How do you like BJUP Spanish?

[SwimmerMom]

We are considering this for next year.

 

Here is our situation: Dh is a native speaker of Spanish (please, don't ask why he didn't just teach it to Bean as we went along - I've been trying to get the answer to that question for years!!). His mom pretty much only speaks Spanish, but doesn't live near us.

 

We tried using Educacion Espanol for our Spanish curriculum this past year, but it was a huge dud. I had seen so many glowing reviews of it, that I thought it would be a great program. I now suspect that the "glowing" part of the reviews had more to do with people getting it for free along with their United Streaming or Dish Network. Let me say that it was SO not worth the $200 it cost me to get it on DVD over here!

 

We tried Rosetta Stone when we could get it free from the library, but if you go one week without accessing it, they disable your account. :glare: With Bean's heavy swim schedule, there were times we just couldn't get to it and they booted us off. I didn't get the impression that anything was sticking in her head anyway.

 

We've heard mixed reviews of Powerglide and Learnables. I heard good things about Auralog's Tell Me More Spanish, but Bean was put off by the sample lesson and I hesitate to plunk $249 down on something that she won't like (and, therefore, won't use).

 

I see a LOT of people on here listing BJUP Spanish for their high schooler and I'm wondering how you like it. Does your student seem to be learning and retaining the language?

 

DH will be back from the Sandbox in Nov/Dec, so he'll be here to help with the speaking practice.

 

Okay, that's probably TMI for my question!! :001_smile:

[Michelle in GA]

We are just about done Spanish 1 and will begin Spanish 2 shortly. I am using the DVD course with Mr. Cancino, and can't imagine doing the course without him--unless, I had a Spanish speaking tutor here at home teaching the text.

 

I really like the course and my kids have learned a lot. As far as my kids speaking and retaining Spanish? Well, they have certainly learned a lot of phrases and vocabulary words and can put together many sentences, but they are FAR from being conversational in Spanish. I feel that most students will not learn to speak fluently unless they are immersed into a language. The BJU course does however, more than fit the bill for a good, grammar intensive high school course.

HTH!

[SwimmerMom]

Do you mean with the Distance Learning? Or the DVD supplement that's available for homeschool?

 

Thanks!

[teachmom3]

Hi, Terrie--

 

We've used BJUP Spanish 1 with three children now.

 

In response to your question if the student seemed to be "learning and retaining the language": All three unquestionably learned it. The first one retained it. The second one did not retain it, but she was completely unmotivated to learn the language, and took Spanish only because we said she had to. I don't know yet if Child #3 has retained it, because he just finished the homeschool class two days ago.

 

You mentioned trying Rosetta Stone. We've tried Rosetta Stone with other languages, and clearly prefer BJUP's approach. Rosetta Stone works best, I think, with students who are auditory learners and who learn well with an inductive didactic approach. My children did not fit either of those categories, and did much better with BJUP's deductive teaching approach.

 

IMHO (and in the opinion of at least one high school Spanish teacher we consulted who wished she could have used BJUP), BJUP is a solid, rigorous high school Spanish program. However, it does need to be used in conjunction with someone who is familiar with the language.

[SwimmerMom]

IMHO (and in the opinion of at least one high school Spanish teacher we consulted who wished she could have used BJUP), BJUP is a solid, rigorous high school Spanish program. However, it does need to be used in conjunction with someone who is familiar with the language.

While I am not fluent, I did take 2 semesters in college and was surprised to find out how much I remembered when we were in Spain last year. :001_smile: And, unlike my German, where I understand WAY more than I could ever say, I can converse in Spanish, sort of. ;)

 

Dh won't be back for the beginning of the school year, but I can't really delay the start of Spanish until he gets back.

 

Do you think we can pull this off for the first few months until dh gets back?

[teachmom3]

Hi, Terrie--

 

If you remember a lot of your first-year college Spanish, you should be fine teaching your kids BJUP Spanish 1, IMHO!