Elementary Spanish from Middlebury Interactive Languages ~ a Crew Review
If you are a long time reader of my blog, you might remember that Turtlegirl had the opportunity to use and review Middlebury Interactive Languages in the past. She studied the 1st semester of High School French 1 during in her junior year and then we had the opportunity to take semester 2 in her senior year.
Supergirl was a tiny bit jealous. She wanted her own online interactive course like her twin. This time around she got have her own course. But she didn't want French. If you know her, you know what her favorite language is! It should be no surprise that she picked Elementary Spanish 1 grades K-2.
Unlike the Middle School and High School courses which are sold as Semester 1, Semester 2, or Both, this level of Spanish is only available under the Both option and includes the full year of course work.
Like the Middle School and High School courses Middlebury Interactive Languages offers options for With Teacher Support and Without Teacher Support. Homeschool Review Crew members were given courses Without Teacher Support.
At this level students are only expected to complete about 2 lessons per week. This would mean completing each unit in about 3 weeks. I like this gentle slow approach as it allows Supergirl to incorporate what she is learning into her personal vocabulary. She is just as likely to tell me good bye in Spanish or in English and during our math lesson on reading graphs she counted objects in Spanish.
The program includes 12 units.
These units cover:
Unit 1 Greetings
Unit 2 Numbers
Unit 3 Family
Unit 4 Colors
Unit 5 School
Unit 6 Reviews Units 1-5
Unit 7 Body
Unit 8 Animals
Unit 9 Calendar
Unit 10 Food
Unit 11 Descriptions
Unit 12 Review Units 7-11
Elementary Spanish 1 Grades K-2 is fun and engaging. Lessons are interactive and include audio instructions. The student does not have to read in English or Spanish. Children should be comfortable using the mouse to click and to click and drag. Though reading is not required, the Spanish words are presented in written form. I like that as Supergirl can begin to recognize the written language. Activities do not involve reading.
Some activities are labeled as Explore, Practice, or Speaking Lab. Explore activities involve clicking such as the "coloring pages" activities. For example in the Numbers unit students click on the fishbowls to color them while the program counts in Spanish.
Practice Activities tend to involve clicking and dragging to match pictures to the vocabulary. I really like this aspect because it means Supergirl can be very independent. She can click the sound symbol to hear the vocabulary word and drag it to the correct picture. These Practice Activities are automatically graded. Here is the one she completed for a lesson in the Numbers unit.
Speaking Lab activities allow students to record themselves. Listen to the Spanish vocabulary word, then record saying it. Listen to your recording. If it doesn't sound quite right, try again! This activity must be graded by a teacher so without the With Teacher Support option this is not graded, however, the program does automatically grade participation. Students can get credit for that. I do not worry about grading at the Elementary Level in my home school but I did use the auto grading and participation features for my high school student when she used the High School French program.
Supergirl enjoys using the computer though she doesn't care for the speaking the lab exercises but I find them beneficial for both of us so we take turns.
The last lesson of each unit reviews the materials and students take a quiz. This lesson also has a "worksheet" that can be printed out. This is a page that student can use to draw a picture that represents the vocabulary from that unit. Again no writing involved. A second print out is available as well. This is a coloring page and is a black and white image of the Exploring activity.
Each Unit uses an authentic story from a Spanish speaking country to introduce the vocabulary. These stories may be a myth or a legend such as how the ocelot gets his spots. The stories are presented as videos but the visual aspect are like a blend of 2-D animation with still drawings. It reminds me a bit of listening to the story being read while looking at the pictures of the book only sometimes the pictures move.
I do wish that the story summary with explanation and the vocabulary sheets were available in the first lesson of each unit as well as part of the review in the 6th lesson. All of the vocabulary, songs, and stories are linked in the Welcome lesson but I would love a reminder on the Introduction screen for Lesson 1 of each Unit. This would help me as the teacher.
This is a wonderful, fun, interactive way to teach Spanish through immersion. Middlebury offers German, French, and Chinese in addition to Spanish and all for grades K through High School so be sure to click on the banner below to read more thoughts from Homeschool Review Crew Members.
