Review: Spanish for You!

Spanish for You! is a Spanish curriculum geared towards grades 3 to 8. The curriculum can also be used for younger and older students with a little adjustment. Spanish for You! currently has two different complete curriculum theme packets: Fiestas (Celebrations) and Estaciones (Seasons). In June, Viajes (Travels) will be available as a full curriculum package. Other themes will be released in the future.

Each Spanish for You! curriculum package focuses on one theme. While the curriculum within each package is set up using a spiral learning method with constant reinforcement on concepts learned throughout the curriculum, the packages themselves do not build on each other. This allows students (and teachers) to use whichever theme package they want without prior knowledge from a different theme package.

The complete Spanish for You! curriculum package ($64.95 per theme) includes:

1. Theme specific softcover book
2. Theme specific worksheets for grades (pdf)
3. Grade 3-4 lesson guide (pdf)
4. Grade 5-6 lesson guide (pdf)
5. Grade 7-8 lesson guide (pdf)
6. Audio file of entire book (non-native, mp3)
7. Audio file of entire book (native, mp3)

The worksheets and audios are in download form. Because the worksheets are downloads, you can print only the worksheets you need as you need them. Plus, you can print multiple copies of the worksheet for more practice and use with multiple children. (Have younger children do the worksheets for older grades for more a challenge.) The audio files can be played on the computer, an mp3 player, or any other device that supports mp3 files.

If you do not need or want the full curriculum package which includes grades 3 to 8, you can purchase portions of the curriculum which is sold in 3 grade levels: 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8 for $39.95 per grade set. Additional books are available for $12.95.  You can also download free curriculum activities and worksheets to use with the Spanish curriculum. The lesson guide references some of these additional materials and encourages use to enhance the learning experience with the curriculum.

Our  Thoughts:

Munchkin likes that this curriculum doesn’t feel like a typical formal Spanish curriculum. It is more relaxed due to studying a theme rather than focusing on random words. She has decided to make her own illustrations for her homemade flashcards rather than use the illustrations included with the curriculum as it helps her remember more of the words. (Note: The images included in the curriculum were drawn by the creator’s daughter as a more cost effective way for the company to illustrate the concepts being taught. Plus, they felt those hand-drawn illustrations would be more kid friendly..) Munchkin says that the format is easy for her to use independently or with my help.

While I was impressed with the curriculum, there are a few things that would make use easier. The downloads come in a zip file (which is fine), but the audio files are not in order, so you have to search for the audio file that you need for the lesson. While this doesn’t take long, it would be nice if they were labeled in a manner which caused them to be in order according to use in the program. I ended up relabeling them and putting them into files by lesson for easier use. We ran into the same issue with the worksheets. All grade levels are in the same zip file, so when you download them, you’ll need to not only search for the particular file that you need but also for the grade level that you need. Once again, this could easily be remedied with sub-folders for grade levels and then labeling in order according to the lessons.

One thing that really stood out with this program was the use of a non-native speaker and a native speaker in the audio file lessons. If you’ve ever been around anyone who speaks Spanish fluently, you know that they speak very quickly which is not always easy to follow. Yes, their accent is better, but sometimes you just need it to be slowed down when you are in the learning process. With having both files, you are able to have the initial lesson using the non-native speaker and then go back and listen with the native speaker. I thought this aspect of the program was brilliant as did Munchkin.

I was happy to hear that a lesson plan will soon be available for this curriculum as I think it will allow the package come together more and make teaching the curriculum just a little bit easier for those who like everything laid out for them.

**UPDATE**

I’m pleased to say that Debbie, the creator of Spanish for You!, has reorganized both the worksheets and the audio files. The worksheets are now organized by grade levels, and the audio files will be organized according to the lessons. Don’t you love it when a company listens to the consumer?