This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Spanish Champs. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to a new Spanish-learning program that hasn't been featured before here on MommyMaestra.
Name of program: Spanish Champs
Target age: Prek & Kindergarten
Amount of materials: Moderate
Price: $12 - $241.50
A few weeks ago, Spanish Champs reached out to me and asked me to take a look at the program and share it with you if it was a good fit. I frequently get requests from MommyMaestra readers who are looking for a good PreK program that doesn't involve a) internet access, and/or b) a lot of screen time.
So if this sounds like what you are looking for, then perhaps I have the program for you!
Spanish Champs has two programs and although they are promoted as being designed for preschool and kindergarten, the lessons can actually be used with children up to 10 years old. The programs have been used by Progressive Language for more than five years to teach Family Spanish, Summer Camps, and Preschool Spanish. Both curricula come with a good number of materials to help parents/teachers teach their children Spanish.
Spanish Champs 1
The spiral-bound Teachers Manual makes teaching the lessons very easy. Inside you'll find:
- a program overview chart,
- a sample parent letter (for educators),
- an overview of all the resources included in the curriculum,
- a guide on how to use the program,
- progress charts
- and the lessons
There are 16 lessons in all and each one includes the lesson layout, a take-home activity, and references to illustrations that teachers will find on the resource CD. The manual suggests that each lesson be taught 5 days a week over a 2-week period, and last around 25 minutes. There is a suggested schedule.
Although the curriculum does include a video, the Teachers Manual urges educators not to over use it, but rather to simply use it one or twice a week to supplement the lesson of the day, typically in relation to the song being learned.
I love how the daily lessons are split up into manageable chunks for little learners. The lessons focus on no more than one or two activities to help reinforce specific concepts, sneaking in repetition through different activities.
Here's a look at Lesson 1 to give you an idea...
Program 1 also comes with three other books: a story book, a coloring book, and one full of songs and activities. As you can see, the illustrations are fun and colorful, perfect for preschoolers.
Spanish 2
Building on what children have learned in the Spanish 1 program, this set doesn't include a coloring book, but it does come with an additional CD featuring new songs and introduces more topics.
The Teachers Resource CD is basically pdf and Word versions of the workbooks, plus flash cards, lots of activities, lyrics to the songs, etc. So for those of you looking to save money, you could buy the Teachers Manual and the Teachers Resource CD and simply print everything you need for each lesson. Similarly, the Story CD contains fun read-alouds of the stories used in the program.
I personally, prefer the books because it is good to snuggle with your little one on the couch or allow them to turn the pages on their own. They also help keep all of your student's work in one place rather than have coloring pages floating around all over the place.
Again, there are 16 lessons, plus a bonus Christmas lesson. The lessons are more story focused than those in Spanish 1, and the final lesson focuses on a performance that your young students will enjoy performing!
The DVDs feature animated versions of the books. I think it is good for little Spanish learners to watch them because that way they hear Spanish being spoken by someone other than you/the teacher.
I love that both programs have a Karaoke CD so that your little kids can sing along to the melody and you can listen to see if they are understanding/repeating the words and can listen to their pronunciation. And you know they are having fun singing their little hearts out!
What I like best about this program is that everything is how age appropriate it is. Preschoolers have a really short attention span and this program keeps the learning time short and focused, using songs, stories, role playing, games, and other fun activities to teach Spanish.
You can purchase the materials individually or as a complete set.
The Discount
Spanish Champs is offering a 10% discount to all MommyMaestra readers! Just enter the coupon code "mama" when you check out.
Thanks, Spanish Champs!