We live in an area where Spanish is probably spoken just as much if not more than English. Needless to say, it’s very helpful if you can communicate, even basically, in Spanish. One of the things that we’ve learned is that Spanish does not translate directly to English or vice versa. It’s okay to learn Spanish words, but it doesn’t directly translate into being able to understand or speak Spanish.
The concept behind No Work Spanish fits right in with many of the things that we’ve found while trying to learn Spanish. You will naturally pick up some words when you hear them over and over ~ especially when you hear them in conjunction with English. (Remember Dora the Explorer? The reason kids, and adults, tend to pick up Spanish here and there with the show is they hear certain Spanish words spoken numerous times. They comprehend the words because their meanings are either shown in picture form [such as with colors] or spoken with English as well as Spanish.)
With No Work Spanish, you get to listen to audiobooks that are told in both English and Spanish. You can either just listen to the stories or you can follow along with the pdf print outs. I chose to put the audio cds on my mp3 player, so I could easily listen to them on the go. I found that I do much better if I’m listening and following along instead of just listening.
For The Yaks March on Washington, you first hear the phrase/passage in English and then you hear it in Spanish. At the conclusion of the chapter, the whole chapter is read in Spanish. I found myself picking up words here and there pretty much immediately. Granted, they were mainly words that I had heard before, but it was interesting seeing how much I could understand. I believe to get the true benefit you would need to listen to each story more than once.
The Yaks March on Washington is a short story written from the viewpoint of a ranch dog. I found myself chuckling at more than one part in the story. Of course, you can’t help but laugh when the narrator, Jean-Marc Berne, barks and growls like a dog at several points during the story. This is sure to be a kid favorite. (Due to the timing of receiving these audiobooks and D’s surgery, I haven’t had the chance to use these with Munchkin yet.)
Poster Girl is done slightly differently. Each chapter begins with a selection of frequently spoken words from the chapter which are spoken in both English and Spanish. I like this feature because you are sure to pick up at least these select words. After the vocabulary words are given, the format is much the same as The Yaks March on Washington. The narrator, Michelle Thorson, is easy to understand, and she reads at a good pace.
Poster Girl is all about a young lady who has waited until the last minute to do her science poster. She is competing with her rival to win the privilege of having the winning poster displayed on the wall, but things aren’t always as they seem. Poster Girl is a cute story with a slightly unexpected ending.
Both The Yaks March on Washington and Poster Girl are family friendly stories, so everyone can sit down and listen together. Whether you pop the cd into the cd player in the car/computer at home or away or you put the stories on your mp3 player, you’re sure to enjoy learning Spanish while listening to a fun story.
No Work Spanish isn’t a Spanish curriculum. It’s a fun supplement to your current curriculum or just a nice way to learn a little more Spanish. While some kids (or adults) may find the switching from Spanish to English a little difficult to follow or even confusing, I believe that listening to the stories more than once will help with this.
To see if it’s something you would be interested in purchasing, you can try the first few chapters of the book free. You can purchase the cd version of both books for $21.95. The cds contain printable pdf formats of the books. The books are also available in mp3 format for easy download. You can then print the pdf book from the website.
I’m interested in seeing what new books will be in the upcoming line-up. It’s obvious that Anne has a passion for helping people learning Spanish in a fun, entertaining way. Once my focus comes back a little more, I look forward to listening to these books again with Munchkin. I have a feeling she’s going to enjoy it and pick up many more words than I did. **grin**
I received a copy of No Work Spanish a part of the MamaBuzz blog tour to help facilitate the writing of a frank and honest review. A positive review is not guaranteed and all opinions are my own.
