Teaching a foreign language in a homeschool setting can be somewhat of a challenge sometimes. We have recently had the opportunity to add Excelerate SPANISH Streaming from Excelerate SPANISH to our homeschool which has made learning a foreign language a much easier process in our homeschool.
Excelerate SPANISH Streaming has two levels with 24 lessons in each level. The lessons are generally 30-35 minutes in length, however some are up to 50 minutes long. Since this is an online course and each lesson can be viewed as many times as desired, families can move at their own pace through the course, repeating lessons as often as necessary to ensure mastery. The streaming subscription is a one year membership which gives access to both levels and is considered a one year course.
The lessons are based on a classroom setting where the teacher, Caryn Hommel, encourages classroom participation; both in the recorded classroom and for those watching the streaming video. At the start of the lesson, she writes that lesson’s vocabulary words on the white board, pronounces them clearly and gives a definition for the vocabulary words. She also uses hand gestures and body movements to help the students remember the new words as part of Total Physical Response (TPR) which is shown to help students learn a foreign language.
Excelerate SPANISH does not focus on memorizing endless lists of words from a textbook. In fact, it is the complete opposite of that approach. Each lesson starts with a group of vocabulary words that are related to each other in a story approach. This approach lends itself well to hands-on interactive lessons, hand gestures and skits. It is set up much more like we learn our primary language, by being immersed into conversation.
Books are not included in the streaming membership however they can be purchased if desired through the website, however, flashcards, games and quizzes are available for FREE on the Quizlet website. This has been an invaluable part of the Excelerate SPANISH course!
The screenshots below are from within the Quizlet website. The first shows the opening page where you can choose which lesson to review.
The next two screenshots show flashcard samples and also the “learn” section:
What Do We Think of Excelerate SPANISH?
I have enjoyed using Excelerate SPANISH as I’ve been relearning Spanish, way back in high school I took Spanish for two years. I wish I would have continued learning and using Spanish but I did not, so now I am relearning. I really like the approach that Excelerate SPANISH uses as it is much easier for me to retain the lessons than by memorizing endless lists.
The kids have split reviews of the course. The lessons are fairly long for the younger kids which makes them seem long and overwhelming. For them, I have tried breaking the lessons up and that seems to be helping. Overall, we have enjoyed Excelerate SPANISH and are thankful to be part of this review.
Connect with Excelerate SPANISH on These Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExcelerateSPANISH/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarynPowellHomm
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caryn3360/
Be sure to click on the banner below to read reviews from other members of the Homeschool Review Crew.
Blessings,
Jennifer
