As a former Spanish teacher, I always thought that it would be easy to teach my kids Spanish. I have not found this to be true. Over the years I've seen lots of discussions about what materials are best for teaching languages, and I've struggled with the best methods and materials myself.

The problem with language-teaching resources is that they invariably lack sufficient variety, and sufficient material for practice. Rosetta Stone, for instance, is a great resource - but its methods of presentation are limited and it just isn't adequate for full learning. A teacher in a classroom can overcome this problem, but even though I have the training for this, I don't have the time and energy for it.

I thought I'd tell you what method I've hit upon now that is working very well.

I've been collecting Spanish textbooks for a long time, mostly at used book stores. Sitting in front of me right now I have 10 first-year texts, plus a testing manual from an eleventh. I think I have a few more on the shelf, as well.

What I'm doing is to work orally with my son through all of these texts. We do a couple of pages in one, a couple of pages in another, a couple of pages in another, and so forth. Sometimes we stay in one book for a few days; sometimes we do two pages out of each of three books in a day.

Even though I think each book has its weaknesses, these weaknesses don't matter much when I put them all together. The texts provide a nice variety of approaches to the material. We're progressing slowly, but that doesn't matter, since we're not in a hurry. We could go faster if he were older.

Order of presentation varies greatly from text to text, but I think that can be an advantage, since it provides automatic review of each concept as we reach it in each book. He may not learn a concept when the first book teaches it, but by the tenth time through, it should be okay.

At this beginning stage, I'm finding that the intended audience of the book doesn't matter much. Some of these books were written for middle school, some for high school, and some for college. As we progress, I will be dropping some of the books as inappropriate for my child, but for now I'm finding almost all my basic texts useful.

Some of the texts lend themselves more to written work than others, and I'm assigning it when I think it's appropriate.

If you can figure out how to read the words properly (certainly possible with Spanish), this method would probably work even if you, the mom, don't speak the language, since you'll be reading repeated presentations of the basic material and can learn along with your student.

Used book stores around here almost always have used language textbooks; I try not to pay more than $5 for any of these, and some have been as little as $1. So I don't mind bringing home a book before I figure out whether it's really going to be helpful or not.

I am convinced that foreign languages are one of the hardest aspects of home schooling, but maybe this will help someone.

Thank you Beth!
I agree with you that foreign language is the hardest area to really cover well in our homeschool. We are using Rosetta Stone for Spanish and have done some of the work units of Spanish Now! (7th ed). I am planning to purchase Breaking the Spanish Barrier 1 and 2 for my guys to do in addition to RS. My older son really wants to know the grammar rules in addition to getting the immersion technique from RS. My goal is for them to be able to converse comfortably with a native speaker. I was never able to pull that off, even after getting A's infour years of high school Spanish! If only this were as easy for us as English grammar! Thanks again for your thoughts,
Blessings,
April

Beth,
Have you found any particular texts that a mom who doesn't know Spanish would do especially well with? We're using RS, but we are really struggling with it because it doesn't explain the grammar rules or how to conjugate verbs. I know (from my other reading) that there are three types of verbs and patterns that they use to conjugate each type, but this is never explained and so we are simply memorizing particular verbs and their forms as we come across them. I'm tempted to go with a video-based program so an actual "teacher" who knows the language can explain it to us, but so far everything I've found is only available on a rent-for-a-year basis, and then you have to return the DVDs. This is NOT homeschool friendly! It doesn't allow us to go at our own pace or start in the middle of a school year, not to mention that for six children it's going to be VERY expensive!!
Any suggestions you have would be most welcome!
Michelle

April,
I found Breaking the Spanish Barrier, and it looks like it does a great job of explaining the grammar! Are you going to purchase the Teacher's Edition?
Michelle

Since I do most of my shopping at used book stores, I'm not very "up" on what's currently being produced. I'm not a fan of Powerglide, I can say that, because it relies too much on giving you a list of vocabulary and saying "memorize this." The explanations also aren't very reliable, if I recall correctly.

