Tell me your Spanish experiences....

[TXMary2]

I am researching Spanish programs.....STILL! At first I was thinking Oak Meadow, but ds would have to be enrolled at the tune of almost $1000 - which is ridiculous for one class. Right now I am leaning towards BJU DVD which is still ridiculous at $400 - I know it is a good price for what you get, I just don't like paying that much for one ELECTIVE. Anyway, that is where I am leaning, but I would like to know if anyone else has used the BJU Spanish and if their child can actually speak, read and understand it outside of the class.

 

I have heard mixed reviews about Rosetta Stone. Basically, I want my son to actually learn Spanish so that he is bilingual. My oldest ds used SOS Spanish 1 and 2 and today the only spanish he knows is what he has learned from actual spanish speaking people he works with.

 

Talk to me......

[Sue G in PA]

We are doing a combo of Tell Me More (Auralog) and So You Really Want To Learn Spanish. Dd had a year of Spanish in public school last year and I speak Spanish (not fluently) so I am able to help her. I really like SYRWTL. It is a good, solid program that teaches vocab, grammar, listening skills, writing in Spanish, etc. The TMM by Auralog is much like Rosetta Stone and has the speaking component that SYRWTL is missing. But, dd and I do speak to each other in Spanish for practice and we have several friends who are native speakers. That is a big help. I would check out SYRWTL (horriblebooks.com carries it). I agree that there isn't a ton out there that doesn't blow your budget.

[Jann in TX]

Text programs will NOT make students bilingual.... the only way to do that is to actually spend LOTS of time speaking with people (think immersion).

 

We tried several text, dvd and online programs and dd had one year of PS Spanish (not a great teacher). We finally gave up trying to do in on our own (DH and I were no help since we never took Spanish) and DD took Spanish 1 and Spanish II at the local CC. At our CC this is equal to 4 years of high school Spanish! She had to work HARD-- but she learned way more than her PS friends (and she got A's both semesters!!!).

 

DD said having the 'exposure' of the other programs-- even though they did not work for her-- really helped in her CC classes. The CC classes were fast paced but they 'made sense' in their progression.

 

DD is confident in her BASIC abilities to understand and speak Spanish--but currently the only ones who understand Spanish in our house (other than DD) are our horse and our newest rescue dog!

 

I do not recommend taking CC courses until the Jr or Sr year. Our CC has a minimum age of 16. I don't think many 9th graders would be mature enough to handle the fast pace of the CC classes. Our CC is more of a Jr College-- same caliber as our state colleges.

[Sue G in PA]

I totally agree with Jann. It is virtually impossible to become bilingual using a text or even a computer program. I took 2 yrs of Spanish in high school and then continued to minor in Spanish in college but never even became comfortable speaking the language until I spent a semester in Spain. And even then...I wouldn't consider myself bilingual. However, I could speak and understand enough to live there and survive. :D Do you know any native speakers that would spend time with your child conversing in Spanish?

[AngieW in Texas]

No program that you can buy will make you bilingual.

 

Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More were both busts here.

 

Visual Link Spanish is working quite nicely though. They have a 6-month money-back guarantee. My dd is almost done with level 1 and then she'll start level 2. However much she gets through this year, I'll call it high school Spanish I. I know that NARHS considers Visual Link level 1 as equivalent to a full year of high school Spanish.

 

http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/our_guarantee.htm

 

I think it's going to be good preparation for taking Spanish at the cc next schoolyear.

[flyingiguana]

My daughter did Pimsleur (I and half of II) and about half of Destinos. She placed into the fourth semester of college Spanish.

 

We got Pimsleur from the library and watched Destinos at the Annenberg site. The only thing I bought was the Destinos textbook.

 

No, she's not fluent, but it gave her a good base if she ever wants to do more Spanish.

 

If your kids aren't ready to do college Spanish, something like what we did might be a good introduction so that they can start at a somewhat higher level when they do take classes -- or maybe give them a base so they can start speaking with native speakers.

 

I don't think I'd bother with a class unless it's an in person class.

[gingersmom]

Oklahoma State University has an online Spanish class that I think is excellent. My daughter is learning a ton.

[Susan C.]

Ds did Rosetta Stone, but he had to start over at the beginning when he went to college. With dd, the first year she watched Standard Deviants dvds, affordable and great. She also worked in various workbooks I picked up. It helped to familiarize her with the language. This year she asked for an open and go program. We are using Breaking the Barrier 1 for Spanish 2. She did say there was no way she could have done BtB last year without a Spanish teacher (I don't speak Spanish).

[nchser]

Rosetta Stone just didn't work around here. We started using Visual Link this year and I am very pleased with it.

My senior dd who is determined to become fluent is taking Spanish 2 in a classroom. I have given her the Level 3 to challenge her more and give her an additional credit in Spanish this year and she is happy with it.

She feels like she wasted her time with Rosetta, but feels like she is making good progress with Visual Link. One thing she does is to listen to the CDs as she drives around.

[TXMary2]

Alrighty then. I guess we'll just pick one and then when he starts dual enrollment he can take college Spanish.

 

Anyone out there that did the BJU DVD?

[Susan C.]

I do know 2-3 people who have done BJU and the consesus is that it works. It helps to have the teacher everyday and to go over the work. I have heard there is some time wasted because it is an old live class, but you can use the ff button to remedy that. It could be more efficient supposedly. But now that I am attempting Spanish with dd I can only wonder if the teacher is purposely going slower because learning another language is hard. For about the cost of the class, I can get a tutor, but that tutor is only one hour a week. The class is 45 min. every day. I do think you can email for help as well. I do think BJU is one of the better home options.

