We live in an age when everyone is used to getting everything in a matter of seconds. So it’s no surprise people now expect to be fluent or at least conversational in a language within a matter of days. There are a number of language-learning products on the market that promise to help you speak the language in a week, thirty days or three months. Lightning-fast Spanish for Kids and Families doesn’t give you a very tangible time frame as to how fast you will learn, but it does say you will learn to speak Spanish “lightning fast.”
We’re not convinced that Lightning Fast Spanish for Kids and Families will really deliver on the timing, but it is a decent book to jump start your Spanish studies. In fact, this book can help you teach Spanish even if you don’t know how to speak it. The concept behind Lightning Fast Spanish is for families to engage in the language-learning process together. Everyone learned their first language by simply talking at home; now why can’t that be the way you learn your second language? Author Carolyn Woods believes that conversation at home is the most effective way for kids and families to learn to speak Spanish, hence why she’s written this book. The book teaches parents and teachers how to incorporate the language-learning process into everyday life by simply conversing in Spanish and challenging your children to do the same.
Lightning Fast Spanish doesn’t cover the usual range of beginner’s topics. Instead, it covers topics relevant to family life so as to make it easy to integrate what you’ve learned into everyday living. The book helps you learn conversational Spanish related to every meal of the day, things around the house, playtime, and getting an injury; all of which are practical topics for your family.
The biggest problem with this book and learning concept is that it is very easy to slip into bad habits when it comes to pronunciation. Because most likely neither the teacher nor student have a great Spanish accent, it’s easy to wind up pronouncing things incorrectly. It’s a good idea to buy an audio tape or watch some videos online to get more familiar with the Spanish pronunciation of words.
The author also openly admits that according to her, correct grammar can come later. That’s why she doesn’t bother to always teach the masculine and feminine form of words. This may make it easier to learn more words faster, but when you learn incorrect grammar from the get-go, it can be difficult to break your bad habits later on. Many language teachers will agree that it’s more important to build a correct foundation at a slower pace than to learn things in a rush. However, the title of this book is Lightning Fast Spanish, so I guess we disagree with the author’s methodology from the onset.
"The biggest problem with this book and learning concept is that it is very easy to slip into bad habits when it comes to pronunciation."
That being said, if you use this book, there’s a good chance your family or students will be able to speak a few words of Spanish in no time; this may just spark their interest to take learning Spanish seriously. Introducing your child or student to a new language is almost always a good idea. This book is perfect for teachers giving classes to young learners or families who want to get started on learning the language. As mentioned before, make sure to use complementary materials in order to get the most benefit out of using the book.
