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Anyone use Breaking the Barrier Spanish for Middle school?


ByGrace3
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I am having a hard time choosing a Spanish for my rising 7th grader. We have used Middlebury Interactive the last few years and may continue with that ... but I was thinking Spanish is one area I really can teach well (former high school Spanish teacher/speak the language) and I was looking for something for me to work through with her. I have not been impressed with most... Getting Started with Spanish is a possibility. I purchased the Fun Spanish to do with my younger kids but will probably do that with all of them...

 

I really like the look of Breaking the Barrier...and could do it at a slow pace...but just curious if anyone had any experience with using it with middle school students?

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I considered it as well but was dissuaded by the frequent comments that it moved too quickly. We are also doing Latin, so I wanted to keep Spanish more low-key. We're using Getting Started with Spanish. We've also used Middlebury so I realize some of it may be review but I think my kids need more grammar than they've had. I may consider Breaking the Barrier for 8th or 9th grade. 

 

Have you looked at Espanol Santillana?

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I considered it as well but was dissuaded by the frequent comments that it moved too quickly. We are also doing Latin, so I wanted to keep Spanish more low-key. We're using Getting Started with Spanish. We've also used Middlebury so I realize some of it may be review but I think my kids need more grammar than they've had. I may consider Breaking the Barrier for 8th or 9th grade. 

 

Have you looked at Espanol Santillana?

 

 

I have looked at Espanol Santillana a little...it may be an option. I can't tell from what I saw on the website, is it Span or Latin American Spanish? The pages are very colorful...but it seems a bit "busy" to me...but maybe dd will like it. Looking at book one for middle school, she may be passed all of the vocabulary and grammar though...or if not, I think she would move through it quickly... I wish I could see samples or a table of contents not in a video...

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Have you looked at Espanol Santillana?

 

I just looked at their website and found the website itself difficult to navigate. For the life of me, I can't figure out what I am looking at or how to get more information.

 

To OP: We used Classical Academic Press's Spanish program, but abandoned it mid-stream as DS was overloaded on a number of fronts. I've been looking at Breaking the Barriers for his upcoming 9th grade year, though haven't made a decision yet.

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You might check out Spanish Now! It is a work text, but much meatier than BtB. There are two levels if you end up liking it. I used most of level 1 with my middle schoolers (5th grade) before we moved on to other books. I noticed my library has a copy for Italian, so you might be able to page through it with no commitment that way.

 

Spanish Now! felt more accessible for my kids. Looking through BtB I could see that I was going to have to add explanations for the pop culture references which can be tedious at best.

 

That same year we also watched Mi Vida Loca once a week from the BBC. It was almost all review, but enjoyable and with some interactive exercises at the end.

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I do not recommend BtB Spanish.  I'm short on time now, but I've posted about our experience a few times recently---most recently on the 10th grade thread.

 

I read your post on the other thread. Very helpful. However, I am thinking of pacing it over a minimum of 2 years and doing it with significant conversation practice with me. I will do a minimum of 1 hour of 1/1 conversation directed by the vocab and grammar being taught...so perhaps this could work?

 

 

You might check out Spanish Now! It is a work text, but much meatier than BtB. There are two levels if you end up liking it. I used most of level 1 with my middle schoolers (5th grade) before we moved on to other books. I noticed my library has a copy for Italian, so you might be able to page through it with no commitment that way.

 

Spanish Now! felt more accessible for my kids. Looking through BtB I could see that I was going to have to add explanations for the pop culture references which can be tedious at best.

 

That same year we also watched Mi Vida Loca once a week from the BBC. It was almost all review, but enjoyable and with some interactive exercises at the end.

I can't seem to find any samples of Spanish Now?

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I can't seem to find any samples of Spanish Now?

 

My son used Spanish Now at a tutorial last year.  I didn't have much involvement in it, but I've been considering using the 2nd book for the upcoming year...only we're not doing the tutorial, so I need to teach it on my own! It did come with several cd's that I think were for pronunciation.  Each chapter would have a theme (like birthday parties or work), and it would start with a story that is written in Spanish.  Then, a vocabulary list follows the story, and the activity sections follow that.  Again, I wasn't terribly involved, but I remember some of the activities being questions about the story (questions are in Spanish), and the student is to answer them using what he knows in Spanish.   

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I read your post on the other thread. Very helpful. However, I am thinking of pacing it over a minimum of 2 years and doing it with significant conversation practice with me. I will do a minimum of 1 hour of 1/1 conversation directed by the vocab and grammar being taught...so perhaps this could work?

 

 

I can't seem to find any samples of Spanish Now?

 

Amazon has a "Look Inside" for the 7th edition which is the one we have.

 

Or It looks like you could download the entire book as a .pdf for a 30 day free trial if you are willing to set up an account with these people whom I am not familiar with.

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