Speekee TV

Hola! ¿Qué tal? Muy bien, gracias! ¿Y tú?

Meet Speekee.  This quirky little puppet, along with his puppet friends, Dino and Lupi, and their many human friends, serve as the characters in the Speekee TV Spanish instructional video series.  Geared towards kids ages 2-10, Speekee TV is a conversational-style Spanish program that it, frankly, addicting.  As my daughter and I watch the Speekee videos, I am reminded of the many years I have had as a mom of six when my kids would watch a video over and over again and would sing the songs and repeat the lines all throughout the day.  Although my daughter is a little over the age range suggested, she still loves the Speekee videos. 

       Caitlyn has been using Speekee TV for the past several weeks in two ways.  First of all, she took an introductory Spanish class this past year at a co-op; however, she really didn’t retain much because all her teacher focused on was grammar.  So, Caitlyn has been learning new Spanish vocabulary words through Speekee. She has become very familiar with counting, colors, and names of common objects (like fruit, etc…). Secondly, since her class contained very little conversational Spanish, Speekee TV has been fabulous for her.  Caitlyn has been able to watch actual Spanish conversations and observe how the conversations should flow.  I have noticed a change for the better in her accent and in her cadence.  Whereas she was very choppy in her Spanish conversation, thinking about every word and whether or not her grammar was correct, now she is speaking more naturally. She is a very imaginative young lady and loves to ‘play school’ with all of her stuffed animals; and, I have caught her many times in the past several weeks teaching Speekee Spanish to her ‘class.’  **One of her favorite episodes is ‘La Clase’ because she learned classroom words.** She uses those words frequently when teaching her ‘class.’ Those instances just make my heart smile!  I think it is truly the mark of an effective curriculum that a child takes it and extends the curriculum into his/her imaginative play.  It is so fun to watch!  She even uses the inflections and praise words when her pretend students do well.  I love it! I have a massive mental block with Spanish, but I have been able to pick up words and phrases along with her.  I’m not quite ready for a trip to Spain, but at least I have seen that I can learn Spanish.

     When we received our Speekee subscription, we signed up for the Fast Track program available through the website.  The Fast Track is a detailed set of lesson plans that takes you through the entire program in 40 weeks.  Included in the Fast Track are segments of each video to watch on specified days, activity suggestions, flash cards to make, craft ideas, worksheets that can be printed, and teaching suggestions.  With my personal Spanish trouble, I really loved the way the Fast Track was laid out.  I receive each week’s Fast Track plan by e-mail, too.  This really keeps me on track.  Since Caitlyn had some Spanish background and was a little older, we have been able to go through the lessons more quickly.  Some weeks we are covering an entire week in a day and then practicing the rest of the weeks.  Other weeks we have done 2 or 3 of the lessons, whatever fit into our schedule.  The flexibility of the Fast Track lesson suggestions is wonderful!  If I had a pre-school – younger elementary age child in my home, we would have done so many of the crafts.  The first craft suggested is to make sock puppets.  I absolutely love making and using puppets! I still may have to go back and make my own Dino and Lupi puppets, because they are so cute!

     Well, enough about how much we are enjoying Speekee and on to some of the nitty gritty facts about this program. Speekee TV subscriptions include:

• 10 episodes of Spanish
• Over 150 minutes of pure Spanish learning
• Learn Spanish from real Spanish children in real Spanish locations
• Features songs, animation, and puppets
• Optional subtitles in Spanish and English
• Free activity sheet downloads
• Great fun and extremely effective
• Created by specialist language teachers
• Free optional curriculum
• Songs you can't stop singing
• Subscriptions are reasonably priced at $7.50 / month or $60 / year, and, the first two weeks of the complete program can be tried for free with no obligation to buy.  Don’t you just love ‘try before you buy’ programs? I think that is so generous.  Be prepared for your kids to be completely entranced by the videos, especially the songs!

     Along with all of the great Spanish learning through the songs, animations, and puppets, there is a real-time Spanish blog that kids can visit to learn more about Spain.  It is really interesting to read!  Also, for the older elementary kids who understand a little more about how to do ‘computer stuff,’ there are points (puntos) that are earned when kids login and those points can be exchanged for things to make their own personal ‘avatar’ type character.  Also, every so often, kids will receive personalized e-mail messages through their Speekee account.  These are just cute little encouragement e—mails that help reinforce things being learned.  I think it is a very neat idea.  Young kids love to be able to read e-mail like mom and dad do. 

     Overall, we have had a great experience with Speekee TV.  I am sending the information to our co-op leader to consider for a kindergarten Spanish class next year because I am so sold on it.  I think it is very effective in a homeschool setting and would be effective in a co-op or classroom setting as well.

     Many of my Schoolhouse Review Crew friends have been using and reviewing Speekee TV, too.  If you would like to read their reviews, just visit the main crew blog.

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a subscription to SpeekeeTV at no cost to me for purposes of review.  No compensation was received and all opinions expressed are the honest opinions of me or my family.**