Teach my kiddos Spanish?! Eeks! I'm not sure I could do that...at least that is what I thought before being introduced to Spanish for You!.
Spanish for You! is a theme based approach to language learning for grades 3-8. It combines vocabulary, pronunciation, syntax, verb conjugation, and grammar throughout its lessons giving students the opportunity to combine these components early on in their study to begin communicating in Spanish. The author implements a spiral teaching method so students are reviewing older material while learning new material. Each theme based package is designed so students can work at their own pace yet families can combine experienced and inexperienced Spanish speakers together for teaching times. The lesson plans are written to allow families to combine multiple ages together as well making this an excellent choice for busy mamas and students of all ages.
I received the digital Estaciones package that included an e-book, lesson guide, flashcards, worksheets, and two audio files. Having never learned Spanish, I had no clue what Estaciones even meant until I received my package...ha, ha! I was excited to find out we would be learning about the seasons!
Being a hands-on person, I immediately printed out the necessary pages from the e-book and lesson guide to start our studies. It was still necessary to refer back to the digital and audio files to complete our lessons, but the author has made a great effort to organize those files in a way that is easy to navigate and find exactly what you need for your lesson in a timely manner.
The lesson plans are designed for an entire school year for grades 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8, but you can teach the same lesson to all of your children and have them complete the activities/worksheets for their specific grade. We used the lessons plans for grades 3-4 combining four of my children ages 3 yrs. old up to my 10 yr. old. Each week plans for four days of instruction giving you a variety of activities and suggestions to enhance your language learning. You can find a variety of additional games, activities, and worksheets on the Spanish for You! website as well. I found the lesson plans to be easy to follow and implement with my children. I appreciate the fact that this curriculum is flexible for my family's needs and schedule allowing to us to spend more time on one day, repeated days if necessary, or move along more quickly if we are learning the concepts at a faster rate.
One aspect of this program that I found absolutely essential are the audio files. We spent the most time with these as my kids were fascinated with listening to and repeating the words and phrases modeled for us. One audio file is a non-native Spanish speaker while the other audio file is a native Spanish speaker. My children and I snuggled up close on the couch while listening to the audio files and followed along with the printed vocabulary pages.
Each package comes with flashcards to accompany the vocabulary in the lessons. We enjoyed coloring the simple hand drawn images and using them to practice what we were learning.
Do you want to guess our most repeated phrases we learned this spring???
"Hace frio" meaning "It's cold." (Insert frowny face!)
and
"Hace mal tiempo" meaning "It's bad weather." (Insert double frowny face!!!)
Oh well, that's spring in NY! Ha, ha! I'm happy to say that the sun has finally been shining and warming us up allowing us to use the phrase "Hace buen tiempo!!!" meaning "It's nice weather!!!"
Spanish for You! is an affordable, flexible language learning curriculum that allows families to learn together (including the mamas!) and start communicating in simple terms right from the very beginning. The author has done an excellent job creating a program that is easy to use and implement even with the busiest of schedules.
If you are interested in learning more about Spanish for You!, please visit their website and check out their products. You will find an excellent option for your language learning!
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