Showing posts with label Foreign Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Language. Show all posts
October 24, 2019
Exploring Immersion Spanish with Excelerate SPANISH {Curriculum Review}
September 12, 2018
An Introduction to Latin Vocabulary with Picta Dicta Natural World from Roman Roads Media {Product Review}
About the Product
Picta Dicta Natural World is one of the Latin instruction products from Roman Roads Media. Designed to be an interactive introduction to Latin, it is ideal for elementary-age students. It focuses on vocabulary specific to the natural world. The students will learn the Latin (andJune 13, 2017
Whistlefritz~ A Spanish Language Immersion Program for Ages 1-7 {Product Review}
About Whistlefritz
September 13, 2016
Getting Started with French {Product Review}
I have always enjoyed learning about languages, and I wish it had been possible for me to start a foreign language when I was younger. I took German in high school and then as a freshman in college, and a girlfriend attempted to try to teach me and another girl French when we were seniors. I have learned odd ball pieces of Latin and Spanish and I LOVE listening to friends converse in another language--I'm very envious of their ability to do so. We have been working on Spanish here in our home, and the boys are doing well it. When I had the opportunity to review Getting Started with French from Armfield Academic Press, I decided to keep it for myself to try!
After getting going for a few days, I realized that I could knock out 5-10 lessons easily in one sitting, so I slowed down and just snuck a lesson into my day here and there. They really were just short--maybe about 5 minutes sometimes. I liked the way that they were written. In a standard lesson, you have the new word, meaning, pronunciation tip, and then any notes regarding the gender or things to remember, and then exercises.
About Getting Started with French
Getting Started with French is the newest in a line of beginning language books for homeschoolers and self-taught students of any age. It joins Getting Started with Spanish and Getting Started with Latin, as an option for students desiring a more laid back approach to learning a new language. With its unique approach of teaching just one-thing-at-a-time, it allows the student to learn at home without access to a teacher. The course is designed to be self-explanatory, self-paced, self-contained, and inexpensive. Whether you have a French teacher or not, this book avoids making beginning French more difficult than it actually is.
Getting Started with French is a text with 172 short lessons that can be completed in just a few minutes, making it ideal for the student who needs something not time consuming. The book also provides a website for downloading the audio lesson helps that go with each lesson so that the student can here "real" French. All the answers to the exercises are in the back of the book.
I reviewed this book myself, having no previous French in my background.
What Were My Thoughts?
When I received this product, I started at the beginning and learned about how the book was designed to be used. I learned that it had one main teaching concept: teach one concept at a time in order for the student to master it before moving on to the next one. In regards to pronunciation (the toughest part of learning a new language), the book provides a website with free pronunciation recordings in mp3 format to be downloaded. It's great that the recordings were made by a native speaker from Paris, France. There is also a pronunciation chart at the back of the book to reverence. I liked the notation that the lessons were short, and that there really wasn't any quizzes or tests.
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| Educational Goals |
Because there wasn't a "workbook", I decided I would record the lessons and exercises in a composition notebook. I am silly about pens and colors, so I picked one color for my vocabulary and one color for all my notes. LOL. And then I just gave it a whirl. I pulled up the mp3 files on my Kindle, and sat cozy on the couch and got started.
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| Got the MP3s on my Kindle, the Text, and my Notebook |
I like the way the exercises were repetitive so I could practice what I had just learned over and over. It was great to have the mp3 so that I could see if my guess of the pronunciation was anywhere close to the actual one. (usually NOT! LOL) I especially appreciated it on the method for the "r". Oy, I had to listen to that one over and over. I also like that there are additional files with a commentary from the authors to help you out even more if you need it.
Using it as a self-taught program, I think it's very handy. I don't know if I would use it for any child that is under middle school as the self-taught aspect is geared more to a student that can work very well independently, practicing on their own. I would go over the exercises and then walk through the house practicing my words. LOL. The boys cracked up because they said I was speaking jibberish.
I think I would like to have a workbook to go with it--or printable worksheets or something. If I had this for a student, I would see about creating some for myself using the exercises as help.
I look forward to getting to the stage of learning how to say useful phrases. I plan on trying it out on my friend who is nearly fluent in French. :)
Will I continue to use this product?
Well since it's for me, yes. I think it's fun and will be a short, quick, and easy for me to stay up on.
Would I Recommend Getting Started with French?
I would definitely recommend it for any adult looking to gently learn a new language on their own. I also think it would be good for students who are capable of studying very independently. I wouldn't be comfortable using it for students younger than maybe 7th grade.
Want to Know More?
I have been working through Getting Started with French from Armfield Academic Press over the last several weeks. You have read my review of the book, but why don't you check out other reviews from the team to see how successful they were with it!
If you want to see the latest news in what they are working on, make sure to connect with Armfield Academic Press on Facebook!
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I think I will enjoy having this book to play with and eventually pass on. It's fun to have something that is just for me for a change in our review products! LOL!
August 16, 2016
Learning Beginning Spanish with Foreign Languages For Kids By Kids {Curriculum Review}
Product Information
*a 20 week curriculum guide
*DVD 1 of first three videos (Level 1-3)
*3 workbooks that go along with each video
*Sticker set for Basketballs Aren't for Breakfast
*Flashcard set, including graphics and Spanish vocabulary for each word learned in the first three lessons.
