I'm failing at teaching a foreign language. :(

[Cindyz]

I feel like I'm doing a great job with everything except Spanish! For the most part, I researched curricula obsessively and carefully before kindergarten and picked and stuck with what we've picked for most subjects ... except Spanish. We started with Singapore, stuck with that. Same with WWE, FLL, Phonics Road, Elemental Science, etc. In general, I'm not a flip flopper.

 

However for Spanish, I have tried all sorts of things. I tried Elementary Spanish on the Discovery Network (ordered expensive workbooks for it as well), tried Getting Started with Spanish, Rosetta Stone Home School Edition ... nothing is working. At first I loved Rosetta Stone because it has workbook pages and it's something you just follow along with step by step on the computer, but I guess it's not enough because my son is just so frustrated with it that it usually turns to tears (he can't get the pronunciations correct a lot of the time). One big problem with Rosetta Stone is that my son sees the exercises as more of a puzzle than learning the words. For instance, it may say some words in Spanish and show 4 pictures. You have to pick the picture that the corresponds to the words. So for him, it's more of a process of elimination than remembering what the words he's hearing and corresponding to mean. My son has an excellent memory for most everything, but the Rosetta Stone system just isn't working.

 

I do know some Spanish (had 4 years of it in high school/college), but not enough to be conversational, but plenty to help out where he's at.

 

So what Spanish curriculum works in your house? I'd really prefer something that is all in one, but if the best option is piecemeal, I'll consider that too. :)

 

Thanks so much!

Edited October 24, 2012 by Cindyz

[Embassy]

:grouphug:

 

I'm not doing Spanish with my kids, but I have found that using curriculum or materials in an interactive way works best. I'm not sure if you are doing that. I tried Rosetta Stone for 3 years and had little progress to show for the time spent. I switched to something that we do together. Doing Rosetta Stone together helped, but my kids have done better with a curriculum that teaches a concept and gives many opportunities to practice. If those practices aren't enough to solidify a concept we redo them until my child is comfortable with the concept.

 

Also, I'd consider your expectations. Learning a foreign language is a slow process that requires lots of time.

 

I'd try something interactive where you continue to another lesson when your child has a lesson mastered. Vocabulary memorization can be done with you. I help my kids use strategies to remember vocabulary.

 

HTH

[Sarah CB]

I feel like I'm doing a great job with everything except Spanish! For the most part, I researched curricula obsessively and carefully before kindergarten and picked and stuck with what we've picked for most subjects ... except Spanish. We started with Singapore, stuck with that. Same with WWE, FLL, Phonics Road, Elemental Science, etc. In general, I'm not a flip flopper.

 

However for Spanish, I have tried all sorts of things. I tried Elementary Spanish on the Discovery Network (ordered expensive workbooks for it as well), tried Getting Started with Spanish, Rosetta Stone Home School Edition ... nothing is working. At first I loved Rosetta Stone because it has workbook pages and it's something you just follow along with step by step on the computer, but I guess it's not enough because my son is just so frustrated with it that it usually turns to tears (he can't get the pronunciations correct a lot of the time). One big problem with Rosetta Stone is that my son sees the exercises as more of a puzzle than learning the words. For instance, it may say some words in Spanish and show 4 pictures. You have to pick the picture that the corresponds to the words. So for him, it's more of a process of elimination than remembering what the words he's hearing and corresponding to mean. My son has an excellent memory for most everything, but the Rosetta Stone system just isn't working.

 

I do know some Spanish (had 4 years of it in high school/college), but not enough to be conversational, but plenty to help out where he's at.

 

So what Spanish curriculum works in your house? I'd really prefer something that is all in one, but if the best option is piecemeal, I'll consider that too. :)

 

Thanks so much!

 

I hate to recommend another curriculum, but with the age of your ds I would try The Easy Spanish. I haven't used the Spanish version, but I did use the French version with my kids. My daughter started with The Easy French with me and when she was in grade 5 or 6 and then she moved into their more independent program (same curriculum, just different level and geared to an older age group). She used TEF for a few years and then she had one year where she did a French conversational class at the rec centre and worked through a grammar text. After that year she went into grade 11 in high school and took French 11 and ended up with a mark in the 90's.

