Language Learning

Today, after Sunday School, Hannah told me that Ben's teacher said that Ben had been writing in Spanish on the chalkboard. I asked him what he had written. "'La mujer,' 'Las mujeres,' and 'Él come,'" he told me.

"Did you put the accent over the 'e'?" I asked him.

"Yes!" he replied. "If I didn't, it would have been 'the eats' instead of 'He eats,' and that wouldn't have made any sense." I smiled, pleased to hear that he understood at least a part of our recent language lessons.

At the school Hannah attended last year, a native Spanish speaker taught all of the elementary students Spanish several days a week. Kindergarten kids learned fun songs, colors, numbers, and other simple words and phrases. Hannah loved learning a new language and picked it up fairly easily. Because of this, Josh and I had been discussing buying Rosetta Stone software to continue the language learning from an early age.

In college, Josh took several Spanish classes, but he has not spoken the language in many years and has forgotten quite a bit. I have taken many Spanish classes as well, and I lived in Bolivia with a Spanish-speaking family for eight weeks in college, but I, too, am very rusty. Additionally, I do not always pronounce the words perfectly, especially because I cannot roll my r's correctly. I could teach the kids a good amount on my own, but I would prefer them to learn proper pronunciation and inflection from the very beginning, instead of needing to correct bad habits later on. So, we finally decided to look into the software.

Josh called Rosetta Stone's customer service before completing his purchase, because he wanted to ask about the differences between the homeschool version and the personal version. Ultimately, we chose the homeschool version, but calling the company gave us another benefit. Rosetta Stone happened to be having a special, where we could buy all five levels for about $100 cheaper than the best price we found online, and we could spread the payments out over five months without paying any interest. Of course, we jumped at the chance, and the software arrived only a few days later.

I set up the kids' profiles and allowed them to attempt the first lesson. At first, they struggled with the format a bit, but they quickly got the hang of it. I ended up printing off some of the worksheets after the first lesson and teaching them some of the concepts myself, in order to give them a foundation for learning the grammar and vocabulary. Then, they restarted the first lesson and did much better the second time through. Once they had completed all of the follow-up portions of that lesson, they understood very well. In fact, Ben's chalkboard exercise in Sunday School assures me that he has learned quite a bit. Happily, the kids beg for Spanish lessons each day, so I know they enjoy it, too!

In addition to this, in Hannah's language arts curriculum (First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind), she has just progressed from learning nouns to learning pronouns. This fits perfectly with our Spanish lessons! A few days ago, as I read the dialogue from the book, explaining how pronouns take the place of a noun, I took advantage of the opportunity to tie in some of the Spanish learning. Once we completed the practice sentences in English, I added, "Instead of saying, 'La mujer come,' you could say, 'Ella come.' Instead of saying, 'Los hombres comen,' you could say, 'Ellos comen.'" I continued with examples for all of the pronouns she had learned up to that point. Her recent Spanish lessons served to reinforce her English grammar, and her English lessons helped her comprehend her Spanish more completely. In many ways, a second language is improving her understanding of her first language as well!

Overall, I am glad that we decided to move forward with our purchase of Rosetta Stone and add a second language to our homeschool curriculum. I already have begun contemplating ways to use the language in more practical ways. I know I have an open invitation to bring my family to Bolivia to visit my Bolivian family in Cochabamba. Also, our church leads mission trips each year to a small village I once visited in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps, we can take such a trip when the kids are old enough? Until then, I am simply happy to pass on an ability that I love, a language that I once hoped to speak every day but never had the opportunity to use regularly. And, who knows - maybe the opportunities will come for our whole family, once we all speak the language well. At the very least, the kids will have a very useful skill, as they grow up in a world where more people speak Spanish than English, and in a country where Spanish could easily be the second language. I am excited to see where their love of language may take them...

An Enchanting Tale

As part of our morning routine, I have given Hannah pages from a workbook that thoroughly covers grammar and writing skills at a first and second grade level. She has completed all of the grammar lessons and now must apply those concepts to her writing. Today's assignment required her to write a story or a report about a frog or toad. It suggested topics and word choices, but of course, my little author already had plenty of her own creative ideas. After several hours of writing and brainstorming and talking through her ideas, Hannah finished her enchanting tale: "Rainbow Diamond's Wonderful Treehouse."

Here is her story:

Once upon a time there lived a frog who lived in an enchanted forest. She was an enchanted frog. Her name was Rainbow Diamond. Rainbow Diamond is an enchanted name, as you can see. But this was no ordinary forest. The hills were pink, the trees were purple, the flowers were green, and she was all the colors of the rainbow! Unlike other frogs, the only problem in her life was that she couldn't find a home.

Then one day, she lay down in the mud just relaxing and wondering what she should do to have a home. Then, all of a sudden, she saw a rainbow lily pad come floating toward her. She gasped! There on the lily pad was the most wonderful seed! It was all the colors of the rainbow! "Is that seed magic?" she wondered. She did not know that the seed was very magical indeed.

It was so very magical that as soon as she planted it, up grew a house. She was so excited about her house that she didn't see Hannah the fairy come flying toward her. Finally, she noticed Hannah. "Hi, Hannah," croaked Rainbow Diamond.

"Hi, Rainbow Diamond," said Hannah.

Then, Hannah spied the high, enormous treehouse. "What a big treehouse!" said Hannah. "How did you make it?"

"I planted it," answered Rainbow Diamond.

"Let's go for a swim," said Hannah.

"Sure, we can go for a swim," said Rainbow Diamond.

"All right! Yay! Hip hip hurray!" they yelled together.

"Wow! Look at that strange glow," said Rainbow Diamond.

"And I know what it is," said Hannah.

"What?" asked Rainbow Diamond.

"A lamp," said the fairy.

"How did you know?" asked Rainbow Diamond.

"I gave you the seed, and I gave you the lamp. I wanted you to have a rainbow house and a rainbow lamp, just like you. I know that today is your seventh birthday. Happy birthday, Rainbow Diamond!" said Hannah.

"Wow! Thank you, Hannah," said Rainbow Diamond. "What a wonderful friend you are! Would you want to live here with me?"

"Sure, Rainbow Diamond!" said Hannah.

They both lived together in the treehouse for the rest of their lives.

The end.