*FOR A LIMITED TIME: fun card game extension Go Squish!
We received this Starter Set 1 to be reviewed with my boys ages 10 and 6.
How Did We Use Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids?
One of the favorite activities was the labelling with stickers using our new vocabulary.
As of today we are gearing up for more of the second video, but we have the first video almost totally memorized and the boys can use the words correctly in sentences. They are doing better and better with their flashcards when we review them. I plan on playing Go Squish! later this week to see how we do.
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| Watching DVD |
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| Working on a crossword |
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| labeling new vocabulary items |
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| this made me smile--someone doesn't like dishes |
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| we were labeled too! :) |
What Are Our Thoughts About Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids?
Boys:
It is fun and "mi gusta" the videos. The boys in it are funny. Our favorite one is Basketballs aren't for Breakfast! It helps that they have shirts to help us remember the new words we are learning.
Me:
This is a very very kid friendly curriculum. I never had any issues getting them to do the program when it was time. They fell in love with Andy, Eli and Parker right from the beginning, laughing at their antics. They quickly picked up some words and by the time we got to the date of this review, they can say every word with at least the first video, and can use the words correctly for "real".
We didn't get super far in this Starter Set 1, because we are on an abbreviated summer schedule and I really wanted them to soak in the words with plenty of time watching the video. What we have done has been highly successfull and enjoyable. The guide for Teachers and Parents that goes with the student manuals are very easy to follow and clear to understand. I really appreciated that the guide included a time frame for how long the lesson might take. The lessons included a nice mix of workbook and activities ("naranja, naranja, manzana!" was a favorite) to help get a good understanding of the language and people.
The only thing that was a bit weird was how the workbook wasn't really done in order. I think I would prefer if it was done in order so I could easily flip through to see how much we have left to finish. The other thing about the workbook was the glossy paper it was printed on. The booklet was beautiful and colorful which was great--BUT the kids couldn't write on it very well unless using a permanent marker. I would prefer it to be on paper that is at least like the type the teacher guide was printed on.
Will we continue to use this product?
Yes! I have plans to continue to move forward using the Starter Set 1 to see all that it has to offer.
It is fun and "mi gusta" the videos. The boys in it are funny. Our favorite one is Basketballs aren't for Breakfast! It helps that they have shirts to help us remember the new words we are learning.
Me:
This is a very very kid friendly curriculum. I never had any issues getting them to do the program when it was time. They fell in love with Andy, Eli and Parker right from the beginning, laughing at their antics. They quickly picked up some words and by the time we got to the date of this review, they can say every word with at least the first video, and can use the words correctly for "real".
We didn't get super far in this Starter Set 1, because we are on an abbreviated summer schedule and I really wanted them to soak in the words with plenty of time watching the video. What we have done has been highly successfull and enjoyable. The guide for Teachers and Parents that goes with the student manuals are very easy to follow and clear to understand. I really appreciated that the guide included a time frame for how long the lesson might take. The lessons included a nice mix of workbook and activities ("naranja, naranja, manzana!" was a favorite) to help get a good understanding of the language and people.
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| sample pages from the first workbook |
Will we continue to use this product?
Yes! I have plans to continue to move forward using the Starter Set 1 to see all that it has to offer.
Would We Recommend Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids?
Yes! It's presented in an immersion way which is very easy to understand. My boys never complained when it was time to watch the videos and enjoyed being able to follow along with the storyline by the 3rd time we watched it. They use the words they've learned much more frequently than they did when we studied it with other programs. It is simple to use and perfect for multi-age learning.
This is not an "aggressive" program, If you are looking for a more workbook/text style with lots of recitation and "predictable" use of vocabulary, this isn't it.
Want To Know More?
We reviewed the Spanish program Starter Set 1 from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids over the last few weeks. You have seen what we think about this fun program--but how did other families in our review team use this product?
I encourage you to follow Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids on Facebook to stay up to date on what they have coming out!
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June 3, 2015
Latina Christiana I~ A Latin Program for Beginners {Curriculum Review}
Latin. A dead language...or is it? After much research we decided that having Little Britches learn Latin as his foreign language during third grade (this year) was worthwhile, for it is a gateway language to most of the romantic languages--as well as a key component of much of the English vocabulary and sciences. We had a curriculum we were already learning, but when I was able to have a chance to review Latina Christiana I Complete Set from Memoria Press, I decided that we would give this other curriculum a try!
Latina Christiana I Complete Set is a Latin program from Memoria Press. It is a beginning Latin grammar course for all ages, but was designed for students as young as third grade. This is a one year Latin course for parents and teachers without any Latin background. The core of the curriculum is the Teacher Manual w/CD and Student Book, but there is DVD lessons and flashcards available for additional help.
The Latina Christiana I Complete Set retails for $98.90 and includes:
*Student Book
*Teacher Manual
*Pronunciation CD
*Instructional DVDs
*Flashcards
Here is a sample of the DVD that comes with the Latina Christiana I Complete Set:
https://vimeo.com/60465249
We were given the Latina Christiana I Complete Set to review. Little Britches (age 9) and I reviewed this product together.
