Slache Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 And what were your favorite and least favorite programs and resources? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 We did Getting Started With Spanish & moved to Spanish for Children A. SfCA was a complete bust here (moved too quickly, not enough review, badly formatted for *us*). Went back to GSWS combined with Duolingo to keep things fresh. (You can take the answer key in the back of GSWS and try to translate from English back to Spanish.) We started late enough that we could move to La Clase DIvertida's high school Spanish I class this year. If not, I probably would have gone with the Practice Makes Perfect Spanish books combined with an audio component like Spanish in 10 minutes (which I have) or gotten a tutor/skype thing set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 We did Getting Started With Spanish & moved to Spanish for Children A. SfCA was a complete bust here (moved too quickly, not enough review, badly formatted for *us*). Went back to GSWS combined with Duolingo to keep things fresh. (You can take the answer key in the back of GSWS and try to translate from English back to Spanish.) We started late enough that we could move to La Clase DIvertida's high school Spanish I class this year. If not, I probably would have gone with the Practice Makes Perfect Spanish books combined with an audio component like Spanish in 10 minutes (which I have) or gotten a tutor/skype thing set up. We've been working on Spanish since he was 2 and I realized I forgot I wanted to speak Spanish all the time around him. I had such plans. Thanks to you I now have a Spanish board on Pinterest. Do you know what age range SYRWTLS is geared towards? So far I'm planning Song School Spanish for next year (K), followed by Getting Started With Spanish and Duolingo in first. That's all I really need for now, but I'd like to have a few ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 We did a whole lot with Spanish board books at the library. They are really colorful, simple to follow, and lots of repetition. Ds was four when we started, but he loved them until he was like 7. Now we use the Spanish leveled readers. Our library just got a very large grant to purchase a huge selection of them and I wish we had them years ago. I have found them to be quite helpful in basically doing what we did for English only in Spanish. It has transitioned Spanish past a school subject into a way to learn in general. At about six, I started speaking a few everyday phrases in Spanish. "Venn aqui", "Cepille sus dientes, por favor", "Te amo", really simple ones. Slowly, but surely I began to start expanding the sentences to call him to set the table or to begin school or to ask what he wanted for lunch. Along those lines. It began to create an atmosphere where speaking Spanish at home or out in public was not weird. He now will answer me in Spanish as well for short exchanges. I'm not pushing it. We play games in Spanish as well, unless Dad is playing. Dad does not speak Spanish and gets uncomfortable around it. However, once your kid knows basic colors and to count to fifteen most games can be played without English. Sorry, Uno, Trouble, Go Fish, Phase Ten, Yatzee, CandyLand. It is a fun one and another way to make the language everyday. Salsa! on GPB is fantastic! It is free, fun, and has helped Ds speak freely more than just about anything else. Those are all I can think of right now...but I can come back if I think of any more. We play silly vocab games, but those require a bit of knowlegde under your belt first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I can't help you with a curriculum, but I just wanted to say that I have two children who were completely fluent in a second language by the time they were about 21. Both of them have said that what helped them the most in those early stages and stayed with them even throughout high school and college were the songs they learned that taught basic vocabulary. Once those songs were stuck in their heads, they never, ever forgot them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I don't know the age range for SYRWTLS. I don't claim our way was 'right' in any way, shape, or form. My oldest is my test monkey. (She dislikes me referring to her as a guinea pig. Let's see what she thinks of 'test monkey.' :laugh: ) There are lots of threads on here about different programs for elementary & their pros & cons. Song School Spanish, I have heard, is fantastic. Feel free to email CAP & let them know you want another level when you are done with SSS1. They aren't currently planning on another level, but that could change if they get a lot of requests. :coolgleamA: We've encouraged our dd#1 to listen to spanish radio and watch her favorite movies with the spanish audio track. Her younger siblings make a lot of noise when she tries to watch in Spanish, so she doesn't get to do it very often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 We have taken a very eclectic approach so far. In addition to Salsa! and two years of weekly tutor visits, we also spent a year cherry-picking a Rod and Staff -written in Spanish- program that I think they sell to missionaries. It is heavily religious and I want secular, so I gave