Homeschool Spanish Academy

This morning at 9 AM, both of my sons logged into their Spanish lessons on Google Meet.  Each had a 50-minute private lesson with a native Spanish speaker and trained tutor, who teaches from Guatemala.  Neither son complained.  Both enjoy their lessons and are developing beautiful accents, a love for the language, and an interest in other cultures.  I highly recommend Homeschool Spanish Academy.  

https://www.spanish.academy/

One week with Speekee Accelarate

Bug was so resistant to taking online Spanish lessons via Skype that I agreed that he would not have to do so, even though I think it is the best way to learn.  We decided to try Speekee.  We used that program briefly years ago, but he was so little, and we had trouble sticking with it.  It turns out, they have something called Speekee Accelerate for kids his age.  Bug is 9. 

I eagerly signed up for it, as it promised to do all the Spanish prep for me. 

There are four videos a week.  The first was pretty good, although only 4 minutes long.  The other videos turned out to last only a few seconds each!  I am really not happy about it. 

Obviously, Bug has prior experience with Spanish, but it's just not enough material in my opinion, even for a beginner. Each week seems more like part of one day's material to me.  So, I guess that's how we will use it, and then we will have to figure out something else to try. 

It did spark interest though, and after he watched the videos for days 2-4, he was trying to figure out how to say that his brother is dumb in Spanish.  

I will update, if my opinion changes.  

Three Weeks of Spanish for You!

After 3 weeks of Spanish for You!, I am still very happy and impressed with the program.  It gives me the structure that I need, and it is easy to adapt and modify to my children's needs. 

Because Bug's age level moves more slowly than Bee's, my original plan was to supplement Bee and keep him at the same pace as Bug.  However, after three weeks, Bee has clearly mastered everything in lesson 1, so we are moving onto lesson 2, giving him more vocabulary and more practice with different verbs.  And we'll just keep moving him on. 

So, what I'm liking about Spanish for You! is the focus on constructing sentences and learning through play.  It is better to practice making sentences out of a few words than to learn a whole lot of words and not to be able to use them.  The latter is what I experienced in my language classes in school. 

What I am not liking is how cumbersome it is to go through the folders and files and print everything. 

Also, we heard the author say "listo" on one of the native speaker audio files, and Bee and I were quite honestly appalled at her pronunciation, which is far worse than mine (or Bee's).  I will not be using any of her non-native speaker audio files.  I'm sure that the author of this excellent series could improve her pronunciation with some lessons online .

Another thing I don't like is that this is Spain Spanish rather than Latin American Spanish. 

But let me qualify my complaints by saying that this is by far the absolute BEST curriculum for I have found so far for teaching my own children at home, and I'm extremely grateful for it, feel that my money was well spent, and I intend to buy more in this series.  It has given me the structure that I need to work with my children on Spanish at home. 

I do NOT think it is better than having them learn from a native speaker, but I just need a break from having so much of our day scheduled. 

Spanish for you! one week in

So, I am using Spanish for you! conversaciones this year with Bee (7th grade) and Bug (3rd grade).  I have bought a couple of other Spanish programs in the past that have not worked out for us.  Bee has done very well in previous years with online Spanish lessons via Skype using Homeschool Spanish Academy, but we are taking a temporary break from that, in the interests of not having too much stuff scheduled.  I highly recommend the program though.

So, we went through Week 1 of our Spanish for You! program.  It was wonderful.  It has 4 days written for each week, which is perfect.  If I am able to do Spanish all five days in a week, I can easily add a game or enrichment activity on Friday.

Each day, I read aloud a short toddler-level book in Spanish.  I have a small library of Spanish toddler books for our homeschool.  I tried to pick ones that contained vocabulary appropriate to our unit.  We also sang "the eensy weensy spider" in Spanish each day.  Bee already knows this song well, and Bug learned it.  Dot loved watching it each day.  We'll continue singing it and add another one next week.

In the past I have always gone overboard, wanting to read multiple books a day.  I tried last year doing 3 songs a month, but learning them all at once.  I think it's much easier to learn one song a week and then review ones learned in the past.  If we learn a longer song, we might take multiple weeks to learn all verses.

I made some adaptations to the worksheets.  Bee filled one out completely, but another we did orally.  This is better practice in some ways anyway.  For Bug, we mostly did it orally.  I had him do some journal work where he illustrated Spanish sentences from his worksheet.  We also adapted the vocabulary games as needed.

Bee was capable of going through his vocabulary cards on his own.  Bug needs me to do it with him, and to do it in such a way that he doesn't feel pressured.  He can be very perfectionist.  The "te gusta" activity suggested by the program worked well.

