Online spanish options?

[dirty ethel rackham]

I need to find some options for Spanish. Ds took Spanish 1 from our state's virtual high school. I am not terribly impressed with the class. There was almost no interaction with the teacher. I can help him somewhat (I minored in Spanish in college), but I do not have the time or energy to direct a program for him. (We have 3 Spanish curriculums for younger children on our shelf that I never got to, so I have to be real here.)

[CO MOM]

My dd took Spanish 1 from the Potter's School this past year and it went well. They use the BJU curriculum and have live classes for 1.5 hours per week, so get to practice speaking as well as writing and reading. You have to help correct some things, but they give you the key and a lot of support and the teacher always double checks the assignments that count toward the grade, which is good because I know nothing of Spanish!

HTH,
Jane

[Ruth in NC]

My 16yo daughter did Spanish through Oklahoma State (http://spanishonline.okstate.edu/) this year and she enjoyed it. Much of the work is done online but a textbook is also used. There is a weekly phone conversation with an instructor. This could be a graduate student or head of the department. My daughter often had Sra. Klopp, the director, and they would converse for 30 or 40 minutes. She could ask questions or go over areas that were problematic for her. And she could call the department anytime with a question.

We will be doing Spanish 2 unless she can get into a community college class and that is unlikely.

Ruth in NC

[SwimmerMom]

My dd took Spanish 1 from the Potter's School this past year and it went well. They use the BJU curriculum and have live classes for 1.5 hours per week, so get to practice speaking as well as writing and reading. You have to help correct some things, but they give you the key and a lot of support and the teacher always double checks the assignments that count toward the grade, which is good because I know nothing of Spanish!

HTH,
Jane
Oh, how I long to return to a time zone where Bean can use Potter's school classes and not have to stay up until 11 pm to do it!

[Niebski]

I just signed up with Spanish Luna and am impressed so far. They basically hook you up with a native speaker... there's also My Personal Language Tutor and LiveMocha (google them all). They may not be a complete curriculum, but it's invaluable to have a native speaker!

Sue

[Begonia]

Have you looked at Spain's Instituto Cervantes AVE classes ( http://ave.cervantes.es/ing.htm --don't forget to click on the "English" language option :) )? I believe one signs up for classes through Instituto Cervantes centers in New York or Chicago. The classes are multimedia and seem to me to be fairly rigorous. The diagnostic test is a bear! One can sign up for pure distance classes (no tutor, no classmates) or for a hybrid online class with a tutor, etc. I haven't researched it thoroughly yet, but it looks good to me. HTH.

[dirty ethel rackham]

This looks very interesting! I will seriously consider this. I am sure that my son will have to start out as a beginner because I doubt his current Spanish class was rigorous enough for him to do well on the placement test. I was quite pleased with myself because I placed in intermediate. I minored in Spanish in college, but haven't needed to speak it often in over 20 years.

[matroyshka]

Have you looked at Spain's Instituto Cervantes AVE classes ( http://ave.cervantes.es/ing.htm --don't forget to click on the "English" language option :) )? I believe one signs up for classes through Instituto Cervantes centers in New York or Chicago. The classes are multimedia and seem to me to be fairly rigorous. The diagnostic test is a bear! One can sign up for pure distance classes (no tutor, no classmates) or for a hybrid online class with a tutor, etc. I haven't researched it thoroughly yet, but it looks good to me. HTH.

That looks great! Any idea how much the classes cost? I'm hoping to get my kids up through at least 2nd-3rd level Spanish, but this would be great for more advanced stuff.

I just spent way too much time having fun with the placement test (it's loooong!). I got C14 (one level below Proficient), which I think is pretty good considering I haven't had a regular chance to speak Spanish in over 20 years, and I only got to listen to the audio section once because I didn't realize the headset was plugged in and couldn't figure out why the voice was tiny and veeery far away. :blushing:

[Michelle in AL]

We love, love, love, Mrs. Pliego's class with Veritas Press. It's twice a week using BJU's spanish. The instructor speaks in spanish the entire 1.5 hr class, it's very interactive and she adds a lot to the program, beyond what BJU provides.

She is very personable, the class is fun, yet never gets out of hand.

My dds began it in January, mid yr, and one dd went to Peru a couple weeks ago and understood almost all the language and was able to speak it well too (This is after being only 3/4 way through Spanish 1).

[strider]

We use a Spanish tutoring service called 121Speech. For $10 per hour we meet through Skype with tutors based in Guatemala. We LOVE this system.

If you have specific goals (AP exams, etc.) you should discuss that with them. They do have their own curriculum, but I have found them to be both responsive and flexible.

I had to specifically request homework for my kids--it's been really good for them. They tutor a wide range of people. Some want homework; others do not. The tutors are well trained, though, and as I said, very responsive to our needs.

http://www.121speech.com/

[RENEEinVA]

I'll put in another plug for Potter's School. My dd's Spanish I class went well this year. Next year, she'll be in Spanish II and they have also added an extra Spanish Conversations class which provides an additional 1.5 hours of speaking practice each week ($100 extra I think).