Chasing Cheerios

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Spanish Language Programs???

I'm looking for recommendations for programs to teach Spanish to O (2 and a half years old). Elliott and I took several semesters of Spanish in college, but we remember very little of what we learned. O can count very well in Spanish, and she knows a few words. We read bilingual books, books in Spanish, and listen to bilingual music and Spanish music. I think that I need a curriculum or a dvd series to help us because I don't know how to progress from here. I've looked into ordering Muzzy, but it's very expensive, so I am hesitating to place the order (maybe I should put it on her birthday wish list for her grandparents and see what happens :). If anyone has any experience with Muzzy or other Spanish language programs, I'd LOVE to hear about it :) Thanks!

20 comments:

  1. I'd go with Little Pim!
    http://www.littlepim.com/

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  2. Check out www.foreignlanguagefriends.com

    It is brand new and my girls (5 and 2 1/2) love it!!

    There are 10 themes now, but they are hoping to have 75 within 2 years.

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  3. Love your idea.
    What bout exposing her to a native Spanish speaker? Regular interactions...ONLY in Spanish? French? or whatever other language you would like. I think that is supposed to be one of the greatest ways to learn...through immersion at a very young age.

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  4. My brother said he and his family had good results with the rosetta stone program. His kids are a bit older, though, so I'm not sure about age-level. What a good thing to work on! Good luck!

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  5. I can't wait to find out what you decide! I've been thinking about this too. My sister-in-law and nieces speak spanish but we only get to see them about once a month. PBug picks up a little here and there but not enough. Keep us posted!

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  6. I'm just a random reader, but thanks Elizabeth for the Little Pim recommendation. I am huge fan of the Pimsleur method for adults and had no idea they had something for kids. Awesome!

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  7. I agree with Anonymous - a live native speaker is best if you can find a tutor. An immersion program will help O learn more than vocabulary, and at her age, she should be able to speak it fluently (for her age-level) within several months - something less likely to occur through a DVD program. Just my two cents!

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  8. My students (I taught Kindy) used the Muzzy program in their Spanish class--though it's when I had my planning hour so I can't speak much to it. But I will say that they have it at our library. Have you checked there? How about through ILL?

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  9. We have Rosetta Stone after asking around. It encourages you to say more and actually checks how it's being said, which can help. It's pretty pricey but you can buy it in volumes. The homeschool edition lets you watch the progress and have different children on the program.

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  10. Hola Elizabeth -

    We'd love to send you one of our many multimedia products for free to see how you and your family love the Boca Beth bilingual method of introducing Spanish and English side by side.

    Our CDs, DVDs, and activity books have been embraced by the homeschooling community as well as Montessori schools, family child care providers and traditional preschool classrooms.

    Just visit my blog or site to get my number or e-mail address. It would be my pleasure to share with you.

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  11. Have you checked e-bay? I couldn't the English ones second hand,but the other languages are sometimes available there.

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  12. I can't speak for other programs, but Muzzy is a good program for teaching a basic amount of Spanish. The songs really get stuck in your head. If you want O to be able to really speak Spanish, Muzzy might not be the thing for you.

    By the way, I have a 15 month old, and we are having a LOT of fun trying some of your activities from the early days of your blog. We're so glad to have found this blog, and we're having fun learning together! Thanks! :)

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  13. I taught Spanish at an Elementary school for five years and I used a program called Viva el Espanol. It was very Montessori friendly in retrospect. Most things were taught through three period lessons, classified pictures, and actually DOING things. I taught every lessons 100% in Spanish from the first day.

    It came in a big box full of everything you needed to do the program including a PUPPET...the puppet was important because it gave me someone else in the classroom who was "fluent" so we could model conversations. The teacher's manual was very easy to use. Every lesson was "scripted" and explained. It was so easy you almost didn't have to read throught the lesson ahead of time. Very little prep, but very high quality content. Every lesson had listening on CD. Very little video is used, I personally don't like using videos to teach. It is passive learning.

    The only problem is I don't know where to get it right now. I googled it and didn't come up with much. I am looking for it to buy for myself and may have to go back to the school where I taught and get more information.

    I used "learning system A" which is where you would want to begin. It will last you a long time.

    Let me know if you find it and I'll do the same for you!

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  14. We have Rosetta Stone, which I know is SO expensive. I sit down to do it with my 5- and 6-yr olds and Zahana (2) always asks to join in. Even when we're not doing it, she asks for 'panish! It's good exposure, if anything.

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  16. To "My Boys Teacher":
    http://www.amazon.com/Viva-El-Espanol-Learning-Spanish/dp/0844205907

    There are quite a few different Viva El Espanol products on Amazon. What would you recommend other than just the workbook?

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  17. I'll look around here when I get my car. We did buy you some basic word - picture books for O's birthday! :)

    We also enjoy getting books for the boys in Spanish that they already have in English.

    I also recommend labeling basic household items. (wall, table, floor, etc...) She'll ask you about them. This will also be great once she starts reading.

    Lastly, hearing is the best way to learn. So, brush up on your Spanish and start getting into the habit of speaking it around her. Even if for only 15 min a day sing or pick a favorite activity and only speak to her in Spanish. Then gradually increase the time to an hour. You'll be amazed at how quickly she picks it up.

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  18. Rebecca- Since a lot of people recommend having O around fluent Spanish speakers, I guess you are going to have to move home :) Surely, you will all be fluent by December, right??? Good idea to label household items. We have them labeled in English, but we should label them in Spanish, too. Can't wait to see the books! Btw, when are you coming home for a visit???

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  19. Melissa and Dawn,

    This is SO uncanny. I meant to ask Gigi at Montessori Spanish if she had a catologue or something that would have Viva el Espanol in it so I could track it down (I think it may have changed publishers at some point) and she POSTED about it today. I hadn't even asked her yet.

    Here is the link to where you can purchase:

    https://www.wrightgroup.com/family.html?PHPSESSID=9da0e489b26b614f4e0ea50f604eaf6b&gid=8

    The bad news is it's much more expensive than when I purchased it for my school. I remember it costing about $300 for what I bought, and this is more like $1000.

    Back to the drawing board I guess.

    Dawn, I knew there were workbooks on Amazon, but when I taught with it there weren't workbooks. The essential piece would be the teacher's manual. It looks like they've redone this system quite a bit. Even the puppets are different which surprises me because they would have to change the animal's name on everything including every page in the teacher's manual.

    grrr.

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  20. Thanks for all of the responses!!! Boca Beth is sending me her dvd, so I'll review it and let you know what we think :) I'm also very intrigued by the Little Pim dvds. I'm planning on watching the videos on youtube with O sometime soon.

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