Thursday, November 15, 2012

Speekee Review

When my 4 yr old daughter asked me to teach her Spanish, I was at a loss. After all, Spanish would be her 4th language, after Romanian, English and French - would she be able to learn without confusing them? And then, I was by far NOT fluent in Spanish. I would understand most of it, but I'm not able to speak it (as I was with English and eventually French), to help her master Spanish, as well.
So, I began to look online for resources - language video lessons for kids, songs, stories, and any kind of information that would help me (the non-Spanish speaking mom), to introduce Spanish language to my child and learn along with her.
And so I came across Speekee.
It looked like just what we needed. And when I found out we would be able to review it, I was thrilled!

Here's a bit of information to get you started.
Speekee is an immersion-based program that teaches Spanish for children aged 2-11. You can get it on DVD, or view it online at Speekee TV, for a really affordable fee. You will have 10 episodes, each with a different theme, with lots of songs and animations.Children learn at their own pace, and they have fun while learning!
Speekee uses the immersion method - meaning that everything is being said in Spanish only, the words are carefully introduced and thoroughly repeated several times throughout the lessons.
Each week you get by email a lesson from the Fast Track program, with lots of ideas and lesson plans to complement and reinforce the lessons introduced by the Speekee videos. You also have access to download free activity sheets and flashcards.
Speekee works particularly well for homeschoolers - read this article on Speekee's blog, for more information on that .

What I liked best about Speekee? I liked the way the lessons are structured each on a theme, the way vocabulary was gently introduced and repeated though music and fun. We both learned a lot by watching it together and going over some practice as suggested in the weekly Fast Track emails.
Other that the content that was just perfect for my daughter's age and way of learning, I appreciated the fact that we could access Speekee TV anytime and from various devices. After we've been through all the videos, I set Speekee up on the iPad for my daughter so she would select the lesson and songs she liked best.

And my daughter? My daughter simply loved Speekee. She enjoyed the videos a lot, and liked the sock puppets in particular. Here's a video of her - playing with her 2 mittens :) that are supposed to be our puppets:)


Did she pick up some Spanish, after a month of Speekee? She did, a LOT! Not only she learned all the songs (she's singing them all day long), she also learned to speak in short sentences and she's very intent on conversing with me in Spanish, as well (besides English and French). She would say 'Mommy, we speak Spanish now' - so I have to play along and speak the little Spanish I know.
Here's another video, we're looking at an English book for babies and reviewing the words in Spanish.


So, yes, I'm very happy with what she learned from Speekee and I recommend it to all the parents who want to introduce Spanish in a fun and gentle way to their children. I am grateful for being offered the opportunity to review Speekee and learn so much from it! Thank you, Speekee and we're looking forward to the next lessons!

7 comments:

  1. Felictari I. Se joaca cu asa un entuziasm, e foarte simpatica cu manusile :) .

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    1. Daaa, pentru ea totul e o joaca, clar - iar teatrul de papusi improvizat e un joc favorit!

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  2. I. e geniala! De cate ori o vad e primul cuvant ce imi vine in minte! Va felicit pentru munca minunata, Adina!

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    1. Eh, nu stiu cat e de... dar in mod sigur ii plac chestiile astea lingvistice ;) Multumim pentru cuvintele frumoase!

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