Help with foreign language vocabulary

[Penny from Tenny]

We are working on Spanish 1 and my son is a little frustrated at the amount of vocabulary that he has to learn on a daily basis. There are about 20-25 new words everyday. I'm thinking this is probably normal, but just thought I would check. I don't want to keep pushing ahead and then he begins to feel behind more and more, but on the other hand I don't want him to see this as something he can be casual about either. I mean, learning a foreign language is hard work and I'm trying to encourage him to spend an hour a day at least. He is writing his vocabulary in an index card flip "thingy" and already has several of those that he uses to review. I had great intentions of keeping up with him in doing the program myself, but life has gotten in the way and I'm sure that hasn't been helpful. I think I am going to get the elementary level for ds11 to begin so that they can encourage each other together. Maybe I can get caught up over the summer.

 

So, is this normal for the vocab? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Penny

Edited April 26, 2012 by Penny from Tenny

[StillStanding]

I am a Spanish native speaker and teach Spanish in a homeschool tutorial setting.

It is not normal to have 25 words a day to study!

 

25 words/week would be more normal, for an accelerated course. This is just my two cents.;)

[Penny from Tenny]

Wow. Really? I think I am surprised, and possibly a little elated (I'm sure my son will be-ha!). Perhaps I should be taking this a little slower then. Thank you for your input.

[beaners]

If you haven't been keeping up with the program, is there any chance he is misunderstanding something? Could he be writing down multiple forms of the same verb as individual vocabulary instead of learning the endings or form as a whole? (Separate cards for I ___, You ____, He/she/it ____, etc)

 

100 new vocabulary words every week for a few months would give you a much larger vocabulary than I'd expect from an intro course, but I could be mistaken.

[JanetC]

That sounds like a lot to me, too, especially for high school. Did you pick a college text? Are you having him memorize every possible word, or just the essential vocabulary for the chapter? Is there a teacher's guide to help you pace it a little easier?

[Penny from Tenny]

No, it isn't a college level program. It's switched-on schoolhouse Spanish 1 for highschool (ETA: actually it is for 7-12 grade). There are 10 units with approximately 17 lessons per unit and 2 semester exams so that would make it about right for a year-long course. I actually print the vocabulary list for each lesson for both of us so am keeping up with the amount of vocab. that he is dealing with. I am only printing what each lesson's link takes me to print. .....let me go check something....I'm back. Each unit has a reference page where you can see all the vocabulary for that unit with the pronunciation to listen to as well as see the meaning. On a quick count Unit 1 had 175 words and/or expressions. No joke. And that is normal. Unit 2 isn't much different. Now obviously there is no way to test every new word for each unit even with 2 quizzes and a test, so perhaps exposure is the main thing at this level? :001_huh:

 

We tried the immersion route but that did not work for him, so that is why we switched to a more traditional grammar based program. He's doing well so far. It is just "muy difiicil" to keep up with everything. I think we will slow down and if it takes us a year and a half we will still get Spanish 1 and 2 completed before the end of his jr. year. I'm not going to give up, and neither is he (at least I hope not!). Overall it has been a good approach - just LOTS of vocab!

 

Thanks for everybody's input so far.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Penny from Tenny
clarification

[Penny from Tenny]

Just wondering if anyone using Abeka or BJU Spanish could offer any comparison for me in terms of weekly vocabulary?

Thanks!

[cathmom]

I teach Spanish part-time. That's a lot of words. IMO that's way too much.

 

Trying to understand...so this is broken down into daily lessons? And each daily lesson has 20-25 new words in it?

[HeidiKC]

Honestly, I don't know how anyone could learn 20-25 new words each day...AND retain them! It'd be hard enough to learn them each day and then forget them for new words the next. But obviously with a foreign language, the goal is to increase vocabulary and constantly review old vocabulary. So how on earth anyone could not only learn that many new words each day (VERY hard), but also remember all the previous ones...I just can't even imagine.

 

I also agree that 20-25/week seems more do-able.

[Robin in DFW]

nm

Edited May 1, 2012 by Robin in DFW

[Penny from Tenny]

I agree with everyone that it is alot of words. Your input has helped me see the need to slow it down and just have a few days a week where all he is doing is just reviewing and drilling vocabulary. I do think that in time greetings, common phrases, numbers, colors, etc. will be just second nature which many of us already know just from exposure in our culture. And once you get familiar with the conjugations of regular verbs you will only have to memorize the irregular forms, etc. I'm thinking back to our Latin days and how just the exposure and drill over time helped them to "stick".

 

I'll keep you posted as to whether or not we can hang in there. I really just had no idea whether this was "normal" for most language programs (I haven't had foreign language in decades!). I think I will even call AOP and just see what their response is.

