What do you recommend for HS Spanish

[ladykayaker]

What would you recommend for HS Spanish?

[Jenny in Florida]

My son is doing this program: http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html

 

The videos and online exercises are free, and I bought a used copy of the text from www.half.com for $18.

 

I won't say it's been a fabulous experience for him, but I think that's more about him and his disinterest in foreign language. He certainly likes it better than and is learning more from it than he did from from the Florida Virtual School course.

[StephanieZ]

Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish.

 

It's been very successful in our home. My dd15 is midway through the 3rd (final) book, ds13 is just beginning that 3rd book, and dd9 is in the 1st book. All do very well with it. We do use a spanish tutor about twice a month for 30 min each child. If I spoke any spanish, we could do w/o that, but once the kids got into the 2nd book or so, I really needed occasional help with stumbling blocks. With the tutor once or twice a month, the kids fly along beautifully, and according to the tutor and other spanish speakers, they speak very well.

[klmama]

In verb conjugation charts, does SYRWTL Spanish place Ud. before or after él and ella? (Yo, tú, Ud., él, ella vs. Yo, tú, él, ella, Ud.)

[BakersDozen]

Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish.

 

 

:iagree:

[Mom2boys]

Veritas Press Scholars Academy online course.

[busymama7]

Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish.

 

It's been very successful in our home. My dd15 is midway through the 3rd (final) book, ds13 is just beginning that 3rd book, and dd9 is in the 1st book. All do very well with it. We do use a spanish tutor about twice a month for 30 min each child. If I spoke any spanish, we could do w/o that, but once the kids got into the 2nd book or so, I really needed occasional help with stumbling blocks. With the tutor once or twice a month, the kids fly along beautifully, and according to the tutor and other spanish speakers, they speak very well.

 

How do these line up with HS courses? Is book 1 Spanish 1, Book 2 Spanish 2 etc or something else?

[ABQmom]

How do these line up with HS courses? Is book 1 Spanish 1, Book 2 Spanish 2 etc or something else?

 

I'd like to know the answer to this question too. Also, would it take a school year to complete book 1?

[Julie in MN]

I had hoped my son would do high school Spanish, but he chose French. I would have liked to look at La Clase Divertida online group class for high school Spanish:

http://www.funclase.com/welcome.html

[ladykayaker]

I am surprised at how little there seems to be available for HS Spanish.

 

I have heard people say that Rosetta Stone doesn't have enough grammar and composition. i just spoke to someone at Rainbow Resource and they tell me this was true for the older versions of RS. According to them Version 3 has beefed up their grammar sufficiently to be acceptable as a high school class.

 

So You Really want to Learn Spanish doesn't seem to be easily available - only through a UK website. And not available at Rainbow Resource.

 

I asked someone the same question at Rainbow Resource and they too didn't have a 2, 3 or 4 year High School program that they could recommend for high school.

 

I am just surprised. For so many of the subjects that we need to cover, there are a good selection of programs to select from, yet for HS Spanish the selections available seem to be quite thin.

[Julie in MN]

The problem with using "school" materials for foreign language is that by year 2, most of the instructions and teaching materials are written in the language - it's assumed the teacher knows the language.

 

There are some homeschool-friendly options, though:

- Rosetta Stone, as you mentioned (MFW has good lesson plans for this)

- Learnables

- SOS/Alpha Omega, BJU, and Abeka do have some of the problems of textbooks in the foreign language, but often have videos and other options

- La Clase Divertida homeschool online class

- other online classes

- Pimsleur and other materials you can get at the library

- Visual Link

- Tell Me More

- Barron's E-Z workbooks for grammar, very inexpensive

- public school class or community college or co-op

- El Espanol Facil: The Easy Spanish (Christian, may only go for 2 years)

[Jenny in Florida]

I am surprised at how little there seems to be available for HS Spanish.

 

 

Other curricula I know of for foreign language:

 

 

Breaking the Barrier

El Espanol Facil

La Clase Divertida

Switched-on Schoolhouse

The Learnables

Homeschool Spanish

SYRWTL Spanish

Destinos

Florida Virtual School

Power Glide

Visual Link

LifePac

 

 

So You Really want to Learn Spanish doesn't seem to be easily available - only through a UK website.

