Homeschooling is a unique opportunity to shape your child’s education and pass along your wisdom. But what if your vast pool of knowledge doesn’t extend to a foreign language?

Given the many good reasons to learn a language (and the fact that many colleges require at least 2 years!), it’s likely not something you want to leave out of your homeschool curriculum. Thanks to modern technology, homeschooling in a foreign language can be done effectively and affordably right from your living room.

At Transparent Language, we’ve been working hard to expand the content and capabilities of Transparent Language Online to suit the needs of young homeschoolers learning Spanish or French—and your needs as a parent/teacher, too!

Relevant Content

For elementary-aged homeschoolers, we’ve designed age-appropriate Spanish and French courses. And we don’t just mean that we leave out adult content like “I would like a beer.” All of the words and phrases taught in these Elementary Courses are things a 6-10 year old would actually say. Buying a train ticket? Not so much. Talking about a birthday party or school supplies? There’s a whole lot where that came from.

Both courses are organized into 68 lessons, divided into 3 levels of increasing depth and duration, all appropriate for young, beginner learners. For example, the “Hello” lesson in Level 1 covers a handful of basic greetings, while the “Getting to Know You” lesson in Level 3 expands on those by providing additional salutations and longer phrases. You can have your homeschoolers complete the levels in order, or skip around according to their schedule and skill-levels.

Older learners will enjoy Teen Voices, currently available in Spanish and coming in French in summer 2017. Intended for learners in grades 6+, the Spanish course follows the lives of the Garcia and Gómez families as they face typical situations like school days, chores and responsibilities, job shadowing, and organizing events. Conversations amongst the family members tie together the 20 units, each of which also includes a challenging reading passage about the Spanish language and Latin American culture.

These courses are supplemented by more than 100 common vocabulary lists, alphabet support, and other vocab- and grammar-related content.

Interactivity

Give your homeschoolers more than just a video to watch or a passage to read! Transparent Language Online is loaded with activities that build all four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing/typing. The activities often mimic matching and memorization games—this makes learning fun but also effective, as learners remember more of what they do than what they just read or see.

This interactivity also builds digital literacy—on a computer, tablet, or phone. Homeschoolers will learn to navigate an online interface, including voice recording and typing activities. In the age of emails and Skype™, learning to type in a language is as important as learning to write it.

Feedback and Reporting

Valuable feedback is essential to learning and developing new skills. Transparent Language Online takes care of much of this for you. Activities like Pronunciation Practice will rate your learners’ pronunciation in real-time, so they know where they need to improve. The Learned Vocab Refresh system also makes it easy to review stale words and phrases so they are never at risk of being forgotten.

Of course, you can get involved in your children’s progress, too! All subscriptions come with not only student accounts for learning, but also a parent account for monitoring. Administration and reporting tools allow you to make sure the work is being done and identify areas in which they are struggling. Free instructor guides and student workbooks help you guide your learners both on and offline. Activity reports, course completion certificates, and assessment score reports provide materials for potential submission to school district administration.

Want to prepare your homeschoolers for the global economy and an increasingly globalized world? Learn more about Transparent Language Online for Homeschool.