When this product arrived, I knew that I needed to look it over to get a handle on how it worked. I immediately pulled out the teacher manual to give it a go over. The first thing I liked (which I mention this a lot) is that it has a spiral binding. This is always a win-win for me! A few things I noticed included:
1. It is very detailed and thorough in describing how the program works
2. It includes pronunciation charts.
3. There are a couple pages of reproducible charts to be copied for the students, including quizzes.
4. It is written for a class and/or homeschool
5. It offers up suggestions on how to incorporate the program into your schedule.
6. Every page of the student book is in every lesson of the teacher manual.
This is one of the things I really appreciate about Memoria Press. They do this simple thing and it makes the teachers manual so much more teacher friendly. I also like that the answers to the exercises are right there on the mini student pages, so I don't have to try to find them.
Little Britches wasn't highly excited or motivated to try a new Latin program, but was willing to give it a shot--especially since it included a DVD like our other one did. We got started--he sitting in the recliner and I on the couch with the rest of the materials. While we listened to the Welcome and Introduction message, I worked on punching out the flashcards which were included in the package--I did them up to chapter 10.
Right away during the welcome and introduction I noticed Little Britches eyes glazing over...the DVD is presented very much in the style of a lecture hall with a teacher and slideshow. Not the ideal set up for a always on the go 9 year old. He actually at one point was upside down in the recliner listening.
Once we got to the Lesson 1, I had him sit up and pay more attention. He didn't mind this part since it began with greeting the teacher and learning the commands to: stand, sit and pray. He already is familiar with these words from our previous program and was glad to recognize them. Although he did look at me funny when they said we would be praying (learning prayers) as part of this program since that was something very new. At this point in the DVD, it told us to stop the DVD and listen to our CD with the prayer and song for the week/day. I already had the CD in our player, so we just switched over and listened to it, then returned back to the lesson.
Once this is done, the teacher dives right into the first lesson.
We did this for our lessons two times--but it was just way to boring, so we ceased using the DVD’s and just attacked it in a way that worked for us—with me leading the lesson (easy to do when it's written out for you in the manual) and using our whiteboard. We still did the opening dialogue and recitation, but ditched the CD’s after the first two lessons. Little Britches responded much better once we did this.
Here is how we ended up working through the lessons:
Day 1: Introduce the lesson
I wrote each word/phrase and translation on the board and had him repeat them.
Once we had them all written down, we went through and identified the nouns and verbs. It was a good reminder of ending identification. Next we read either the conjugation or declension and looked at the endings to remind ourselves about what they mean.
Then we recited them a few times. I simply followed the teacher information in the teachers guide to teach the lesson.
Day 2: Derivatives
I started by reviewing the conjugation and phrase we learned the previous day. Then, I skipped ahead and did the derivatives portion as a reminder of what the words meant. I encouraged Little Britches to think of words with the Latin root in it and 9 out of 10 times he could think of at least one. Then we wrote down the words on the board—and he picked the one he knew the best to write on his vocabulary list next to its Latin root. From here we completed the derivative exercise in his workbook.
Day 3: Vocabulary and Translation
Again we reviewed the assigned conjugation/declension through recitation. Then we worked through the exercises in the workbook for translation, vocabulary, and pronoun endings.
Day 4: Review
On this day we began with the recitation of the new conjugation or declension and then we played the flashcard game I made up. I had him start on the other side of the room from me and I held up and read a flashcard. If he got the translation correct, he got to take a step forward. If he didn’t, he had to take a step back. If he stumbled over the translation, I would give him the derivative words to help and they always give him the assistance he needs. He likes this game a lot and it helps him remember what everything means.
The book provides some other ideas for review...
We completed a lesson a week, but there was a week or two where we reviewed instead of learning new vocabulary. I made up review lessons using our vocabulary--like a lot of matching.
As of this week, we are working on our review of the first five lessons. We were easily able to do it, even while we were travelling in the car.
Little Britches:
“I do not like the DVD. The lady was boring so I had mommy do the lesson herself. I didn’t like the music or prayer recitation. I liked the flashcard game mommy did to help me remember the words. I just think this program was boring.”
Me:
In general, I have to agree with Little Britches. I think this program is very classical in nature—much more textbook style where you watch a lesson, recite, and then do worksheets. The DVD’s are very useful, but not geared for a younger age, so Little Britches asked if he HAD to watch them, because he’d rather I teach him myself.
I do think that the way I adapted the program to fit us, made it work. He seemed to have a pretty good retention of the words as long as we did LOTS of review. The derivative portion of learning Latin ended really being helpful in regards to determining translations. For instance, Little Britches knows what spectacles are, therefore it helps him remember that the base root “Specta” means “too look at”. I personally think learning the derivatives was the most helpful and useful portion of the whole program.
Little Britches quickly caught on to the process of conjugating a word, for Latin makes it easy since it uses the same ending for nearly every verb. Little Britches rattled off his conjugations with ease every morning and week.
I think the DVD is something I would use myself, but not something that I would or will continue to use with Little Britches. I am confident that I can teach it using the teachers guide—though I like knowing I can watch the lesson on DVD if I need help with a pronunciation or lesson.
While the CD with the prayers and songs was helpful, we ended up just saying them ourselves without listening to the CD because we felt it was “boring.” It also started feeling like I was in a Catholic church hearing vespers. I picked and decided which prayers I liked for us and which I was just going to pass on. The prayers are written out with complete pronunciation which is lovely!
