Spanish for You (Product Review)

"Spanish for You" is a complete foreign language curriculum for grades 3-8. I had to tweak it some, as I was using it for my young 1st grader in order to facilitate a review for it. My plan had been to use it with my teen, who is struggling in her spanish class, but it just didn't pan out like I had intended. The material was just too different from what she was studying. Anyhow, we have not done the study the way the program was designed, BUT, I have looked at it thoroughly enough to understand how it would be used with a child who could dig deeper into the materials.

So, that being said, lets move on.

With this program, you receive: 

• • Spanish for you! soft cover book (allow up to 2 weeks for delivery) or E-book (trial pkgs.)
  • Audio download (MP3) of the entire book. You use these as the lesson guide instructs.
  • A free bonus audio of the entire book recorded by a native speaker from Mexico. (MP3)
  • 24-30 Week Lesson Guide (PDF) - The student (and parent if needed) follows this guide step-by-step to know what to do, at whatever pace works for you.
  • Self-checking worksheets (PDF) - You just print these as you need them. The lesson guide will tell you what you need to print and when.
  • Free set of pictures for making flashcards and other activity materials. (PDF)

You can teach this curriculum whether you have a foundation in spanish or not. For me, I speak very little Spanish. We live in an area heavily saturated with native spanish speaking people, so it is very important for my children to develop a basis in the language.

We started out learning the colors and numbers. There is an audio file to accompany this, so that Troy could hear it and repeat it. We also did the flash cards to accompany them so that there was true mastery of the vocabulary. 

In the weeks that we reviewed the program, that is as far as we have gotten. However, it has worked and he can now at least say 15 colors and 20 numbers in spanish. The book came with suggestions for games to play to integrate the vocabulary into every day life. Application was what I REALLY loved about doing as much as we did. 

We got the "Fiestas" which has the theme of celebrations. Because we chose this, we learned cultural lessons too about things like "Day of the Dead", "Carnival", and "Holy Week" in Spain. 

Spanish for you was developed by Debbie Annett, MSEd. 

The following is from their "About" page. 

More to know:

• Every Spanish for You! package is used over an entire school year by the author before it becomes available for sale to ensure quality and test it every step of the way.
• Each Spanish for You! book provides new material as well as overlapping of some material from other Spanish for You! books for reinforcement of concepts.
• The self-checking worksheets are leveled for grades 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8 because even though grades 3 through 8 are learning the same content, they need practice appropriate to their grades.
• This curriculum prepares students to excel in any high school Spanish curriculum.
• Many students who have used this curriculum for 2 or more years have been able to begin high school Spanish early, some as early as 5th grade.
• Some students who study with Spanish for You! for a few years are able to begin high school Spanish at the second year level.

We are enjoying this curriculum and using it at a modified level for a younger child. However, it is certainly best suited for the target age ranges. We will be using it starting Troy's third grade year and hope to work through all books that will be available. Right now there are three different themes available, "Fiestas"(Celebrations), "Estacions" (Seasons), and in June "Viajes" (Travels) will be released.

On their website there are free samples for you to utilize.

The program costs range from $9.99-$64.95. I have found that this is a very reasonable price for a full Spanish curriculum.

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