 

I've ordered Galore Park materials from the Book Depository, for what it's worth.

[gingersmom]

Other curricula I know of for foreign language:

 

 

Breaking the Barrier

El Espanol Facil

La Clase Divertida

Switched-on Schoolhouse

The Learnables

Homeschool Spanish

SYRWTL Spanish

Destinos

Florida Virtual School

Power Glide

Visual Link

LifePac

 

 

 

I've ordered Galore Park materials from the Book Depository, for what it's worth.

 

It does not appear they are in the United States either.

[bugs]

My daughter only used Homeschool Spanish Academy for a semester, but they do have year long + high school level. http://homeschoolspanishacademy.com/

 

Oh, and Ray at Horrible Books - http://www.horriblebooks.com/galoreparkbooklist.htm sells Galore Park books.

Edited June 15, 2012 by bugs
adding info

[KAR120C]

Spanish Online at Oklahoma State University. http://spanishonline.okstate.edu/

[busymama7]

I would love a review of switched on schoolhouse Spanish. It seems like a relatively inexpensive option.

 

Thanks!

[Jenny in Florida]

It does not appear they are in the United States either.

 

No, but they shipped quickly when I ordered, and didn't charge any more for shipping than any US supplier.

[StephanieZ]

I've ordered successfully through Ray at horriblebooks many times.

 

I think that the levels roughly correspond to highschool levels. Our tutor teaches high school and university spanish, and she tells me that my two kids (one just beginning book 3 and the other midway through it) are already very well prepared and more competent than many/most college spanish students.

 

Each level can comfortably be completed in one school year for 7th-12th grade students. If you begin younger, then you might need or want to go a bit more slowly. My 9 yo has begun level 1, and she is progressing rapidly, but I credit that to her solid foundation of 7 years of informal spanish in addition to a couple years of structured spanish including Getting Started With Spanish most recently.

[AFwife Claire]

We are using Breaking the Barrier Spanish, along with an extra practice book we got from Amazon ("Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar"). It's been a good combination. My oldest son is starting BTB 3, and my second son is starting BTB 2 in the fall.

[ladykayaker]

We are using Breaking the Barrier Spanish, along with an extra practice book we got from Amazon ("Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar"). It's been a good combination. My oldest son is starting BTB 3, and my second son is starting BTB 2 in the fall.

 

Claire, this looks like a good program for Hs spanish. Why did you feel the need to supplement with the other book from amazon?

[MamaT]

I would love a review of switched on schoolhouse Spanish. It seems like a relatively inexpensive option.

 

Thanks!

 

I have tried this one, along with several of the others mentioned, with little success. Honestly, the only success we had with a modern foreign language was with an outside class. Unless the parent is fluent in the language, I think it is very hard to do well with a foreign language without outside help - a class or a tutor. JMHO.

[speedmom4]

I used Rosetta Stone with my oldest and it has not been too successful. I researched Spanish curriculum and decided on Breaking the Barrier for my younger dd. I got it in the mail today and it looks awesome. I will have her use Rosetta Stone to practice speaking Spanish. I took 3 years of college level Spanish and I love how the BtB book is laid out.

 

Good luck,

Elise in NC

[AFwife Claire]

Claire, this looks like a good program for Hs spanish. Why did you feel the need to supplement with the other book from amazon?

 

LOL, well . . . my friend actually teaches the Spanish, and that's what she wanted. She felt there wasn't enough practice in BTB.

[busymama7]

I have tried this one, along with several of the others mentioned, with little success. Honestly, the only success we had with a modern foreign language was with an outside class. Unless the parent is fluent in the language, I think it is very hard to do well with a foreign language without outside help - a class or a tutor. JMHO.

 

Darn

:tongue_smilie:

 

My husband is fluent in Portuguese and semi fluent in Spanish. But he is not around enough to help with it. An outside class is just so expensive.

 

He did take 2 years of coop Spanish classes in junior high and is fairly comfortable with pronunciation some vocab basic grammer and such. And my sil is totally fluent in Spanish and he could call her on the phone occasionally.

[Julie in MN]

I have tried this one, along with several of the others mentioned, with little success. Honestly, the only success we had with a modern foreign language was with an outside class. Unless the parent is fluent in the language, I think it is very hard to do well with a foreign language without outside help - a class or a tutor. JMHO.

