The Bethmanners.com blog

A Visit To Madrid

bethmanners — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:49:35 +0000

We just spent five glorious days in Madrid visiting our daughter Holly. She is with the GW University Study Abroad program – what an experience. She is living with a Spanish family and commuting to University of Madrid.

She is learning Spanish in a whole new way. She studied for years here, but so many practical situations come up when you live in Spain. You really make progress when, you are speaking Spanish all day long.

We enjoyed Madrid immensely. The Spanish people are out and about day and night. Madrid is such a lively city.

The Prado has a world class collection. The Reina Sofia has the very famous Guernica by Picasso.

We visited the city parks and the Plaza Mayor, the great square which historically had bull fight and trials by the Inquisition.

The Palacio Real (Royal Palace ) is still used on occasions today. Many rooms are open to the public including the lavishly decorated Throne Room. The porcelain room has walls and ceiling entirely covered in porcelain.

We met Holly’s host family and had lots of opportunities to speak Spanish. Holly told us that many of the kids learning Spanish from her program, had a hard time with the accent the first few weeks. In the US, most universities teach Spanish with a Latin American accent and the accent in Spain is very different. There are also many expressions that you cannot learn in a textbook. The kids are learning to speak Spanish like natives.

Learning through songs

bethmanners — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:33:31 +0000

Children love music and singing. It is just so natural for them to sing and they will happily sing along with songs in any language. Language learning becomes fun and engaging which is exactly what you want at a young age. Nothing like a catchy song to help you remember something. But is there practical information in songs? ie usable vocabulary? We try to make songs out of vocabulary and phrases in our products. Holly, my daughter who is studying in Spain, told me an amusing story. Last week, she was traveling to Barcelona for the weekend and upon going through airport security she beeped, so the security guard used a portable metal detector wand. After the guard went over her front side he told her to “dar una vuelta” (turn around). She told me she remembered the meaning from our “Touch Your Head” song in Spanish in a Basket. So you most certainly do learn practical information from songs. There are many language programs for children, which include useful and inviting songs.

Campo de Kiddies

bethmanners — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:47:58 +0000

Just found pics from our last day Campo de Kiddies, the little camp we had here this summer for pre-school Spanish. We had a fiesta with our wonderful group of 3-5 year olds. The children made all the decorations including the piñata. Pizza , fruit salad and cake made it all the more festive. The kids performed some of the Spanish songs they had learned.
It was really fun to mingle with the parents and meet people who are so passionate about early language learning.
One of the mom’s is French and she speaks French with her daughter Lea but wants her to learn Spanish also. Needless to say it is coming very easily for Lea. Bilingual children learn Spanish and other languages very quickly.
The real fun of the day was hearing that Andrew – who is often quite quiet during Spanish went up to a little boy last week and said Hola , me llamo Andrew. And he was absolutely thrilled when the little boy answered him in Spanish.

Study Abroad

bethmanners — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:40:08 +0000

Just bumped into two of my daughter Holly’s college friends. Kimmie just got back from six weeks in Peru on a community service trip. She does not speak Spanish but was able to pick up a little and is off to a good start. And Cyndi is going to spend fall semester in Avignon, France. She will live with a family and study French at the university. This is great news for Holly – since she will also spend fall semester in Europe. She will study Spanish and business in Madrid and also live with a family. Holly speaks Spanish but wants to become more proficient. She is hoping to travel within Europe on the weekends so news that Cyndi will be in nearby Avignon is great. Holly also has friends in Paris, London, Jordan and Zurich – all college students studying abroad. Study abroad is so common now – for today’s college students the world is really getting small.

Passionate about language learning

bethmanners — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:10:18 +0000

My name Is Beth Manners and for many years my passion has been language learning — early language learning to be specific. Many years ago, I worked for a French company here in the States. The job required lots of travel and we dealt with companies from all over the world. I remember sitting in meetings in Europe and our hosts would speak French, German, Spanish as required — but if Americans were in attendance everything had to be in English because, back then, most Americans only spoke English.

I thought it made us look quite inadequate and some people did not even make an effort to say hello in the native language – so we appeared arrogant too. I worked on my language skills and immediately noticed how well I was received. It broke down barriers. I always kept my sense of humor so it became so much fun — speaking and trying new phrases.

When I became a mom 19 years ago, I started to read up on early language learning and decided my kids should get started as toddlers. The results were amazing: they just picked up French with perfect accents and enjoyed the whole process. When they started Spanish in school, those skills transferred to the new language and they became excellent students.

I started creating products for early learners in both French and Spanish and it has become not only my passion and hobby but also my new career. So, I thought it would be helpful to other passionate parents to blog and share stories, tips and advice — not just on early language learning but also on the results .

My kids are now 14 and 19. Holly leaves tomorrow for Madrid for a semester abroad and Spencer, who is just started high school today, is doubling up and taking French and Spanish. I’ll share their adventures along with tips on keeping it fun from the toddler years and on. Hope you will share your stories and tips too!