Intensive and/or short-term language instruction?

[dauphin]

We are new to homeschooling and trying to "fit in" foreign language instruction using a curriculum without outside structure/support has not gone well, it just gets forgotten, even though both DD and I would like to be fluent in Spanish. She has several years of primary/elementary experience in Spanish through her years at a Montessori school, and I have a couple of years experience from my school years and I'm from Texas so I have a lot of exposure but far from a good grasp of much of anything except traveler's Spanish ("Donde esta el baño?") :). 

 

I've talked to a few people about tutoring but I'm squirming at the long term cost. I'm considering a community business that offers small group instruction for 6-8 week courses. Small, as in, 2-10 students. I emailed and they had two adults signed up for one upcoming class and would start the class if we joined. In our email conversation it became clear that they will individualize the instruction based on the need/level of the group.

 

It's hard to break away from the "language instruction 2x a week for one hour for a year" pattern from my own educational background. But I'd love feedback on the pros/cons of doing it this way? At least maybe short term, with pursuing tutoring or high school/college spanish coursework in the future? (DD is in 5th grade).

[regentrude]

My own personal experience from learning, and attempting to learn, foreign languages is that a short, intensive course will be a waste of time unless it is followed up by continuous regular instruction. It can be a valuable kickstart for foreign language instruction, but if the student will not use the language on a continuing basis, all that was gained will soon be lost.

Btw, the "twice a week for one hour for a year" approach does not lead to fluency either; that would require significantly more time. I achieved fluency in two foreign languages in a school setting with 4-6 hours of instruction by fluent teachers weekly over the course of 8 and 10 years, respectively. The short courses I have taken in the -repeated- attempt to learn a third language had  a short term effect and were valuable for as long as I kept up the effort afterwards; however, since I let the work lapse, I am almost back to square one.

For your student, I would only bother with the course if I had a plan for continuing instruction afterwards.