 

I do find a tutor helpful by late in year 2 anyways.

 

But I just think most homeschoolers are unrealistic in terms of learning a foreign language. They will pick up a program, do what it says, and say it's no good if their child isn't fluent by the end of the year.

 

We had French exchange student and those kids had learned English for something like EIGHT years. And almost none of them could speak English or understand enough to watch a movie or anything like that. I also know lots of teens and young adults who took foreign language in the public schools and really just have the few words they know, or remember nothing.

 

To me, a realistic expectation is that in year 1, the student will learn some vocabulary in the foreign language, and some of the ways it differs from English (e.g. masculine and feminine nouns). One year of high school is just a semester of college level work. It's just like 180 hours at the max. You can't speak another language in that amount of time.

 

However, the French exchange student *we* had could indeed speak English, unlike her classmates. The reason? Not some fancy curriculum or gifted teacher, but instead she had a passion to watch American movies.

 

I tell my son that passion is the only tool that will teach him a language. The little kid who has his needs met doesn't learn his own language automatically. It's when he has a passion to communicate that he starts picking it up. If my son wants fluency, he has to want to figure things out, look them up, watch some more things in French or the foreign news, want to talk to someone (even if it's his tutor). If he just sits down at a French program an hour a day, no matter how good it is, he won't start thinking in French or really being anywhere near fluent until he's spent many years at it. He'll get the typical high school exposure to vocab & such in year 1, and grammar in year 2, and maybe some easy reading in year 3.

 

Okay, off my soap box.

Julie

P.S. I have tutored kids from foreign language immersion schools, and they are usually fluent, and even think in the other language part of the time. However, there is a great investment there, since they have to be willing to risk not understanding their math lessons or learn very much English (hence the tutoring after school). And most of them start by age 5.

Edited June 16, 2012 by Julie in MN

[rockala]

I agree Julie!!! And there is not a lot out there on hs lanquage period that is easy to acquire, easy to use and sufficient as a course.

 

My dd took a cc class for spanish this spring semester. As you say one semester of cc spanish can be listed as a year of high school spanish. She loved it but has decided to take year two online at The Potter School.

 

I know this is an expense, but I think hearing and having a teacher is very helpful in this case.

 

It also depends on your goals if you want to just be able to say you met the 2 years or the teen really wants to be able to just start to understand/speak it as well. ;)

 

TPS offers a supplemental hour of just speaking spanish- called conversational spanish. Sadly is does cost extra, but not a lot extra.

K

Edited June 16, 2012 by rockala

[JudyJudyJudy]

Spanish Online at Oklahoma State University. http://spanishonline.okstate.edu/

 

That looks interesting!

 

Dh is fluent in Spanish. He is hispanic, and he grew up speaking Spanish and and English equally. He's not even sure what his first language truly was, but he thinks it was Spanish. Unfortunately, though, he hasn't been good about speaking Spanish to ds, and he isn't very helpful with homeschooling, so this is an area where I'm going to need help when ds hits high school (he's an upcoming 8th grader).

[Jenny in Florida]

But I just think most homeschoolers are unrealistic in terms of learning a foreign language. They will pick up a program, do what it says, and say it's no good if their child isn't fluent by the end of the year.

 

We had French exchange student and those kids had learned English for something like EIGHT years. And almost none of them could speak English or understand enough to watch a movie or anything like that. I also know lots of teens and young adults who took foreign language in the public schools and really just have the few words they know, or remember nothing.

 

To me, a realistic expectation is that in year 1, the student will learn some vocabulary in the foreign language, and some of the ways it differs from English (e.g. masculine and feminine nouns). One year of high school is just a semester of college level work. It's just like 180 hours at the max. You can't speak another language in that amount of time.

 

Well, exactly. (Except that I would expect a first-year student to be able to conjugate a few regular verbs in the present tense, too.)

 

I took (counting on fingers) about four years of Spanish in high school and college and got nowhere near fluent. By that fourth year, we were starting to read some literature in Spanish, but I still needed an English translation nearby in order to make sure I was getting it right.

 

Have you all seen this, the "One Semester Spanish Spanish Love Song?"

