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in Charlotte Mason· Foreign Language· High School· Highschool

The Easy Spanish-Charlotte Mason Style Learning

front-coverThis past year we finished up The Easy Spanish or El Espanol Facil! Level I. I found the link through the recommendation of a friend and after watching the introductory video explaining how the program fit a Charlotte Mason style of learning, we decided to investigate the book further. The approach is multi-faceted with listening, narrating aloud, and then writing in Spanish. It is also multi-leveled so you can offer Spanish to all your children with one book and one plan.

I was looking for something fresh to try. We had tried a textbook approach and we had started Rosetta Stone Spanish but neither of those options felt like it was a good fit all by itself. I purchased The Easy Spanish and got started with it right away with my boys.

In my package I received a thick spiral bound textbook with two audio CDs. One of the CDs has pages to print out and use with your children as needed.

dictionary

Personal Dictionary

The textbook is arranged in lessons with corresponding sections on the CD. The textbook is so well organized that my teenagers could work independently and work at their own level of activities. The lessons are written on multiple levels so this plan could be used in a family with children in different grade levels. Their website suggests that with younger children you work through the lessons at a slower pace and take 2-3 years to complete this level. Older students (teens) she suggests 1-2 years depending on how much time each week you take for Spanish.

Each lesson starts with a story that weaves English and Spanish together. You can read it in the text and listen along with the CD. After the story, the CD pronounces the vocabulary and leaves time for your child to respond. There is always a follow-up activity and there is always a time during the week when your child will narrate back in Spanish the general idea of the story from the lesson. There is a special notebook activity that is really a year-long project to have the child tell all about themselves in Spanish. All the notebook pages are included on the CD.

Personal Notebook Page

Personal Notebook Page

The program includes scripture memorization as part of each lesson. Most lessons also have cultural notes that teach more deeply about the culture presented in the story. Geography is also a part of The Easy Spanish program.

If your children are older, there is a specific part of the lesson for independent learners. My boys worked with these assignments and I think it has helped them progress more than anything else. The high school age child is also encouraged to start a journal in Spanish. This was difficult at first but as they built vocabulary, it became easier. Each student is also encouraged to make their own Spanish dictionary with the vocabulary words from each lesson.

One of the CDs also contains Spanish songs to sing along with the lessons. See the link to samples below.

The student is given a weekly assignment sheet where he can check off each particular aspect of the lesson each day. I found this to be a great tool for me to use with my boys, helping them to become more independent.

Independent Learners Go Deeper

Independent Learners Go Deeper

Links to Samples: Song, Lesson, Lesson 2 in both PDF and MP3. I highly recommend that you print out the lesson and go through the MP3 files to really get a feel for the simplicity of using this Spanish program.

I also highly recommend that you go to their homepage and watch the introductory video. I found it very helpful to understand just what was included in the program and an overview of how it words.
The Easy Spanish -Video

So, of all the Spanish programs we have tried so far, this is the best I have found as far as learning practical vocabulary and encouraging the boys to actually have conversations. Using the independent activities, the Charlotte Mason activity, and the journal activities has helped them with their vocabulary and verb work.

Personal journal for independent learners

Personal journal for independent learners

We used The Easy Spanish! everyday of the week, about twenty minutes per day.

If you are looking for a Spanish program for your family and you want it to have a Charlotte Mason flair, this program is worth looking into.

Here is what their website says:

  • Phonetic, incremental, conversational Spanish & high frequency words
  • Spanish Scripture, songs, games and coloring pages
  • Great for homeschool co-op groups
  • Digitally mastered enhanced CD for audio and computer
  • Printable activity sheets: no purchasing consumable activity books or photocopying.
  • Teaches language and grammar through literature based entertaining storylines
  • Does not require prior knowledge of Spanish
  • Set outline of skills per quarter
  • 3 year program for younger students
  • 1 to 2 year program for older students and 1 year Fast track option for teens
  • Cultural flavor of Mexico and South America with optional projects
  • Use of Tomatis and SAMONAS sound theories to facilitate learning
  • Follows Charlotte Mason Method, Bloom’s Taxonomy and high order theories by Dr. Jeanne Chall
  • Edited by and featuring the recorded voices of Native Spanish Speakers from Nicaragua and Venezuela

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom.  She also blogs at http://www.harmonyartmom.blogspot.com

Filed Under: Charlotte Mason, Foreign Language, High School, Highschool Tagged With: Charlotte Mason, Elementary, foreign language, High School, spanish, Written by Barb

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Abbie says

    August 22, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    What age did you use this for? It looks very interesting to me! I was checking out their site and I noticed they had a younger program that said it was for up to 3rd grade. My oldest is in first, so I was wondering if the younger program would be better for us for now?

    Reply
  2. Barb-Harmony Art Mom says

    August 23, 2009 at 8:32 am

    Hi Abbie,

    My boys were in middle school when we started The Easy Spanish but I would have used it with them when they were much younger if I had known about it. The book is multi-level and the author suggests that you go at a slower pace for younger children.

    I have no experience with the jr program so it is hard to compare.

    Barb-Harmony Art Mom
    .-= Barb-Harmony Art Mom´s last blog ..Circle Time-High School Style =-.

    Reply
  3. Renae says

    August 24, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    Barb,
    We started this curriculum and look forward to continuing with it. Thanks for sharing such a nice review of it!
    .-= Renae´s last blog ..Resolution =-.

    Reply
  4. Jimmie says

    August 27, 2009 at 6:02 am

    This post would be great for the Charlotte Mason blog carnival! You can submit it here.

    Reply
  5. Julie says

    August 31, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    Is there an old & new version of The Easy Spanish? This review was very helpful! Thanks so much!

    Reply
  6. Barb-Harmony Art Mom says

    August 31, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Julie,

    I looked on the website and I don’t see that there is more than one version of The Easy Spanish. My review was of the edition copyrighted in 2005 and it says “4th printing”.

    Also I did not mention in the post that there is a Yahoo Group for The Easy Spanish. It isn’t very active but I did have some questions answered over there when we first started:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheEasySpanish/join

    Hope that information helps.
    Barb

    Reply
  7. Julie says

    August 31, 2009 at 8:03 pm

    Thanks so much for your help. I hadn’t even heard of The Easy Spanish before seeing it on your blog!

    Reply
  8. { jamie } says

    September 16, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    This looks great. Thanks for your thorough review!

    Reply
  9. Molly says

    October 3, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Great review, Barb. This program looks excellent! Thanks for sharing. I’m going to keep this in mind for the future. My oldest has one more year of high school Latin left after this year, and then we’ll be doing a modern language.
    .-= Molly´s last blog ..Writing with Ease =-.

    Reply
  10. Nikki says

    March 6, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Thank you for this review. This looks like something that would be a good fit for our family!
    .-= Nikki´s last blog ..Graphics Toolbox =-.

    Reply
  11. julie nestle says

    August 11, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    Hi,

    I am a secular homeschooling mama and wanted to know if the religious elements were heavy in this curriculum? Is it easy to skip over it without losing the education needed?

    Thanks, Julie

    Reply
  12. Barb-Harmony Art Mom says

    August 12, 2013 at 10:00 am

    I don’t think you will have any big issues using this program.

    Reply

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