Annie Elle Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 I am trying to find a high school level Spanish for ds15. I love the price for Duolingo but it does not seem to have a grammar component. Are there any affordable high school level Spanish curriculums out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewdropfairy Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 I'm interested in other people's perspectives of Duolingo as well. I tried it out, but I wasn't crazy about it. In the tiny little bit that I did it seemed it was offering direct translations of French to English, rather than what Francophones would typically say. One example being, it taught how to say "my name is" rather than "I am called". I imagine Spanish would be structured in a similar manner. We're using RS for my gradeschoolers and I'd like to know more about High School level courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 I think it's a fantastic supplement, but no way would I call it enough for a full course. Think it's way better than RS, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 My kids have used RS and Duolingo as supplements and have taken classes at our local co op. Other homeschoolers in our area go to the community college here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountainmama Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 we decided to use mi vida loca and visual link - and then destinos and visual link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamnkats Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 We live in Mexico but I'm having my kids do Duolingo to get basic Spanish spelling down and vocabulary. I HATE the translations. They are stiff and not how we talk here (Mexico). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhschool Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Lava Mama Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 we decided to use mi vida loca and visual link - and then destinos and visual link Mi Vida Loca is wonderful! I like free! Are there any other resources like this for Spanish, or actually for any other foreign languages that you know of? Needs to be free. Thanks! Hot Lava Mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Mi Vida Loca is wonderful! I like free! Are there any other resources like this for Spanish, or actually for any other foreign languages that you know of? Needs to be free. Thanks! Hot Lava Mama For German, I just found (thanks to someone else who linked to the site) a video series called "Jojo sucht das Glück" that also has interactive grammar/vocab practice for after you've watched. Site is dw.de Can't embed links anymore since the board update... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 I think it's a fantastic supplement, but no way would I call it enough for a full course. Think it's way better than RS, though. Can you tell me why you feel it's better than RS? We have Duolingo free through our library, but it doesn't go very far. It's just basic tourist-y language skills and then stops. Plus, it translates everything, whereas RS is more immersion-like, and that seems like it would be more intuitive. I don't really like one over the other yet, as I've just started looking at them, so was wondering why you liked Duolingo better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Occasionally Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 For German, I just found (thanks to someone else who linked to the site) a video series called "Jojo sucht das Glück" that also has interactive grammar/vocab practice for after you've watched. Site is dw.de Can't embed links anymore since the board update... Thank you for this. I must have missed where it was posted earlier. I'm always :bigear: for stuff like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Occasionally Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Can you tell me why you feel it's better than RS? We have Duolingo free through our library, but it doesn't go very far. It's just basic tourist-y language skills and then stops. Plus, it translates everything, whereas RS is more immersion-like, and that seems like it would be more intuitive. I don't really like one over the other yet, as I've just started looking at them, so was wondering why you liked Duolingo better. Are you sure you're not talking about Mango languages through your library? Duolingo it its own site. duolingo.com I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Can you tell me why you feel it's better than RS? We have Duolingo free through our library, but it doesn't go very far. It's just basic tourist-y language skills and then stops. Plus, it translates everything, whereas RS is more immersion-like, and that seems like it would be more intuitive. I don't really like one over the other yet, as I've just started looking at them, so was wondering why you liked Duolingo better. Duolingo is free everywhere to anyone, it's not through the library. Are you sure it's not Mango languages you've got there (that comes free through many libraries)? But at any rate, that right there is one thing that's better - RS is hundreds of dollars. RS is pretty much say and repeat with pictures. My kids hated it and found it boring and wouldn't use it even if I begged. My dd will do Duolingo without any complaint - what gets done is better than what doesn't get done. (And RS is not immersion, no matter what their marketing materials say - immersion is an extended period of time in a place where you have no choice but to interact with other human beings in a foreign language.) Duolingo has a much better mix of activities. It is intuitive to work through and has built-in review and tells you when to do it. It has much more grammar. It doesn't translate for you that I've seen - it requires you to translate. Many of the translations are kludgy, which is why I wouldn't use it as a main program to teach Spanish, but it's great for review and extension, and oh yeah, it's free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Oops! Sorry! yes, it is Mango at the library! I looked at Duolingo too, and got them confused when I posted. Mango is the one that is free at the library, but doesn't seem to take you very far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Oops! Sorry! yes, it is Mango at the library! I looked at Duolingo too, and got them confused when I posted. Mango is the one that is free at the library, but doesn't seem to take you very far. Yeah, I wasn't very impressed with Mango when I looked at it. Duolingo is very different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 I am using Duolingo to refresh my French and I like it a lot but I have come across some things that are awkward (not really what you'd heard IRL) and in one case, a word that was technically correct but is used more as a lewd slang term. The reader comments on the lessons are worth looking into too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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