Friday, January 21, 2011

Speekee



Speekee is an online site with videos that teach Spanish through immersion. That means, in the videos, all the talking is in Spanish, with optional Spanish or English subtitles on the screen so you can read along if you like. If you think about it, this is how all of us learned to talk. As babies we heard our parents talking and learned little by little what things were and how to say them. Speekee TV is designed so kids can learn Spanish at their own pace, and I really like this!

My children are not very good at reading  fast yet so they didn't pay much attention to the subtitles at the bottom, in fact I turned them off so they could watch the video without any distractions.  At the time of this writing there are 10 different videos available to watch, that is over 150 minutes. There are also worksheets and other activities to go along with each lesson  to help reinforce the learning of words associated with each video.

The kids said their favorite videos were El Zoo, and El Cafe. They have definitely learned some manners! They think it is really cool to say please and thank you to people when we are out in Spanish. I'm sure it makes them feel very smart. Three of my older kids have taken Spanish classes before, they sat and watched some of the videos with them during Christmas break. They said it was a great refresher course for them, they had forgotten some of the words they had learned earlier. Of course the older kids thought the Speekee puppet was weird, but the program wasn't designed for their age.

The videos contain puppets and real people in everyday situations. That's Speekee in the picture below,  the little kids thought Speekee was cute. Overall they have really enjoyed the videos, and I can tell they have learned quite a bit along the way! The songs are really catchy, I have even caught myself singing or humming them.

I never took a language class in school, my Spanish is limited to what I've picked up watching Dora with the kids. If I were to want to learn another language, the immersion method would be the best way I think. I recommend this program to those of you who, like myself,  have no experience to teach Spanish to your kids. It is so simple to use, just watch the video, do a worksheet or two, and you will start picking up words you can put to use everyday. Repetition will help as you watch again and again.



Website: www.speekee.co.uk/online.php

Price: 4.95 pounds OR $7.50 USD per month. The first 2 weeks are FREE!

You can also purchase the program on DVD, please read the note to North American customers first.

Age Range: 2 to 10 years



See what other crew members thought of Speekee at The Homeschool Crew Blog!



Disclaimer ~ We were able to access Speekee videos in exchange for an honest review after using them in our homeschool as part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. No other compensation was given. All opinions expressed here are my own.

4 comments:

  1. [...] Speekee « Stairsteps Homeschool Academy Harley Davidson's long history with the police. Loud Pipes Save Lives!Up-coming and ongoing events in and around Monterey and Santa Cruz Published under Reference | send this post Tags: learn spanish [...]

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  2. Great post. And you are right, we learn to speak English with the immersion method. Why not another language.

    Visiting from the crew.

    Vickie

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  3. I had to turn the closed captioning off on when we watched Speekee, because my seven-year-old would read everything. It was a lot of fun for me to review my Spanish. We all enjoyed watching!

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  4. Hola Beth and family, Thank you so much for taking the time out to review Speekee TV. I have enjoyed reading about your experiences. All the best to you from Spain, Jim - the one in Speekee

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