Spanish or not for my 13yo DD

[CanaryMelody]

DH knows Spanish, and the kids and I have started learning Spanish as a family.

 

My 2 middle children (4 and 6yo) are learning through Discovery Streaming Elementary Spanish program. They are loving it.

 

My oldest DD and I are learning Spanish together through Discovery Streaming Educación Española 3 days a week (2 lessons/week) for 1 hour each lesson.

 

She hates it. She thinks it is boring, "stupid", and sees no point in learning Spanish. I tell her that there is such a large Spanish population around us and in the US that there is benefit to learning it especially when daddy knows it as well. I also would like her to have the exposure to a new language (she has never learned any other language - dead or modern) and the process of learning Spanish - a relatively easy language to learn - will help prepare her to learn a very difficult language she really wants to learn: Korean.

 

I don't know if Korean is a passing fancy or a genuine passion. Her goals for learning it is so she "can understand the words" to the Korean music groups she likes to listen to. She has requested a Korean language book to aid her in start learning it. I did research it and have found the best thing for her is to attend a Korean Church that may have Saturday Korean classes. We are in no position to pay for this type of class at the moment.

 

DH and I are unsure how to proceed.

Option 1 is to make her learn it because we are doing this as a family activity. We would like to practice and converse as a family and if she wasn't learning it, she'd be left out of the fun. We paid for Discovery Streaming specifically for this Spanish curriculum. I tell her that sometimes getting started in a new curriculum or new skill is hard or boring as the basics are learned. Personally, I find the video lessons in the middle of the road: neither exciting nor boring. I do find some of the tidbits interesting (i.e. Lesson 2 had information on the "Running of the Bulls" festival). Worksheets are easy to complete. She has no trouble with them.

 

Option 2 is to let her opt out. DH brought up that she isn't in high school yet and so this isn't a core required course. (He'd like to see her continue, though, if possible.) I can imagine her doing Korean instead but neither my DH or I can help her with it and we can't afford a private tutor or class. She'd be on her own.

 

So if this was your kid, what would you do? Family learning or opt out.

 

(poll coming :) )

[Alte Veste Academy]

I voted for her to continue learning with the family. Perhaps your DH should only speak to her in Spanish, so she can see how useful it is to speak the language. :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: I do agree with matroyshka about buying her some Korean resources as well. I would have no problem encouraging her interest in the third language in addition to having her continue learning Spanish with the family.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy

[Matryoshka]

How about telling her if she agrees to continue learning Spanish with the family (preferably with good attitude), you'll buy her a "learn Korean" book from B&N/Amazon and maybe some beginner Korean Pimselur CDs. That way she can learn Korean on her own inexpensively, and if it's not a passing fancy she'll be that much farther along when she finds more formal classes, and she also doesn't lose the Spanish momentum.

[KarenNC]

My daughter also found the educacion espanola horribly boring and she was retaining very little. We ended up switching to Tell Me More Spanish (bought through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op) and we're really enjoying it. I'm very pleased with the approach they take and I'm learning a lot.

 

Personally, I'd let her work on Korean on her own and let her drop Spanish for the moment. It's just not a hill I'd choose to die on, honestly. We tried having my daughter take French classes when she was younger because we both have some background in French. It was a total waste of time and money because she wasn't interested and had zero retention. She's interested in Spanish and willing to work on it.

 

If it were our family, I would, however, tell her that you've spent all the foreign language budget for this year, so she needs to find some free resources on her own or come up with the money to buy the materials for Korean. Googling "free Korean lessons" brought up a lot of options. Also, have her check out your local library to see what they might have.

 

You may be surprised at how much Spanish she picks up if the rest of you are using it around the house and the interest may be there later.

[Mom22ns]

I have to say I had my kids do Spanish for very similar reasons to yours. Dh is NOT fluent, but it is the most practical foreign language here, it is easy, we could do it as a family. They each wanted a different language. Ds wanted to learn Japanese, dd french. I have enough French for that to work, but no Japanese and Japanese is hard! I thought it would never work. I finally gave in this year. My kids promptly forgot all of their Spanish and have done great with the languages they chose. Motivation can mean a lot. I am so glad I gave in on this fight.

[KarenNC]

To expand on my previous post, another option may be to treat this as a learning opportunity. To me, it's less about the specific language (since your goal is exposure to a foreign language, not prepping to move to a Spanish-speaking country soon, nor do you view Korean as bad for her in some way other than being harder than Spanish) and more about her trying to take some control of her own education, which is a good thing. This could be a good, low-risk, low-consequence chance to let her take some control of and responsibility for her own educational choices and part of growing up. The thing I would stress is that with greater freedom and choice comes greater responsibility.

