Learning Spanish

[nboicepardee]

We are strongly considering having an exchange student next year from Mexico and I would love to learn some basic Spanish. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, so I remember a bit, but definitely not much! Would love to have my kids learn some as well. Any recommendations? Thank you!

 

[nboicepardee]

I meant to include reasonably priced as well. Thank you!

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I haven't used this at all so I don't know if it is good or not. It is free! My cousin posted on FB the following today:

http://www.busuu.com/enc/home
It's awesome, absolutely a blessing. It teaches you language in the Rosetta Stone format, but then allows you to live webcam chat with native speakers, live instant message chat with native speakers, and post writings or audios that natives can edit for you. I'm using it to complete my Russian, keep my Spanish high, and help out others in English

Hope this helps!

ETA: Yay my 1,000th post!

 

[Sagginit]

BBC has free online courses to brush up on languages. i have been using it for French and like it a lot, but you need prior language experience. about.com also has free language resources and tutorials. in my personal experience the best thing is interaction so i would look into classes at a language school or community college in your area before buying into a rosetto stone program. the problem is the stone doesn't talk back or correct you.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

Check your libraries online site and see if they have mango languages. I have heard great things about it. There is an app available too if that applies to you.

 

[simonsmom]

we've had an exchange student from Spain for the year.I think it's great you want to brush up your spanish but the objective is for them to learn English and really they are all pretty fluent. If you get in a bind use google translate.

 

[nboicepardee]

we've had an exchange student from Spain for the year.I think it's great you want to brush up your spanish but the objective is for them to learn English and really they are all pretty fluent. If you get in a bind use google translate.

You are probably right, but I like to be ridiculously prepared! I also want to be able to communicate with her family in case their English isn't strong.

My husband works full time (and I adjunct) at a University. I was already planning (even before we found out about this possibility) on taking Spanish in the fall when both my kids are in full day school. Unfortunately, I looked at the summer offerings, and there is no beginner Spanish available. It has been over 20 years since I had a class, so that is where I feel like I would need to be!

 

[scbelleatheart]

we've had an exchange student from Spain for the year.I think it's great you want to brush up your spanish but the objective is for them to learn English and really they are all pretty fluent. If you get in a bind use google translate.

When I worked in Mexico for several months, I was fortunate to have a lot of contact with a business man and his family. They asked me to only speak English when talking to the children so they could learn. It was so neat to speak to these kids and then they would correct my Spanish as I tryed to answer. High school Spanish teaches you nothing.
The other great thing was this family taught me so many customs so I would not feel akward in social situations.
You are going to have a wonderful time with your student. You will learn as much from them as they do with you.

 

[tzeitel]

How old are your kids? Spanish is my first language and while I took English in school the way that I really learned was by watching TV. While growing up I watched Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and all those 80's shows. I am not saying that you should plop them in front of a TV and that would be that. But it does help - my niece (4 and whose first language is also Spanish) loves Disney movies and watches them in English. She quotes them and uses many words she has learned from her favorite characters

 

[nboicepardee]

How old are your kids? Spanish is my first language and while I took English in school the way that I really learned was by watching TV. While growing up I watched Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and all those 80's shows. I am not saying that you should plop them in front of a TV and that would be that. But it does help - my niece (4 and whose first language is also Spanish) loves Disney movies and watches them in English. She quotes them and uses many words she has learned from her favorite characters

Kids are 8 and 6. Great idea, thank you!

 

[nboicepardee]

When I worked in Mexico for several months, I was fortunate to have a lot of contact with a business man and his family. They asked me to only speak English when talking to the children so they could learn. It was so neat to speak to these kids and then they would correct my Spanish as I tryed to answer. High school Spanish teaches you nothing.
The other great thing was this family taught me so many customs so I would not feel akward in social situations.
You are going to have a wonderful time with your student. You will learn as much from them as they do with you.

I found HS Spanish useless as well. When I went away to college, I took a Spanish class and I was the only one who hadn't lived abroad and I was LOST! I really just wanted to have a little basic learning so if I needed to communicate with her family by email or telephone, I could get my point across. We are so looking forward to this experience. It is something my husband and I have been talking about, and an opportunity came to us, so we are almost certain we are going to do it. I think it will be enriching for not only the student, but our family as well.

 

[sdchickie]

Livemocha .com has free lessons as well as paid ones. The free ones might be a little under your ability since you already took spanish. I'm a beginner and it was great for me.

 

[nboicepardee]

Livemocha .com has free lessons as well as paid ones. The free ones might be a little under your ability since you already took spanish. I'm a beginner and it was great for me.

I will check it out. Thank you! I feel like I am a beginner, at this point!