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Help starting a Co Op class- Spanish?


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Hi everyone,

 

I am a member of a local homeschooling group. I am looking at starting a Co op Spanish class. I need HELP though. I have no idea how this works. I offered to organize, and I have found a native speaker to teach. I also have a location to meet. Please give me all the info you can about how it works.

 

1. How much do most groups charge for a class?

 

2. How often do you meet? Specifically for a Spanish class?

 

3. What age range do you think is appopriate? K-3, K-5 for beginner Spanish.

 

4. Do you pay the teacher? If so, how much?

 

5. Is their homework? I hope not!

 

6. Any suggestions on curriculum you have seen used in co op elementary Spanish.

 

7. Do you give grades? I am hoping not. Do you give a certificate at the end?

 

Any other information on how this whole process works would be so appreciated. Thanks.

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:bigear:

 

I've thought about this some myself, because I've considered running a foreign language class for local homeschoolers myself. The reason I haven't is fear that a parent will come up and start speaking fluently in that language to me and I'll be unable to respond intelligently. I can speak enough to teach a group of elementary students and keep up in a college level lit class, I can read enough to read pretty much anything, but I feel like a dunce in a regular conversation. (Sort of a silly worry I guess. I bet most parents who are that fluent are probably teaching their children on their own... :tongue_smilie:)

 

Anyways. Here's what I've thought about:

 

1. Charge- I haven't even got around to thinking about this. It would depend on so many things.

 

2. How often to meet- Probably once a week. Ideally, of course, we'd meet more than that, but I bet most families would only be able to swing it once a week. And trying to find meeting times that work for everyone more than once a week would probably be a nightmare.

 

3. Age range - again, depends on your needs. Since you are the one arranging it, how old are your children who you want to participate? :D I'd say K-3 would be good, K-5 *might* be a little bit of a stretch but could still work.

 

4. Paying the teacher - if the class makes a profit, the teacher should be paid.

 

5. Homework - yes. Learning a language should be an everyday thing. Even simple little things that would only take a couple minutes could be assigned. (I'm not saying that enough homework for 6 days should be assigned, and not even necessarily written homework. But if I were teaching a language course, I would DEFINITELY "assign" my students to review things, and more than likely would often send them with physical work- be it written/coloring/art/bring in ______ type work.)

 

6. No suggestions on curriculum.

 

7. At that age, I probably wouldn't do grades. I probably wouldn't do grades even at the higher grades unless parents requested it. I think it would be really cool for the kids to get a little certificate at the end though, little kids love that sort of thing. :D

 

Good luck! If you do go through with it, I'd love to hear how it goes.

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My husband (fluent speaker) and I (former English teacher) co-teach a Spanish co-op class. Last semester was our first time, so keep in mind we are still learning and are definitely not experts.

 

 

1. How much do most groups charge for a class?

We charge $5 a class per student. We are not trying to make a living from teaching, though, and are not professional foreign language teachers. Our primary goals are to provide a way for our children to practice Spanish with other children, to cover our supply costs, and to earn a little extra to help pay for our children to go to other co-op classes.

2. How often do you meet? Specifically for a Spanish class?

We meet once a week for an hour. It would be ideal to meet at least twice a week, especially for review/retention purposes but where we teach only offers classes once a week. We supplement at home during the week and expect that our students' parents will do the same to the best of their abilities. To make up for meeting once a week, we review past concepts throughout the course of the semester.

3. What age range do you think is appopriate? K-3, K-5 for beginner Spanish.

We started out teaching ages 5-10. For the upcoming year we will be teaching two classes, Beginner: ages 5-8 and Intermediate: 8-12. We overlapped the 8 year old category so that students who were in our class previously could choose to move up or repeat the beginner class if desired. We will be doing more written work with the intermediate students, something that we couldn't do as much as we liked with the younger age group. We will also delve deeper into age-appropriate grammar and conjugation with the older students.

4. Do you pay the teacher? If so, how much?

We are paid as I mentioned above. Depending on why your teacher wishes to teach (as a student/community service vs. to make a living), you may pay less or more accordingly.

