momma2three Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 DD goes to an after-school Spanish class. I'm kind of underwhelmed by how much she's learning. I know she's young and it's only 2 hours a week, and 6 year olds aren't necessarily the most reliable narrators, but still. We'll probably pull her at the end of the year and use a tutor. But I was thinking of supplementing at home. I think that Rosetta Stone is too pricey for us, and I have my doubts that it's intended for 6 year olds. I was actually thinking of just getting a textbook and working through it slowly. I don't think that there's much for 1st Grade Spanish, but I was thinking that a middle school textbook might work. I vaguely remember middle school French, and that the textbook was pretty gentle. That way I can be sure she's getting some vocabulary and grammar. I have no Spanish experience at all, which is the biggest issue. But I figure that if she keeps attending this class (at least for the rest of the year) she gets instruction in pronunciation from native language speakers (which the teachers all are). Next year we'll probably skip the class and get a tutor. Does that sound like more trouble than it's worth? Should I just hope that the class knows where it's going with this? (It's taught at a local immersion school that I've heard great things about). Any other suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Give it time. It takes a long time for children to absorb and begin speaking. If you want to supplement at home, go with Salsa Spanish videos, Youtube Mickey Mouse Club in Spanish, etc. Get Songschool Spanish and use the CD in the car. We also love this CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkacz Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Also check out your local library. Ours had Little Pim and Hola Amigos DVDs. My 5 and 7 year olds definitely showed an increase in Spanish vocabulary after watching them. I supplemented/reinforced them with some inexpensive Brighter Child workbooks and worksheets I printed off online. The library also had the Muzzy DVDs which I personally don't like because I feel the content is inappropriate for this age group and the words sounded fuzzy (not crisply pronounced). We are just about to start on the Salsa series next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahM Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Check out the Salsa Spanish videos and there are lesson plans from Wyoming Education ( I think it's Wyoming). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Didn't they recently publish Getting Started With Spanish? If it is as nice as the Latin version, that would be a nice, low-stress supplement. We like Salsa here, too. Check resources from your library. Ours has online access for Muzzy and Mango. They also have a lot of "First 1000 Words" books, board books, and children's stories translated from English (which is nice if you are all learners). There are a lot of internet resources for teaching beginning Spanish, playing vocabulary games and even worksheets. I would not recommend the slowly-through-a-textbook approach. I've tried that and it doesn't work well for this age group. They aren't ready to order at restaurants, indicative themselves to strangers or conjugate verbs, and those are all early, foundational things in textbooks. I've had the best luck doing something small but different everyday. Watch Salsa on Monday, read a boardbook Tuesday, online something Wednesday, etc. Keep it fun to keep her enthusiasm up. And so it is fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma2three Posted November 23, 2013 Author Share Posted November 23, 2013 Thank you everyone for your advice. We will look at Muzzy and Little Pim and similar things (I know that the library has some Spanish picture books with CDs that read the book aloud). Good advice about the textbook advice, and I think it's probably true... I'll hold off on buying anything like that until she's much older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 I think Getting Started With Spanish is an inexpensive text to go through. There are free audio files to go with it on the webpage. Or Song School Spanish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsmm Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 We are doing a few things- Salsa- my kids love this Discovery Education Streaming- Elementary Spanish Usborne's 1000 words in Spanish We are going to start labeling the house soon. Right now we have the rooms labeled only and are working on that. Every now and then we pull out the book and just read the words for fun. The kids enjoy learning the vocabulary for fun words like zoo animals. Duolingo- I'm doing this and then using the phrases at home. I don't speak Spanish at all, but I'm learning a bit at a time. Common phrases mostly. Spanish music- I love Jose- Luis Orozco's cds right now. We have the lyric books from the library too. The kids are picking up vocal from the songs very quickly. My kids each have a little Spanish from when they were in school- My dd has 2 years and son has 1 year, but they are little and didn't pick up a ton from school. So we are doing what we can at home for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenKitty Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 You may want to check out Learning Spanish like Crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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