Spanish Barrier. We like it, but we've only recently started. I think you can get the book for $15 on your ipad if you have one. I know this program. I just haven't looked closely at it. Halcyon uses Easy Spanish Step by Step and Practice Makes Perfect. I like the look of the second one. They are both pretty good and cheap. I just want to hear what other people are using. I like Getting Started with Spanish because it is very gentle and gives me the big picture and the basic grammar and some vocab. My boys and I can pronounce Spanish words and read sentences quite well. So it is achieving the purpose of exposure. After we finish it, I want us to be able to use the grammar and apply the vocab in practical ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazakaal Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 We used Getting Started With Spanish a few years ago. My 8th grader followed with Visual Link Spanish, which he really didn't learn much from. He's now doing Breaking the Spanish Barrier, and he's doing much better with it, but I'm also doing a lot of it with him and supplementing a lot with Practice Makes Perfect. I think it would be difficult for an 8yo and 10yo. I had dd, then 9yo follow GSWS with La Clase Divertida, which was a great fun introduction to Spanish, but would have been better prior to GSWS instead of after it. This year she started Espanol Para Chicos y Grandes, which is a much better fit as a follow up to GSWS for that age group imo. Unfotunately, we've had to drop it to focus more time on getting her math caught up, but we will return to it hopefully soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Hunter, I was a Berlitz teacher of English and Chinese for three months before I found another more stable job. The teacher who interviewed me made sure I knew my English grammar by orally testing me with questions that I had to answer grammatically correctly. When I taught Chinese, the poor student (a businessman) was red frustrasted because I was not allowed to use any English at all when teaching him. Lol! I will take a look at the Spanish. I've never liked any of the modern Berlitz books. Just this series. Over the decades we have owned every language published, even the OOP ones. The boys liked the extensive pronunciation helps and the dialogue that included lots of nouns instead of greetings. They were able to play with the lessons. We started using these back in the early 90's when CD players were new and expensive and audio to learn foreign languages was an expensive and bulky box of tapes that we couldn't afford. It was funny that as technology and choices exploded they always stuck to this series, continuing to play with it. Lots of copywork and cartooning just came naturally to them when using this series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 As you mentioned, we use Easy Spanish Step by Step and Practice Makes Perfect. Easy Spanish is grammar based, which works for my son. It also has a lot of vocab, so we make flash cards in memrise for him. I also found a neat free Spanish Reader last night on Amazon, which I am going to use: http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Spanish-Reader-Edition-ebook/dp/B004UITU9K/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1359377493&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=spanish+reade Here's another one which looks good http://www.amazon.com/First-Spanish-Reader-Edition-ebook/dp/B004TQYXPY/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1359377493&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=spanish+reade I am going to use these in much the same way Lone Pine Latin uses Lingua Latina. Read them, learn new words and concepts, and make flashcards. It helps that the first book is mostly familiar stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunnyDays Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Thanks for this thread, aomom!! We're in the same boat, using GSWS right now and looking for what comes next!! I also appreciate the reviews of Spanish for Children... I looked at it online and didn't like it as much as I wanted to, wondered if I was missing something. Sounds like I wasn't!! :) After looking at several of the options, I think I like Easy Spanish Step by Step, so I'm putting that on the short list for next year!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Thanks for the links. I just downloaded the two free books. As you mentioned, we use Easy Spanish Step by Step and Practice Makes Perfect. Easy Spanish is grammar based, which works for my son. It also has a lot of vocab, so we make flash cards in memrise for him. I also found a neat free Spanish Reader last night on Amazon, which I am going to use: http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Spanish-Reader-Edition-ebook/dp/B004UITU9K/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1359377493&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=spanish+reade Here's another one which looks good http://www.amazon.com/First-Spanish-Reader-Edition-ebook/dp/B004TQYXPY/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1359377493&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=spanish+reade I am going to use these in much the same way Lone Pine Latin uses Lingua Latina. Read them, learn new words and concepts, and make flashcards. It helps that the first book is mostly familiar stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Glad to see this post. We are happily using La Clase Divertida and I'm keeping in the back of my mind ideas of what to use when we are done. I haven't really been happy with anything but Spanish for Children was high on the list. Guess not anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariston Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 I bought and sold Latin for Children, unable to understand who in the world can make sense of that program! We are happily using Lively Latin now. I will not make another mistake buying Spanish for Children. So I do know how you feel. Thanks! That is exactly how I felt about SFC. I returned it right away (and I'm a curriculum hoarder...I never return anything!) Thanks for this thread...making a list now of all the prospective next steps. My son is not learning much from GSWS but maybe we're just not far enough into it yet (or maybe he already knew too much.) Guess we'll keep plugging away and I'll research what to do next. So far I'm leaning towards Visual Link... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Thanks for the links. I just downloaded the two free books. My son actually read the first story today! I created a vocab cheat sheet, which i will turn into online flashcards. So much fun. He was like "Hey! I know this story!!" ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I was reading my Annual The Old Schoolhouse print edition (again) today & saw in their "online learning" section that they listed a Spanish app: www.unlockspanish.com. I also saw flip flop spanish itunes app. I also saw The Easy Spanish (which I think is different than what Halcyon is using). ... And, Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish. & Thanks to Halcyon for the links to the free readers. My daughter recognized the first story right away, too! We just read the first few sentences today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I was reading my Annual The Old Schoolhouse print edition (again) today & saw in their "online learning" section that they listed a Spanish app: www.unlockspanish.com. I also saw flip flop spanish itunes app. I also saw The Easy Spanish (which I think is different than what Halcyon is using). ... And, Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish. & Thanks to Halcyon for the links to the free readers. My daughter recognized the first story right away, too! We just read the first few sentences today. Yes, the Easy Spanish is different from Easy Spanish Step by Step. The latter is a book on Amazon. We find simple works here. Glad you like the free readers. We are going to read the next one tomorrow or Friday, assuming I get the vocab list typed up..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I think Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish is a great follow up. At those ages, I'd just expect to take it pretty slow, probably allowing two years for Volume 1, then you can speed things up as desired. (You need access to a tutor a couple times a month and/or a competent parent/teacher to make the most of GP, IMHO.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted February 4, 2013 Author Share Posted February 4, 2013 My son actually read the first story today! I created a vocab cheat sheet, which i will turn into online flashcards. So much fun. He was like "Hey! I know this story!!" ;) How do you create online flash cards? Also, can you share the link of your creation? Thanks! ETA: I just read the first chapter and I understood it quite well. I utilized my French vocab for cheating, for words like aprende. I hope my boys can understand it, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 How do you create online flash cards? Also, can you share the link of your creation? Thanks! ETA: I just read the first chapter and I understood it quite well. I utilized my French vocab for cheating, for words like aprende. I hope my boys can understand it, too! We use Memrise. I will share it once it's done-I have jury duty tomorrow so went get to until later this week. Another site we like is brainscape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Thanks for this thread. The Berlitz book looks perfect for us. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Thanks for this thread. The Berlitz book looks perfect for us. Tara I've been playing around with my French one this week. :D Bittersweet memories hang into these books for me, of my boys when they they were little. Banana curls and chubby fists holding crayons. :crying: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Littlewigglebutts, How is your Breaking the Spanish Barrier plus going? Please update. I now really need a new Spanish program. We are doing some DuoLingo now, but it is very light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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