 

Edited June 16, 2012 by Jenny in Florida

[ladykayaker]

Thank you Julie for your comments. Truly appreciated!

 

I am looking for a program that is doable at home, won't break the bank, and will meet the two year foreign language credit requirement for our state university.

 

From reading other's posts it seems breaking the barrier might be a bit tough since I don't know any spanish.

 

I have seen positive reviews for Galore Park SYRWTLS - can I get some more feedback on this? Will it be doable if I know nothing about spanish? my dc have worked independantly through level 1 through level 3 of Rosetta Stone - so they at least have some background.

[Julie in MN]

Have you all seen this, the "One Semester Spanish Spanish Love Song?"

 

Hohoho, the counting 11 and the cinnamon twists had me ROFL! :lol::lol::lol:

[gingersmom]

Hohoho, the counting 11 and the cinnamon twists had me ROFL! :lol::lol::lol:

 

:iagree:

 

2nd semester of Spanish is even funnier!

[bugs]

To me, a realistic expectation is that in year 1, the student will learn some vocabulary in the foreign language, and some of the ways it differs from English (e.g. masculine and feminine nouns). One year of high school is just a semester of college level work. It's just like 180 hours at the max. You can't speak another language in that amount of time.

 

 

So, if a student takes 2 years of high school foreign language then decides to take more in college, "should" they be proficient enough to tackle a 3rd semester class? I never took foreign language in college so I have no idea how it is structured compared to hs.

[Julie in MN]

So, if a student takes 2 years of high school foreign language then decides to take more in college, "should" they be proficient enough to tackle a 3rd semester class? I never took foreign language in college so I have no idea how it is structured compared to hs.

 

Oh, boy, I really think this would depend on the student. I'm pretty sure my oldest son (public school German, class totally out of control) would have had to go to #1. However, my dd took 4 years (at home & public school) and I know she wouldn't have needed to start at #1, but I'm not familiar enough to know how high she would have placed? Maybe she'd have taken the college placement test? I know our U of M only requires 2 years of high school most of the time, but for some majors you need 4 years and if those were in high school (not taken at a college) then you have to be tested.

 

Hopefully someone else has more experience. I could ask my nieces where they placed, since two of them took very advanced languages (one is a translator in the Army now, but not in the language she started in high school).

 

But just as an example, my oldest son took calculus 1 at his high school, then took it at the community college, and then took it again in his major. I guess if it's important to you, you can never get enough of a foundation :)

 

Julie

[ladykayaker]

I have seen some reviews for Galore Park SYRWTLS - Can anyone provide me with some more feedback on this? Will it be doable if I know nothing about spanish? my dc have worked independantly through level 1 through level 3 of Rosetta Stone - so they at least have some background.

My goal is simply that they meet the two year foreign language requirement for our local state university, that it is doable at home, doesn't need to much input from me, and wont break the bank.

[flyingiguana]

So, if a student takes 2 years of high school foreign language then decides to take more in college, "should" they be proficient enough to tackle a 3rd semester class? I never took foreign language in college so I have no idea how it is structured compared to hs.

 

It depends on the high school classes and the college class. And how long it's been. A lot of the high school classes around us don't really teach much of the language. Some of the nearby colleges seem to follow the same pattern, others are more rigorous. It really varies. And if it's been more than a summer off from the language, most students forget a fair amount, so they end up in a lower level class.

 

Generally, most colleges give a proficiency exam, so you're not guessing about placement.

 

My daughter did about half of Destinos and half of Pimsleur and placed into the 3rd-4th semester of college Spanish at one college.

 

But she took the first semester of French at a different college and learned way more than most high schools teach in the first year. I think if she'd done half of French in Action and half of Pimsleur French, there's no way she could have done the 3rd semester of French in that program. She probably would have tested into the 2nd semester.

 

Like I said above, it really varies.

[bugs]

Thank you Julie in MN and Flyingiguana.

[sattlers1]

I do find a tutor helpful by late in year 2 anyways.

 

But I just think most homeschoolers are unrealistic in terms of learning a foreign language. They will pick up a program, do what it says, and say it's no good if their child isn't fluent by the end of the year.

 

We had French exchange student and those kids had learned English for something like EIGHT years. And almost none of them could speak English or understand enough to watch a movie or anything like that. I also know lots of teens and young adults who took foreign language in the public schools and really just have the few words they know, or remember nothing.

