We've decided to learn Spanish as a family

[Mom2OregonBoys]

For the past three years, my ds11 and I have been learning Latin together using LFC A-C primers. This past year, my husband and ds11 began learning Spanish together using "Tell Me More," which is on online tutorial program vaguely similar to Rosetta Stone.

 

For this school year, my son will be doing independent Latin study using Latin Prep, which will largely be review for him. We'd like for him to keep using his Latin so that he doesn't lose what he's learned, but lighten up the time he spends in Latin per week.

 

With our youngest son now 7, we've been thinking it's a perfect time for us to put our time and effort into learning Spanish as a family.

 

My question for you all is--what do you recommend for family Spanish learning? With the wider range of ages and abilities of our family, what resources are available that would keep us all learning and practicing dialogue together? I'd love to hear your comments and advice.

[April in NC]

La Clase Divertida is great for family learning, I think. You can (and should) all watch the videos together. Then you can practice the dialogue with one another.

[Mom0012]

La Clase Divertida is great for family learning, I think. You can (and should) all watch the videos together. Then you can practice the dialogue with one another.

 

This is what we are using. My husband isn't participating, but I am learning along with the kids. We are working on level 2 this year and I am also adding in a Spanish vocabulary cd-rom.

 

Lisa

[Zamis]

I have alot of Spanish friends in my business. When I ask them what i should use to learn they always say Rosetta Stone.

[emubird]

We've used Pimsleur. It was good, except now we're done with it and we're not sure what to use next. I think we really need a tutor at this point, but we don't really have time for one more outside activity. With Pimsleur, we got to the point where we could understand a fair amount of spoken Spanish, and reply appropriately if we thought about it a lot, but we're not fast enough to carry on an actual conversation. (We checked Pimsleur out of the library.)

 

My kids didn't get too much out of Rosetta Stone except vocabulary. We did kind of like it when it was free at the library, but it didn't seem to teach enough to justify spending anywhere near the kind of money they're now asking for it.

 

You might also try the Michel Thomas CDs if your library has them. They don't do nearly as much as Pimsleur, but they're a nice intro that lasts a week or so. I wouldn't buy them, though. They're a bit pricey for what they are.

 

You might also try watching Destinos at the Annenberg site (where the videos are free). The people who did Destinos also put out Sol y Viento (?), but we found that we could only understand Sol y Viento *after* doing a good chunk of Destinos. I think the later program maybe is just too much immersion without explanation. Sol y Viento has been put up on youtube by various people, sometimes with Spanish subtitles, which is a big help.

 

BTW, the guy at our college who does the study abroad programs in Mexico (Spanish is his second language, but he's pretty proficient) also recommends Rosetta Stone, but he didn't learn his Spanish from that program. I think it might just look really good to someone who already knows Spanish. The audio is clear (which is a big difference from some other programs) and that may be swaying people's opinions. I didn't find that I learned much Spanish from Rosetta Stone alone. I started using Pimsleur as a supplement. And then I didn't see the need for RS anymore.

Edited July 26, 2011 by emubird

[Mom2OregonBoys]

Emubird: After reading your post, I searched my intra-library system for both Michel Thomas and Pimsleur--they had both and I reserved them. Thanks for the suggestions! I do love free resources. The library has Destinos, too, but I don't think we're ready for that yet.

 

April and Lisa: Other I've talked to have mentioned La Clase Divertida as a great option for family learning, too. Thanks for your replies.

[mom2bee]

I have alot of Spanish friends in my business. When I ask them what i should use to learn they always say Rosetta Stone.

 

Be very wary of a native or even a heritage speakers opinions of language learning techniques.

[April in NC]

I think that with any program, Rosetta Stone included, you have to have realistic expectations. I know that Rosetta Stone heavily advertises that they are used by the US Foreign Service, for example. My best friend from college is a diplomat with the Foreign Service. She has been through several different rounds of language training over the years. She says that they do have Rosetta Stone, but that it is one of many different tools they have for practicing what they learn in their 6 hours a day of language classes with native speakers.