I really liked that the teachers guide was spiral. I adore spiral books because they tend to hold up better. The flashcards were thick and I liked how they had the lesson they went with clearly marked on each card, as well as having the translation and derivatives. I totally forgot about the reproducibles, but plan on using them for the rest of our units because I think they will be very helpful. I also forgot about the quizzes that are included for each chapter. I will use them from here on out for sure.
So will we continue to use this program?
For now, yes, but with the adaptations that I have made. I don’t know that I necessarily like this one over the other Latin program I purchased. It think I like them each for different reasons, so I might just sort of combine them.
If you are seeking out something with fun kids songs, fun graphics, games, kid friendly video lessons—I would NOT recommend this program.
Want to keep in touch with the latest Memoria Press news?
Make sure you check them Facebook and Twitter!
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Product Information
*Student Book
*Teacher Manual
*Pronunciation CD
*Instructional DVDs
*Flashcards
Here is a sample of the DVD that comes with the Latina Christiana I Complete Set:
https://vimeo.com/60465249
We were given the Latina Christiana I Complete Set to review. Little Britches (age 9) and I reviewed this product together.
How Did We Use This Product?
1. It is very detailed and thorough in describing how the program works
2. It includes pronunciation charts.
3. There are a couple pages of reproducible charts to be copied for the students, including quizzes.
4. It is written for a class and/or homeschool
5. It offers up suggestions on how to incorporate the program into your schedule.
6. Every page of the student book is in every lesson of the teacher manual.
This is one of the things I really appreciate about Memoria Press. They do this simple thing and it makes the teachers manual so much more teacher friendly. I also like that the answers to the exercises are right there on the mini student pages, so I don't have to try to find them.
Little Britches wasn't highly excited or motivated to try a new Latin program, but was willing to give it a shot--especially since it included a DVD like our other one did. We got started--he sitting in the recliner and I on the couch with the rest of the materials. While we listened to the Welcome and Introduction message, I worked on punching out the flashcards which were included in the package--I did them up to chapter 10.
Right away during the welcome and introduction I noticed Little Britches eyes glazing over...the DVD is presented very much in the style of a lecture hall with a teacher and slideshow. Not the ideal set up for a always on the go 9 year old. He actually at one point was upside down in the recliner listening.
 |
| Can't you tell how enthralled he is? LOL |
Once this is done, the teacher dives right into the first lesson.
Here is how we ended up working through the lessons:
Day 1: Introduce the lesson
I wrote each word/phrase and translation on the board and had him repeat them.
Once we had them all written down, we went through and identified the nouns and verbs. It was a good reminder of ending identification. Next we read either the conjugation or declension and looked at the endings to remind ourselves about what they mean.
Then we recited them a few times. I simply followed the teacher information in the teachers guide to teach the lesson.
Day 2: Derivatives
I started by reviewing the conjugation and phrase we learned the previous day. Then, I skipped ahead and did the derivatives portion as a reminder of what the words meant. I encouraged Little Britches to think of words with the Latin root in it and 9 out of 10 times he could think of at least one. Then we wrote down the words on the board—and he picked the one he knew the best to write on his vocabulary list next to its Latin root. From here we completed the derivative exercise in his workbook.
Day 3: Vocabulary and Translation
Again we reviewed the assigned conjugation/declension through recitation. Then we worked through the exercises in the workbook for translation, vocabulary, and pronoun endings.
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| Practicing our phrases |
Day 4: Review
On this day we began with the recitation of the new conjugation or declension and then we played the flashcard game I made up. I had him start on the other side of the room from me and I held up and read a flashcard. If he got the translation correct, he got to take a step forward. If he didn’t, he had to take a step back. If he stumbled over the translation, I would give him the derivative words to help and they always give him the assistance he needs. He likes this game a lot and it helps him remember what everything means.
The book provides some other ideas for review...
We completed a lesson a week, but there was a week or two where we reviewed instead of learning new vocabulary. I made up review lessons using our vocabulary--like a lot of matching.
 |
| Working on matching chapter 1 verbs |
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| Finishing the review for first 5 chapters |
What Are Our Thoughts About This Product?
Little Britches:
“I do not like the DVD. The lady was boring so I had mommy do the lesson herself. I didn’t like the music or prayer recitation. I liked the flashcard game mommy did to help me remember the words. I just think this program was boring.”
Me:
In general, I have to agree with Little Britches. I think this program is very classical in nature—much more textbook style where you watch a lesson, recite, and then do worksheets. The DVD’s are very useful, but not geared for a younger age, so Little Britches asked if he HAD to watch them, because he’d rather I teach him myself.
I do think that the way I adapted the program to fit us, made it work. He seemed to have a pretty good retention of the words as long as we did LOTS of review. The derivative portion of learning Latin ended really being helpful in regards to determining translations. For instance, Little Britches knows what spectacles are, therefore it helps him remember that the base root “Specta” means “too look at”. I personally think learning the derivatives was the most helpful and useful portion of the whole program.
Little Britches quickly caught on to the process of conjugating a word, for Latin makes it easy since it uses the same ending for nearly every verb. Little Britches rattled off his conjugations with ease every morning and week.
