TruFluency Kids Spanish Immersion

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Looking for your kids to learn Spanish online? This effective and affordable method will help even the most reluctant Spanish learner get excited about learning a foreign language.

In this day and age, people know how important bilingualism is. Every parent wants their child to have the best possible shot at success in adulthood, and being fluent in a second language seems to be one of the best ways to guarantee job security for the future.

The problem is, the American educational system hasn’t really caught on to the importance of bilingualism yet. That means high competition for spots in very few bilingual programs. For monolingual parents who want to raise bilingual kids, it can be tough to figure out where to start.

So many parents ask me “how can I help my child learn another language? I’m not bilingual at all!”

The answer is that there isn’t just one way to raise bilingual kids. But it IS possible for kids to become bilingual even when their parents aren’t.

I’m excited to have just found an online Spanish class for kids that is doing a GREAT job teaching kids Spanish. It’s called TruFluency Kids Spanish Immersion, and I’m reviewing all the ins and outs of the program in this article. Sold already? Head over to the TruFluency Kids Spanish Immersion website.

About TruFluency Kids Spanish Immersion

TruFluency Spanish Immersion is an online Spanish course for small groups of students wanting to learn Spanish for the first time or practice their existing Spanish skills. Classes are for ages 4-17 and are segmented from there depending on the language experience of the learners. (More on that soon because I think it’s revolutionary!)

TruFluency Spanish was started by Micah Bellieu, who grew up with Mexican grandparents who never spoke to her in Spanish. She grew up understanding that she was part Mexican, but unable to completely access her culture because she didn’t even know basic Spanish.

After taking Spanish language courses in high school and college, Micah was able to conjugate verbs and read Spanish literature like a boss- but she still couldn’t speak the language fluently. That’s when she did what a lot of us do- move to one of our favorite Spanish-speaking countries. In Micah’s case, she moved to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to teach English and learn conversational Spanish.

Through her experiences in perfecting her own language skills, Micah realized exactly how to teach Spanish for conversational fluency. Upon returning home to Dallas, she developed The Bellieu Method for teaching conversation fluency in Spanish. She then opened a physical Spanish school with about 250 students.

In-person classes met once a week- which was not the optimal amount of time needed to learn Spanish. Teachers ended up spending almost more time reviewing the previous week’s lesson as they did teaching new material.

Undaunted, Micah took her method online, allowing for a more flexible schedule and more contact time with students. Students can now receive high-quality online Spanish instruction 2-3 times a week right from home.

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About The Bellieu Method

The Bellieu Method of learning a new language is all about language production! The pillars of the method are listening and speaking, with reading and writing coming in secondary. The idea is that if you can use the Spanish language in everyday conversation, you’ll feel confident!

TruFluency students are immersed in authentic language with fluent and native Spanish speakers who make learning fun. Language is presented in a fun and engaging way with lots of repetition. Students are asked to show their understanding of the language through body language at first, and then by responding verbally using their newly acquired Spanish vocabulary.

The method is highly energetic and engaging- Micah’s enthusiasm for what she does is infectious, and every single teacher she trains is so much fun to watch and learn from.

Why TruFluency Is So Great

TruFluency Spanish is super great for the following reasons- it’s affordable, the schedule is flexible, and it’s effective in getting kids fluent. Let’s break down each of these:

Effective

TruFluency gets kids speaking Spanish! Because The Bellieu Method has such a strong focus on language production, kids are speaking some Spanish in the very first lesson.

From there, kids are asked to speak increasingly more Spanish. I love that each lesson has a strong review of the previous lesson before moving on so that kids don’t forget what they previously learned.

Since the classes are online, kids are at home and feeling comfortable to speak in their own safe space. The teachers are very quick to call on every student in the class multiple times, and to encourage kids to take risks when speaking Spanish. The result? Kids start speaking Spanish!

Flexible Schedule

There are multiple classes each day for every level of Spanish offered. Morning, noon and night. This means it’s easy to schedule something that works for your family.

There are also drop in classes, semester long commitments and individual appointments for private lessons.

What I most love is that everything is right from your computer, so there is no travel time! Might be a light at the end of the tunnel of this insane pandemic.

Affordable

I think TruFluency classes are affordable, which is nice because learning a language is a long term commitment in reality.

Classes start at $14 for a 45 minute class, and class sizes are small allowing teachers to really get students speaking and producing language.

Plus with discount code PURAVIDA you can get 20% off. You can sign up here: https://www.trufluencykids.com/class-schedule

Who Benefits From The Program?

There are several types of students who benefit from the online Spanish immersion program: non-Spanish speakers, students in bilingual school, students who are taking Spanish in school, and native speaking students. This means varied course offerings, which I think is GENIUS. There is no placement test- students are self identified and can enroll in the course that most makes sense.

Let’s take a quick look at each type of student:

Non-Spanish Speakers

If you want your kids to learn Spanish at home, this is a great program. Kids literally don’t have to know any Spanish to get started, and they will be grouped with other kids at their same level and in their same age group.

This means a 4-year-old and a 17-year-old would not be in the same class- making each class not only level appropriate but age and interest appropriate as well.

Bilingual Students

I am super impressed with Micah’s understanding of bilingual programs in schools. Often times there is one teacher and 25-30 kids in the class, all with varying levels of Spanish and exposure to the language.

This means that some kids as they start learning Spanish can get left behind- they may learn to write and understand Spanish, but not speak it as much.

For this reason, TruFluency Spanish offers extra Spanish lessons for dual language students with a focus on the production of spoken language. There is much more one-on-one instruction in the small class, allowing students to get even more out of their dual-language program in school.

Spanish students

Similarly, many students who receive limited Spanish instruction in school can benefit from the TruFluency Spanish program. For example, elementary students who may receive Spanish only once or twice a week and need additional audio lessons to enhance their Spanish learning in school.

High school Spanish students in a traditional Spanish program may not have ample opportunity to speak Spanish and TruFluency Kids Spanish Immersion online courses will benefit students looking to up their conversational abilities.

Native Speakers

After talking to Micah, I encouraged her to pilot classes for native Spanish speakers who may want extra exposure to Spanish.

My kids fall into this category- we speak Spanish at home but they get English in school all day. Sometimes I need my village to be a bit bigger and have more people helping me get language exposure to my kids.

We haven’t had a chance to pilot this program yet, but if it’s as good as the rest of the classes, it’s definitely something we would like to try in the near future.

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