There's one book that I wish I could whole-heartedly recommend to you: Practical Spanish Grammar, A Self-Teaching Guide, by Marcial Prado. It's very user friendly. The reason I hesitate is that you will find a good number of sentences about ordering beer, or sweet vermouth, and there are a number of references to drunkenness. You have to decide how much this bothers you. I use the book anyway with older kids, and you should be able to use it yourself even if you don't want it for your kids. The grammatical explanations are very clear and incorporate lots of questions so that you can check your understanding. If nothing else, you could use it to help you understand so that you can explain to your kids.

Consider starting at your public library. See what texts they have, to start with. Play with them and see what you like. What you like the first month might be different from what you like the fourth month. Just about all kinds of teaching have their use, although I would avoid just about all books that have these words in the introduction: "Language is habit," "ALM," or "audio-lingual method." These words come from a time in the 60s and 70s when the language-teaching methodologies were especially ineffective.

There are several kinds of materials you ought to have in order to have a good program:
Graded, interesting reading materials
Good explanations of grammar
Good grammar exercises
Good contexts in which to practice applying grammar and vocabulary
Graded listening situations

I've never known a book or software package of any kind which had enough of every one of these components; it would be too thick and expensive to be marketable anyway. But each of these things exist, and by combining resources, you can end up with a great program of your own.

A rant of my own: Don't believe anyone who says that you don't need grammar explanations and exercises if you use an immersion method. First, a book or a tape isn't immersion. Second, if immersion were that successful, then our country wouldn't be filled with immigrants who've lived and worked here for ten years and still don't speak English clearly. Immersion works - if you're under twelve years old or so, AND if you move to a country where the language is spoken. Otherwise, grammar instruction makes a huge difference. HOWEVER - those "immersion" methods can still be a nice tool in your toolbox, if they have good reading and listening passages.

I started to write out a longer explanation of some of my favorite texts, but it was going to take me a very long time and then you might think that you should go out of your way to find and buy these, many of which are out of print.

My long-term dream is to write a great text for homeschooling families myself, but at the moment I'm much too busy with my own family for that. I have loads of ideas, though!

Beth,

As a former Spanish teacher, I agree with you whole-heartedly! We haven't formally started teaching Spanish yet but will in another year. I'm kicking myself for getting rid of my teaching materials. I never imagined God telling us to homeschool! I've said to many people that no one curriculum is enough. I have been considering Rosetta and also using a traditional textbook.

Have you heard of Tell Me More? It is a reasonably priced curriculum that I've had several people ask me about.

Susan

No, I haven't heard of Tell Me More.

(Edited 9/23/09 to say that if Tell Me More is Cuéntame Más, then now I've not only heard of it but love it - I'm using it in the Spanish class I'm now teaching - and I talk about it later in this thread. It takes a hands-on teacher, though.)

Hi Michelle,
I decided not to purchase the teacher's ed at this time based on discussion with the customer service rep at Breaking the Barrier. I am getting the answer key for the text, which should be sufficient. If that proves too inconvenient, I will order the teacher's ed. I am hoping that the foundation laid by Rosetta Stone will allow especially my older son to move quickly through the grammar. As Beth said, the key to all of this is repetition, an using a variety of sources seems to help. Best wishes as you seek the right foreign language combo for your family!
Blessings,
April

After a couple more months of using all my texts, I'm ready to add a little to this.

First, I am thrilled with the progress my son is making. He's the third I'm trying to teach, and this method is working by far the best. We're still progressing slowly, but his knowledge is becoming quite solid.

I'm ready to list a few books that I'm enjoying, with some important caveats. I would hate to think that anyone thought that I'm saying that these are the best books for teaching Spanish, and that you should rush out and spend large sums of money tracking down these books. No! These are not necessarily the best books - just the ones that I'm most pleased with, of the ones that happen to have found their way to my shelf. No one of these resources would be complete. Yet some of them are available online for under $5, so it might be worthwhile to track some of them down. Many of these are out of print. All of them are high-school level unless otherwise marked, but I've been using them with my 7yo without much trouble.

