Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links where I will receive a small commission if you purchase through them at no cost to you. I was given access to Foreign Language for Kids by Kids programs for six months free of charge in exchange of writing honest reviews. All opinions in this post are my own.
Do you make new year resolutions? I often do not or should I say I pretend to but never keep them. Now that it is over a week past New Year's Day, I have time to think about what I want 2016 to really look like. This week I am going to share with you some of the products that are helping me with some of my resolutions or let's say desires for the new year.
Resolution #1
The first resolution is to work more consistently with Hazel on her Spanish. Back in September we shared a new program that we are trying. I had big hopes but first grade brought things like homework and exhaustion. But now that it is January my goal for us is to do the lessons at least four times a week.
Why Learn Another Language?
Why is it important for Hazel to learn Spanish? Well she goes to a small private school that teaches a classical education. This means she will learn Latin. Since they are a small school they cannot afford to have more than one language taught at the school and classical education includes Latin. There are many benefits to learning Latin and I think it is great, but I also think it is important to be able to communicate in other languages besides English. To be a global citizen it is important to be able to communicate with others. In this ever changing world the number of native English speakers are going down and the number of native Spanish speakers are going up and the truth is that the number of native Spanish speakers is going up in our own country.Now if Spanish is not a language you want your kids to learn it is still important to learn another language. Besides communication in the world and in business as our kids grow up foreign languages are needed to further study and to be able to read the actual historical documents. Translations are dependent to the translator's point of view. When you read a translation you are not always getting the emotions of the story. If I wanted to go for my doctorate in mathematics I would have to learn French or German (it is a prerequisite), so that I could follow the works of some of the famous mathematicians before me.
Why Foreign Language for Kids by Kids?
We love the program by Foreign Language for Kids by Kids. There are various videos that immerse us in Spanish. At first Hazel was hesitant about this since she did not understand Spanish. Sometimes I would interpret for her but most of the time the videos made it pretty obvious what the words meant and they have little asides showing the meaning of the words.
The videos not only work on the audio of the words but also have the words on the screen so the viewer learns the word's spelling, pronunciation and meaning. After completing a video there are on-line activities to complete to help reinforce the lesson.
Hazel really enjoys watching the videos. The brothers in the videos are very entertaining and the stories are fun.
This program is a great way to introduce Spanish to anyone!! My goal is to have Hazel work on them four times a week. We will start today!! What are your resolutions/goals for 2016?