it up. The Mexican government has some if its curriculum on line. It was amazingly slow to load, and I never found anything I could use extensively, but hope springs eternal! Having them read me selections in Spanish has been great. Last year we were working on Sapo y Sepo, this year they read a couple of Geronimo Stilton books (chapter at a time, popcorn-style). Now we are moving into some old grammar texts I have with short stories. Now that my dc are old enough to start "getting" some of the grammar rules, and following the lead of GSWL, I am using Spanish Now! It is similar to Practice Makes Perfect or Breaking the Barrier, but has more cartoons, which are still held in high regard here. Shrug. One day a week we use a page or two from a bilingual reading comprehension book. It is easy, but the topics are varied. We also have a day a week of watching some (random) thing on the internet - stories, fables, brainpop en español, pocoyo, etc. If you particularly want a curriculum, I spent a long time last year having at Spanish for Chicos y Grandes, or Santillamo (spelling? Sorry) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I use Salsa Spanish and the free lesson plans that go with each episode from the Wyoming Department of Education for K-2. For 3 and 4th I use The Complete Book of Spanish and REAL Homeschool Spanish. For 5th I use Getting Started with Spanish and REAL Homeschool Spanish. I also try to talk to the kids in Spanish as much as I can. I need to be better about getting Spanish books for them and making them watch some cartoons and TV shows in Spanish as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 A little off topic, but I have often wondered why there aren't any primary grade texts from either Mexico or Spain around. It has always seemed logical to me that using such texts would be a good way to teach Spanish...just like we teach English here. I've not been able to churn up any, though. Admittedly, I didn't look for curriculum from Spain. Would that potentially be easier to come by/better produced? Our progression was... - Teach Them Spanish K and then 1 coordinated with Whistlefritz and Little Pim DVDs + pronunciations from Forvo - Tried and dumped Risas y Sonrisas - Song School Spanish - Trying to figure out what's next I hope you get a lot of responses. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAttachedMama Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 OT, but I totally love your profile picture Slache!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Pay 200.00 per year Make my dd use Rosetta Stone 4x per week for 20 minutes Hope that something sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 We did a whole lot with Spanish board books at the library. They are really colorful, simple to follow, and lots of repetition. Ds was four when we started, but he loved them until he was like 7. Now we use the Spanish leveled readers. Our library just got a very large grant to purchase a huge selection of them and I wish we had them years ago. I have found them to be quite helpful in basically doing what we did for English only in Spanish. It has transitioned Spanish past a school subject into a way to learn in general. At about six, I started speaking a few everyday phrases in Spanish. "Venn aqui", "Cepille sus dientes, por favor", "Te amo", really simple ones. Slowly, but surely I began to start expanding the sentences to call him to set the table or to begin school or to ask what he wanted for lunch. Along those lines. It began to create an atmosphere where speaking Spanish at home or out in public was not weird. He now will answer me in Spanish as well for short exchanges. I'm not pushing it. We play games in Spanish as well, unless Dad is playing. Dad does not speak Spanish and gets uncomfortable around it. However, once your kid knows basic colors and to count to fifteen most games can be played without English. Sorry, Uno, Trouble, Go Fish, Phase Ten, Yatzee, CandyLand. It is a fun one and another way to make the language everyday. Salsa! on GPB is fantastic! It is free, fun, and has helped Ds speak freely more than just about anything else. Those are all I can think of right now...but I can come back if I think of any more. We play silly vocab games, but those require a bit of knowlegde under your belt first. This is essentially what we've always done, but with more emphasis. Attempting to promote a bilingual lifestyle I would say? We also listen to Spanish radio and we have some neighbors his age he speaks Spanglish with. My husband is on board and he's reading GSWS and using Duolingo. Eta: Did you ever encounter a problem teaching them to read Spanish and English at the same time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 I can't help you with a curriculum, but I just wanted to say that I have two children who were completely fluent in a second language by the time they were about 21. Both of them have said that what helped them the most in those early stages and stayed with them even throughout high school and college were the songs they learned that taught basic vocabulary. Once those songs were stuck in their heads, they never, ever forgot them. Thanks! This is awesome to know. You don't happen to know where I can find what they