4 years language requirement in Spanish

[Jujudalu]

Hello

 

I am making plans for my DS12 (almost 13). My husband is a native spanish speaker. He and I spent 12 years in a spanish speaking country so I am fluent in spanish. For many reasons our children are unfortunately not bi-lingual. They understand a lot of spanish, can read basic spanish and have grown up with children's spanish songs on CDs. They have heard a lot of spanish and know enough that they can follow a conversation. The little bit of spanish they have is fairly unaccented.

 

So, my question relates to satisfying a 4 year language requirement for college applications.

 

What should I use? Where should I start?

 

Send me some pearls of wisdom, please.

 

Thanks

 

Julia

[Ester Maria]

You need to decide what exactly would you like to do.

 

Merely satisfy the requirement? Use any grammar-based course, with any kind of supplements for culture / music / whatever, with some spoken practice, and call it a day. You can easily get four years that way.

 

Learn Spanish well in four years, including literary Spanish, having Spanish as one of the priority subjects? Start the same way, but be more detailed and more focused, gradually introducing reading materials. There must be special textbooks which develop reading skills for students who are already fairly proficient in the language. Read with them, and afterward have them read.

 

Develop bilingualism that you missed out on before? Let your husband start speaking Spanish with kids 100% of the time, start filling their gaps usign a solid grammar-based course, lots of supplements, and then with time switch to textbooks intended for Spanish speakers and supplement other school materials with Spanish materials.

 

I cannot help with materials because I never formally learned Spanish, but I hope somebody else chimes in with that. These are just general ideas of what you should do, depending on where you want to be after four years. Your children are probably false beginners - false beginners use regular beginner materials to make sure they have no gaps, but go through them more quickly. Lots of exposure and spoken practice is always good.

[elegantlion]

Where are you finding a 4 year requirement for college admissions?

 

Most in the US like 4 years of English, but I've only heard of 2-3 year requirements for foreign language.

 

Or is this a requirement you are implementing?

[Beth S]

I believe there are CLEPs and AP exams that test for high school foreign language proficiency, which some colleges accept. Other colleges have their own departmental tests. Most colleges only require 2 years, exclusive ones maybe 3 years.

 

You and your dh may be able to increase your in-house efforts by speaking/writing exclusively Spanish while in the home (or just during mealtime, etc.).

 

But there are many homeschool programs that teach Spanish. Most libraries have materials online and to loan.

 

With both of you knowing Spanish, you should be able to evaluate the materials yourself, to see if they will work for your situation. There are several different methods--most popular right now is immersion.

 

Also there is a Bilingual Education board on this WTM forum.

 

Several friends have taken their children to a Spanish-speaking country (like Peru, Honduras) and given them Spanish lessons from a native. Ideally, they can come home and immediately take the CLEP exam as proof of proficiency. The week my dd spent in France taught her more French than a textbook, I can tell you! (It's a thrill to think you can just do this at home!)

 

We emphasize Math & Science here at home, so we have had each child do 2 years of foreign language in 9th and 10th grades to "get it over with" (which will cause some of you to shudder). It just depends on what your family goals are!

 

Best wishes!

Edited October 29, 2011 by Beth S