Tuesday, September 05, 2006

home schooling foreign language conundrum

Jenny is a former elementary school teacher currently home schooling her 7-year-old, and she has a dilemma: she wants her daughter to learn Spanish, but she herself doesn't speak it. Other family members, like grand-parents, great-grand-parents, and cousins do, but they can't help out often enough for their input to count as regular instruction. And she's not alone in this issue--apparently many home schooling parents don't speak the foreign language that their children should study. She's wondering how to approach this situation and considering buying a Spanish educational program on CD-ROM. Does anyone have any advice for Jenny or suggestions for resources?

2 comments:

  1. Someone on the FL-TEACH listserv just wrote that Power-Glide, http://www.power-glide.com/, is popular with home schoolers. It appears to offer courses for several languages, with levels from elementary school to adult, via books, CDs, CD-ROMs, and a parent guide.

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  2. More recommendations from my colleagues across the globe:

    The Muzzy series (mentioned by several teachers)

    Rosetta Stone computer program (mentioned by several teachers)

    Hooked on Spanish

    Susan Nielson offers resources and links to interactive websites for parents at her webpage: http://www.DosCaminos.net/links.htm

    They've also suggested examining different programs at your public library and then deciding which ones to purchase.

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