Parents often worry about having to teach a language they don’t speak. Never fear, Song School Spanish is here! Classical Academic Press continues its tradition of providing quality, audio-based foreign language instruction with its Spanish program.
The core of this program lies in the Student Book and Songs. A code to access digital audio files is inside the book cover. These contain 44 tracks set to music. You’ll recognize some familiar children’s tunes, such as “Where is Thumbkin?” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” Spanish and English vocabulary are intermingled in the songs, resulting in a weave but not a full immersion experience. Most tunes are simple rhythms, which repeat the lesson vocabulary. Lots of repetition helps the words stick in the kids’ heads. The Student Book follows the vocabulary on the digital audio files. The black and white text has many varied activities and illustrations. The pages contain a balanced mix of text, student writing space, and images (173pp, pb).
There are 31 chapters with the suggested pacing of one chapter/lesson per week. Vocabulary covered includes: greetings, friends, family, house, manners, animals, colors, numbers, body, food, and weather. There is a support website where kids can play vocabulary games in Spanish and another site for parents to get guidance for the program. The Teacher Edition includes answers to the student book plus parental tips (147pp, pb).
Like the other Song School programs, this one wouldn’t be complete without a game! Spanish Amigo Match is a flashcard set that contains all the vocabulary from the Song School Spanish lessons (except for the review lessons). The deck contains over 210 cards, each labeled (and color-coded) with the corresponding chapter number from the Student Book. Use the cards to play games (ie. Memory, Go Fish, or Carrot Top) or as flashcards.
Learn your lesson phrases from listening to el maestro (the teacher) on the Spanish Teaching DVD! Use this as initial instruction or as a follow-up. Listening to a native Spanish speaker is wonderful for pronunciation. The speaker is a lovely lady who is friendly and encouraging. She speaks clearly and slowly with pauses for your child to repeat the words. There is a video for each of the 24 lessons and navigating the DVD is a cinch. Each lesson is concluded by a little moments segment where you see/hear the vocabulary one more time. There is a lot of English used in the videos, which make them very parent-friendly. Each video lesson lasts around 5 minutes.