Converso Mucho: Very nice textbook, I think originally intended for middle school Spanish. Clear, simple grammar explanations. Carefully integrates last chapter's concepts into this chapter. Very well done. (Ya Converso Más is the next in the series.)

Voces y vistas (1992, I think): High school text. We're sort of "behind" on this one - lagging behind our other texts because I just ran across it a few weeks ago - but it seems solid.

Persona a persona (by da Silva) - Nice introduction of concepts, with a quick movement toward guided use of the vocab and grammar in interesting ways. This may be my current favorite.

Viva el español, A, B, and C - There's still a Viva el español in print; I don't know if it's the same as mine. This is done by the same people as Converso mucho, and it's aimed at elementary age kids. It has very imaginative, engaging activities. I have workbooks B and C only; I don't know what other components there are, nor how worthwhile they would be. These are for teaching real Spanish, not merely the colors and numbers. I would not hesitate to use this for older kids with a sense of humor, although I'd adapt some of the activities. We don't do the suggested drawing; we just talk.

Spanish for Mastery: My favorite part of this is the workbooks; I don't know if you can find them anywhere. I have 3 levels of the texts, but only level 2 of the workbook. The level 2 workbook, at least, is very interesting and well done. I also use the textbook, even though some of the activities don't measure up to the workbook ones.

Compañeros. This book isn't easy. It hits the vocabulary pretty hard, and introduces multiple verb tenses early. I wouldn't recommend this as a stand-alone text, but it has some really nice features. I just be sure to lag behind in this one, so my son already knows most of the clothing vocabulary when he hits the Compañeros clothing section (for example), since it not only teaches more clothing vocabulary than any other single resource, but also simultaneously expects the student to be mastering a couple of new grammar concepts. A good resource, but a hard text to use alone. Also, there's very little guided practice - it gives you some examples, then expects you to be able to form sentences on your own. I really do like the book, though. This one is currently in print, I believe.

¿Qué tal? (Abridged from Puntos de Partida, by Dorwick) I like this one, but it's a college text and the exercises weren't engaging for my 7yo after the first couple of chapters. But if your student is older, it might be a good text - or better, Puntos de Partida, if that is more complete; it's better to have too many exercises than too few. Puntos de Partida may still be in print, but in a new edition. I have the 1983 edition of ¿Qué tal? and can't speak to later editions.

Amsco's Workbook in Spanish First Year. I can only speak to the earlier edition (not the 1996 one). The earlier edition is still in print. Pretty much pure grammar. Not something to start out with, but might be very useful for practice later, once you start conjugating verbs.

Other books which I have, but which are turning out to be of less use to me, are Buen Viaje and Paso a Paso. Paso a Paso is still good; it has some really nice features, and is worth having on my shelf. (Perhaps I should have listed it among my recommended texts; I don't know.) Buen Viaje seems to rely too heavily on listening components, which I don't have, to be of much use. I used it until I gathered enough other materials not to need it.

Most of the best texts have a lot of TEXT (readings, exercises, and explanations), and a lot of small pictures on which to base the exercises and explanations. (Or, larger but complex pictures with lots of associated text.) If the book is full of full-page photos with a six-word caption under it, or if the pictures are all for vocabulary presentation but not for practice, it's less likely to be an effective book.

I also have a number of readers of various kinds, but mostly I think you're even less likely to be able to track down those specific books, so I won't list any of them.

Let me be extremely clear here: I am a fluent Spanish speaker with a degree in teaching languages, and years of experience both in the classroom and in a tutorial setting. My kids have inherited a flair for languages. Yet the books I've listed above are ONLY A PART of the resources that I'm using to teach them Spanish. If you're serious about learning the language, by all means, do it. We're spending 10-15 minutes a day on it, so it doesn't have to be that time-consuming. But don't spend too much money on one resource, because you'll need a shelf-ful of them to do a thorough job.

I only wish I could find this many great, cheap resources to teach my daughter German.

I don't know if anyone cares about this, but here it is. I probably ought to start a blog for this kind of thing, rather than (ab)using the Tapestry of Grace forum this way.... Let me know if you'd be interested, and maybe I will. There's no point in my doing this if no one needs this sort of thing.