Thanks again,

Penny

[Jean in Wisc]

I can help you here! We've done SOS Spanish with 3 kids. I always make them write their vocab in a notebook at the beginning of each lesson. I make them study the verbs in their vocabulary each day and write out each verb in the tense they are currently studying a couple times each week, but the rest of it is open book. I make sure the settings in the Teacher's SOS allows them to answer the questions for the lessons as many times as they want, and then I ask them to try to do the problems without looking anything up, but when they can't remember or get it wrong, they can then look the vocabulary up in their notebook, a dictionary, or in the book of Spanish verbs. Even for tests, I let them look up vocab.

 

Looking words up takes time, and each time they remember without looking it up, they are rewarded by finishing sooner...which is a good carrot. SOS really does require too much vocab (I majored in Spanish as an undergrad). They DO need to learn their verb conjugations, though.

 

My daughter did SOS I and a few lessons of SOS II and tested out of the equivalent of 3 years of high school Spanish. She was afraid she'd drown in 3rd semester Spanish in college and took second semester Spanish, but she said they really did not study any new grammar at all.

 

HTH,

Jean

[rieshy]

Another way to study vocabulary is through quizlet.com. It's free and my kids prefer it to using index cards.

[TravelingChris]

That is a crazy amount of vocabulary words per day! I have taken a few languages, even one in a federal government immersion program. We still didn't learn that much new every day. My dd is taking Spanish 1 with the teacher using a college text, but slower. I think there about 50-75 words per chapter but a chapter is not done once every two-three days. More like a few weeks for each chapter. In college, I think the chapter a week may have been the norm but that is college.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I'm glad to hear that SOS vocab is NOT the norm. My dd did SOS Spanish I for her Spanish II credit after piecing together several things for her Span I credit. We found it very rigorous and did not finish the CD.

 

My son is now using SOS French Intermediate for French 1. He HATES all the vocab. He loves learning French but was so overwhelmed. We dropped SOS for a while and have been using Rocket French through our library. I'm looking at Tell Me More.

 

Now that I know SOS requires much more memorized than other programs I'll slow down the pace and have him do it over 2 years maybe.

[Penny from Tenny]

I can help you here! We've done SOS Spanish with 3 kids. I always make them write their vocab in a notebook at the beginning of each lesson. I make them study the verbs in their vocabulary each day and write out each verb in the tense they are currently studying a couple times each week, but the rest of it is open book. I make sure the settings in the Teacher's SOS allows them to answer the questions for the lessons as many times as they want, and then I ask them to try to do the problems without looking anything up, but when they can't remember or get it wrong, they can then look the vocabulary up in their notebook, a dictionary, or in the book of Spanish verbs. Even for tests, I let them look up vocab.

 

Looking words up takes time, and each time they remember without looking it up, they are rewarded by finishing sooner...which is a good carrot. SOS really does require too much vocab (I majored in Spanish as an undergrad). They DO need to learn their verb conjugations, though.

 

My daughter did SOS I and a few lessons of SOS II and tested out of the equivalent of 3 years of high school Spanish. She was afraid she'd drown in 3rd semester Spanish in college and took second semester Spanish, but she said they really did not study any new grammar at all.

 

HTH,

Jean

 

 

This is SO awesome to hear because that is exactly what I have been doing. The lessons can take longer if he has to look up words. The tests aren't open book, but if he takes notes, then he can use whatever notes he takes. I won't do that forever, but for now it is a good encouragement to pay attention. I think the rigor will pay off in the long run and I'm glad to hear that your daughter had success with it so thanks for sharing!

Blessings to all as we try to teach foreign language ;) !!!!

Penny

[Penny from Tenny]

Another way to study vocabulary is through quizlet.com. It's free and my kids prefer it to using index cards.

 

Thanks! I had forgotten about using this - good suggestion!

[Penny from Tenny]

I'm looking at Tell Me More.

 

 

This is what didn't work for us - but that's just our experience. I really think SOS is going to work and that I just need to build in more time than usual to complete a level.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

What about Tell Me More that did NOT work for you?

[Penny from Tenny]

What about Tell Me More that did NOT work for you?

 

 

Well, I think that he was frustrated by the "lack" of rules. Supposedly with the immersion approach you should just "pick up" on the rules by hearing them used in a conversation repeatedly. It makes perfect sense that it should work that way since that is how we all learn our native language, but it just didn't work for him. I really don't know why, but it just didn't. I almost bought this book to see if it would help to use alongside, but just decided to try SOS which I had used when my oldest went through highschool years ago (I certainly don't remember it being as rigorous as it is now!) - http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Spanish-Homeschoolers-Self-Taught/dp/0979505135/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3QDOTDQ6ID0&colid=20GC9YRI224QZ

 

We may eventually sell the Tell Me More, but I'm hanging on to it just in case he gets enough foundation to want to try again.

 

This was just our experience with it. I'm sure others have used it successfully.

Blessings,

Penny