 

I would consider telling her that she has to continue taking Spanish with the family until she can present a convincing argument for allowing her to switch to Korean and a plan for how to do so that is affordable and doable for us. She would then need to justify her reasons for wanting to do Korean instead of Spanish, as well as research and present her options for doing it (including how she plans to pay for it, since this switch is her choice)--offer suggestions for places to search for options, but don't do it for her. I would require that the plan include measures for accountability of progress and a reasonable goal for her to have reached in, say, 3 months to show that she can do this independently without being nagged or coerced (this would involve the hardest part for me---the not nagging part and letting her fall on her face if that's what happens;)). This could be how far she has gotten in the program, results of assessments, whatever looks reasonable. If she has reached the goal in 3 months, she can continue another 3 months---if not, she needs to come back to Spanish because working in another language is important to your family. I would also allow her to switch back to Spanish (maybe keeping Korean as a fun extra) without penalty at any time if she should want to do so, since the family will be continuing to use the material anyway. This puts the responsibility squarely on her and doesn't make you the bad guy for not letting her do what she *really* wants.:)

 

Definitely continue to converse and practice Spanish as a family as you would have otherwise. She may well get tired of not understanding what everyone else is saying.:)

Edited February 15, 2012 by KarenNC

[CanaryMelody]

I voted for her to continue learning with the family. Perhaps your DH should only speak to her in Spanish, so she can see how useful it is to speak the language. :tongue_smilie:

 

I agree! Plus she'd definitely pick up some words by exposure if nothing else! :D

 

ETA: I do agree with matroyshka about buying her some Korean resources as well. I would have no problem encouraging her interest in the third language in addition to having her continue learning Spanish with the family.

 

How about telling her if she agrees to continue learning Spanish with the family (preferably with good attitude), you'll buy her a "learn Korean" book from B&N/Amazon and maybe some beginner Korean Pimselur CDs. That way she can learn Korean on her own inexpensively, and if it's not a passing fancy she'll be that much farther along when she finds more formal classes, and she also doesn't lose the Spanish momentum.

 

I was considering buying just a book (it comes with CD), workbook, and dictionary inexpensively anyway. Somehow I am incapable of denying self-motivated learning (especially with this child who usually does not initiate ANY learning at all). :tongue_smilie:

 

My daughter also found the educacion espanola horribly boring and she was retaining very little. We ended up switching to Tell Me More Spanish (bought through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op) and we're really enjoying it. I'm very pleased with the approach they take and I'm learning a lot.

 

Thank you bringing this up. Part of me says that even when something is boring to "suck it up" but I have to admit that Educacion Espanola is a bit dry. Will having 2 different Spanish programs going be confusing? I'm guessing that we'd be probably be fine since the younger ones would be going slower anyway.

 

Personally, I'd let her work on Korean on her own and let her drop Spanish for the moment. It's just not a hill I'd choose to die on, honestly. We tried having my daughter take French classes when she was younger because we both have some background in French. It was a total waste of time and money because she wasn't interested and had zero retention. She's interested in Spanish and willing to work on it.

 

You have a good point. I'm seeing zero retention as well. While the younger ones already have "donde vives?" and family members learned and I've got the alphabet and gender of nouns down, she has learned nothing. She sits through the lessons with a glaze on her face and occassionally making derogatory remarks (which prompts my younger DD to defend the Spanish program - she LIKES the middle school Spanish program! :lol: ).

 

If it were our family, I would, however, tell her that you've spent all the foreign language budget for this year, so she needs to find some free resources on her own or come up with the money to buy the materials for Korean. Googling "free Korean lessons" brought up a lot of options. Also, have her check out your local library to see what they might have.

 

You may be surprised at how much Spanish she picks up if the rest of you are using it around the house and the interest may be there later.

 

I have to say I had my kids do Spanish for very similar reasons to yours. Dh is NOT fluent, but it is the most practical foreign language here, it is easy, we could do it as a family. They each wanted a different language. Ds wanted to learn Japanese, dd french. I have enough French for that to work, but no Japanese and Japanese is hard! I thought it would never work. I finally gave in this year. My kids promptly forgot all of their Spanish and have done great with the languages they chose. Motivation can mean a lot. I am so glad I gave in on this fight.

 

Good point!

 

To expand on my previous post, another option may be to treat this as a learning opportunity. To me, it's less about the specific language (since your goal is exposure to a foreign language, not prepping to move to a Spanish-speaking country soon, nor do you view Korean as bad for her in some way other than being harder than Spanish) and more about her trying to take some control of her own education, which is a good thing. This could be a good, low-risk, low-consequence chance to let her take some control of and responsibility for her own educational choices and part of growing up. The thing I would stress is that with greater freedom and choice comes greater responsibility. [snipped...]

 

You make some excellent points. We've really struggled with this child in her learning. She has never taken responsibility and still to this day I manage the vast majority of her educational days. Perhaps she has the motivation to actually start taking some control of some aspect of her learning. :001_smile:

 

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and opinions. It really helps!