Review: Excelerate SPANISH -- Excelerate SPANISH Streaming

In our home we decided to let each of our kids choose their own foreign language. I really wanted to do Turkish with my kids as that's my second language (barely!) but we decided that it probably wasn't the most useful and wanted to give the kids the opportunity to choose their own language. Isaac is learning French. Abigail is taking sign language on her own and with Ms. Anni. And Sidge is doing Spanish. For this review we therefore had Sidge use this program for this review: Excelerate SPANISH Streaming from Excelerate SPANISH.

We received a one-year streaming membership for both levels 1 and 2. The program is $14.97 a month. You can also buy the entire level and watch it on DVD if you prefer not to use the streaming service.  

Your purchase of the streaming service includes:

•  24 Lessons in Spanish 1 (averaging 45 minutes each)
•  24 Lessons in Spanish 2 (averaging 45 minutes each)
•  Vocabulary review and practice FREE on the Quizlet website. This includes flashcards, games, and quizzes.
• Unlimited personal support. 

***Physical books are also available and option for purchase which provide reinforcement, practice, and review.

Excelerate SPANISH is super easy to use. It is possible for children of all ages to use this program which makes it perfect for a homeschooling family. You simply login to the program and see the videos along the right side of the screen as shown in the screenshot below:

You then click on the video you want to watch and get started:

Excelerate SPANISH uses gestures, action sequences, skits, and stories to help bring success. You can read more about their method by clicking here. But to quickly summarize, I'll say this: 

The program uses a TPR or Total Physical Response theory to help with learning. This is a gesturing activity used with the idea that it is activating various motor cortices of the brain making it easier to learn a language. In each lesson, there is an introduction of new vocabulary and structures. The student sees the word on the white board, hears the pronunciation, and then models a gesture for each word or phrase. The program does not force the learner to speak. The TPR method sees this as anxiety-provoking.

We are going to continue to use this program in our home as I think it offers a lot of positive aspects. However, I am a still a bit up in the air regarding this program. I was hoping that it would be something Sidge could just sit down and do on his own. But he often felt overwhelmed with how much was coming at him in the program. I really think this is something that parents need to be sitting with the student and helping them pause it, discuss it, and take notes with them. I also think the "optional" workbooks are something that we should use with the program and that they really aren't so optional. 

Personally, I am more of a hands-off homeschooling Mama. I like programs that allow the child to "mostly" work through it without my direct involvement. This is necessary because there are so many children in my home that I am schooling. I think that if I was using this with all my kids at once, that would be possible. But without that, it's pretty challenging. We are going to keep trying the program, but I am honestly unable at this point to give a totally positive or negative review. I am a bit torn.

While I didn't see a free video on the website, I would encourage you to see if you can view one of the lessons before deciding if this is the right fit for your family. I think the TPR method is something I am unfamiliar with and so I can't really speak to its success. However, it appears to really have some substantial background that could be very helpful for learning a new language.

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