Edited January 17, 2011 by Susan C.
typo

[BakersDozen]

We are using Galore Park's SYRWTLS and we love it! I know it won't make them fluent yet all I want right now is a good foundation. I am so pleased with this program and am looking to buy the second level for next year!

[Nissi]

I am very pleased with my son's Spanish class with Mr. Brian Reeves on Scholars Online.

HTH! It is $400 for the course and the cost of text is not included.

[StephanieZ]

Another vote for Galore Park's SYRWTL Spanish. Very successful here!

[yinne]

Until my kids started attending a Spanish class at our homeschool coop, everything we tried at home just familiarized them with the language, but they didn't 'learn' the language.

 

However, even in the classroom environment (with a former college professor w/ a master's in Spanish) while they are at least learning the language, I wouldn't classify them as bilingual! I don't think that will come unless they are forced through necessity to immerse themselves in the language.

 

I have two in Spanish I and one in Spanish III and while they are all earning an A, it isn't without a lot of hard work and time.

 

Yvonne

[romeacademy]

If you really want fluency, I think you have to be a little bit careful, even with cc classes. Our dd is taking Spanish from a native-speaking tutor. It's only once a week, so she's not getting as much practice as she would with a more frequent class, although I remember enough to muddle along with her. But I like the fact that the tutor really focuses on conversation. She has the kids talking the whole class, and it's almost exclusively in Spanish. It helps that it's a small class, so everyone has to talk.

 

The tutor told me she's also working with several kids from the local community college who want more practice in conversation. I don't know if it's that the classes are big enough that it's easy to escape conversation or if their particular professor is more textbook oriented, but these students seem to feel that there's a need for additional conversation practice.

[sattlers1]

We used all three levels of La Clase Divertida. My daughter learned a wide variety of vocabulary, verbs as well as present tense conjugation of many verbs. I created a game for the verbs where you have to match the English to the Spanish meaning, then choose a random card (i.e. Maria y yo, or Carlos y Juan) and conjugate the verb accordingly. If you could do both the definition and conjugation, you get the cards. This helped strengthen comprehension and memory very well.

 

For high school credit we are now beginning to use Destinos. This seems like an excellent course. We tried Tell Me More and it was awful. My daughter was actually losing her Spanish knowledge using this program.

 

Julie

[TheApprentice]

We tried Galore Park's SYRWTLS, but it was not working very well, so we switched to Visual Link Spanish, which is working much better.

[ccm]

 

Anyone out there that did the BJU DVD?

 

My daughter is taking Spanish 2 with the BJU DVD program. It is her favorite subject and she likes the teacher, Mrs. Saldivar, very much (as do I). She had Mr. Cancino for Spanish 1, and although she liked him, we think Mrs. Saldivar is a better teacher.

 

She has retained a lot and uses the language occasionally outside class. I am going to get the Spanish 3 DVD's for next year, but my daughter may be taking a Spanish class at the CC so that she may use the language in conversation a bit more.

Edited March 5, 2011 by ccm

[ccm]

If you really want fluency, I think you have to be a little bit careful, even with cc classes. Our dd is taking Spanish from a native-speaking tutor. It's only once a week, so she's not getting as much practice as she would with a more frequent class, although I remember enough to muddle along with her. But I like the fact that the tutor really focuses on conversation. She has the kids talking the whole class, and it's almost exclusively in Spanish. It helps that it's a small class, so everyone has to talk.

 

The tutor told me she's also working with several kids from the local community college who want more practice in conversation. I don't know if it's that the classes are big enough that it's easy to escape conversation or if their particular professor is more textbook oriented, but these students seem to feel that there's a need for additional conversation practice.

 

Thanks for sharing this. Very helpful.

[mom2bee]

The tutor told me she's also working with several kids from the local community college who want more practice in conversation. I don't know if it's that the classes are big enough that it's easy to escape conversation or if their particular professor is more textbook oriented, but these students seem to feel that there's a need for additional conversation practice.

 

I took Spanish I, II and III at my cc and there was definite need for additional conversation practice. Why? Because we didn't really talk in Spanish. There was no time, even with 4 days(3 classes, 1 lab) a week plus 1 independent lab day! In Spanish I and II we did a lot of listen and repeat as a class. Well, we were supposed to. Instead the class did a lot of listen and mumble to feign participation.

 

Spanish III in my cc was much worse (Different teacher) and we did maybe 2 or 3 instances (NOT days) of conversation in class in 16 weeks. I was SO mad, I wanted to scream and cry and hurt that woman!!! I had so looked forward to Spanish III.

 

I found out though, that at the Uni in my area, Spanish class, beginning with Spanish I is conducted IN Spanish. Being a Spanish minor, I would've preferred that, but I'm glad I was able to take the basic language requirments at the CC because we have a tutoring lab/center and I was in there everyday for 'free'.

[TXMary2]

My son decided he wants to do Russian. He never really wanted to learn Spanish, but I told him that he would be. He broke me down, so now all my Spanish research was wasted time. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my quest for information.

[Susan C.]

The lack of a live teacher continues to be a problem. You can get $100 off of BJU by doing the online dvds. There is some time wasted in the dvd classes, but there always is a ff button. Working on your own doesn't get you any review.....

 

We are bumbling along with Breaking the Barrier, I do have to slow it down to one lesson about every 3 weeks because of the heavy memorization, but she is learning and has something to build on.

 

PS: Oh my, an old thread that I am already in, sorry!

[Guest AlexMathew012]

My sister has taken Spanish language classes for a coaching institute. She knows all the word meanings in Spanish but cant speak fluently. The most important use of learning any other language is speaking it fluently. She is now taking online classes to learn Spanish and speak it fluently.

spanish classes