Beth,
Thank you!! All of us trying to teach or facilitate the learning of a forign language need all the help we can get! I am not too proud to ask for help, and I will gratefully receive all assistance you care to give!!
Blessings,
April
(to whom high school Spanish seems alifetime ago...)

Oh my goodness, I'm so tired of looking at Spanish materials I can hardly see straight anymore. I've looked at Christian texts, secular texts, library books, books that are supposed to help with grammar, computer programs (one caution: don't go to Amazon and just type "Spanish" in the search box ) I just don't have time to combine a lot of materials into a coherent program. (This would be easy for me to do with science, and is what I've done for a long time!) The best I've found is ABeka. All the grammar explanations are in plain English, and there are plenty of grammar exercises (too many, probably). I do hope to continue to use Rosetta Stone along with the ABeka so my students can hear the Spanish, along with the CDs that come with the program. I'm not 100% sure this is the direction I'll go, but it's where I'm leaning. Does anyone have any reasons I shouldn't go this route?
Michelle (who took German and Japanese, neither of which are Latin-based!)

Michelle,

I'm not that familiar with the ABeka program (although I do have a textbook or two of theirs; I just haven't spent time with it). But I did want to address the fact that you said that you didn't have time to combine materials into a "coherent" program. One of the things I'm enjoying so much about what I'm doing is that I'm making very little effort to make things coherent. It takes me very little planning, and in fact could in theory take none, if I were willing to wing it and just commit to spending 10 minutes a day or so with something out of my pile of texts. But since it works better for my son to have a specific assignment for each day, I do make a plan.

Whatever works for your family!

Michelle,

Okay, I took my ABeka Spanish books with me into the bathtub (it turns out I have most of the program), and now I have an opinion, and I'm missing out on sleep in order to give it to you. I think that if you go this route, you will be disappointed with the results. There are some nice explanations here, it's true. But I think there aren't too many, but rather too few grammar exercises - there are an awful lot of concepts taught in the text which never seem to be practiced even once in the exercises.

In addition, opportunities for practice of any other kind are going to be very few if you're using this text. There are extremely few good exercises in this program. A good teacher could provide these in class, but that takes the time and energy that you and I don't have. I've read a few reviews by people who have used this text at home, and I haven't heard anything good about it yet. There are much better programs available.

But there are some nice features to it, and obviously something drew you to it. I just hope you can find those nice features in a different book.

One book you might look at is Spanish is Fun, from Amsco. I'm not using it, but it's inexpensive and I think you would have much better results. It has much more variety of presentation, and more appropriate exercises.

I would continue with the Rosetta Stone; that's a good program. I would find a good resource with clear grammar explanations; there are lots of those. (It's too late for me to dig mine out and list them.) That could be for your reference, or for your kids'. Then I would get one other text to start with. Any of the ones I list could get you started, and there are plenty of others, as well. You might also look into the Self-Teaching Guide by Marcial Prado that I mentioned above; its explanations are very clear, and it has good exercises.

If money isn't a serious concern, and if your kids are motivated, I'd look into the Pimsleur tapes. They're very well done, and unlike any other tapes I've heard. There are several programs in the Pimsleur family, some much more expensive and much lengthier. I think they would be a solid start to the language.

I wish I could loan you something out of my pile of texts.

Wow--thanks for taking the time to do this, Beth! I will look into the Amsco book you mentioned, and the Prado book. In your opinion, if I go this route (more than one text, etc.), how will I know that he's doing the equivalent of a semester/year/etc. of high school Spanish? To be honest, Spanish is, for this child, a necessary evil, and I'm looking for the most painless way to get there. It makes it doubly difficult that the books that look the best to me and are the most highly recommended are books that, having no Spanish background, I can't understand. (Avancemos is the book I most recently looked at. I couldn't make much sense out of the grammar sections.) Perhaps using a Barron's guide, or a guide to studying for the CLEP, to make sure we're covering the proper bases?

OK, this is becoming rather disjointed. Sorry. I found Spanish is Fun on Amazon. I would need the student text, the teacher's text, and the workbook? Does that sound right? Or since you've not used it, maybe you don't know. . .

