Year 7 Spanish

[seeker]

Any tips on how to help my dd with this? She seems to find learning vocabulary very difficult - she works hard at it but it doesn't seem to "stick"! She had the same problem with her tables - she could learn them for a test and do well, but have forgotten by the evening!But she can remember songs and music and long parts in plays and poems, so it's not a simple memory problem! And she's learning German as well, which she, bizarrely, seems to find easier!
Her spelling is pretty bad in English (I've asked about that before), but it's even worse in Spanish and German.

Lots of different possible techniques Seeker. Do you know what sort of learning styles she prefers? That might help.

Speaking the words repeatedly and hearing them helps.
Write them out and stick them around the house - toilet, dining room, by her bed, around her mirror, etc.
Write them out big and colour them in in visually attractive ways.
Draw a picture and label the items.
Sort the words out into different categories and create a poster.
Copy the words out lots of times.
Write the word out, and then close your eyes and imagine it in her head. Imagine it in a very particular way - e.g. bubble writing in lilac with yellow spots. Spend 30 seconds or so visualising a single word in this way. Think about the shape of the word - where are the risers and lower down bits, etc.

HTH

DS has a specific learning difficult in that area and I have been told it shouldn't interfere with learning of another language. In fact other languages should be easier as they have less irregularities.
I still sat with him yesterday doing some optional homework in german and after writing Ich Wohne etc about 10 times he still hadn't
got it when I asked where he lived later
DS is finding German easier than French!
I amstill waiting to see the SENCO about this. They all just feel with him it is lack of confidence. His targets are to gain confidence and his french teacher has taken him aside and told him he is very clever and on the g&t register etc and doing everything to boost his confidence, also they have cut him some slack on tests where he has narrowly failed and not made him do the tests again.
I think they are taking in so much in year 7 that somethings got to give and in my DS's case it is MFL.
From what you have said before your daughters spelling isn't that bad a\t all so I would stop making that an issue.

As Roisin has said
I have made DS flash cards so that he can see the words/phrases indvidually and not have to search a page full of words to learn them.

Wow - wonderful quick responses!

She was told that she was a Kinesthetic learner in year 5, and her teacher then hepled her a lot with her maths by doing a lot of work with counters and marbles and things. She learnt her tables that way in the end and knows them really solidly now.

Tell her to take it slowly..I always tell my students to learn one or two words a day..imagine if you do that everyday for a year..how many words would that be! You can help her with that..ask her what her two words are today, maybe even you'll learn!

Listening to a foreign language can be a huge help, even if you don't understand what is being said. It helps you get a feel for the language and how it flows.

I tell my boys that, if they are finding something difficult to learn, writing it down several times helps because, when they come to relay it back, they can "see" it on paper in their heads.

How long has she been learning Spanish, has she just started?

Assimil CD courses are good for developping an ear and speaking the language but only if you do a bit every day. Won't help with the spelling though. How about a CD Rom?

DVDs in Spanish with the text underneath?

She's only just started formal learning but we have Spanish family and she hears Spanish spoken regularly. I think that one of the problems is that she relaxed a bit at the beginning because she knew the very basics and was initially a bit ahead of everyone else. Trouble is, everyone else caught up very quickly! Apparently she's got quite a good accent, though.

some interesting sites here that may be of use/interest:

Languages online

BBC

primary Spanish

Sorry, I thought I had more - but they're all for German.