 

So.

 

I do think that programs like these have their place. But I don't think it is possible for most people to get really good results unless they are able to learn from someone who speaks the language. We don't have a tutor right now. We are using La Clase Divertida, and we will move on to some other resources eventually - maybe even Rosetta Stone. I expect it to help with vocabulary and beginning to get an ear for how the language works. But I know that each of these pieces will only take us so far, and eventually we will need to have classes either live or online, if we want to get to the point of fluency.

[Kimandtheboys]

I thought the Destinos series was excellent. I needed the Spanish subtitles on so that I could read along while the language was being spoken, as I could not process what they were saying fast enough just by hearing it. I found the link to it and other resources at this website:

 

http://teachinglearningspanish.blogspot.com/

 

I have learned a lot from Visual Link Spanish. There are three levels and I am on Level 2, which teaches a lot of verbs and tenses. The first level really gets you speaking everyday sentences quickly. Each level can be logged into under a different user, perfect for a family sharing the program. You can try free demo lessons here:

 

Learnspanishtoday.com

[HollyM]

We are using Rosetta Stone (my son is using just that program, I'm using it with Pimsleur and workbooks.) Rosetta Stone supposedly has an online community now where you can chat (I think voice chat and text chat) with native Spanish speakers. They are like tutors and don't speak too fast. They are supposed to speak at your level of understanding.

 

I have never used that online community as we opted for the homeschool Rosetta Stone that doesn't offer that so I'm really not at all sure how effective it is.

 

How did your son like the "Tell Me More'?

[HollyM]

 

My kids didn't get too much out of Rosetta Stone except vocabulary.

 

I have to agree with this. This is why I am using workbooks with the program because I have to teach the rest to my son. He's only getting vocabulary from it as well.

 

The Practice Makes Perfect workbooks are very good but the Dorothy Richmond authored books seem to be the highest rated (that's what I'm using and they are good, imo.)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Perfect-Spanish-Tenses-Second/dp/0071639306/ref=pd_sim_b_1

[Vida Winter]

We are using various resources but this one I'm excited about:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Learn-Spanish-Favorite-Movies/dp/0071475656

 

Just got it - haven't used it yet. It works like this: review vocab for a favorite movie, watch it in English, watch it in Spanish, repeat until you learn it. Fun! Kind of like Spanish Mode in Toy Story 3.

 

We stumbled upon this by watching Spanish TV - soap operas and commercials - even if you don't know exactly what they're saying you know what is going on. Good practice? maybe.

[Guest essayrhetoric]

I think the best resource we have is Rosetta stone makes you quiet fluent in language especially when it comes to Spanish.

[tyydae]

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

I think that with any program, Rosetta Stone included, you have to have realistic expectations. I know that Rosetta Stone heavily advertises that they are used by the US Foreign Service, for example. My best friend from college is a diplomat with the Foreign Service. She has been through several different rounds of language training over the years. She says that they do have Rosetta Stone, but that it is one of many different tools they have for practicing what they learn in their 6 hours a day of language classes with native speakers.

 

So.

 

I do think that programs like these have their place. But I don't think it is possible for most people to get really good results unless they are able to learn from someone who speaks the language. We don't have a tutor right now. We are using La Clase Divertida, and we will move on to some other resources eventually - maybe even Rosetta Stone. I expect it to help with vocabulary and beginning to get an ear for how the language works. But I know that each of these pieces will only take us so far, and eventually we will need to have classes either live or online, if we want to get to the point of fluency.

[bakpak]

Hey, thanks for bumping this older post, as it lists tons of great resources for learning Spanish that I didn't know about or had forgotten. I'm always thinking about my daughter's level (3 y.o.) instead of my own! I also didn't realize you could get the videos for French in Action at the same place you can get Destinos videos. http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html I actually have the book & workbook already, but hadn't stumbled across the free videos before and knew they were way out of my price range. French in Action gets amazing reviews for learning French (at least at the college level).