Sorry to be such a pain--but thanks for taking your time to help!
Michelle

Michelle,

Boy, I'm glad you took that in the spirit in which it was intended! I was worried to check the forums today.

Different Spanish texts cover different amounts of material. It's hard to know exactly what one year should be.

If you use more than one text, I think this would make it easier for him, rather than harder. If you've ever tried to study a language on your own, you know that it's very frustrating to read the first five lessons, understand them well enough, and then get to the sixth lesson and not be able to make head or tails of it. A teacher can compensate for the tough (or poorly written) sections of a course; on your own, you can't. Picking up a second book (and maybe a third) book and working through it until you want to switch back is a welcome change. Trying to plow through the course using a single text is difficult at best. Few school textbooks were ever intended to stand on their own, and even teach-yourself guides tend to have too little practice.

The Prado should be clear enough to you, and to him. I would say that if he can learn the first 10 or 12 lessons, that would do for a year's work. But there are downsides to this book, too, especially when using it as the main text. I don't know whether he'll be likely to be able to master the vocabulary there, for example.

Not knowing your son - and without going back to the bookstores - this is what I might start off with:

*Practical Spanish Grammar, Prado (Contains answers.)
*A small grammar reference book. NTC's Spanish Grammar is good but OOP, I've just realized, or Nice 'n Easy Spanish Grammar will do. Some grammar books aren't very well done. I'm sure there are some good ones currently in print, but I don't have their names.
*Spanish Verb Tenses, by Richmond. Do the sections corresponding to the Prado lessons (or whichever text you designate your spine). (Contains answers.)
* Spanish is Fun!: You'd need to do the whole thing for a year's credit, I think. I haven't seen the teacher's text and don't know what's in it. The workbook would probably be good, but you should know that the text is a worktext. There are no answers in the back, but the teacher's edition may have them. This is available with A and B versions; I would guess that each of those comprises a year of middle school work, or half a year of high school.
*Whatever other readers and textbooks you can pick up from the library or other places. I wouldn't just get books written in Spanish; they'd intimidate. Instead, I'd get beginning readers. There are a lot of them out there, but not necessarily easy to find. One (long OOP) is called Fun with Spanish, by Lee Cooper.
*Things from NTC are generally reliable; Amsco is also generally competent. None of my favorite books are from there, but you won't go far wrong buying from them.

I think, if it were me in your shoes, I'd choose at least three books and require the student to get to a certain point in ALL the books in order to complete the course. That's not triple the work, since it's not as if the books are teaching different things. They will re-inforce each other, and it will mean that he has to do less explicit "studying" (with flashcards and such), and will retain things better. Studying with a good teacher, the student will do at least that much work, because a good teacher always adds a lot to a textbook. It will probably make the work easier and more pleasant, actually. I'd be willing to re-evaluate on the specific books required later, if it came to that.

I don't know how I'd incorporate the other things: readers and such. One idea would be to require a certain amount of time per day studying Spanish. If none of the main texts appeal, he could pick up one of the readers or some software or something. It's tough, if he's working on his own, to require a certain amount of progress per week, since you really don't know whether the materials are sufficient for him to accomplish that. Are you planning to learn along with him, or will he be on his own? That will make a difference. Will you be expecting two years of study? If so, you really do need to use as many materials as possible; it's difficult to do the second year if you haven't mastered the concepts in the first year.

Now, before I go off and add a whole lot more to this (and boy, do I have more to add - I do get carried away), I should say that you should consider some alternatives to this. If you don't speak Spanish, and your son doesn't really want to study Spanish, is it necessary that he do so? You studied German; could he do that? I must say, though, that it's substantially harder to find good German materials. Or what about Latin? Expectations are different for Latin, and I think that's often the best choice for homeschool families. Another option is to hire a tutor, or to have him take courses at a community college. Are there any co-op opportunities for him? Community-based courses probably aren't sufficient, although as an addition to home study they are probably valuable.

Okay, now... this is enough... can you tell I have a passion for all this?