I think the DVD is something I would use myself, but not something that I would or will continue to use with Little Britches. I am confident that I can teach it using the teachers guide—though I like knowing I can watch the lesson on DVD if I need help with a pronunciation or lesson.
While the CD with the prayers and songs was helpful, we ended up just saying them ourselves without listening to the CD because we felt it was “boring.” It also started feeling like I was in a Catholic church hearing vespers. I picked and decided which prayers I liked for us and which I was just going to pass on. The prayers are written out with complete pronunciation which is lovely!
I really liked that the teachers guide was spiral. I adore spiral books because they tend to hold up better. The flashcards were thick and I liked how they had the lesson they went with clearly marked on each card, as well as having the translation and derivatives. I totally forgot about the reproducibles, but plan on using them for the rest of our units because I think they will be very helpful. I also forgot about the quizzes that are included for each chapter. I will use them from here on out for sure.
So will we continue to use this program?
For now, yes, but with the adaptations that I have made. I don’t know that I necessarily like this one over the other Latin program I purchased. It think I like them each for different reasons, so I might just sort of combine them.
Would I Recommend This Product?
Yes, but with reservations. This is not a program designed to really be “kid friendly”. It isn’t flashy or “fun”, but it is very well done. Completing the program would give you an excellent grasp on beginning Latin, and you will notice and find Latin in our English words all the time after working just a couple lessons. I would definitely say that this program fits the Classical teaching style, so if you teach in that manner, you would probably enjoy it. The DVD’s are very helpful if you aren’t confident in teaching the program yourself—especially in regards to pronunciation. I am enjoying it myself and find myself picking up the words very quickly.If you are seeking out something with fun kids songs, fun graphics, games, kid friendly video lessons—I would NOT recommend this program.
Want To Know More About This Product?
We reviewed Latina Christiana I Complete Set ($98.90) from Memoria Press. You have read our thoughts on this program, but what did other crew members think? Did you know that our team also reviewed two other Memoria Press products? Make sure you check out those reviews as well!
Latin is a fascinating language and the more I learn about it as I teach, the more I realize that it is NOT a dead language, but one that pervades through out modern day language and vocabulary. I also think that even having a basic handle on it, will make studying other languages a lot easier because so many of the popular romantic languages have their Latin influences. I know that regardless of Little Britches thoughts on it, I am enjoying learning more and more about the language!
October 22, 2014
Middlebury Interactive Languages {Curriculum Review}
This is the year of foreign language for us. My husband and I both agree that we want maximum exposure to a second language for our children--to the point of even being fluent. I've seen the benefits of being fluency and though I am not fluent in another language, I would love that for our sons. Our oldest is at the prime age for learning new languages. Our first choice is for him to learn Spanish. But he's had some issues in the past with retention of what he's learning. Could an immersive language program like Middlebury Interactive Languages be what he needs to succeed? I jumped on the chance to review a semester of their Spanish Courses.
Middlebury Interactive Languages is a foreign language curriculum developed exclusively for the education market. The company determined early on that students needed to be exposed to authentic materials and resources with lots of interaction with a new language in order to succeed in it. Combining text, audio, video and images in an online language course, all focused on real world and real life activities, the company has created an immersive approach to learning new languages and has a great success rate!
From elementary to high school, Middlebury Interactive Languages offers courses in four main languages. Though geared to grades 3 and up, they offer a Spanish course perfect for the K-2 ages.
Each language is offered in semesters--a series of 6 months/18 weeks. The K-2 program includes a total of 35 lessons for the semester, while the Grades 3-5 program has 45 lessons per semester. Middlebury recommends two days a week for Grades K-2, and 2-3 days per week for Grades 3-5.
Both the Middle School and High School programs have a total of 90 lessons per semester, with the recommendation that students complete a lesson per day for 18 weeks.
All levels are self-paced, so the student can speed ahead or slow down as needed, but the course is only open for the 6 month period and must be completed within that time period.
Each course is available for purchase in two forms: with teacher guidance and without. If you choose the course guided by a teacher, a real-life teacher will guide the student through the course, providing ongoing support, communication and encouragement, as well as giving feedback on speaking and writing assignments...just like a regular teacher.
One semester of any language for the K-12 is $119 w/o teacher support and an additional $175 with teacher support ($294 total).
This curriculum is an exclusively online program. To use this program, your computer will need to operate Windows 7 or 8 or Mac OS X v10.6 or v10.7. A headset/microphone is recommended for the speaking labs. For a complete list of all that is recommended, you can visit the FAQ's to see full system requirements.
I chose to review one of the Spanish Courses: Elementary Spanish 1: Grades 3-5 using the version without teacher support. This is a standard 6 month semester course which retails for $119.
The calendar has a lesson listed five days a week. The elementary program for grades 3-5 suggests doing 2-3 lessons a week. While the calendar isn't set up like that, all you have to do is click the lesson you are working on and it takes you right to it. If the lesson has been completed, you can see that it has a checkmark. This makes it very easy to keep track of where you are in the program.
To play a lesson, simply click the lesson name and it opens up a playlist. Click the "play" button and it opens your lesson right up.
The left side shows all the assignments that are part of the lesson. As they are completed, they darken. This helps you keep track of which ones you have completed and which ones are left. Once they are all completed, you can click the next arrow at the bottom and this takes you to the next lesson.
