Also known as Power Glide Spanish Junior Adventure Course

This creative multi-sensory language course for children (designed for preschool through 4th grade) provides an intuitive beginning in Spanish to children through the use of puzzles, games, stories and music. One major plotline involving two children and their grandfather carries through the entire set including adventures on Isla de Providencia and the Yucatan Peninsula as well as side stories and Spanish lessons woven in along the way. Many of the English stories contain Spanish words here and there so children can encounter them and gain familiarity. The three parts to the children's text gradually increase in difficulty level. Families could use one book each year for grades one through three or proceed more quickly if the children start when they are a little older.

The first workbook (143 pages) is basically a simple picture book that children can look at while listening to the first four CDs. It is designed especially for preschool through 1st grade but could be used by children as old as 4th grade who are just getting started in Spanish. Children are instructed to point to the pictures as they recognize the Spanish words as well as filling in blanks and drawing and coloring pictures. The text is in a very readable large print. Children will learn familiar phrases, and sentence structure as well as a small working vocabulary. There is more of an emphasis in learning to use Spanish words properly and understanding Spanish when hearing it than on building an extensive vocabulary at this early stage. My young children have frequently asked to pull out the books and CDs because they think it's fun!

The Level II workbook (92 pages) begins a new segment of the story where the two children are trying to find their grandfather and help solve a mystery. To do this they must learn some Spanish words and work their way through a number of stories. This text contains most of the script of the audio plus pictures, vocabulary with pictures and puzzles to complement the audio CDs. The audio text uses a number of songs and ditties to help practice some basics of Spanish conversation and vocabulary. This text strikes me as quite a bit more challenging the first volume, but young children could still learn a great deal from just listening and using the pictures in this text, even if they aren't ready to read along with so much of the script. It is intended for 2nd through 4th grade. One really nice thing about this text is that the corresponding audio tracks to each piece of text are clearly marked.

The Level III workbook (109 pages) is also intended for the 2nd through 4th grades. It continues in a similar format to Level II. Now, in the main story, the children have found their grandfather and proved their worth in helping them find the hidden treasure stolen by the pirate Don Diego de Consuelo.

The 174 page Parent's Guide covers all three children's books. It includes the entire script of the audio CDs and miniature copies of the textbook pages as well as instructions for getting the most out of the texts and some recipes to complement your family's Spanish studies.

I have found this to be a nice place to begin learning Spanish before getting to a more formal early study of vocabulary and grammar in a text like Learning Spanish with Grace (reviewed below).

This elegantly simple resource provides an introduction to nouns in six different languages in a way accessible to young children. (The point isn't necessarily to overwhelm them with all six languages at once - you pick your language of interest or let them play around and see what they like.) The front of each large glossy card has a simple, child-like illustration of the object or a symbol representing the noun. (For example, January is represented by a Snowman, December is represented by a Christmas tree.) The back of the card gives the word in English as well as six other languages - Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Latin. All the words chosen are child-appropriate, but the set is suitable for all ages.

The cards are intended to be an introduction or a study aid to students using the various Power Glide Courses. You choose which language you want to use the cards for. The audio CDs are arranged so that each language has its own segment on the CDs. This is less expensive to produce than an individual set for each language. But, it's also really neat because you can play around with languages with young children to see which ones they're interested in. They can learn to count in all six languages. Some of them may also be interested in seeing the relationships between the languages and where similarities lie (this is especially useful since Latin is one of the languages included).

The Audio CD is a very nice recording - very straightforward with the narrators alternating between English and the language of choice. Just skip to the segment of your language choice and the entire text for that language is all in one place.

Categories of Nouns:

• Months of the Year
• Seasons
• Days of the Week
• Numbers: 1-10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 1000
• Colors
• Shapes (Six Basic Ones)
• Body Parts
• Modes of Transportation
• Places (Post Office, Library, etc.)
• Family Members
• Clothing
• Animals
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Beverages
• Snacks
• Meals
• Things Outside
• Rooms
• Kitchen Items
• Bathroom Items
• Bedroom Items
• Family Room Items

A nice little feature for those studying Latin is that the Latin words include the genitive ending and the gender of the noun (very handy!).

Power-Glide has made available a page of games to use with these cards which can be viewed on their website http://www.power-glide.com/games You can also view sample cards by clicking here. A verb set is also available.

I am happy to review this little book as the prayer of the Rosary is my constant life companion. The book consists of clever selections drawn from the biblical writings of Saint Paul, to illustrate a theme related to the fruit of each of the twenty mysteries of the Holy Rosary. The preface explains how the apparent conflict between Saint Paul--a saint who never payed the Rosary--and the Rosary is just a superficial one. As both are engulfed in Scripture and the life of Our Lord, both are actually highly compatible. The author also discusses here how Saint Paul would have become acquainted with the Blessed Mother's life. The bulk of the book is each mystery of the Rosary in order, starting with the Joyful mysteries, followed by a Pauline scripture passage related to the spiritual fruit of the mystery, and a reflection by the author. Thus, the First Joyful Mystery, the Annunciation, is followed by a passage from Hebrews on Faith, which is the mystery's spiritual fruit. The beauty of this book, in my opinion, is that it is able to serve well both an audience who say daily or weekly Rosaries--in ways of enriching their prayer--and also the one who have yet to enter the delights of the daily recitation of one of the most beautiful of all prayers of the Church. For the latter, what better way to begin a new form of prayer than by careful, set-by-step refection on the spiritual fruits of each of the 20 mysteries, by way of the scriptural words of the great Apostle?