5. Is their homework? I hope not!

We do assign some homework as a way to engage the parents and help the child keep thinking about Spanish outside of class. We start most assignments in class, and at the beginner level it isn't difficult for the parents to help the children finish at home. We don't penalize for incomplete work.

6. Any suggestions on curriculum you have seen used in co op elementary Spanish.

Last semester we put together a loose "curriculum" on our own. We combined speaking, games, video, music, literature, written work, and art projects. Based on those elements, we are thinking of using Sonrisas Spanish School curriculum this year. It combines speaking, music, art, writing, and literature. We have looked into other programs and that one seems to fit best with what we have already done and our philosophy of teaching. My only hesitation is that I've been unable to find many reviews of experienced users.

 

I've looked into other programs, and some are expensive when you are using for co-ops (you have to buy the school package for licensing reasons and that can be very pricey). We are trying to stay away from programs that emphasize vocabulary out of context (i.e. learning individual words rather than how to use them in context or in ordinary speech).

7. Do you give grades? I am hoping not. Do you give a certificate at the end?

No grades! :D We do not evaluate, only provide the learning environment. We did not give certificates last semester, but that might be a fun idea for this coming year. We thought about doing a passport of sorts, where students get stamps for mastering a lesson topic. We just ran out of time and didn't get that ready before the semester began so we might try that this year.

 

Where we teach, a culminating project or performance is completed at the end of the semester by some classes. We did not do that this year, but we may do a short play or art display in the future as our final project.

Any other information on how this whole process works would be so appreciated. Thanks.

What has worked best for us is keeping our classes interactive and offering a variety of learning experiences. We also try to have as much fun as possible! If you have any other questions, please ask. We are still learning as we go, so I'd love to share ideas.

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We're starting a Spanish class this year. I've had two quite lengthy conversations with the teacher, as well as talking to families who have taken classes with her in the past. We're very excited! :)

 

1. How much do most groups charge for a class?

 

The teacher has a set hourly rate. We divide the facility cost (which, for this class is free, whew!) and the teacher's hourly rate by the number of students. Many co-op teachers here charge rates comparable to private tutoring, which can run $20-40/hour in our area, depending on the tutor. Most tend to charge in the middle of that range, about $25-30/hour. It can be very reasonably priced if there are several students in the class.

 

2. How often do you meet? Specifically for a Spanish class?

 

Twice a week for 6th grade and up. She also offers a class for elementary age students, one day per week.

 

3. What age range do you think is appopriate? K-3, K-5 for beginner Spanish.

 

It depends on the teacher and what happens after the elementary class. If there were enough students, I'd be inclined to offer a K-2 and a 3-5, especially if there is an upper-level class to feed into; otherwise, K-3 but open it to older siblings too.

 

4. Do you pay the teacher? If so, how much?

 

Of course. She has a set hourly rate. The number of classes per term x her hourly rate is split evenly among the students in the class. She also asks families to provide materials/ingredients for activities. For example, if we make a meal, each family volunteers to bring some of the necessary ingredients.

 

5. Is their homework? I hope not!

 

Yes. For 6th and up, at least 1/2 hour per day; for younger students, she wants them listening to Spanish as close to daily as they can get and may assign some small homework assigments.

 

6. Any suggestions on curriculum you have seen used in co op elementary Spanish.

 

The teacher chooses the curriculum. For the elementary age, her class is more focused on introduction to the language and culture, so there is a lot of cooking and they play language games and so on.

 

7. Do you give grades? I am hoping not. Do you give a certificate at the end?

 

Our teacher does not grade elementary students. She sees it as a prep for her more intensive course. The older students are on a 4-5 year intensive study with the end goal thorough prep for taking the AP Spanish exam or....going blank on the name of the other exam and can't find my notes.

 

We were fortunate that this teacher has been teaching homeschool classes for years, so she has a clear vision for her classes. While she does work with a local homeschool co-op, our class is actually as private class for families who can't do the co-op days. :) I'd work with your teacher to find out what her expectations are for the class, particularly pay, class structure, and curriculum.

 

Cat

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