When we first were doing it, I thought that was just an arrow to take us to more for the day's lesson, so we did 2 lessons the first day. I was worried that it was going to be a lot of work like that each time, until I discovered (by looking at the calendar) that we had done more than one lesson.
Another way to access the lessons is through the Table of Contents. You can find it by click the same menu icon as the calendar. By clicking "table of contents" on the menu you get taken to this page...
On the left side you can see the table of contents for the whole curriculum. You can click those folders and they will open up to the lessons and then you can open them up to the activities. As with the calendar, this will show you what has been completed--but this one will show you the actual activities for each lesson.
I discovered here that one of the assignments hadn't been logged (Practice: Counting 10-1)--Little Britches had forgotten to hit "submit" after completing it. So I was able to open it back up and let him finish it.
Once we did the first few lessons together, I let Little Britches work on everything independently, though I stayed in the same room. This gave him the awareness that he could ask for help if he wasn't getting something.
I rarely was asked for help, because the program provides a lot of assistance in the form of "microphones" he can click on which reads out directions or reviews the vocabulary he is learning.
A microphone is recommended for this program, though not necessarily required. Fortunately, the microphone on my laptop works very well and no extra gizmos were needed. Little Britches likes the speaking lab portions because he likes to hear the sound of his own voice. LOL. He is very hard on himself and would re-record words if he felt they weren't up to snuff.
Here is a video I took of him practicing and recording his numbers...
Each of the units contain six lessons and each lesson contains about 7 activities. The activities are a mixture of audio work (listening to stories or songs using the new vocabulary), interactive practice to learn how to say and recognize the words and their meanings, exploration to see how they are used in context and how you remember them, and then speaking labs to practice and record your pronunciation. Not every lesson has a quiz but when they do, they are very simple and so far appear to be multiple choice.
Lesson six for each unit contains review and then a "written" test and a speaking test. This method worked very well for Little Britches and I never heard any complaints.
Rather than rushing through each unit, we discovered we were going to do about 42 activities related to the units vocabulary. This is a lot more than we expected and it became "easy" for Little Britches because of all the review. (Easy means that he will willingly do it!)
At this point we have completed two full units which comprises of 12 lessons. We worked on 2-3 lessons per week which was a great pace--and what is recommended by the company.
Though I don't need it at this time, I did like having access to the gradebook.
This shows me all the quizzes (including speaking labs) that were done. I can see the complete course work that has been completed by clicking the box in the upper right that says "show course work". There is also the ability to print this off for a grade report.
For someone using this as part of a portfolio or for a credit, this is a great tool to have!
"I like that the lessons are easy to do. I like the stories and think I am learning a lot. I sometimes forget to hit the submit button and it won't log my work when I do that. But I can always go back and do it again to make sure it gets done."
My Thoughts:
We weren't sure about the program when we started, because we'd never experienced an immersive geared language curriculum, where the primary lesson (the story, song, whatever) is completely in Spanish without translation. The push is for the understanding of the use of the words in context without translation--using photos to help translate over English words. But once we saw how the lessons went, we figured it out and started to really enjoy it. Within the first week, I felt he had retained more than he had in 3 months of our previous curriculum.
Pros
*Interactive Lessons
*Speaking Labs to practice Accents
*Stories and Songs to teach the Lessons
*Fun kid friendly graphics
*Easy to use
*Works on my laptop (HP) with the built in microphone
*Picks up where you left off if you have to quit mid lesson
*Easy to see what has been completed
*Provides printable grade reports
*Gives instant grades on activities, quizzes and tests
*Immersive teaching (lessons are 88% in Spanish)
*Calendar shows exactly what needs to be done
*Lots of review and repetition for better retention
*Lessons load quickly and play without issues
*Independent program that can be used without parent guidance
*Speaking labs recorded and saved so parent and listen to the assignments
*The instructions for the activities could be "read" aloud with a click of the mouse
Cons
*6 Month (1 semester) deadline to complete the program
*Price per semester per child of $119 (no teacher) or $294 (with teacher) which is fairly expensive
*Calendar is confusing when not doing a lesson every day
*No feedback regarding speaking the language (with the no teacher version)
I really loved how the program was set up. Once I logged in, Little Britches could easily see what his next lesson was and could work on it independently. I loved that though he was working independently, all of his speaking labs were recorded and saved so that I could listen to them and thus advise him on anything that I thought needed some more work. By clicking submit on each activity, he was also given immediate correction for any activities (except the verbal) that he did.
The lessons loaded quickly and we never had any issues with them. They were full of repetition and review which are ideal for learning foreign language. I liked that about 80% of the lesson was in Spanish, putting the emphasis on the language and using it in context. For instance, when learning his numbers in Spanish, they didn't just learn to count to 10. They had to count to 10, then count backwards to 1. Then to make sure they really knew their numbers, they had to learn phone numbers and translate the Spanish number words into numbers.
What didn't I love?
Well, the main thing I don't love is the price. We are a frugal family with a tight budget. No matter how much we love a curriculum (and we really loved this one), we just can't shell out a large sum like this for ONE curriculum--especially one that is consumable, with a time deadline and just for one student. At least, we can't do it right now at the elementary age. Don't get me wrong, the program is WORTH IT...it really is, but we cannot financially make it happen right now at this point--which is why I put it as a con.
