We are trying a new software called PowerSpeak for Spanish. Rosetta stone just got too hard too fast without explaining what they were doing and a friend recommended this program to me. I don’t like forking out cash when we’ve already purchased something else (praise God I got Rosetta for CHEAP!), but Spanish just wasn’t happening at this point and it was either change or quit, so…
We plunged into PowerSpeak , and so far my daughter LOVES it! They have fun interactive games to play to re-enforce the vocabulary they’ve learned in each lesson. The lessons are so fun, that a crowd usually gathers to watch.
When you first log-in, you create an Avatar that you get to design, then as you go through the program, you earn money that can later be spent on sprucing up your Avatar.
Once lessons start there are 2 kids who tell stories, the first time is in English and as they repeat the story, they add in more words in Spanish. Each lesson is followed by various games that help to reinforce/practice the words learned thus far. Finally, each week is completed with a quiz to track your progress. You can repeat lessons if necessary, or move ahead to the next session.
The system also keeps track of students progress and each time you log-in you can easily find where you left off.
The Spanish 1 course contains 90 lessons. The lessons are laid out in a five day per week schedule on the calendar. This is because the brain does a much better job of accepting a new language if it is exposed to that language five days out of the week. If your student follows the lesson plan, they will complete the course in 4 ½ monthsHowever, you have access to the course for a full 6 months.
We are just completing our 2nd week of lessons so far, and right now I’m giving it a “Super Thumbs Up!”
Jenni: Each lesson takes about 15-20 min, not too long, you don't have to complete the whole thing too, it saves where you left off so you can pick up in the middle if you need to.
Does the child need to be a reader? I can't tell from their site without doing the 30 day trial, but not ready for that!
Anonymous: Yes, it helps if they can read and actually it helps if they can type some as well. There are a few exercises where they have to type sentences in Spanish.
Can you please remove my last name from that review. My Mac auto put it in just as I clicked post. If you could just put my initials, that would be great. Thanks!
i am using that program as well, but for my high school Spanish I over the summer. mine isnt really that fun at all… it takes me about 2 hours or so a day to do mine, so that should be the time that you spend in an over all week. i do one week of spanish a day
Thanks for a great review. We are going to try powerspeak this year for our 3rd and 8th graders. We have tried a group lesson, and a tutor without much luck. Last year we started the power glide program (the book/tape version or power speak) and we liked it but it was difficult to help the kids stay on track and review their work since neither of us speaks spanish! Thank you so much for the review which has increased our comfort with going with this program.
btw: great site!
LOL… We have been using Power Speak for a couple weeks… Horrible set up! I have found free sites to learn spanish that are far better than Power Speak! Very disappointed. All my 14 year old son does is laugh and say how “ridiculous” the site is… they just want you to guess, not teaching anything! thumbs down!
We’re checking into several spanish programs for our children. What other sites have you found that work?
For younger kids, we’ve been using Duolingo app. It’s actually quite a bit of fun and kind of like playing a game, but they’re still learning. Then when they get into high school we use BJU Press World Language Spanish.
I am having trouble finding the Power Speak site to get more information. When I clicked on the link you listed above it took be to an inactive site. Do you by any chance have another link I could use, or could tell me how I can get more information about Power Speak?
Thank you!!
Hi, this is a very old post, so unfortunately I don’t think they’re still in business.