 

I'm only mentioning her success in French 11 because I agonized over the French so much. I didn't feel I had a lot of capability to help her past the first level of TEF that we did together so essentially she self-studied for a few years.

 

I like The Easy French because the approach makes sense to me. It also teaches the French phonograms which I think provides an excellent foundation.

 

I did TEF Jr with my boys when they were smaller and loved it. Now they're all in French classes with our co-op so we no longer do French at home.

[Miss Tick]

If you know some Spanish you are in a GREAT position to teach Spanish!

 

I agree with PP that it is good to consider what your expectations are. It took me a while to sit down and do that, but then I became less frustrated because I realized that Spanish was not one of the subjects I consider most important, and I really wanted them to get a base of vocabulary words and an "ear" for it. Anything over that is icing.

 

We need to do it piecemeal to keep it interesting. Once a week(ish) I pay a woman to come spend an hour with them playing games, working on a Spanish Syllabary, and reading them a story or two. We watch a Salsa episode once a week, read a story from the library once a week and twice we do a lesson from R&S.

 

The R&S Spanish is an exception to our secular homeschool (and it is a big exception). It is really an elementary program for native speakers. I like the extensive, basic vocabulary and the incorporated reading instruction. Since my dc already read in English we can easily hit the high points of a lesson (and 4 worksheets) in about 1/2 an hour. The catch is that the teacher text is all in Spanish, but it is formulaic, so if you know some Spanish it is not too much work to figure out the instructions. I bought a teacher's guide, the reading book, and the exercise workbook only - all for year 1.

 

You might also check out Español para Chicos y Grandes. I'm thinking about this as a follow-on.

[Halcyon]

We struggled with Spanish too! IT's going a bit easier now, although it still isnt our easiest subject (and I speak some Spanish).

 

We dropped formal curricula. I use Senor Jordan's videos, which we watch and then practice together every day. We learn new words focused on different areas of our life each week. For example, the body one week, the kitchen another, the school room another. We watch Senor Wooly videos too, which my kids love.

 

We also got some early readers out of the library in Spanish.

 

Good luck.

[Arcadia]

Also, I'd consider your expectations. Learning a foreign language is a slow process that requires lots of time.

 

I agree. My expectations for my kids Chinese and German is lower than my expectations for language arts. I am going for a slower pace for their foreign languages.

[anabelneri]

Another good way to get started with young'uns is just through listening to music that has both English and Spanish. When I started French with dd we listened to every bilingual CD that I could get from the library until we could sing along with them. The car became a French-music-only zone. There are a lot of great CDs out there.

 

Another resource we found at our library was Muzzy. That was actually the way that we really got going -- the movie was engaging enough (and simple enough) to pull my daughter in, and then we listened to the CD in the car for a long time after that. I'm not sure if I would buy it at the usual price -- the animation is OLD and it's really pricey -- but it really helped us get going.

 

One thing I've found is that most foreign language programs out there are really geared for older kids. My daughter used to play on Rosetta Stone, but she stopped enjoying it too. We had good luck with the Learnables for quite a while (it's story-based at heart), but that petered out too.

 

Good luck! But totally see what your library has that you can use. With foreign language you have to be like a dog gnawing on a bone (or like the captain in the movie GalaxyQuest: "Never give up! Never surrender!").

 

:)

[Mom0012]

We started out with La Clase. After level 2, we switched to GSWS. Loved that! Then we skimmed La Clase 3 for vocab since I had already purchased it, but most of the material in it otherwise had been covered in GSWS.

 

My dd is now using Homeschool Spanish Academy online. She loves it.

 

My son is using Pimsleur and that seems to be a great fit for him. He is also learning all the vocab my dd is learning through HSA since Pimsleur is light on vocab.