In regards to the calendar, the elementary programs are to be done in a suggested method of 2-3 lessons per week. The calendar lists them as 5 lessons per week (one per day) so when you log in, it will always take you to the current calendar day--whether or not that's the actual lesson you are working on. This can be a pain.
I'd like to see that it will always take you to the LAST DAY you completed, instead of whatever the current date is--especially for the elementary programs that are supposed to be done 2-3 lessons a week anyways.
The last con is a minor one and one that I know can be fixed by purchasing the "with teacher" version. But for those WITHOUT a teacher, I think it's definitely a con, but one you just have to accept as it's part of the program.
I think overall we really enjoyed this program. I think that the way that it is taught is the best way for children to learn. I like that the lessons begin with an authentic story or song that is taught completely in Spanish--with the lesson vocabulary worked in. I think this really helps them listen better to learn how the vocabulary they are learning is used in context. There is a lot of practice for each lesson and I think it's a thorough program.
Little Britches has retained MUCH more with this program than any other Spanish curriculum we have used. He likes the short activities and how they are interactive. There are ample examples of pronunciation for the student to compare to.
I personally think that we would enjoy the course WITH a teacher even more, especially since I don't speak Spanish myself. A teacher would really be able to help correct any pronunciation and really help guide the lesson. I think it's a great choice if you can afford it.
This program is more expensive at $119/$294 per semester, than a lot of other programs, but it is worth it if you are seeking a high quality and more immersive course for your child. The course is a 6 month (1 semester-18 weeks) curriculum, so there is going to be a deadline to complete the course. If you are hoping to be able to just self-pace it and finish it when you are done, that's not going to work. It's also consumable and a per student cost. This can be expensive if you are hoping to have more than one student taking the course.
Will be we purchasing any more semesters once this one is completed?
No. While I really really loved the program, and I think it has worked wonderfully, right now I need something for my family that can be used over and over again by more than one student without extra cost. I will however, keep this curriculum in mind for the high school level as they are an accredited program and will provide credits for high school transcripts at completion of the semesters.
We will continue to use our full semester because we've enjoyed it very much.
Our family reviewed Middlebury Interactive Languages Spanish Courses (Elementary Spanish 1, Grade 3-5) without teacher support ($119 per semester).
You have seen how much we are enjoying our level, but there are other levels of Spanish available and three other languages being reviewed by my fellow crew members! Make sure you go see what some of them thought about the program!
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*****
Product Summary
From elementary to high school, Middlebury Interactive Languages offers courses in four main languages. Though geared to grades 3 and up, they offer a Spanish course perfect for the K-2 ages.
Each language is offered in semesters--a series of 6 months/18 weeks. The K-2 program includes a total of 35 lessons for the semester, while the Grades 3-5 program has 45 lessons per semester. Middlebury recommends two days a week for Grades K-2, and 2-3 days per week for Grades 3-5.
Both the Middle School and High School programs have a total of 90 lessons per semester, with the recommendation that students complete a lesson per day for 18 weeks.
All levels are self-paced, so the student can speed ahead or slow down as needed, but the course is only open for the 6 month period and must be completed within that time period.
Each course is available for purchase in two forms: with teacher guidance and without. If you choose the course guided by a teacher, a real-life teacher will guide the student through the course, providing ongoing support, communication and encouragement, as well as giving feedback on speaking and writing assignments...just like a regular teacher.
One semester of any language for the K-12 is $119 w/o teacher support and an additional $175 with teacher support ($294 total).
This curriculum is an exclusively online program. To use this program, your computer will need to operate Windows 7 or 8 or Mac OS X v10.6 or v10.7. A headset/microphone is recommended for the speaking labs. For a complete list of all that is recommended, you can visit the FAQ's to see full system requirements.
I chose to review one of the Spanish Courses: Elementary Spanish 1: Grades 3-5 using the version without teacher support. This is a standard 6 month semester course which retails for $119.
How Did We Use This Curriculum?
The program was very easy to get started with. Once the email confirming our program came through, I was able to get everything signed up and taken care of and we were able to start immediately. The program directed us on how to get started and let us know that we could access all our lessons on the calendar. Finding the calendar is easy no matter where you are in the program. You just click on an icon in the top left corner for the menu to appear. When you click it the menu appears at the left and you can find a list of all the areas you can visit from the calendar to the gradebook.To play a lesson, simply click the lesson name and it opens up a playlist. Click the "play" button and it opens your lesson right up.
The left side shows all the assignments that are part of the lesson. As they are completed, they darken. This helps you keep track of which ones you have completed and which ones are left. Once they are all completed, you can click the next arrow at the bottom and this takes you to the next lesson.
When we first were doing it, I thought that was just an arrow to take us to more for the day's lesson, so we did 2 lessons the first day. I was worried that it was going to be a lot of work like that each time, until I discovered (by looking at the calendar) that we had done more than one lesson.
Another way to access the lessons is through the Table of Contents. You can find it by click the same menu icon as the calendar. By clicking "table of contents" on the menu you get taken to this page...
