pocjets Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Any suggestions on which language to do in K? I've had 6 years of French (don't remember much) and I prefer this language but I feel like Spanish is a more practical language now. Any thoughts?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Speaking from recent experience, I studied French both in h.s. and college, but started to teach my dc in K and 1st grade Spanish b/c we live in SoCal. My Spanish is not as strong as my French. I was willing to keep plugging along, but my youngest, who was acutely interested in learning French instead, begged me to teach them French instead. So, we switched and I can tell you I could not be happier. It is such a joy to be teaching a language that I have so much more familiarity with. I can feel all of the language which lay dormant in my brain for so long coming back, whereas I had to work much harder with the Spanish. As for whether Spanish is more practical -- I think that depends on maybe where you live and if you might have access to native speakers on a regular basis. On the other hand, French (I believe) is more widely spoken in the world than Spanish. My vote is that you teach them French! You have the background in it already, which will make it much easier to teach and stick to, and it's a very practical language to learn to boot. If anything, you are giving your kids the gift of being able to acquire another language later in life more easily (i.e., Spanish). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osaubi Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I have been doing the Salsa program as a part of a co-op. All of the materials are free. It is written for teachers that do not speak Spanish. If you look at the parents and educators section you will find detailed lesson plans for free as well. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Teach the language you are more familiar with. I'm teaching my kids German and Spanish, but only because those are the languages I speak. As to whether Spanish is "more useful", I have to say that I worked for almost a decade in international marketing and product localization for software companies, and the two languages that were most important were German and... French. My Spanish ended up only being useful in that it made it much easier to understand French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I'm teaching Spanish informally but that's because it is the language I learned in high school. In your situation I'd go with French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 We're doing Spanish, but we live in Texas and therefore have quite a few native speakers. We may pick up French in the future (I find it easier to speak, although I know more Spanish) if Ariel wants to do that. However, since you seem more comfortable with French, I'd start with that and add Spanish later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Teach the language you are more familiar with. I'm teaching my kids German and Spanish, but only because those are the languages I speak. As to whether Spanish is "more useful", I have to say that I worked for almost a decade in international marketing and product localization for software companies, and the two languages that were most important were German and... French. My Spanish ended up only being useful in that it made it much easier to understand French. I worked as a Spanish translator for a software localization company back in the UK for a decade too. My company had a big Spanish department, just as big as the French and German departments, and bigger than other departments such as the Portuguese, Italian and Dutch departments, etc. So for me Spanish was very useful in my professional career. Having said that, I would choose the language I was more familiar with. You probably have already a love for that language and that culture and those are important aspects to transmit when teaching a language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyTN Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I had initially wanted to teach/learn Spanish because of the practicality. BUT I took French in High School and I just love the language and I feel drawn to it. I will teach the kids French (and hopefully continue Latin). Maybe they'll take Spanish for their High School Reqs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellyndria Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I have been doing the Salsa program as a part of a co-op. All of the materials are free. It is written for teachers that do not speak Spanish. If you look at the parents and educators section you will find detailed lesson plans for free as well. HTH I just looked at that site... am I missing something? I can't view the first episode..what I think is the first episode anyway. Episode 101: Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I see the little watch link next to the titles of some of the other episodes when you click on that episode (haven't looked at them all). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osaubi Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I just looked at that site... am I missing something? I can't view the first episode..what I think is the first episode anyway. Episode 101: Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I see the little watch link next to the titles of some of the other episodes when you click on that episode (haven't looked at them all). No you didn't. For some reason they didn't put the first episode on the website. I found and used this from you tube for our first week. I advised everyone of the issue of the first episode. All of the other episodes have the link to watch them on the Salsa website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellyndria Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 How odd. Thanks for the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Ooh, thanks for the link to the first Salsa episode excerpts! Looking at archived copies of the page at archive.org, it looks as though the first episode used to be available online. I've emailed them at ask@gpb.org to request that the link be fixed. Maybe it would help if others asked too. ;) :) Carolyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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