Check out Middlebury Interactive Languages on Social Media
Facebook
Twitter @middinteractive
Pinterest
Supergirl was a tiny bit jealous. She wanted her own online interactive course like her twin. This time around she got have her own course. But she didn't want French. If you know her, you know what her favorite language is! It should be no surprise that she picked Elementary Spanish 1 grades K-2.
Unlike the Middle School and High School courses which are sold as Semester 1, Semester 2, or Both, this level of Spanish is only available under the Both option and includes the full year of course work.
Like the Middle School and High School courses Middlebury Interactive Languages offers options for With Teacher Support and Without Teacher Support. Homeschool Review Crew members were given courses Without Teacher Support.
At this level students are only expected to complete about 2 lessons per week. This would mean completing each unit in about 3 weeks. I like this gentle slow approach as it allows Supergirl to incorporate what she is learning into her personal vocabulary. She is just as likely to tell me good bye in Spanish or in English and during our math lesson on reading graphs she counted objects in Spanish.
The program includes 12 units.
These units cover:
Unit 1 Greetings
Unit 2 Numbers
Unit 3 Family
Unit 4 Colors
Unit 5 School
Unit 6 Reviews Units 1-5
Unit 7 Body
Unit 8 Animals
Unit 9 Calendar
Unit 10 Food
Unit 11 Descriptions
Unit 12 Review Units 7-11
Elementary Spanish 1 Grades K-2 is fun and engaging. Lessons are interactive and include audio instructions. The student does not have to read in English or Spanish. Children should be comfortable using the mouse to click and to click and drag. Though reading is not required, the Spanish words are presented in written form. I like that as Supergirl can begin to recognize the written language. Activities do not involve reading.
Some activities are labeled as Explore, Practice, or Speaking Lab. Explore activities involve clicking such as the "coloring pages" activities. For example in the Numbers unit students click on the fishbowls to color them while the program counts in Spanish.
Practice Activities tend to involve clicking and dragging to match pictures to the vocabulary. I really like this aspect because it means Supergirl can be very independent. She can click the sound symbol to hear the vocabulary word and drag it to the correct picture. These Practice Activities are automatically graded. Here is the one she completed for a lesson in the Numbers unit.
Speaking Lab activities allow students to record themselves. Listen to the Spanish vocabulary word, then record saying it. Listen to your recording. If it doesn't sound quite right, try again! This activity must be graded by a teacher so without the With Teacher Support option this is not graded, however, the program does automatically grade participation. Students can get credit for that. I do not worry about grading at the Elementary Level in my home school but I did use the auto grading and participation features for my high school student when she used the High School French program.
Supergirl enjoys using the computer though she doesn't care for the speaking the lab exercises but I find them beneficial for both of us so we take turns.
The last lesson of each unit reviews the materials and students take a quiz. This lesson also has a "worksheet" that can be printed out. This is a page that student can use to draw a picture that represents the vocabulary from that unit. Again no writing involved. A second print out is available as well. This is a coloring page and is a black and white image of the Exploring activity.
Each Unit uses an authentic story from a Spanish speaking country to introduce the vocabulary. These stories may be a myth or a legend such as how the ocelot gets his spots. The stories are presented as videos but the visual aspect are like a blend of 2-D animation with still drawings. It reminds me a bit of listening to the story being read while looking at the pictures of the book only sometimes the pictures move.
I do wish that the story summary with explanation and the vocabulary sheets were available in the first lesson of each unit as well as part of the review in the 6th lesson. All of the vocabulary, songs, and stories are linked in the Welcome lesson but I would love a reminder on the Introduction screen for Lesson 1 of each Unit. This would help me as the teacher.
This is a wonderful, fun, interactive way to teach Spanish through immersion. Middlebury offers German, French, and Chinese in addition to Spanish and all for grades K through High School so be sure to click on the banner below to read more thoughts from Homeschool Review Crew Members.
Check out Middlebury Interactive Languages on Social Media
Twitter @middinteractive
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