Time for another review of a Spanish learning curriculum! If you're thinking of having your child learn a new language this summer, Speekee is an online, immersion program.
Name of program: Speekee
Target age: 4 years old and older
Amount of materials: Moderate, all online
Price: $7.50 per month, subscription based
MommyMaestra Rating: ♥♥♥
THE REVIEW:
Speekee is an online, video-based program. It comes with four different programs for families and one for schools:
- Speekee FastTrack (ages 4 - 7)
- Speekee Accelerate (ages 8+)
- Speekee TV
- Speekee Play
- Speekee Scheme of Work (for schools)
I had the opportunity to review Speekee's Accelerate program for children ages 8 and older. This is a subscription-based program. Once you sign up (for $7.50 a month, automatically drafted), then you'll have access to the program, which is composed up of 40-weeks worth of lessons. (So if you do the math, that's 10 months @ $7.50, for a grand total of $75.00.)
You can either go to the website and login, or you can simply use the emails, which you'll receive once a week. Here's a peek at Week 3's email:
Each week is composed of four lessons (mostly videos) that focus on key words and phrases to get your kids speaking Spanish. Week one, for example, is all about introductions and learning what to say when you meet someone. Each video features kids speaking Spanish and using the phrases to greet each other or otherwise interact. There are no translations. This is full immersion. Your kids learn by watching the videos and hearing and seeing how the children are interacting.
The videos themselves are fun and engaging. The kids are funny and speak excellent Spanish.
See that red button in the third image above that says "Suspend Emails"? Let's say you are extra busy one week or that you go on vacation for two weeks without internet access. Rather than try to catch up, you may prefer to suspend the emails until you get back so that your child can simply pick up where they left off.
While there is minimal prep time, each video lesson does contain an introductory section with directions for the educator/parent. It gives suggestions for discussion topics and tells you things you can do to introduce new vocabulary.
Some of the lessons are just a worksheet (or include one) which you or your child can print directly from the site and complete.
This is a great program for kids who are into technology and online learning. The full immersion will probably take a bit of getting used to for kids who have never heard or spoken Spanish before, but with some encouragement, should catch on quickly.
Speekee is based out of England, so the children in the videos have Castilian accents (from Spain). So keep that in mind if you are wanting your kids to learn Spanish with a Latin American accent.
If you are hesitant about trying this program, you can test it out for free. Each subscription comes with a one-month, free-trial period. The only thing is that if it isn't a good fit for your family, you need to go in and cancel your subscription via your PayPal account because you have to enter that payment option when you sign up (even though you are doing the free trial). Otherwise, Speekee will assume you want to continue the program and will automatically start drafting once a month.
Overall, it is obvious that a lot of time and effort went into this program and it is nice to have one that offers a different teaching style for older, more self-motivated students.
The Giveaway
Speekee has generously offered a free year's subscription to one MommyMaestra reader!
To enter the giveaway, just use the Rafflecopter below.
¡Buena suerte!
¡Buena suerte!