Spanish for You! : A TOS Crew Review

 

Spanish for You! - Fiestas

From Their website:
 

"Spanish for You! begins your child (grades 3-8)  on the road to fluency. It is designed from years of experience by a Spanish teacher to effectively build speaking, reading, and writing skills as well as grammar knowledge. Students learn to creatively build sentences, ask and answer questions, and truly communicate in Spanish!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALL Spanish for You! packages come complete with:

• soft cover book or e-book (currently only our trial pkgs.)
• 24-30 week lesson guide for the grades you need (24 weeks for G5-6 & 7-8, 30 weeks for G3-4) (PDF download) $39.95 per level or get all grade levels in a set for $64.95
• Extra volumes of textbook for $12.95 each
• self-checking worksheets (PDF download)
• audio files of entire book (includes bonus audio of native speaker of entire book) (MP3 download)
• flashcard/activity pictures (PDF download)
• Teacher lesson plans are NOT included. These need to be purchased separately. ($12.95) 

 

 Check out the  free mini lessons and free worksheets to see for yourself!

The Bentz Test Laboratory has been struggling to learn Spanish for years!  I actually love Spanish, and was convinced that my children would too...    It just hasn't happened yet!

But, I am not giving up that easily.  I was excited to get a chance to try a new approach for us, studying Spanish around a theme, instead of textbook style.  Spanish for You! is a year long, multi-level curriculum designed around a specific theme.  We were delighted to preview - Fiestas!  Other members of the TOS Crew took a peek at Estaciones (the Seasons.) Travels is a title coming soon!

In Fiestas  - the following components were included: Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Syntax, Verb Conjugation & Grammar, all centered around the common theme of Fiestas. The Birthday Party, Day of the Dead, Carnival, Holy Week and April Fair.  The 5 lessons  require approx. 15-30 min. per day 4 days per week  to complete during a full year. (depending upon your student)

Audios are provided as MP3s. One audio is the author speaking, while the other includes a native Spanish speaker from Mexico. Hearing Spanish spoken correctly is an essential element of learning a new language!

I appreciated the leveled lessons - one set for each Grades 3-4, Grades 5-6, and Grades 7-8.  This is perfect for a large family like mine.

Games, worksheets, and quizzes are all included to approach learning Spanish in a fun and rewarding way for every learning style in the house.

After years of Spanish study myself,  I was able to learn something new as well.  The Spanish spoken in Mexico and the Spanish spoken in Spain have several differing conjugations.  Spanish for You! has included both.  We learned about a traditionally Mexican holiday, and another traditional holiday of Spain.

I did have to spend some time printing and organizing, but  - once it was compiled, it was very easy to pick it up and jump right in.

My testers really enjoyed the theme.  Who doesn't love a fiesta?  The vocabulary and grammar were broken down into manageable pieces and the repetition served to really make them stick. Making flashcards themselves proved to be a valuable exercise, and a great review tool.

I appreciate the author's commitment to keeping the materials affordable, and fun for your family to learn together.  You can follow Spanish for You! on Facebook to get more fun ideas, and check out their blog (which is updated frequently) for more ideas on how to incorporate Spanish into your day.

Finally, a glimmer of hope... they are starting to enjoy learning Spanish!

 

 

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