Spanish

[Jessiepage]

I am looking for a Spanish program (free or cheap) for my 6yr old daughter. She has tried duo lingo.com but it seemed like it was above her head and had a lot of typing so she lost interest quickly. I would love some recommendations! Thanks!

[SilverMoon]

Song School Spanish is great for that age. Skip the TM if funds are tight.

 

The Fun Spanish could work. I'd slow it down so it's a year long course instead of one semester.

[8circles]

Check if your library has Mango. It's free and done online. We just started it after lots of failed attempts with purchased curricula and so far its going great with my 11, 9, & 7 year olds. (7 yr-old needs help with small amount of typing since he's very beginning reader). Not sure how far it'll carry us but for my beginners its been great.

[simplemom]

Salsa Spanish episodes thru Georgia Broadcasting website is a good supplement to any Spanish program for that age.

 

http://www.gpb.org/salsa/term/episode

 

The videos are no longer listed in order, but episode 101 is first, then 102, 103, thru about episode 130, then you start with episode 201, 202, etc ......

 

http://www.freelyeducate.com/2011/01/free-spanish-lessons-for-elementary-students-k-2nd.html

 

The above website has links to the episodes as well and tells about the program. Only thing is, I can't get the free lesson plans to go with episodes to come up at the link to the dept. of Wyoming education website. Not sure if they removed the lesson plans or if their site is temporarily not working right. If you find their lesson plans, they are written for grades K-2 and lesson 1 goes with episode 101, lesson 2 with 102, etc.....

[travelgirlut]

We use Getting Started With Spanish (GSWS), which introduces one word or concept per day.  It's been nice and slow and easy for us.  You can get the ebook version for $10.

 

Like the pp said, Salsa is free.  We use it for a fun review.  You can find the lesson plans by going here, and doing a search for "Salsa" and the episode number you're looking for.  I can't find a direct link to them. 

[pitterpatter]

Although, the teacher's guide does have extra practice pages you can copy in the back. Perhaps you can find some of it used.

 

Song School Spanish is great for that age. Skip the TM if funds are tight.

The Fun Spanish could work. I'd slow it down so it's a year long course instead of one semester.

 

[MrsWeasley]

Is the Salsa Spanish Spanish used in Latin America or Spain? I looked on the website, but I still can't tell as someone who knows very, very little Spanish.

[barnwife]

MrsWeasley...The kiddos and I have only watched a handful of Salsa episodes, so maybe someone else can also chime in. But I have yet to hear them use the vosotros form (informal you plural) of any verb). So the short answer to your question is that it's  Latin American Spanish. However, keep in mind that Spanish varies from place to place, country to country. (I learned Spanish from a year in Spain. My Peruvian SIL and I sometimes use different words for things because of this.

 

[duckens]

Use Salsa to supplement any curriculum you find.

 

Make many games to play.  I've listed a bunch of them here.  The games are in post #8.

[EndOfOrdinary]

I do not think the Latin American versus Castillian is that large of an issue with Salsa. As the PP said about not hearing Vosotros, I do not recall hearing Ustedes. Now, I am not really directly listening all that closely to get honest. It could be snuck into an episode or two, but it is not the majority. Mainly Salsa is working with very simple vocabulary and conjugations. I do not know if they really get into the familiar and the formal much.

 

We are a Castillian household and thoroughly love Salsa. It is worth it.

 

ETA: We have only done the first year (100's). It could very well be in the 200's.

[Aras]

 Only thing is, I can't get the free lesson plans to go with episodes to come up at the link to the dept. of Wyoming education website. Not sure if they removed the lesson plans or if their site is temporarily not working right. If you find their lesson plans, they are written for grades K-2 and lesson 1 goes with episode 101, lesson 2 with 102, etc.....

 

You can find the lesson plans if you google "WYFLES salsa". The search result will have pdfs of episodes 102, 103 etc.  

[Chrysalis Academy]

Song School Spanish is great for that age. Skip the TM if funds are tight.

 

The Fun Spanish could work. I'd slow it down so it's a year long course instead of one semester.

 

My 8 year old absolutely loves The Fun Spanish.  I wouldn't use it with a kid who can't comfortably copy two sentences, though.  Copywork (one-two sentences a day) is a main element of the program.  Other than that, I highly recommend it as a before Duolingo, and even before GSWS, program.

 

Another free online option is Allinonehomeschool's Easy peasy Spanish.  It's labelled for 6th grade, but younger kids could do it for sure.  The first year is really focused on vocab, not grammar, so it's a good supplement to another, grammar-heavy program.

[Sdel]

Flip Flop Spanish is a nice gentle intro to Spanish. My daughter did this as part of a co-op class last year and will be doing the next level at co-op this year before moving on to a conversational class.  The first level is for 5 - 6 year olds.

 

Stefanie