Once we did the first few lessons together, I let Little Britches work on everything independently, though I stayed in the same room. This gave him the awareness that he could ask for help if he wasn't getting something.
I rarely was asked for help, because the program provides a lot of assistance in the form of "microphones" he can click on which reads out directions or reviews the vocabulary he is learning.
A microphone is recommended for this program, though not necessarily required. Fortunately, the microphone on my laptop works very well and no extra gizmos were needed. Little Britches likes the speaking lab portions because he likes to hear the sound of his own voice. LOL. He is very hard on himself and would re-record words if he felt they weren't up to snuff.
 |
| A speaking lab... |
Each of the units contain six lessons and each lesson contains about 7 activities. The activities are a mixture of audio work (listening to stories or songs using the new vocabulary), interactive practice to learn how to say and recognize the words and their meanings, exploration to see how they are used in context and how you remember them, and then speaking labs to practice and record your pronunciation. Not every lesson has a quiz but when they do, they are very simple and so far appear to be multiple choice.
Lesson six for each unit contains review and then a "written" test and a speaking test. This method worked very well for Little Britches and I never heard any complaints.
Rather than rushing through each unit, we discovered we were going to do about 42 activities related to the units vocabulary. This is a lot more than we expected and it became "easy" for Little Britches because of all the review. (Easy means that he will willingly do it!)
At this point we have completed two full units which comprises of 12 lessons. We worked on 2-3 lessons per week which was a great pace--and what is recommended by the company.
Though I don't need it at this time, I did like having access to the gradebook.
For someone using this as part of a portfolio or for a credit, this is a great tool to have!
What Are Our Thoughts on This Curriculum?
Little Britches:"I like that the lessons are easy to do. I like the stories and think I am learning a lot. I sometimes forget to hit the submit button and it won't log my work when I do that. But I can always go back and do it again to make sure it gets done."
My Thoughts:
We weren't sure about the program when we started, because we'd never experienced an immersive geared language curriculum, where the primary lesson (the story, song, whatever) is completely in Spanish without translation. The push is for the understanding of the use of the words in context without translation--using photos to help translate over English words. But once we saw how the lessons went, we figured it out and started to really enjoy it. Within the first week, I felt he had retained more than he had in 3 months of our previous curriculum.
Pros
*Interactive Lessons
*Speaking Labs to practice Accents
*Stories and Songs to teach the Lessons
*Fun kid friendly graphics
*Easy to use
*Works on my laptop (HP) with the built in microphone
*Picks up where you left off if you have to quit mid lesson
*Easy to see what has been completed
*Provides printable grade reports
*Gives instant grades on activities, quizzes and tests
*Immersive teaching (lessons are 88% in Spanish)
*Calendar shows exactly what needs to be done
*Lots of review and repetition for better retention
*Lessons load quickly and play without issues
*Independent program that can be used without parent guidance
*Speaking labs recorded and saved so parent and listen to the assignments
*The instructions for the activities could be "read" aloud with a click of the mouse
Cons
*6 Month (1 semester) deadline to complete the program
*Price per semester per child of $119 (no teacher) or $294 (with teacher) which is fairly expensive
*Calendar is confusing when not doing a lesson every day
*No feedback regarding speaking the language (with the no teacher version)
I really loved how the program was set up. Once I logged in, Little Britches could easily see what his next lesson was and could work on it independently. I loved that though he was working independently, all of his speaking labs were recorded and saved so that I could listen to them and thus advise him on anything that I thought needed some more work. By clicking submit on each activity, he was also given immediate correction for any activities (except the verbal) that he did.
The lessons loaded quickly and we never had any issues with them. They were full of repetition and review which are ideal for learning foreign language. I liked that about 80% of the lesson was in Spanish, putting the emphasis on the language and using it in context. For instance, when learning his numbers in Spanish, they didn't just learn to count to 10. They had to count to 10, then count backwards to 1. Then to make sure they really knew their numbers, they had to learn phone numbers and translate the Spanish number words into numbers.
What didn't I love?
Well, the main thing I don't love is the price. We are a frugal family with a tight budget. No matter how much we love a curriculum (and we really loved this one), we just can't shell out a large sum like this for ONE curriculum--especially one that is consumable, with a time deadline and just for one student. At least, we can't do it right now at the elementary age. Don't get me wrong, the program is WORTH IT...it really is, but we cannot financially make it happen right now at this point--which is why I put it as a con.
In regards to the calendar, the elementary programs are to be done in a suggested method of 2-3 lessons per week. The calendar lists them as 5 lessons per week (one per day) so when you log in, it will always take you to the current calendar day--whether or not that's the actual lesson you are working on. This can be a pain.
I'd like to see that it will always take you to the LAST DAY you completed, instead of whatever the current date is--especially for the elementary programs that are supposed to be done 2-3 lessons a week anyways.
The last con is a minor one and one that I know can be fixed by purchasing the "with teacher" version. But for those WITHOUT a teacher, I think it's definitely a con, but one you just have to accept as it's part of the program.
Would I Recommend Middlebury Interactive Languages?
Want to Know More?
In closing I also want to add that we are using this program simultaneously with a Latin course. Interestingly enough, instead of it being overwhelming to learn two languages at once, the Latin is helping because a lot of the Spanish words have Latin roots. In our year for learning a new language, we just might come out learning two!
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