 

To me, a realistic expectation is that in year 1, the student will learn some vocabulary in the foreign language, and some of the ways it differs from English (e.g. masculine and feminine nouns). One year of high school is just a semester of college level work. It's just like 180 hours at the max. You can't speak another language in that amount of time.

 

However, the French exchange student *we* had could indeed speak English, unlike her classmates. The reason? Not some fancy curriculum or gifted teacher, but instead she had a passion to watch American movies.

 

I tell my son that passion is the only tool that will teach him a language. The little kid who has his needs met doesn't learn his own language automatically. It's when he has a passion to communicate that he starts picking it up. If my son wants fluency, he has to want to figure things out, look them up, watch some more things in French or the foreign news, want to talk to someone (even if it's his tutor). If he just sits down at a French program an hour a day, no matter how good it is, he won't start thinking in French or really being anywhere near fluent until he's spent many years at it. He'll get the typical high school exposure to vocab & such in year 1, and grammar in year 2, and maybe some easy reading in year 3.

 

Okay, off my soap box.

Julie

P.S. I have tutored kids from foreign language immersion schools, and they are usually fluent, and even think in the other language part of the time. However, there is a great investment there, since they have to be willing to risk not understanding their math lessons or learn very much English (hence the tutoring after school). And most of them start by age 5.

Julie-

Excellent thoughts! Thank you for sharing. I totally agree the passion is the key. The idea of watching movies/news etc. would certainly help gain fluency. After 6-1/2 years in MS/HS, and 3 more courses in college, I have reached eaves-dropper level; meaning I can tell you what someone is talking about, but couldn't give you word for word. LOL!

 

We are currently using the La Clase Divertida online. I just don't know about the cost, but it gives the group setting that is definitely helpful.

[SuperDad]

We are using Breaking the Barrier Spanish, along with an extra practice book we got from Amazon ("Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar").

 

I love this combination.

[vritz]

Without a teacher and repeated exposure to the language, I think it is unrealistic to expect fluency. If you just want to check the box for college admissions, I think you could choose any curriculum that says it is for high school. We used Visual Link Spanish for 2 years of high school credit, and she is going to take Spanish at the cc this fall.

 

At one of the schools we're considering, all students coming out of high school must take a proficiency exam, and if they don't place out of the required number of quarters of foreign language for graduation, then they have to take it at the university. Community college classes do count as college level credit, and so the student doesn't have to take the proficiency test.

[SuperDad]

Have you all seen this, the "One Semester Spanish Spanish Love Song?"

 

 

Hohoho, the counting 11 and the cinnamon twists had me ROFL! :lol::lol::lol:

 

:lol::lol:

[Vida Winter]

My dd took Intermediate Spanish 1 with La Clase Divertida (online) this past year and it was a success. Previously we had tried other "on-your-own" programs including Breaking the Barrier Spanish, and found them to be doable but tedious and ineffective.

 

The combination of homework/quizzes/tests/textbook web-based work plus a live teacher giving immediate feedback did the trick. In my opinion, the live teacher is key to the success of the program. There is also the incentive of accountability -- when you know you have hard deadlines, the work gets done - no procrastinating.

 

DD will continue with Senor Gamache in Intermediate Spanish 2 this fall. If I had known how much she would enjoy his courses it could have saved me time and money to go straight to La Clase Divertida instead of fooling around with do-it-yourself courses. The web site is here:

http://www.funclase.com/welcome.html

and Sr. Gamache has his phone listed at the bottom of the page if you are interested in detailed information. This is all just my 2 cents worth of info but I hope it helps somebody.

[sattlers1]

My dd was in the same class! She had a great time too. I tried a bunch of things and just couldn't find something that really worked until we did this. Language is hard if you don't have an instructor and classmates. Practice and feedback during practice are very helpful.

[AngieW in Texas]

My middle dd did one year of Visual Link Spanish at home and then did two semesters of Spanish at the cc.

 

My youngest dd is going to do two years of Visual Link Spanish at home. She may then do a 3rd year of Visual Link at home or she might do one semester of Spanish at the cc.

 

Visual Link is the best program we found for home use. Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More (Auralog) did NOT work for my dd.