Last year, my Little Man expressed a desire to learn Spanish. I did some research and came across Foreign Language for Kids by Kids. I’d heard great things about it, and watched a sample video. It seemed cute and very different from a lot of video programs I’d seen, so I added it to the list of things to try in the coming school year. I got really lucky, because this program that I’d already planned on using came to me as an item to review. I love it when that happens! For this review, we had the chance to try out Spanish with the Starter Set 1.
What’s unique about this program is right there in the name: it is for kids, by kids. The crux of the program are videos starring children in real life, yet funny, situations. The videos are completely in Spanish. This, I love. The theory is that we learned our first language by observing and picking up as those around us spoke to us. Therefore, Foreign Language for Kids by Kids immerses you in this new language, allowing your child to pick up the language through context clues. To me, this is the natural way to learn. For my Little Man (age 9), it was a little confusing for him at first. He kept saying, “I can’t understand it!” I told him not to worry about understanding, just watch. Each time you watch, you pick up a few more words based upon what is going on in the situation.
In addition to a DVD with the videos for levels 1-3, the Starter Set 1 also comes with a student workbook for each level; stickers; flashcards and games for each level; and teacher guides for each level. The teacher guides explain the videos and tell you how to break everything down and what the child should be doing each day. I really like how detailed the teacher guides are. It tells you exactly how much video to watch and what other activities to do each day. By the time you finish the entire Starter Set 1, following the recommendations in the teacher guides, you will have done a full twenty week curriculum. It also gives lots of helpful ideas for teaching, including hints on how your child will pick up the language. Sometimes it’s easy for us to want to force the flashcards down their throat and quiz them each day on what words they learned, but it specifically tells you that it is okay for your child to be confused on the first few days. Just allow them to watch a few times and get used to the story before you expect them to understand things.
Your child watches only a segment of the video at the beginning, until they become familiar with what is going on and some of the words. So, in the beginning, you’re only watching about five minutes of video. This made it really easy for us to incorporate it into our school day. Even on longer days, we haven’t spent more than twenty minutes on it.
I really like this program. I think the videos are cute and funny. The teacher guide is detailed and helps walk you through everything you need to know, even if— like me— you have zero idea of how to speak or teach a foreign language. The workbooks, flash cards, and games all enhance the learning from the videos in a fun, easy way. I started this program only for my nine year old, but my eleven year old has picked up a lot as well and finds the videos just as fun as I do. As a family, we have all learned some basic Spanish vocabulary, and we’ll continue working through and hopefully picking up more as we go!
