We were blessed to receive the Educator's Spanish Collection (with ¡Buenos Días! and La Música) from Whistlefritz. Whistlefritz was founded in 2006 and is an award-winning producer of language-learning programs for children. Their music CDs, videos and lesson plans have won numerous awards. They offer high-quality immersion programs in both French and Spanish. These programs are not only geared to be playful and interactive with their animation and lively music, they also foster natural curiosity and learning.
We chose to receive the Educator's Spanish Collection. This collection contains Spanish Lesson Plans for Kids, Spanish for Kids videos on DVDs, and Spanish for Kids music on a CD and a DVD. We recently started using this program and I have been focusing on the younger kids as it is geared for ages 1-7.
I also downloaded the Home Educator's Guide that has 46 weeks of lessons. This is such a valuable resource with this program!
I absolutely love these weekly calendars that show you the schedule and activities. It incorporates the lessons, music, videos and other enrichment activities into one easy peasy schedule 💗.
G has been really enjoying the bonus activities.
The boys practicing the trilled sound by vrrrroming their cars!
Above you can see the Table of Contents for 31 of the 40 lessons inside our lesson plan book.
In Lesson 5, the boys learned about sorting and graphing fish as well as colors.
After sorting some of their fish.
This curriculum engages students to learn Spanish through participating
in projects, creating puppets, playing bingo, making pictures, etc.
rather than relying on drills and rote memorization.
In our Spanish for Kids videos, children are immediately immersed into the language. I love this! Children will hear, see, and speak Spanish as they learn from native speakers, while having fun. Check out a sample video below.
Our music CD features a compilation of 15 upbeat Spanish songs that the kids enjoy listening and singing to (sometimes dancing). You can see the song titles above. In our Spanish for Kids DVD La Música, children go on a musical adventure around the world learning about food, weather, days of the week, parts of the body and more!
Whistlefritz is lively and fun and I'm really looking forward to using it more with the boys.
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Several of our kids are learning Spanish this year in programs and CoOp classes. I was so excited to come across Excelerate SPANISH Streaming from Excelerate SPANISH to help teach our family a foreign language. We were provided with a one-year streaming membership with access to both levels 1 and 2! I do want to note that there are optional textbooks and workbooks available for this program but we only used the video streaming service. Videos can be accessed from a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or even a phone. We have been watching the lessons mostly from our computer and occasionally from our Ipad. There are free online resources available on the Quizlet website like flashcards, games, quizzes, etc. for this program. You can find them here.
This is a Spanish immersion program so you are off to the races beginning in the very first lesson. I do want to state that English is used for clarity so you are not left guessing! This program is not meant to simply be a listening and repeating type program but more of an experience. The video lessons use a recorded classroom style with kids participating in each prerecorded lesson. Your kids are encouraged to participate at home. Lessons incorporate vocabulary, hand gestures, storytelling and skits. This program utilizes TPR, or Total Physical Response and TPRS, or Total Physical Response Storytelling. Motions are assigned to all the words being learned and help students recall and retain what you are learning. You will find yourself in a plethora of situations that are both practical and interesting. You will also encounter a variety of scenarios like catching a taxi, attending a concert, playing soccer and more!
Above you can see that there are numerous lessons.
As I mentioned previously there are two levels in this program. Both levels have 24 video lessons that are ~ 30-60 minutes long. Lessons are taught by Caryn Hommel, a homeschool mom and author who earned her degree in Spanish Language and Literature from North Carolina State University. Caryn taught Spanish in public schools for ten years and her experience with both TPR and TPRS led her to develop this brain-friendly approach to learning Spanish.
Caryn writes vocabulary words and definitions on the white board in each lesson.
The kids were a bit overwhelmed after our first lesson because we were taught advanced vocabulary from the get go. However, I think the pace and expectation is becoming less daunting as we progress through the course. Vocabulary is introduced with pronunciation as well as a definition. Caryn writes the words and definitions on a white board for reference during each lesson. Remember the TPR concept? Unique gestures are given to vocabulary words to help students remember. I appreciate that this program encourages students to listen and learn Spanish without pressure to say anything until they are ready, it's low stress.
Watching the lesson on the Ipad.
I like that the video lesson have all the tools and instruction needed. I watch them right alongside the kiddos and find that I quite enjoy them. I appreciate that all of us can watch the videos and participate together. This program is recommended for ages 7-ish through adult so it works well for elementary, middle school and high school students. It would work well for homeschool families, CoOp classes and even classrooms. It addresses a plethora of learning styles as well. If you are looking for a foreign language resource for Spanish, I recommend this one. I'm looking forward to continuing the lessons with the kids throughout the school year.
Take a look inside this program in the video below.
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