Spanish curriculum/ideas for little ones?

[morgainesmama]

DD has been dying to learn Spanish. Though I took 4 years in high school, I can say, um, "Hola; como estas?" I was a good student but we never SPOKE it.

She's nearly 6. I'm at a loss of how to teach her ... I can pick out words or phrases to start with, but which? When do we speak English and when Spanish once we start learning? Is there a curriculum or guide designed for non-Spanish speaking parents? The online resources I have found seem to require a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish or else several hundred dollars, neither of which I have.

Help?

Finding someone fluent in Spanish will be a real trick here in New Hampshire, and though my brothers will step in and help (pretty great w/ the language, both of them) I wouldn't even know how to use that -- do they just come over and start talkign to her in Spanish? How would this work?

Anyone BTDT?

Thanks. I hadn't planned to really plan the year, but if you read my other post about science/ss stuff, you'll know that I'm needing to put together something solid because I may have to defend it in court soon.

I would really appreciate input -- $50 or less, pref. less, is what I have to spend on all curriculum/supplies for now -- I do have OM k/1/2, and my brain, and a library available to me.

Kristi

[shaywyn]

No help on the curriculum but here's a favorite link for Spanish Practice, nice for all ages. Think of it as a vocabulary list Good Luck!

http://members.tripod.com/spanishflashcards/

[thundersweet]

Hi! I was looking for something for my 4 year old and purchased La Clase Divertida http://www.funclase.com/index.htm after getting lots of recommendations from other homeschool sites. I also met the man who created the program at a curriculum fair last month. We have not started yet but it looks wonderful!!

[Linda on the move]

Jumpstart Spanish is a nice little computer program. My kids learned colors, names of clothes, etc from it. (I think it was about $20)

See if you library has anything. Some librarys have videos or CD for kids to learn languages. Would you be able to pronouce it if you saw it? Some libraries have children's books in Spanish.

We just ordered La Clase Divertida but it hasn't arrived yet. My kids begged for Spanish. After we start using it I'll report back!

[quaz]

PBS has a show on tv called Destinos. It is kinda like a spanish immersion class. When I was nursing I recorded it, and then would watch it with english subtitles, since my spanish was rusty. Then I'd watch it again without.

The only part is it might not keep the interest of a 6yr old. It is the story of a woman detective, who was hired to find someone.


Books? Sometimes you can check out a spanish book and it's english equivalent.

Those are at least some things that could tide you over until you found a good curriculm.

Tammy

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by thundersweet

Hi! I was looking for something for my 4 year old and purchased La Clase Divertida http://www.funclase.com/index.htm after getting lots of recommendations from other homeschool sites. I also met the man who created the program at a curriculum fair last month. We have not started yet but it looks wonderful!!

This looks WONDERFUL. I wish I could find something like this for French.

Karen

[USAmma]

You might want to check around locally. I found a preschool Spanish class at Parks and Rec for dd last year. JumpStart Spanish is also fun for her, but it's not a great way to learn to speak it in real life. It's good for building vocabulary though.

[Free Thinker]

Here are my suggestions I took spanish in HS, and now need to converse w/ other spanish speaking employees. My DH has had NO spanish, and would like to learn a little bit, and be able to communicate reasonably, times, dates, and basic questions. I have bought a few old spanish text books from the used book store ($3!), an UsborneSpanish tape (my first 100 words, $7.77), and I bought a workbook for grades 1-3 for $10 at Wal-Mart. It teaches colors, numbers, dates, times, clothing, basic stuff, and has a great section on little chants and songs. I am starting to do some of those w/ my 2.5 year old. She also gets to watch the Spanish video (with her dad :LOL). A few weeks after getting it, she asked me where is mis zapatos (my shoes)? I couldn't believe it, b/c that was NOT something that I had ever even said, she picked it up off the video! A few other things I'd like to get are the Usborne, first 1000 words in spanish, Professor Toto DVD (in my dreams :LOL) and CDs and the PowerGlide Spanish Jr. As for actually learning to speak the language (the sentance structure, congugation, ect.) I am not worrying about that right now. I think that we need to learn the basic words first (nouns, and common verbs). I'll worry about sentance structure later, and hopfully have a good computer program!