Adding a foreign language to our homeschool was an idea that I tossed around for awhile. While I personally don’t have a background in foreign language, I knew it’s something that I wanted to introduce to my boys. However, I also knew that I needed a program that offered ease of use given my lack of knowledge. That’s why when we had the opportunity to review the Educator’s Spanish Collection from Whistlefritz, I couldn’t refuse.
Whistlefritz Educator’s Spanish Collection
This collection seriously comes with all the tools you need to help your children learn Spanish.
Lesson Plan Book:
This hefty 277 page book contains 40 lessons that are written in a way that the parent/teacher can see the vocabulary, materials needed and even how long each particular lesson should take. You’ll find that each lesson is written with a dialogue in Spanish and English so that the teacher only needs to follow the written plan. This was definitely a welcome addition on our home. Each lesson also includes a Guided Practice section where you help the child do certain activities using the dialogue they learned during the lesson. Some of the activities includes crafts, outside activities and using pages included in the book to remove and color. At the end of the lesson, you’ll also find an Independent Practice section to help assess’ the students knowledge.
5 DVDS:
The videos in this series are approx. 25-30 minutes in length in are presented in an immersion style of learning. The videos include both adult and children, as well as “Fritzi” making an appearance throughout each episode. The language is spoken in a fast-paced, but fun manner. There isn’t a recommendation on what order you can watch the DVD’s, but it does encourage you to start with Los Animales with children under the ages of 3. Each DVD has a specific theme and vocabulary.
Matching Cards Game:
The Matching Card Game includes 50 cards in four different colors. Depending on the age of your child, you can choose to use a single color, or all the cards at one time.
3 Music CDs:
These were so much fun! We enjoyed popping them in and singing along.
Our overall thoughts:
I loved that this program started out with teaching the basic introductory dialogue: “Hello, my name is.” “How are you?” The lesson also had them making paper bag puppets which was tons of fun. Puppets always make learning more enjoyable and my six and ten year old enjoyed this part. They still use these puppets to talk to each other and it’s such a great way to encourage them to learn a new language.
As someone that doesn’t have a background in the Spanish language, I did found it difficult at times to teach. While the words are written in the lesson plans for me to follow, I had my doubts when it came to pronouncing some of the words. I would have to do a search to hear it spoken and learn it prior to teaching the kids, and while the DVDs and CDs are used to supplement the lessons, they only what scene to watch on a DVD. It would definitely be a time saver if the DVDs were laid out by chapter.
While I was struggling with the pronouncing the words in order to teach them to say them correctly, they were enjoying every minute of it. The activities are tons of fun and really add to the learning, and we always looked forward to incorporating the matching game.
The DVDs were also a huge hit. They speak entirely in Spanish, but the key words appear on the screen as they it goes. Throughout the video, the lady will stop and ask the children a question. When they answer, she repeats the answers in a complete sentence. It’s amazing to me how much they pick up just by watching the DVDs. They continue to learn the meanings to words the more we watch the DVDs or put in the CDs.
While there are a few things I would change about the program, overall I think it’s wonderful. The kids are learning and having fun while doing it and in the end, that’s what matters most to me.
Curious what other homeschoolers are saying about Whistlefritz? Be sure to click on the image below:
