conversations with another mom

I had a fellow homeschooling mother ask me a few questions, and she gave me permission to share our conversation with all of you.

Hi, Senora Gose,

I've just purchased your Flip Flop Spanish - Level 1 workbook and I'm
eagerly awaiting its arrival. I'm planning - hoping - to introduce our
children - ages 5 and 3 - to Spanish this summer. I'm a bit intimidated by
the prospect since I'm not fluent in Spanish, though I am latina and have
studied it some in high school. 

In addition to Flip Flop, I've purchased flash cards and have the Eeboo
bingo game and the Beth Manner's Fun With Spanish CD. I also plan to label
with index cards items around the house - fridge, stove, couch - so we can
begin to use Spanish in our daily lives. (My little ones are not independent
readers so the index cards are more of a prompt for me!)I'd like to
supplement my resources with:

1. a DVD. We rarely watch TV but I like the idea of having another tool.
2. a CD. 
3. a game or two in addition to bingo. 

I've been searching through amazon.com and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. If
you have just a moment to offer some suggestions, I would be grateful.

Hola Christina!
Thanks for your vote of confidence - you will find Flip Flop Spanish to be nice and simple for you.
If you check out the website, you can find tons of games for Flash cards that will help you after you make your index cards.

http://www.flipfloplearning.com/flashcard_games/
As far as other CD's, I haven't been impressed with too much - I do like the ones by Ana Lomba, but I think they're a bit to old for yours - my 6 year old just now got into them, and he's been exposed to Spanish his whole life, so I'm not sure if the others are just too young, or I'm the only one that likes it!

The Spanish Champs DVD's and CD's on the shop are also quite good for your 5 year old, but they're more class-type learning, and I think you're looking for something a little more fun, am I right?

Unfortunately, everything out there is pretty.... cheesy, that I've seen. I do like watching a small chapter of a movie they like already in Spanish - just choose Spanish from the DVD menu. This idea and more are listed in the teaching tips:

http://www.flipfloplearning.com/teaching_tips/

You could do Dora the Explorer of course, and Go Diego Go has a bit of Spanish in it as well. - But it's just a few words each time, rather than real good immersion. My kids like Professor Toto, but it drives me CRAZY... the music and animation just is so silly.

Perhaps you can send me a few games or CD's that you were looking at, and I can let you know what I think, if I've reviewed them or not.

I'm afraid I haven't been much help.... You can also look at my weekly article for more information.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HSBCompanyBlog/Languishing%2Bin%2BLanguages%3F/

The mom asked me about a few more resources, here is my response:

I do like all of Rebecca Emberly's books, although there are some that are obviously mis-translated. I think she may have just used a Spanish dictionary, rather than being bilingual - (check the reviews, and you'll see mine in there most likely.) So it's neat, and for something that you REALLY want to get in their heads, it's great, but I would think flash cards are just as helpful.

I also have some listmania's on the Amazon.com site that'll help you. Look for "Fun with Spanish" or "Spanish for Toddlers"

"This isn't my cat" books in Spanish are neat, or just choose a book they already like in English, and find it in Spanish - Buenas Noches Luna (Good Night Moon) is precious in both languages, and Green Eggs and Ham is a pretty good translation (Huevos Verdes con jamón) but probably are a bit over their head still. Check the library - a lot of times they have books on tape in Spanish.

DVD's are there too - maybe give them a call and get them to pull it for you first. (I know it's hard to go to the library and actually LOOK when you have little ones in tow.)

I had forgotten that Professor Toto was so expensive - I got it from a friend who wanted us to review it for her.

Try the memory game, too, in Spanish.

After you do a few lessons in Flip Flop, try the Spanish Fun Activity calendar - I think you'll see a lot of games will work for you from there, and you don't have to look or think about it.

I am working on Flip Flop Spanish for Families too - and hope that will be out by next Spring (I'm testing the curriculum this summer) so next year they'll be primed and ready for some more fun that way with really specific ideas for you along the way for games and such.

You're doing a great job! Just getting started is a HUGE step!!