used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 I use Salsa Spanish and the free lesson plans that go with each episode from the Wyoming Department of Education for K-2. For 3 and 4th I use The Complete Book of Spanish and REAL Homeschool Spanish. For 5th I use Getting Started with Spanish and REAL Homeschool Spanish. I also try to talk to the kids in Spanish as much as I can. I need to be better about getting Spanish books for them and making them watch some cartoons and TV shows in Spanish as well. You know that movie you've seen 8,000 times? Watch that in Spanish. It should have the option. Libre Soy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 The CTY elementary Spanish courses use Espanol para Chicos y Grandes, as I recall. Has anyone used this after Song School or GSWS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Thanks! This is awesome to know. You don't happen to know where I can find what they used? Sorry, did a quick google search, but couldn't come up with them. Too long ago! There are probably a lot of good ones out there by now though. It was a DVD/workbook set (we had one for French and one for Spanish). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 My son had a nanny who was Malaysian. She spoke Mandrin will him 100 percent of the time 40 hours a week for two years (ages 1 - 3.5) This caused reading conflict. Mandrin is read completely backwards from English. I mean actually backwards, right to left or up and down, book held from back to front. We would have to reset Ds' finger and say, "In English." Never harsh, but just constant. As soon as he was really able to understand that Yen's books/print was different than our print (thankfully drastically different) then it was no biggie. For a bit we were worried about dyslexia until I realized it was just me being a cultural moron! We did not start reading in Spanish until he had two years of English reading down pretty cold. Before that I would read in Spanish, he would watch me move my finger. That stopped the conflict. Reading in Spanish is almost no different than reading in English other than a few sounds/letter combos. Once he was rocking along in English, we used the same basic stuff to teach Spanish, adding in the extra letters/accents. Compared to the Mandrin, no contest on ease of transition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Okay, whoa. I need to hear more about this. What exactly does this curriculum teach? Spanish as it would be taught in a Spanish school setting? That's what it seems from looking at their site. https://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Libros_en_Espanol/ Does anyone know any other publishers that offer something similar? This makes so much sense to me...to study a language from the ground up. Why does no one teach it this way? We have taken a very eclectic approach so far. In addition to Salsa! and two years of weekly tutor visits, we also spent a year cherry-picking a Rod and Staff -written in Spanish- program that I think they sell to missionaries. It is heavily religious and I want secular, so I gave it up.The Mexican government has some if its curriculum on line. It was amazingly slow to load, and I never found anything I could use extensively, but hope springs eternal!Having them read me selections in Spanish has been great. Last year we were working on Sapo y Sepo, this year they read a couple of Geronimo Stilton books (chapter at a time, popcorn-style). Now we are moving into some old grammar texts I have with short stories.Now that my dc are old enough to start "getting" some of the grammar rules, and following the lead of GSWL, I am using Spanish Now! It is similar to Practice Makes Perfect or Breaking the Barrier, but has more cartoons, which are still held in high regard here. Shrug.One day a week we use a page or two from a bilingual reading comprehension book. It is easy, but the topics are varied.We also have a day a week of watching some (random) thing on the internet - stories, fables, brainpop en español, pocoyo, etc.If you particularly want a curriculum, I spent a long time last year having at Spanish for Chicos y Grandes, or Santillamo (spelling? Sorry) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Does anyone know of seat work that coordinates with Salsa Spanish? (Or, a blog that has coordinated a resource book with it?) Salsa didn't used to be an option for us due to internet-usage constraints, but now we can stream. :) Looks like it might be good for the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Does anyone know of seat work that coordinates with Salsa Spanish? (Or, a blog that has coordinated a resource book with it?) Salsa didn't used to be an option for us due to internet-usage constraints, but now we can stream. :) Looks like it might be good for the summer. http://edu.wyoming.gov/educators/standards/foreign-language/ Also, MEP is available in Spanish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 You might also check out Santillanausa.com I remember a board member having luck purchasing a homeschool-appropriate set-up. I'm waiting for the opportunity to travel to a Spanish speaking country and raid the classrooms.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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