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I remember taking Spanish 1 &2 in high school and again in college, when it was required for my science degree. When my oldest was entering high school, I used the Texas Education Agency’s Graduation Toolkit to help guide our high school plan. Part of the plan is 2 credits of foreign language. From the public universities that we have toured, it is expected that high school graduates have meet this criteria.
We have used the same base curriculum for all three kids: BJU Press Spanish 1 and 2. A friend who had graduated her youngest homeschooler gifted an older edition of BJU Spanish and some easy-reader novels to us when the girls were younger. I decided to invest in the newest version of BJU’s Spanish curriculum because of the ease of free online audio files (no CDs to keep track of). It was a bit hefty to purchase, as the courses require a student text, workbook, test packet, teacher’s manual, teacher’s workbook key, and test answer key. However, if you make copies of the tests, the only consumable that needs to be replaced each year is the workbook. With 3 kids, it has been a good investment!
For Spanish 2, we are using the BJU Press Spanish 2 set along with four of the easy-reader novels the friend gifted us. The Spanish 2 book contains 12 chapters of vocabulary, grammar, and geography/culture lessons with speaking and listening exercises as well as written work. We love the colorful textbook and interesting back story that goes along with the audio selections (a teenager and her friends have an archeology blog). Sometimes the speakers can go faster in Spanish 2 than they did in Spanish 1 and we slow the audio down. I appreciate this feature on the audio files! The convenience of the free online audio files is worth the entire purchase price on their own.
We use the BJU curriculum four days per week with a lesson plan that I wrote and flash cards that I created. With BJU Press’s permission to use their trademarked name, I sell the lesson plan and flashcards in my TPT store.
Each Friday, instead of our regular Spanish lesson, my daughter reads a chapter from the easy reader novel and writes a summary. She also completes 10 minutes of Duolingo and goes through the flashcards for each chapter each day as a warm-up. I print the flashcards on colored cardstock, different color for each chapter to help keep track of them.
In case anyone is interested, here are links to the books that we are using on Fridays. I like them because each book has a glossary in the back in case she comes across a word that she’s not familiar with.
Casi Se Muere by Lisa Ray Turner and Blaine Ray
El Viaje de su Vida by Lisa Ray Turner and Blaine Ray
Pobre Ana Bailo Tango by Pat Verano
I feel this is a pretty well rounded approach to Spanish 2, and she gets a lot of practice listening, reading, and speaking Spanish for 5 days per week.
For more information, check out the BJU Press website.
