MCPS Spanish curriculum - recordings? or other ideas for learning a language?

[Anonymous]

Hi - my 8th grader is struggling to learn Spanish (second year). Remembering back to my language classes in college, I remember having recordings to listen to so that I could hear the correct pronunciation of words to memorize outside of class. Is there anything like this for a MCPS curriculum? She doesn't seem to be using book - just stapled packets of words - so it's hard to know where to start. And yes, I could ask the teacher, but my child seems reluctant for me to ask the teacher. (The teacher doesn't write words on the board, saying the Promethium board is broken, and is unavailable for assistance outside of the class time). thanks. Also just looking for other ideas on how to help a struggling student learn a foreign language in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

That sounds really frustrating. Try downloading Duolingo. But, it may help build your kid's confidence as they go through the levels, and it's a lot of listening, reading, repeating with words that light up. I think Duolingo even has a voice recognition option now that can judge your pronunciation.

This is totally old school, but you can type the words into google translate and click on the pronunciation icon to hear the word spoken out loud.

Lastly, maybe hire a tutor, maybe a high schooler who has been through the Spanish program in your school system could provide the best guidance.

[Anonymous]

I know this is not directly answering your question but have her volunteer at a non-profit that works with Latino youth. Identity-Inc comes to mind out of Gaithersburg. The LAYC in Silver Spring. She can help ESOL kids learn to read and in return, she can practice saying phrases with them. Or, depending on her middle school, have her help the ESOL students at her school and earn SSL hours for it.

Another way is for her to maybe attempt to read books in Spanish that are at the primary level where the same sight words are common throughout the pages. You can get those books at the library or via internet.

She will learn, with all the Latinos that we have in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Agree with duolingo or Rosetta Stone (available free through the library). Rosetta is less like a video game but both have short phrases read by native speakers with a lot of repetition so it can be helpful.

[Anonymous]

What school? The teacher should not be using stapled packets of just words!

[Anonymous]

Ugh. Both my kids had bad experiences with Spanish at their MCPS schools with high Latino populations. They said the majority of the kids in their classes already knew Spanish on some level because they were Latino. Usually French is harder, but if your kid is in a class with native Spanish speakers, he might be better off switching to a different language.

If not, you will need to supplement. Like literally sign your kid up for an outside Spanish class. If you have lots of money, maybe send them abroad for the summer to live with a family and take Spanish classes.

[Anonymous]

Our high school used to have “summer homework” for each level of a language that was links to a really nice set of audio files and vocabulary to “review” the previous year’s level. The webpage has changed post Covid and I don’t see those links, but you might be able to find them with some Google searching.
Or maybe someone else’s HS still has those links.

[Anonymous]

Outschool. Not this language but we were able to find a small group class with a native speaker for the language my kids were learning. It was far more effective than mcps. I paid about $10/lesson.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for all of the suggestions. I have been reluctant to do something like Rosetta Stone or Dueling because honestly, my child already has several hours of homework per night, and adding something else that is not based on the curriculum for school is just not realistic. But maybe that's what we need to do. Lots of great ideas here - thank you.

[Anonymous]

Ask your child to show you the class site where assignments & presentations are posted for Spanish class.

I would imagine there are presentations linked there with audio available.

Spend a while (10 or so mins) making her show you all that has been posted or shared by the teacher. Open the links & presentations, go through them & see what has already been made available.

If there isn’t anything on the site, then have your child email the teacher and ask if materials with audio can be shared so that your child can practice pronunciation better. If you don’t hear back, email teacher & copy department head or principal to ask for materials to be shared

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What school? The teacher should not be using stapled packets of just words!

MCPS uses random BD packets of words. My kid is in Spanish 4 and has had these useless packets since she started taking Spanish in MS. No textbooks or workbooks. I hate it.

She does DuoLingo.

[Anonymous]

Google translate will speak the words she doesn't know how to pronounce

She can listen to podcasts for Spanish beginners

[Anonymous]

School language instruction is decades behind and a waste of time that should be spent on Duolingo and YouTube.

Smart thing is to not do language class in middle school. Do an easy no-homework elective, and Duolingo and YouTube at home, and then place into Spanish 3 in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google translate will speak the words she doesn't know how to pronounce

She can listen to podcasts for Spanish beginners

Good reminder on Google translate. Do you have any recommendations for beginner Spanish podcasts that you've used?

[Anonymous]

I highly recommend Super Simple Español on YouTube. They’re animated preschool songs in Spanish. They do an excellent job of covering a lot of basic vocabulary and occasionally introduce some advanced vocabulary while being catchy enough to help you remember the words. They have Spanish subtitles (but not English) so you can follow along and look up words you don’t know. It’s also good exposure to grammar (even if she hasn’t learned the formal grammar yet, when they cover the topics later it will help it click). As an adult learner teaching myself Spanish, I have found it immensely helpful.
https://m.youtube.com/@SuperSimpleEspanol/featured

If she wants to practice oral comprehension or pronunciation, Duolingo can be immensely helpful. Here’s the most effective method I have found to use it.

Close your eyes each time you go to the next question. If it’s one where they are saying something in Spanish try to catch it without seeing the cues. Replay any audio over and over again until you can easily understand it and can automatically process it. Then play it and repeat it. Then play it while you simultaneously say it so that you can any discrepancies between your pronunciation and theirs are evident. Try to pronounce it until the pronunciations match and then repeat several times so that it becomes automatic. If a pronunciation is too difficult, just work on it until you feel you’ve at least made some progress and then go on to the next question. You’ll have a chance to try again later, and as your general pronunciation improves, you’ll eventually get there.

This process is a lot slower than I think Duolingo intends, but I have found it extremely helpful. Since she’ll be progressing at the pace set by her class and just using Duolingo for practice, I highly recommend she try it.

As long as I’ve been using Duolingo the grammar instruction has been horrible, and they recently removed the feature that allowed you to ask fellow users for clarification on the questions. If she has questions about the exercises (and I almost guarantee she will), have her make a list to ask her teacher about later.

I also recommend a Spanish verb book if she doesn’t already have one. I have a copy of 501 Spanish Verbs. I know you can look up conjugations online, but the book makes it easier for me to see the patterns in tenses across verbs, and the patterns in verbs across tenses.

Spanishdict.com is an excellent resource for definitions of words and examples of usage. They have both Spanish and Latin American pronunciations of each word that you can listen to. They’re also a good resource to clarify grammar and usage of questions.