Living in Panama, Spanish is essential. Over the years, we have done various things to help our kids acquire the language. A friend recently asked me what I use to teach the kids Spanish, so I thought that would make a great post for here as well.
A few years ago, we sent the kids to a public school for a year to learn the language. It was both the best thing and the worst thing for that! I ended up with five kids in school and about five hours of homework every night. On top of that, we had a baby halfway through the school year! In the end, they had a good foundation in the language, but still lacked skills like speaking.
Their level of comprehension is very high, so because of that, we often show them videos in Spanish. This is something I find fascinating because when I meet someone here who speaks good English, I will always ask where they learned it. At least half of them say by watching movies or TV in English. It is amazing how God designed our brains! We shoot for at least 30 minutes a day listening to Spanish, but I often fall short of that goal!
One of my favorite YouTube shows is called Spanishland School. On this channel, they mostly speak Spanish and even explain grammar or vocabulary mostly in Spanish. This is a great way for your brain to make the connection and not do direct translation. Plus, Andrea really makes me want to go to Bucaramanga, Colombia! We watch one of her episodes pretty much every school day.
They also like cartoons in Spanish like Bluey and Kid-E-Cats. I tend to play the 5-7 minute shows during our school time. We will also watch shows like SuperLibro or even change the Netflix language to Spanish. The kids will sometimes get a movie day if I have to be away and miss school, but the movie they pick has to be watched in Spanish.
While looking for school curriculum this year, I found a site that has Spanish Bible lessons called Ver y Hacer. This has an audio button where you can read along and listen. Each story is about 5 minutes long and comes with questions at the end to answer. I also found Freedom Homechooling had a Foreign Language page that I need to look more into in the future!
There are tons of videos available on YouTube like Buena Gente, Destinos, and Plaza Sesamo. Sometimes I will add these to our lesson. I also really like Super Holly, but the kids haven't watched her before.
A few years ago, I signed up for a curriculum that was from Facebook. It has a small fee for a lifetime membership, and I think the coordinator does a good job of putting together fun lessons for the kids that go with a theme. It's on a loop, so it repeats every three years. The group is Jump Into Spanish or For the Love of Spanish. One of the main sites she uses is The Spanish Experiment.
For school I also have them copy a Bible verse in Spanish every day (in cursive). They also read a few paragraphs out of a children's Spanish Bible. The older three then write a short three sentence summary of what they have read. It is amazing some of the sentences they come up with! Even the baby will bring me the Spanish book and ask to read to me. It's adorable how she tries to copy the Spanish sounds!
As a former Spanish teacher, you'd think I had it all together. Sadly, I am far from that! I just piece stuff together most days and try to get some Spanish in. We are even starting something where the kids have to speak Spanish before they leave the table at dinner. It is amazing how they can write such great sentences for school and then not come up with anything to say at dinner! Ha!
There are a few things we do outside of school to work on Spanish. One thing is we attend a Spanish speaking church. I have noticed many of the kids have learned the songs we sing on Sunday in Spanish. Our services are translated to English, but the kids who go to a children's class do not have the lessons translated. We also take the kids shopping and I try to get them to talk to people in stores on occasion. I'll have them order their own food at the bakery or ask the waiter for more water. It is simple stuff, but it helps them get over their fear of speaking.
For us, Bible and Spanish are two of the most important things we want our kids to learn. We want them to be comfortable in the future in a Spanish speaking country if that is where God sends (or keeps) them! It also makes them more marketable for jobs, as well as many other benefits.