Elementary Spanish on United Streaming...

[twoblessings]

I am thinking of using this next year with my 2nd grade dd. Has any done this and had success with it? I would love to hear pros & cons to it.

thanks!

[Jenny in Atl]

I'm using ES with my 2nd grader and she really likes it. She is even doing the 4/5 grade level as she did not like the lady for the k/2 level. We are stressing more learning vocabulary at this age and the ES/US is her treat each day to relax and sing along while learning. ES has great resources (but printing it out is not cheap). I do get US free... so I'm unsure what my review would be if I had to pay. Trying to be honest.

[twoblessings]

I get this for free also :). I am thinking every thing I need is in the downloadable teacher's guide, is this correct? Is the resources you speak of in the Teacher guide. I am understanding there to be 10 units with 10 lessons each (100 lessons). Is this designed to complete the lessons over the course of 2 years? Thanks for all your help.

Blessings!

[Cindyg]

We're on our fourth year with it. We're on the last unit of grades 3/4. We have enjoyed it very much. We liked both teachers. The content is gentle and pleasant. I do not see this as a mastery program--more of an exposure program. So, if you want a mastery program, well, I guess that would be a con. But my son feels like he really knows Spanish. :p

We don't do the workbook page. (We do so many other workbook pages!) We just enjoy watching and listening in.

Since you already get United Streaming, just watch a sample lesson. I'm sure you'll like it. If you have a specific question, ask me.

[twoblessings]

This is encouraging to hear. DD and I did watch the first lesson today. She seemed to be interested in it. It is nice to get opinions from those who have actually used it over a period of time with good results. How many lessons per week do you do? I am thinking If we do 2 lessons a week that we could finish grade 1-2 in 1 1/2-2 years. Any thoughts you have on this is appreciated.

Thanks for everything,
Busy

[Jennefer@SSA]

We just finished up Unit 2 and will move onto Unit 3 next week. I have a minor in Spanish but with a 3 yo and an 18 mo running around I had to "outsource" something. There just wasn't time for me to teach it all? I know I could do better if I just had time but this is a great alternative until the little ones grow up a little more. I did have to pay for our subscription to United Streaming but I only paid $129 through the Homeschool Buyers Coop. I was about to spend $200 on a video based Spanish curriculum but this way I get Spanish plus all the other goodies that US has to offer for $70 less than I was going to spend just for Spanish. I have no regrets whatsoever and I feel this is a solid program.

That being said, I would supplement as much as possible with simple games and activities.Here is a link to a blog post I did about Spanish resources if you are interested:

http://smoothstonesacademy.blogspot.com/2007/09/were-learning-spanish-aprendemos-el.html

Blessings

[twoblessings]

Wow! These resources are great. Thanks for posting!

Blessings!

[Cindyg]

I think the program has enough lessons to do it twice a week for 9 months, like they might in a public school. We do Spanish 4 times a week, year round. (We alternate with another curriculum.)

You'll like it. :)

[twoblessings]

I am just wondering how many days a week is the course designed for? I was thinking we might do it 2-3 days a week. Would this be sufficient?

Blessings!

[Jennefer@SSA]

I think 2 to 3 days a week is perfect. We do a video lesson on MW and follow up with a Spanish game or review on TTh! We have so much fun with Spanish!!!

Hth!

[twoblessings]

Thanks, that helps.

blessings

[KerriF]

Jennefer,

Do you use the workbook with this? I have taped all of this years from Dish Network (the program is on one of the university channels) and have been waiting to use it because I haven't ordered the workbook yet. What do you think about using the program w/o the workbooks? Ds is 7 in 2nd grade currently. Spanish is one of those things I've tried and tried to get in but just haven't had success with. Any suggestions?

TIA

Kerri

[KerriF]

Bumping this up... hoping Jennefer will see it. :)

[Jennefer@SSA]

on Streaming there was a 500 and some odd page Teacher's Manual. In that manual there are included worksheets for most lessons as well as materials you can use to make a bulletin board for each unit. I do use the worksheets as they are fun and interactive most of the time (and ds loves them).

I don't know if the workbooks that are available for purchase are simply those worksheets together in one place? I will say that I do really like these and I do feel they reinforce the lesson well. I don't think they are a must have.

Email me if you want and we can compare notes! :)

Jennefer

[Krista in LA]

He is in 4th and it is his favorite thing to do for school. We had been using Rosetta Stone, but he prefers the ES. He's on the last unit for grades 3-4 and is excited about moving on to the ones for grades 5-6. On the other hand, my dd in 7th didn't really like the educación española for grades 6-8 with the same guy, so she's gone back to doing Rosetta Stone.