Spanish Program for the whole family

[carlyincali]

I would like a Spanish program that our whole family can learn from. Both my husband and I took Spanish 1 in high school, but neither of us retained more than about 10 or 20 words, (my dh retained more than me.)

We need to learn Latin American Spanish (as opposed to Europian Spanish.)

Our days are filled, so I'm not sure how we are going to schedule it in, but we have to. We are in sort of a time crunch. We have just begun the process to adopt a 5yo girl who only speaks Spanish--we are hoping to have her home within 9mos to a year. We would love to ease her transition a bit and learn as much Spanish as we can in the little bit of time we have.

Dh keeps metioning Rosetta Stone, but he only mentions that because he sees all the advertising. I have read that there are better programs out there. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[EvergreenEclecticAcademy]

...over on the Spanish board. Patricia in WA (&/or others) may have an idea or two for you. :)

HTH!

[Hillary in KS]

We use Rosetta Stone in combination with "So You Really Want to Learn Spanish." Rosetta Stone has been great for the past 2 years, but ds asked for a program with more of a grammar base. So we added SYRWTLS and the combination has been wonderful.

Rosetta Stone is methodical, and uses native speakers. SYRWTLS fills the grammar and conversation gaps missing from RS.

We also watch DVDs of short films in Spanish (Veggie Tales, etc.) and tape Plaza Sesamo when it's on on the weekends. If you have cable, you could look at the children's programming on Univision.

Have fun!

[Patricia in WA]

First cograts on your adoption. I must say I admire your commitment to this child. How wonderful of you to learn her language. Kudos to you!!

Because of your urgency here is what I recommend....

If you watch television....Stop all English TV! See if your local cable company offers a spanish package (mine is $6 more a month) and you will receive a bunch of Spanish channels. Start watching them. Get your ears use to the language fast. I get PBS in Spanish and let the kids loose on it. I watch CNN in Spanish and am so impressed with their worldview reporting. But that is a discussion for another time......

If you are not afraid of strangers/internet meet ups.....I was recently told that Meet Up (http://www.meetup.com/)has alot of Spanish clubs in many cities. Those are people interested in conversing in Spanish. They will meet at a restaurant (usually a Spanish one) and you can converse. Even if at first you sit there and say nothing but listen intently with a dictionary, you will get alot out of it.

If you are religious....Call your church or a local church and ask if they have a Spanish community outreach program (many of them do now). Some churches hold services in Spanish. Start attending. Volunteer. Get involved.

Go to the library....check out books on tape, and picture books of some of your favorite stories. Read these over and over. Get DVDs and watch them in Spanish. If you have reading kids, put up the English subtitles and eventually take them away.

Your kids will pick it up much faster. Get Spanish-English dictionaries for every room in the house. Use them. Encourage your kids to use them. Seek out playmates that speak spanish.

I just realized you are in California. Most of the above things I mentioned should not be too difficult to do.

As for a program to use.....
Rosetta Stone is nice for some. My kids hated it. They want the why's not just the how. In your case it may work really well since you need the how. DD is having great success with So You Really Want to Learn Spanish (http://www.galorepark.co.uk/subjects-home_schoolers-spanish.html) series. If you decide to go with this series, once you need the whys I recommend the cd, the student book and the Teacher's book. It is well done. It moves fast so you may have to take it slow with your kids, but the rewards for your hard work will pay off.

Besides these, I have posted other suggestions on my blog (http://classicaledourway.blogspot.com/search/label/spanish). Let me know if I can help you further.

Good luck n your new journey.

HTHs,