Easy Spanish?

[ALove]

The facts:

Rising second grader (preschoolers too but I'm not too concerned with them right now).

DH is good with languages and thinks it important to take advantage of this "window" in the early years. And I grudgingly agree.

I hate language study. A lot. In early grade school my mom used several immersion programs that were audio and pictures (no English words written and no grammar). For a visual learner this auditory approach was a nightmare. I had several other half hearted attempts as I got older and studied abroad, lived in italy after marriage, etc. It is just not my thing.

I don't want my kids to have the same hatred of foreign language study. And if we are going to do it I want to really do it. Not a little story here and there or a song or a list of vocal. I simply can't justify the amount of time spent on foreign language study unless it is going to be a lifelong skill.

An immersion only program will not work for me since my own experience was so negative with this approach. But a grammar heavy program is a little much in second grade.

I did not like la divertida class, too much "fun" and not enough learning for the amount of time spent.

Is there anything that fits the bill? I'm a little wary of Easy Spanish because it looks a little "down home" and makes me question it's credibility. How does it match up with the big, expensive secular programs? Are they significantly better?

Foreign language curriculum is such a sea of options and I am pretty confused.

 

Is Easy Spanish any more rigorous?

[morosophe]

My son is rather like you described yourself to be: very visual, very rules-oriented, so I'm considering Getting Started with Spanish. The big complaint about it (surprise, surprise) is that some people found it slow and boring. If I use this, I'll probably supplement with more of a fancy "immersion" approach (videos from the library?) to keep things a little more interesting.

[JulieD]

I'd personally hand this over to dh if it's at all possible. If he is good at languages and enthusiastic about learning them, it will go far better. We have struggled with Spanish from first grade to fifth grade without really going anywhere, because frankly, I am not good at it.

 

Julie D.

[hmschooling]

I've heard lots of great things about The Easy Spanish. Sounds like it would fit what you are looking for. I'm letting my 10yo watch Speekee with her younger brothers plus do Getting Started With Spanish. GSWS is slower, but the one topic a day thing seems to work well. I love language study though have very little time for it. I think it's very fun but it takes a backseat. So this combo has worked for us. I use Visual Latin and wish he'd make a Visual Spanish!

 

Have you seen Puertas Abiertas? I've seen it briefly online, and I'm

Not sure if it may be something you'd like. Also, Georgia public broadcasting has Salsa Spanish videos and materials for free. You don't have to live in GA to use it.

 

ETA: if you do the 2 week free trial of Speekee you'll see they have a daily 40week lesson plan. It looks great!

[sagira]

The Easy Spanish looks good, but very teacher intensive IMO, which could be a bad fit for someone who doesn't even like teaching languages. I recommend either Spanish for Children with the DVD and audio CD, or Rosetta Stone. Either way you're just overseeing instead of being directly involved.

 

I agree: if dh loves languages, he could be the teacher. It's great for children to be taught by both parents - tell him he only gets one subject :)

[ALove]

The Easy Spanish looks good, but very teacher intensive IMO, which could be a bad fit for someone who doesn't even like teaching languages. I recommend either Spanish for Children with the DVD and audio CD, or Rosetta Stone. Either way you're just overseeing instead of being directly involved.

 

I agree: if dh loves languages, he could be the teacher. It's great for children to be taught by both parents - tell him he only gets one subject :)

 

My DH does want to teach them Spanish and he did lastyear, sort of...it's the sort of that's hard. With work, the kids inability to learn at some points of the day, etc. its just hard to make it work. So, I want him to teach the lesson once a week and I'll do the drill work or worksheets with them daily. Either way I have to decide on a course! The poor man tried last year but you know...the world of homeschool curriculum is one I don't wish on him, plus I'm

too much of a control freak. :)

I like the idea of of Spanish for children but thought that maybe I should wait for a awhile. He'll be in second grade so I don't know if it would be too challenging?

What if I used EasySpanish or Spanish for children as my "spine" and did speeke and other audio visual media for a touch of immersion? DH can converse in real life and we have a coulple of bilingual kids that we play with regularly.

My concern with Getting started with Spanish it that it is too inexpensive. Silly,perhaps, but if it's as good as the rest why don't they charge more? Probably a silly suspicion that betrays my lack of confidence in the area,

obviously!

Anyway, you guys are great! I don't know how I ever made decisions before getting on this forum!

All suggestions are welcome!

[ALove]

I just watched a sample of Spanish for children. It looks great for later on but it's too much grammar for my guy who's not even started English grammar yet! So maybe I just need to accept the immersion thing as the only option at this age and pray that it doesn't turn them off for life. This is very time consuming.

[ALove]

Lovin the whole salsa setup. Free, cute, followup...

Does anyone use this? Do you add anything ton the lesson plans?

[JulieD]

Spanish for Children from Classical Academic Press? It's been very helpful for me, but I wouldn't use it with a second grader with little grammar instruction. Last year my third grader and fifth grader and I went through the first half of Primer A. My third grader is pretty good with grammar, but we wouldn't have been able to go full speed. The practice site is nice, though. The kids thought it was a treat to do the flashcards on the computer. If you want to use this with your son, I'd suggest a good grammar program in second grade and then use this in third grade.

 

This summer we have been trying out Español para chicos y grandes from allbilingualpress.com. I like the combination of conversation and applied grammar. There are English translations of new words at the bottom of the page if you need them. The grammar explanations are simplified so they may not be as thorough as you'd like. (For example it is explained that you need to use me, te, and le with gusta instead of yo, tú, and él/ella. But it doesn't explain why.)

 

There is not a DVD for it. The CD that comes with the manual focuses on pronunciation. The work in the manual would be something your second grader should be able to handle. The more difficult work is in the teacher resource guide. For example in lesson 4 it explains how to change the singular Spanish sentences to plural Spanish sentences. (El mosquito es negro. --> Los mosquitos son negros.)

 

They also have an earlier level for ages 4-7. I haven't looked at that.

 

I'm not sure how much La Clase Divertida or Easy Spanish covers so I can't compare them all. Español para chicos y grandes claims to cover 700 words in Level 1 although I only see about 500 in the glossary. I do find it easier to learn vocabulary grouped by topic than by grammatical form.

 

Next year I am combining the rest of Primer A with the rest of Español para chicos y grandes. I think we'll throw in a little Rosetta Stone (old version 2) in there for listening practice. We'll see how it goes. If I were only going to teach one, it would be Español para chicos y grandes.

 

Well, there you have my language woes. Having people your kids can converse with will really help, though. I hope you find something that works for your family.

 

Julie D.