Spanish for a reluctant student

[desertmum]

Hello. I am looking to "teach" Spanish to my 4.5 yo who understands Spanish but can't speak it. As a native speaker I suppose I can draw shapes and colours and all and make my own materials from scratch but I don't know where to start, and don't have the time since I have to teach the other subjects too.

I can print stuff off the net, yes.

 

I looked into Calico Spanish and the price knocked me backwards. Is there something good out there that doesn't cost the Earth?

 

Please? :bigear:

[Ohdanigirl]

I guess it really depends on what you want to do. You say your dc understands Spanish, but can't speak it. If he/she understands Spanish, then practice in speaking is all you need. Here is where you can run into some resistance. My ds didn't want to learn English at this age. I basically stopped taking to him in Spanish. At first he would say, "que. como, que dices?" Eventually he would answer me in Spanish. As time went on I simply would not speak to him or answer his questions until he spoke/asked in English. It took a whole summer, but afterwards he was off and running. He still had an accent for a few months, but that went away with more use. Basicaly, because he understood English, he could speak it. He simply wouldn't, because he didn't have fluidity, and he had to work harder at it to not get tongue tied.

 

It takes a bit of work on your part, but I believe it is well worth it. I did not push with my oldest, and he now has an accent in Spanish. This is despite Spanish being his first language and living in Mexico since he was 4. Once he learned English, he just wouldn't speak Spanish. As time went on, he developed an accent. He is the only one, and I am having to work with him one on one, but that s another story.

 

Now, if you want to teach phonics and reading, you may be able to get resources from family in your Native country. Here I have uses Mi Libro Magico and Juguemos a Leer with great success. Both are under $20, and are easy to use. I have looked at other Spanish Curriculum, but they are more geared towards families who do not speak Spanish. I think you can also find Spanish readers on Google books.

 

HTH

 

Danielle

[desertmum]

I guess it really depends on what you want to do. You say your dc understands Spanish, but can't speak it. If he/she understands Spanish, then practice in speaking is all you need. Here is where you can run into some resistance. My ds didn't want to learn English at this age. I basically stopped taking to him in Spanish. At first he would say, "que. como, que dices?" Eventually he would answer me in Spanish. As time went on I simply would not speak to him or answer his questions until he spoke/asked in English. It took a whole summer, but afterwards he was off and running. He still had an accent for a few months, but that went away with more use. Basicaly, because he understood English, he could speak it. He simply wouldn't, because he didn't have fluidity, and he had to work harder at it to not get tongue tied.

 

It takes a bit of work on your part, but I believe it is well worth it. I did not push with my oldest, and he now has an accent in Spanish. This is despite Spanish being his first language and living in Mexico since he was 4. Once he learned English, he just wouldn't speak Spanish. As time went on, he developed an accent. He is the only one, and I am having to work with him one on one, but that s another story.

 

Now, if you want to teach phonics and reading, you may be able to get resources from family in your Native country. Here I have uses Mi Libro Magico and Juguemos a Leer with great success. Both are under $20, and are easy to use. I have looked at other Spanish Curriculum, but they are more geared towards families who do not speak Spanish. I think you can also find Spanish readers on Google books.

 

HTH

 

Danielle

 

Thank you for such a detailed reply. My family is in South America and I am in the Gulf so shipping is way too expensive. I may have to do what you did except that because I have to teach ds English as well (long story -read under "dh doesn't teach kid his language" thread). So I am doing half of the week in English and half of the week in Spanish. Not ideal but better than nothing. I got some "Litttle Einteins" dvds and Mickey Mouse and the Spanish is from Spain -which is all right, except I don't say things like "Habeis visto mi lo que habeis logrado hacer" because my Spanish is Latin American, well, you know... Darn, this bilingual thing is much harder than I expected. I spoke to ds to Spanish only for about 3.5 years and I just assumed he would pick it up... :toetap05:

[Mabelen]

Thank you for such a detailed reply. My family is in South America and I am in the Gulf so shipping is way too expensive. I may have to do what you did except that because I have to teach ds English as well (long story -read under "dh doesn't teach kid his language" thread). So I am doing half of the week in English and half of the week in Spanish. Not ideal but better than nothing. I got some "Litttle Einteins" dvds and Mickey Mouse and the Spanish is from Spain -which is all right, except I don't say things like "Habeis visto mi lo que habeis logrado hacer" because my Spanish is Latin American, well, you know... Darn, this bilingual thing is much harder than I expected. I spoke to ds to Spanish only for about 3.5 years and I just assumed he would pick it up... :toetap05:

 

I understand how it would be easier if you had access to Latin American Spanish videos, but don't frett too much over it. I have the reversed situation. I am from Spain and we live in the US, in an area with a predominantly Spanish speaking population of Mexican heritage. I just explain that this is what people fron Mexico say and that's all. Same thing with friends we had back on the East Coast who were from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Colombia, it would make for interesting explanations as in who called what what... We had the same thing with English coming from the UK to the US and with friends and relatives from Australia and the Indian subcontinent. It just takes a little time to explain and then the kids will just accept it and move on.

