My child is failing Spanish II, lost, and frustrated. please help
Hello, my child is failing Spanish II in High School. She wants to do better. She is lost and frustrated. We have met with her teacher but she is still failing her quizzes and tests. She even struggled with Spanish I last year. Her teachers from both classes say she needs to work on applying the verbs to sentences. Are there any resources available to quickly help her with this topic?
8 Answers
http://conjuguemos.com/list.php?type=verbs&division=verbs&language=spanish
a great site for playing games to learn verb tenses.
Try helping her by looking up the words of every day objects in our dictionary and writing them on post-its and sticking them to things around the house. Write them in the example sentence given by the dictionary. this is essential, there is no point in learning words out of context. That way it will help her grammar as well as the vocabulary.
Learn Spanish yourself and practise it with her.
More lessons could help, depending on the lessons. More lessons in the high school will not help. Lessons in a private language school that is very communicative and that play games and have fun with the language will help. (Though it might be expensive.)
Get her a Shakira CD.
The important thing with a language is to learn it every day, not just the days you have classes. It's not like Maths or Geography where it is possible to cram a few days or weeks before the test, it needs to be every single day.
I would recommend going through the lessons on this site. If she was having trouble with Spanish I she could probably benefit from a review.
Practicing using the verbs in sentences is a great idea for everyone. Normally I'd recommend writing sentences in the translators here, but the automatic translators can be bad enough to just confuse her. Someone more experienced with the language needs to check them. Like us. If it's OK with you we'd be glad to check her sentences.
Your daughter might enjoy reviewing Spanish with popular songs. It's worth a shot! Go to youtube and put Songs for Learning Spanish in the youtube search box. You'll find a variety of artists and styles uploaded and translated by escorpio123. Escorpio rates them in terms of difficulty. He's a native speaker of Spanish, and you'll find an occasional tiny, unimportant error in the English translation but he has put in a lot of time and done a great job. Also, your daughter might like the very nice lyrics of Un Dia Normal by Juanes. It has inspired a few people to post on youtube with the Spanish lyrics showing, along with some beautiful photos.There are even bilingual versions of lots of Beatles songs. Have fun!
I think more lessons may make the problem WORSE. When I had some special maths-lessons as a child I felt both mortified, embarrassed and stressed as my parents thought they had now fixed the problem... I think you have to give her more TIME and less stress and less exams. If possible find a film or TV program she actually enjoys watching, find somebody to talk to her at a level which doesn't stretch her, just until she gains confidence. I really, really believe confidence is terribly fragile in girls. This web site is great, and very friendly, but I think she needs somethign to co-operate with HER INTERESTS, does she like dogs, horses, boys? Whatever it is, try to find a Spanish connection. And remember, it sounds harsh, but the harder the parents push, often the quicker the child retreats back into her hole...Take time and don't wory, there is more to life than exams, I promise you.
If you have access to TV in Spanish las novelas are an excellent way to practice Spanish and all the verbs...well some verbs, but they are "over acted" what it makes easy to understand what the actors are saying and as soon you understand enough you get hook to watch them to see till they finish
You are a great mom to have research websites in order to help your daughter! The one suggestion that I haven't seen yet is this: Find a Spanish speaker to help your daughter. I'll bet if you go through your school or church you'll find an exchange student or other native speaker who could help your daughter as a tutor.
I agree with the suggestion that your take up Spanish as well. You are definitely motivated enough and curious enough to handle this. Your poor daughter feels overwhelmed. (We all know . . . we've been there!) The kind folks on this site are more than willing to help. Have her contact the editors privately through e-mail and they will help her. Good luck and keep us all posted!
Also the flashcards on this site are sooooooooooo good for vocabulary!!! You can make your own ones.. maybe the vocab she gets in school and you can really learn it in a fun and competative way.
You have really found a good place to learn here. I've come an awful long way with Spanishdict.com
Please have a look at our learning resources, we also have fabulous videos on the site, which would help her a lot.
She can also write and ask questions on this forum, tell her to make sentences and post them for proofreading.