One thing I didn't like is that the way I received the files was rather cumbersome, and I have all these folders of extracted files.  They are a bit annoying to go through.  But it works.

The 3rd and 4th grade level of our unit has 30 activities, while the 7th and 8th grade level moves a little faster, with 24 activities.  I think I will just extend Bee's program a little, so that he stays on the same chapter as his brother.  I have plenty of games, books, and activities at the house that can provide some enrichment for him.  This is not a complaint about the program, just an observation that a little adaptation may be needed when doing 2 levels at once. 

I am happy and excited about the unit we are doing "conversaciones."  I have even learned some playground words that I did not know.  Both Bee and Bug are retaining their new words, and I'm overall very impressed with the program.  I am a high-intermediate Spanish speaker, and it is working well for me.  I really like the structure and all of the ideas for fun activities. 

Planning Spanish

As I wrote yesterday, my big focus for this year is Spanish.  I speak at a high intermediate level but have had great difficulty adding Spanish effectively into our homeschool and home, particularly with Bug.  

One thing I want to introduce into our homeschool this year is Spanish skits and short plays.  I am going to try and get my boys to memorize several throughout the year and perform them for their dad (or grandparents, etc).  I think this will be a good way to get them more comfortable speaking in sentences. 

I have some books of short plays by Teacher Created Materials that I hope to use, but they are a little bit long and complicated to start out with.  They are also not really designed for kids learning Spanish; they are intended as Spanish readers for Spanish speaking kids.  They look like a lot of fun though--I am just worried about overwhelming Bug, who is only 7 and can be insecure about speaking Spanish. 

I was delighted to find some great skits at Teachers pay Teachers.  I spent $18 to download 18.  I was nervous about spending that much without seeing any of the skits, but the bundle had really good reviews, and I am very pleased with them.  I think they will be a lot of fun and will surely be enough material for the semester. 

My daily plan will look like this (to be done 3 days a week):

1)  We will sing 3 Spanish songs, rotating songs each month. 
2)  I will read them a short Spanish book (on toddler level).
3) We will do a quick calendar time on the dry erase board. 
4)  We will work with vocabulary cards, rotating themes each month. 
5)  We will practice some Spanish questions, from my Risas and Sonrisas curriculum. 
6)  Journaling (they will illustrate a Spanish sentence in a journal). 
7)  We will work on a skit. 

On Friday we will skip everything but the singing, book, and skit and play a game.  We may possibly also watch a video in Spanish.  

I am not sure if this will be too much, but I want to spend at least an hour on Spanish, and most of the things won't take too long.  If it is too much, I will adjust as needed. 

In addition, we will be listening to Spanish songs in the car, which is something we have always done regularly in the past. 

All of this Spanish during the school day should get me in "Spanish mode" and speaking more to them during our daily life. 

I am really hopeful that this works out.  I'll try and write at the end of the semester about how it went. 

Homeschool Spanish Academy: A Review

There are tons of methods for learning Spanish and other foreign languages out there.  Most are bad.  A few are good.  If I had to recommend only one tool for learning Spanish it would be private lessons via Skype, and one company I can highly recommend is Homeschool Spanish Academy.

A little background on me:  I have wanted to learn Spanish all of my life.  I never really felt complete or fully educated only speaking one language (I took dead languages in college).  Finally, a few years ago, I realized that I needed to do it or it might never happen.  If I didn't act, I might die monolingual and unfulfilled!  I started with a lot of audio options and eventually started taking private lessons on Skype.  I took the kids to Panama for a month in 2013, where we each had private lessons and stayed with a Panamanian family.  I have continued taking private Spanish lessons online off and on over the months.  I am at a high intermediate level in Spanish and feel comfortable helping my kids with it.  Both of my kids can understand quite a bit of Spanish, know many words, and Bee can form simple sentences. 

Based on my understanding of the process of language acquisition as well as my personal experience learning Spanish, I recommend private lessons with a native speaker because interaction with a native (or near native) speaker in the language is THE KEY to learning. You get so much more for your learning with private lessons than you do for any sort of software package (which in my opinion are a waste of money--I'll write about that in another post).  You also get something even more valuable; your child gets the opportunity to know an individual from another culture. 

My son Bee, age 10, takes lessons from Homeschool Spanish Academy from a teacher in Guatemala.  He only did one lesson a a week last year, but a child who is a little more focused could easily do more than that.  This year he will be doing twice a week, and if he does well with that and we have time, I would love to add another day.  I have found the program to be very customizable and child friendly.  The prices are incredible for what you get, a highly educated, friendly native Spanish speaker to work with your child or children (they offer semi-private options as well as private). The lessons for the younger kids last 30 minutes, which is just the right amount of time. 