[Ohdanigirl]

Actually, I think I remember reading that tread. Have you tried looking up shows that you watched as a child on youtube? When I was teaching ds English, we used youtube, librivox, read alouds and dvds. I tried to get hm to hear English as much as possible. Again, if you spoke to him in Spanish that long, he is bound to have learned something. Ds told me he understood everything, but simply didn't want to speak it because his friends spoke Spanish. He didn't feel he needed to bother, after all mommy and daddy speak Spanish.;) It wasn't until I refused to answer him when he spoke to me in Spanish that he just suddenly became fluent.

 

It was a long road though, so don't get frustrated. I know it seems like so much, but take it slowly and you will see results with time.

 

Danielle

[Guest 3jumpingbeans]

Great ideas, thank you. I am experiencing the same situation with my children. I found the book Juguemos a leer at Goodwill, can't wait to try it.

[Ohdanigirl]

Great ideas, thank you. I am experiencing the same situation with my children. I found the book Juguemos a leer at Goodwill, can't wait to try it.

 

great! Is it a student book or teacher book? Both? Let me know if you need any of the info from either book.

 

Good luck.

 

Danielle

[Guest 3jumpingbeans]

I am guessing that I have the student book. It does not look like a typical workbook, so I am not sure. In the "Lecturas Dinamica" section it does have some comprehension questions ....hmmm:glare: Is the teacher book a must have? There is a section in the back of the book that has a "Guia del Maestro". Thanks so much!

[Ohdanigirl]

No, you can do it with just the student book. Are there stories in at the end to read? Are there some exercises n the book. Is the book 81/2 x 11? If so it is the student book.

 

Danielle

[jenbrdsly]

I tried for two years to teach my child to speak Spanish at that age. He could do it, but just wouldn't. Here's more detail about what happened.

http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/2011/05/06/bilingual-education/

[MusicMama]

I don't know what your budget is, but last time I looked, the Homeschool version of Calico was around $300.00 for year 1. The school version does cost over $1,000 which is ridiculous!

[Guest Toby253]

Hello there! I am a college student who is going to be transfering to a 4 year college, but I need to complete some classes of a foreign language to qualify. I decided to go with Spanish, due to the area I live in and will be working in is very populated by Spanish speaking people. I am looking for starting level help all the way up to hopefully becoming fluent. I am not in anyways loaded with money, and a lot of the programs I have looked into are ridiculously expensive. Also, with some research, I find out most of them dont even work. I really need some help from a person who has used a program to start them with Spanish from the ground level up. I currently have no idea on how to speak Spanish and I REALLY need a starting point. My learning style is visual or repetitive listening. Please help if anyone knows of ANYTHING! Thank you very much!

[Nan in Mass]

I would start by getting the Pimsleur program from your library. Good luck!

Nan

[Ariston]

Hello. I am looking to "teach" Spanish to my 4.5 yo who understands Spanish but can't speak it. As a native speaker I suppose I can draw shapes and colours and all and make my own materials from scratch but I don't know where to start, and don't have the time since I have to teach the other subjects too.

I can print stuff off the net, yes.

 

I looked into Calico Spanish and the price knocked me backwards. Is there something good out there that doesn't cost the Earth?

 

Please? :bigear:

 

If I had money to blow I would definitely get Calico and try it out, but I don't. :glare:

 

What I do is teach about half of my lessons in Spanish. I do MEP in SPanish (switching to English if the concept is too difficult for him.) I also use Rod and Staff in Spanish which I love. Its geared towards learning to read, phonemic awareness, basic concepts (above, below, etc.) I think it would be perfect for your 5 year old. If it were in English, it would be way too easy for my 7 year old but I use it because he is not strong in Spanish--so just understanding the directions is the struggle for him, then once he understands what he's supposed to do, the doing it is the easy part.)

 

Other than that I'd just recommend that you speak as often as you can in Spanish and like the PP said, not respond unless your child speaks to you in Spanish.

 

Elena

[Ariston]

We also have this game which is fun: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2674779

 

(Although I really doubt I paid $25 for it...must have gotten it on sale somewhere.)

 

It helps my kids jog their brains and think about all the Spanish words they know.

 

Elena

[desertmum]

Thanks everybody for the help. Because ds has speech issues we've had to concentrate on English but of curse the Spanish is even more on the back burner. We'll see if we can go to Spain this summer so ds can see for himself mummy is not the only one who speaks a "weird" language (sigh).