Family, Faith, and Fridays: Let's Talk About...Foreign Languages

Welcome back to our Let's Talk About ...Series.

You can find an updated lists of the previous posts at the end of this one. So far we have tackled History, Science, Math and recently Grammar and Writing. Let's look at Foreign Languages real quick and next week we will chat literature.

If you have hung around Family, Faith and Fridays for long enough, you know that we are Spanish enthusiasts. Notice I did NOT say perfectionists. We love the Spanish language, but we do not speak the Spanish language. Yet. We are working on it. Our fourth child, after all, was born in Guatemala and we have a love for the Latin American culture and people. What we lack in skill we make up for in effort.

So while I am mentioning specifically Spanish programs here, many of these do have other languages available. Make sure to look at your options- did you know you can even learn to speak Klingon? Just saying!

Song School Spanish- This was one of our first experiences with Spanish and used it when our son was just home from Guatemala. It is a super fun program with, as the name suggests, lots of singing, and chants and playing. I highly recommend it if you want simple and easy.

Flip Flop Spanish- This program is one that is great for visual learners as well as kinesthetic learners. It has lots of colorful flashcards and you do various activities using those cards. My boys used this program together and had a lot of fun. We learned a lot of vocabulary with this program and started learning how to put sentences together.

Classic Academic Press Spanish Primer A & B- This program begins to flesh out more of the Grammar side of the Spanish language and helps older kids being to conjugate verbs and understand the mechanics of the Spanish language. I love that there is a DVD to watch for weekly instruction as well as a CD for language practice, and a student workbook. I use this for upper level middle school levels. When we traveled to Guatemala the child who had used this program fared better than those whom had not.

Homeschool Spanish Academy- (obviously Spanish specific) Here is where the rubber meets the road for us. There is just no better way to learn a language that from a native speaker! By video skpying with teachers from Guatemala you are sure to learn the accent and learn to converse. If you are not convinced after reading my review, re-read it! This program is simply AMAZING and improves continually. It is a well greased engine!

Duo Lingo- New to us this past year, we began this program just for fun and to take up some free time during our summer transition and move. Turns out it is really good and we stuck with it, still using it during free time to brush up on skills. It is user friendly, has a free online version, and has MANY languages to choose from. The best thing I can say about it is it strengthens your listening and translating skills, as well as your conversational skills. I know many people are using it these days and I have not heard one negative comment on it.

Again, we are not getting anything from recommending these products. They are just some of the many we have used and have risen to the tops of our list to recommend. In most states you have to graduate with a foreign language and many colleges often require at least two semesters to graduate. You might as well find one you enjoy and dive in! You never know where it will take you!

Maybe even to Guatemala to adopt the cutest little guy ever!