If you used LC1/LC2 and liked how it taught Latin; wwyd, SfC or SYRWTLS for Spanish??

[Colleen in NS]

I like all I've read so far about SYRWTLS, but then Spanish for Children caught my eye. I like the sample I found online. I like the way it puts verbs in a chart, and tells you how to conduct memory work, same way LC1 and 2 do for Latin. (and maybe SYRWTLS does this, I just didn't see it on the samples - does anyone know?)

 

I've searched the boards for info. on both these programs and read good things. I'm just wondering now, if anyone likes the way LC1 and 2 teach Latin, which would you choose for Spanish for a 5th grader and up, SfC, or SYRWTLS? And why?

 

Also, how do the two programs compare as far as content - do they give you the same training in Spanish grammar/writing/reading/speaking/listening, or does one not give as much as the other?

 

I see SfC only has the first level out - how reliable is the publisher when they say the next levels will be out in summer 2009 and 2010? I'd hate to start SfC, only to get stuck if they don't stick to this schedule. OTOH, I wonder if I could incorporate what I like about SfC into SYRWTLS - what do you think about that? I guess I just really like how LC1/2 teach Latin, and it would be easiest to continue somewhat in that pattern with Spanish.

 

Thanks!

[Patricia in WA]

I have not seen SfC. I have spoken/written with one|michele extensively about it. I have used LfC and I believe they are styled similarly.

 

Now with that said, I can say that LfC frustrated me endlessly. It did not in my opinion give the student enough. It did not explain the grammar as thoroughly as it could have. It did not give the student enough practicve of real material. It introduced the lesson then the worksheet was filling the lesson back in. The audio was MARVELOUS especially for my auditory child. But that year all he learned was the chants. He was ready for more. He was ready to translate and dig deep. He was only 8 at the time we tried LfC and he is not my language child. My number one complaint, however, is the number and level of errors. Read this thread.

 

SfC is aimed at a lower age group so the level of work will be lower. Only you know your student to know what he can handle.

 

HTHs,

[inashoe]

We are using Rosetta Stone for Spanish. It uses a completely different approach.

For example, the verbs are used in a phrase without formal teaching on what the various forms of the verb are.

But ... having the background from LC 1 and 2 where my son has seen clearly how the verb needs to be conjugated he completely understands why the verb is slightly different in a different situation, and knows what to look out for.

He says that RS is more effective than LC 1 and 2 - but I know that he wouldn't "get it" with RS as well as if he hadn't had that background that LC 1 and 2 gave him. ;)

[Colleen in NS]

My number one complaint, however, is the number and level of errors. Read this thread.

 

SfC is aimed at a lower age group so the level of work will be lower. Only you know your student to know what he can handle.

 

Hmmm....aimed at a lower age group clinches it for me. Ds needs more than that.

 

And wow about that errors thread!! I hadn't come across that in my searching. I quoted part of it here:

 

"Originally Posted by Christopher Perrin View Post

We will be posting an errata for this shortly.

 

I am sorry but I do not want to have to check a website every time I open a text I paid good money for. I know this may be an over exaggeration but at times that is how I felt about LfC A.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christopher Perrin View Post

Spanish for Children: We spent a great deal of time editing this text. We have not heard of hardly any errors in the text, "

 

Patricia, I totally agree with you about not wanting to have to check an errors page on a website, for something I've bought. I've done that a few times with LC2, and it *is* annoying. And see the part I italicized? I'm pretty sure that's bad grammar, and that, in professional correspondence about a product, makes me nervous. I'm so glad you pointed out this thread.

 

I also don't feel comfortable with starting a program (SfC) that may or may not get their next levels published when they say they will.

 

OK! So I'm sold on SYRWTLS! :D

Edited January 17, 2009 by Colleen in NS

[Susie in SWVA]

Not that you wanted to know this, but my son is using Rosetta Stone for Spanish and loves it. (Remember me - our sons are at about the same point in LCII.) He is making slow, but steady progress. It is very different from LCII, but it makes a nice change of pace.

 

Susie in SWVA, who loves Nova Scotia

[Colleen in NS]

Not that you wanted to know this, but my son is using Rosetta Stone for Spanish and loves it. (Remember me - our sons are at about the same point in LCII.) He is making slow, but steady progress. It is very different from LCII, but it makes a nice change of pace.

 

Susie in SWVA, who loves Nova Scotia

 

Yes, I remember you! I finally ordered my MP Henle guides - can't wait to have a look at them.

 

I've thought of RS many times. I just want something that teaches the grammar directly, in order. RS and the Learnables were too haphazard for me, and ds is frustrated by haphazardness, too. I'd probably use those as supplements to a grammar course (except that, financially, I have to choose one or the other - grammar or supplement).

 

Colleen, who also thought Virginia was beautiful and wonderfully WARM the few times we traveled through! (we are down to zero degrees F today here)