 

Lisa

[Holly]

I wasn't getting to our Spanish lessons, so I started having them watch Salsa videos (free online). We've been reviewing the words in the car or as we do chores. It's not perfect, but it's all I can fit in for now. :blushing:

[heritagelearningacademy]

We started out with La Clase. After level 2, we switched to GSWS. Loved that! Then we skimmed La Clase 3 for vocab since I had already purchased it, but most of the material in it otherwise had been covered in GSWS.

 

My dd is now using Homeschool Spanish Academy online. She loves it.

 

My son is using Pimsleur and that seems to be a great fit for him. He is also learning all the vocab my dd is learning through HSA since Pimsleur is light on vocab.

 

Lisa

 

What is GSWS?

[Mama Geek]

I have dd in a mom and tot class through Lango. It is an immersion class. We have only been 2 weeks and so far I am happy with it. The teacher speaks 99% Spanish in the class. They do classes for older kids as well.

 

I had 4 years in high school and never got to where I could converse in it either. I am hoping to raise dd to be bilingual, so I found this program and thought it was a good start.

 

I am also using Lil' Pim videos a couple of times a week but that is geared towards toddlers.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I strongly believe that if you want to learn a language, really learn it, you need to speak it and hear it. As often as possible. In as many situations as possible. To be mastered, I think foreign languages must be made an important part of the day, not a subject confined to a curriculum or just a subject to be checked off on a list.

 

Label your home. Label everything in your home in Spanish.

 

Post verb conjugation sheets in each room. The most common verbs and the most common verbs for that particular room (kitchen: cook, eat, cut, wash, etc.).

 

Lead them in conversational Spanish every day. Pick a time of day, every day, when everyone is to speak Spanish only. Don't know how to say it in Spanish? Look it up, translate it, write in on an index card to reference next time. Get each kid a big pile of index cards, a hole punch, and a D-ring. They can make their own phrase books and carry them around. (They can carry them around all the time, even outside the house.) Make verbs red, nouns blue, adjectives, green, etc. Make a section for phrases repeated often. Gradually accumulate vocabulary and grammar. Use it over and over and over and over... You will learn it by heart by using it. Talk to them in Spanish throughout the day or at least for a part of the day, just like you would talk to an infant or toddler. They will pick it up through repetition.

 

If you have a smart phone or a computer, you have an instant translator. Leave the site or app up and you are good to translate immediately, in any situation. Teach the kids the most important phrase of all: Como se dice? :D Make them ask and/or look it up, depending on age. Get a really great Spanish dictionary. Have the kids use it for reference and to add words to their homemade phrase books. Consider letting them start a Waldorf style Spanish/English phrasebook, dictionary, etc. formatted however they like.

 

Read Spanish picture books, even for kids who have outgrown picture books (although I personally do not believe anyone outgrows picture books, ever :tongue_smilie:). Read the book in English, then in Spanish. Note how the phrasing differs/changes. When they are older, they can translate.

 

Regardless of whether a kid is 8, 10, 12, 40 (that's me LOL), start with baby steps. Don't get overwhelmed by a curriculum (or worse, everything that's out there). Don't get overwhelmed by how much is unknown and left to be learned. Just focus on starting. In his writing seminar, Andrew Pudewa talks about how we learn foreign languages all wrong and that we should learn them like we learned English. Like toddlers. One word. Repeat ad nauseum. Add new word. Repeat ad nauseum. Learn new word, etc., etc. Eventually, we will be fluent. When we try to tackle giant lists, we get overwhelmed and give up. No one would give a giant vocab list to a toddler. But like Pudewa says, somehow 4 year old Japanese kids are fluent in Japanese, 4 year old German kids are fluent in German, 4 year old French kids are fluent in French, etc.

 

Anyway, just my two cents. Living language, acquiring it slowly but surely, will get you there...tortoise style. :tongue_smilie:

[Reya]

Madrigals' Magic Key to Spanish is a GREAT place to start. It basically teaches Spanish starting with cognates, and the gradual grammar and tons of practice is awesome.