I remember in highschool when I foolishly signed up for French instead of Spanish, a language with actual practical use-cases in America which could have given me access to the cultural products of 90% of the countries on the side of the planet I live on*, I distinctly remember being relieved when the "listen to a native speaker" would cut to someone in West Africa instead of some Parisian fuck because West African speakers actually enunciated their words, while the Fr*nch would muddle 3 syllables into one that didn't even have a distinctive consonant sound. Terrible accent, impossible for my 15 year old ears to understand.

*Being on Xiaohongshu and seeing how effective mandatory English classes were at teaching the people of China English at a conversational level, I am now a "12 years of mandatory Spanish education" guy. Been looking for after school classes in my area for my kid but unfortunately it's all private tutoring or companies that will set up classes for a school who has decided to do so. Wish there was more demand for it.

[–] blunder@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Can your kid make a language buddy? Any shops around you where the people there speak Spanish, or Spanish-speaking people in your neighborhood?

[–] TheLepidopterists@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

There are Spanish speaking people in my town of course, not sure about my neighborhood specifically but it's America- I don't know almost any of my neighbors, everything is so atomized.

A shop where people speak your target language also sounds like a place to practice a language you already know at least a little, I'd think? It doesn't seem like an effective substitute for daily classroom practice.

What is a language buddy? Is that like, someone who speaks your target language natively and wants to learn your native language? If so that does sound really helpful but I'm not sure how you'd find such a person. A specialized website maybe?

[–] blunder@hexbear.net 5 points 6 days ago

but it's America- I don't know almost any of my neighbors, everything is so atomized.

yea

A shop where people speak your target language

Yeah I was just thinking like maybe there's a place where the people are super lovely and will say hi to your kid and will teach a few words just to say hello and what's your name and stuff, certainly not classroom instruction but any level of exposure is better than none, especially listening. This would be better if u had a lil background yourself so that you could help your kid learn the words

language buddy

Yeah that's what I was imagining, maybe there are native Spanish speaking parents around who want to improve their English or their kids' English and so there could be an exchange? Or maybe someone in your town is willing just to make a few bucks on the side? I'm kind of picturing like, meeting parents at the playground who are speaking Spanish and telling them you want your kid to learn and seeing if you can set up a playdate or something haha.

Or maybe you could post on Craigslist / flyers in cafes / etc and try to start an exchange group!

I dunno, I don't have kids so I'm just spitballing! I totally hear you on the lack of a proper education on this topic (none of my language teachers in school were native speakers of the subject language and nobody took the classes seriously) but community fills the void!!! meow-fiesta

Hoping u can find something that works!

[–] bubbalu@hexbear.net 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You should look into Language Transfer! It's based on developing conversational fluency quickly and giving you the mental tools to be able to keep learning through conversation with people. It was designed by an anarchist linguist fed up with crappy school-based language instruction. IT's only tapes you listen to and think hard about. Probably suitable for a middle schooler or precocious upper elementary student because it directly references elements of English grammar. I used it to be able to talk with my students.

https://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-spanish

[–] TheLepidopterists@hexbear.net 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Maybe later, my oldest is still in early elementary.

There IS a place that will set up classes after school around here if requested by a school, considering going to a school board meeting to ask about it.

[–] bubbalu@hexbear.net 2 points 5 days ago

That's the easiest time for new language learning! I hope you can get it going.