Learn Spanish with Grace!: The Catholic Approach to Learning Spanish

Foreign_languageGrades 2–8

About This Curriculum

A Catholic Spanish curriculum using a conversational approach that follows a child named Grace through daily activities, incorporating Spanish prayers, songs, and vocabulary into familiar routines.

What makes it unique: Combines Catholic faith formation with Spanish language learning through daily activities and prayers, featuring a conversational rather than grammar-first approach with multi-sensory activities for different age levels.

Learn Spanish with Grace!: Catholic-Integrated Conversational Spanish

This foreign language curriculum takes a conversational approach to Spanish learning, following a child named Grace through daily Catholic activities and routines. The program integrates Spanish prayers, songs, and vocabulary into familiar family activities, designed specifically for Catholic homeschooling families with children in grades 2-8.

Best for

Catholic homeschooling families with children grades 2-8 who want to integrate Spanish learning with religious formation and daily family activities

Evaluation Criteria

4 strengths · 1 concern · 2 neutral

Teacher TrainingStrength

Comprehensive support materials include pronunciation guides, dictionaries, grammar rules, and complete audio accompaniment for parent instruction.

Appendices include Spanish-English dictionaries, pronunciation guide, Spanish grammar rules, accent mark rules, answer key, and bibliography with recommended resources

Direct InstructionStrength

The program provides structured lessons with clear pronunciation guidance through audio CDs, making it accessible even for non-Spanish speaking parents.

Three CDs walk through each lesson step-by-step with pronunciations, and the author guides families through daily Spanish activities in a structured progression

Comprehensible InputStrength

The curriculum provides comprehensible input through daily activities and routines that children can relate to, starting with familiar contexts like morning greetings and meals.

Lessons follow common daily activities like saying good morning, breakfast, getting dressed, and bedtime prayers, making the Spanish input meaningful and contextual

Speaking Listening BalanceStrength

The curriculum emphasizes listening and speaking through conversations and songs, with reading and writing activities primarily for older children.

Multi-sensory activities allow different ages to participate, with older children reading/writing in textbooks while younger children participate in conversations and learn songs

Explicit GrammarConcern

The program takes a conversational approach with minimal explicit grammar instruction, presenting complex forms without grammatical explanation.

Reviewer notes this is 'very much a conversational approach rather than grammatical' and that 'challenging reflexive verb forms are used in the first lesson' without explanation

Cultural KnowledgeNeutral

Cultural knowledge is integrated through Catholic prayers, songs, and religious practices, though broader Hispanic cultural content is unclear.

Program incorporates Spanish prayers like the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, along with Catholic meal prayers and daily spiritual activities

Retrieval PracticeNeutral

Some memorization is included through prayers and songs, but systematic review and spaced practice are not clearly described.

Chapter four involves memorizing the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be in Spanish, though broader retrieval practice methods are not detailed

Sources: cathyduffyreviews.com, love2learn.net