I would sign Bug up for lessons too, but he's feeling really shy about it, so I'm not going to push him... yet.  I do have plans to bribe him to get over his nervousness, but perhaps after he turns 7.  For now, I will just work with him on my own.  

I took a couple of months of lessons from Homeschool Spanish Academy myself, had lessons with 5 of the teachers, and was so impressed.  I recommend it for adults too. 

It's easy to sign up for lessons at the time you want, and you can choose your preferred teacher (from those available).  They have a number of different packages and a free trial lesson.  All the teachers do speak English, so the parent or child can communicate with the teacher in English if needed.  It's also great to have an option where you don't have to drive anywhere.  They have late afternoon and evening times for courses too, so it's an option for kids who are in traditional school, as well as kids who are homeschooled. 

We Americans tend to think that learning a language is difficult-to-impossible, because the approaches used in our classrooms typically don't work very well.  I would like everyone out there to know that it is very possible to learn a foreign language.  I learned Spanish in my 30's and am going to continue my studies.  I hope to try to learn Mandarin one day too.  I would encourage anyone of any age who wants to learn any language to take the approach of interaction with a human being who speaks the language, which is the way that our brains are wired to learn language. Going to another country and becoming completely immersed in the new language is the BEST way, but that's not usually practical or affordable, and I think that finding a teacher who can interact with you in the new language is extremely useful too.  The Internet has made finding a teacher so much easier! 

Petra Lingua: A Review

We tried out a program called Petra Lingua for six months.  I got both Spanish and German.  (In addition, they offer Chinese, Russian, and French.) Both boys study Spanish, and Bee was interested in German, but we have put that on hold for a while, mostly because it was very difficult to find German materials to work with. 

I found that Petra Lingua is a decent vocabulary builder, and Bug, my younger child, found it fairly entertaining.  One thing I did not like is that the exercises include a lot of written words.  I believe that for proper pronunciation, language study should be completely oral in the beginning stages.  I also didn't feel that the exercises promoted learning.  My children did not have to remember anything--they could click to hear the correct answer before selecting it. 

So, the pros are:

• Good company to work with.  When my package expired, it was not automatically renewed.  
• Native speakers and solid content. Words are pronounced correctly with correct grammar. 
• They offer German and Russian, 2 languages where it is difficult to find materials for teaching young children. 
• It's inexpensive, as little as $3.99 a month, if you pay for a year of access.  It's $7.99 to get one month at a time. 

The cons are:

• I do not think this material can stand on its own.  The parent would need to reinforce, so it's more of a supplement.  
• Exercises are boring, and I did not think that my children learned anything from doing them.  
• Too much writing.  I don't see why they can't have children click on a picture after hearing the spoken word. 

In conclusion, I think it's worth trying, but I think it's more of a supplement rather than a complete program.  

K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.  That's what I had to tell myself.  I'm supposed to be using the summer to organize, to gather and prepare materials, and to just generally get everything ready for the upcoming school year. 

ONE of the many things I'd like to do is make language cards.  These will be laminated photo cards that I can use with both children for auditory games to increase their Spanish vocabulary.  (I do not do reading or writing in Spanish with them and do not intend to until they are much older).  I can also make English labels for the cards, creating some Montessori-style reading activities for Bug, and he can use them when he's ready. 

I bought a beautiful book called Photos for Building Language Skills.  It has 900 color photos, divided by category.  The categories are actions/verbs, animals, bathroom, body, clothing, colors and shapes, emotions, food, furniture and household items, holidays and seasons, kitchen, money, music, nature and weather, opposites/adjectives, people and family, places, positional concepts, rooms at home, school tools, sign language, survival signs, time, toys, and transportation. 

Some of the cards I will not use.  We don't learn sign language, so I don't need sign language cards.  However, the vast majority of the cards I'll be able to put to great use. 

Back to the keep it simple part:  I had planned to pick out pretty scrapbooking paper for each category, mount the cards onto it, and then laminate them.  However, I realized that all the pages of the cards have a unique background color already on them.  Therefore, all I need to do is use my paper cutter to cut the cards out and then laminate.  That will save me a ton of time--cutting the backings and gluing the cards on them would have taken me many additional hours. 

I'm estimating that I'll be making at least 800 cards!  I do not actually know the Spanish words for all of the cards, although I know most, so I'll have to make myself a cheat sheet as well.  I think I'll cut and laminate my cards first, make cheat sheets that can be foled up, and store each set of cards and cheat sheets in slider sandwich baggies.  I also may need smaller ziplock sandwich baggies to separate the cards we've worked with from the new cards. 

And that's only one of the many things I want to do this summer.