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Teaching Spanish to children... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| kimmyandgracie Newbie United States Joined 5811 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 9 02 January 2009 at 5:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello, everyone!
This is my first post on the forum, so this will be sort of an introduction/question. I am a homeschooling mom teaching my 5yo daughter, whom I plan to continue teaching all the way through 12th grade. We are native English speakers living in the United States. One of my goals for my daughter is for her to achieve fluency in Spanish and Latin by the time she graduates. I want her to learn Latin because of its many intellectual benefits, not the least of which is greater command of our native tongue. I would like her to learn Spanish because it is quickly becoming the secondary language in our country, and I feel that being fluent in this language would open a lot of doors for her later on when she enters the workforce or goes on to homeschool her children. I also know that as Spanish is a Romance language, it is very closely related to Latin, so I feel like the two languages would complement and reinforce each other well. Since Latin is a dead language and fluency would be based mostly on reading and writing in that language, I am planning to start her language learning with Spanish, because she is still a beginning reader and writer and I could focus mostly on conversational aspects of Spanish with her right now and still hopefully be fruitful with that. My question is, how is the best way to begin this journey? So far, I have Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish, a Spanish picture dictionary for young children, a few picture books with Spanish/English parallel text, and a Spanish/English New Testament in print and audio versions. We will have 30-45 minutes a day, four days a week to use for our Spanish studies. Considering her age, the supplies we have to use and the time we have to spend, what would be the most efficient way to proceed with our study? What kind of progress could I reasonably expect by the end of this year? I am open to the possibility of a Spanish tutor eventually, but I could only afford to use one sparingly. In these early stages, could we still make good progress without a tutor? Sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to be sure to explain my situation and my question well. I greatly appreciate any advice you can offer me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| draoicht Groupie Ireland Joined 6319 days ago 89 posts - 146 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 9 03 January 2009 at 9:42am | IP Logged | ||
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Heres a blog I came across the other day Teaching and Learning Spanish
It has lots of ideas for teaching Spanish to children. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6086 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 3 of 9 03 January 2009 at 11:42am | IP Logged | ||
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I would try and use Spanish. Like you would do with English:
"bus" "Look, theres a car" also try using simple phrases outside the house/whenever you can like "Come here, now" or something. Nothing too difficult like "What do you think of the ecological and political situation in Spain at the moment" (:D). Basically, I would go through the same steps and you used to teach your child English. TEL 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kimmyandgracie Newbie United States Joined 5811 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 9 03 January 2009 at 3:13pm | IP Logged | ||
Thanks! This blog looks great, and it has links to a lot of other great blogs and resources. TheElvenLord, I had a couple of years of Spanish in high school, but I have forgotten most of it. I'm not sure I could carry on even a simple conversation with her in Spanish right now. I do intend to learn along with her, though, so talking to her in Spanish definitely sounds like a good idea for a little later on. The naming of objects in Spanish, however, sounds like something we could use right now. Thank you. I am also wondering, might it be better to use Rosetta Stone for myself right now, then start her on it in the fall, so I could be a little ahead of her, to teach her better? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6086 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 5 of 9 03 January 2009 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would reccommend that you properly learn Spanish to a reasonable degree before doing more than phrases and words with your child. Surf around on this site, look for some methods, and pick them up.
I reccommend Michel Thomas, Pimsleur (for pronounciation) and Assimil. Michel Thomas is known on this site to be a fast and effective way of learning a language. You can pick up the grammar extremely easy with his course, as have I. Just to give you perspective, in my Spanish class, I was getting Level 4's in my tests (Around a C I suppose). I did his course, and on the following test, I got a Level 8 (A*), just for my grammar. And it was totally painless. You can usually get the course for free at libraries, or cheap on ebay/amazon. I don't reccommend you pay the full price :D Pimsleur can be very repetetive, and can get boring, but it is very good for phrases, and definitely for Pronounciation. I would again not recommend you buy it for the full price. Assimil is probably the best course I have ever come across. It gives you a small dialogue to learn to understand every day (Lasts around 100 - 130 days depending on the language you choose to learn). It takes you from complete beginner to really quite advanced, and then it has a further course. Many others, the resident polyglot expert Prof. Arguelles and I say this is a very very good course. I find memorizing the dialogues an excellent way to proceed with the course, but others have very many other ways. It is totally flexible. The minimum requirement is that you take about 10 minutes every day to read/listen to the dialogue, learn to understand it and read the notes. Simple. TEL 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kimmyandgracie Newbie United States Joined 5811 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 9 03 January 2009 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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Michel Thomas sounds like a good place for me to start. I actually just got Rosetta Stone in the mail and I am still within the time frame for returning it. I noticed that you didn't mention Rosetta Stone in your reply, so I was wondering if my money would be better spent elsewhere.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hypersport Senior Member United States Joined 5887 days ago 216 posts - 307 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 9 03 January 2009 at 3:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi kimmyandgracie.
First I think it's really cool that you want to ensure your daughter is bilingual. Definitely going to help though if you have some background and can speak Spanish. It's so much easier to explain things when you've already had to learn them yourself. I used Rosetta Stone Latin America 1 and 2 years ago and loved it. I followed that up with Learning Spanish Like Crazy and loved it even more. If you've had a couple of years in high school you've already got the basics, so getting into a course should be smooth for you. If you can make the time for yourself, I'd recommend doing the Rosetta Stone course as you already have it. This exposure may just fill you with more motivation to learn even more. Keep in mind that pronunciation is key. It is VERY important. Luckily, you can hear everything pronounced with Rosetta Stone. LSLC also uses natives and has very good pronunciation. This is why I think it's important that you first have a good grasp of the language, the pronunciation, the intonation of speech etc so that you can correct her when she makes mistakes. On one hand I'd say you guys could do the Rosetta Stone together as it certainly starts out with the basic and I know that you want to get started, but on the other hand I think you should develop some proficiency first before attempting to teach her. I mean the situation is totally different for a 5 year old growing up in a bilingual household vs someone trying to teach the child and not yet knowing the language at a sufficient level. Good luck. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6086 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 8 of 9 04 January 2009 at 4:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Rossetta stone, I find, is a very good way to pick up grammar (albeit quite simple grammar) and vocabulary in a natural, fun way.
However, I think that it could cover a lot more - and the worst part is - the price! It is not worth that price. If I saw RS in my library, I would get it with no hesitation, as I did with French, because it is a good resource. But, I don't think I would EVER contemplate buying the course from them (ebay can be quite cheap though!). So, I think that RS is a good start, but you need more than just that. I have not used Learn Spanish Like Crazy, so I cannot rate it. Hypersport - perhaps you can describe it. TEL 1 person has voted this message useful |
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