This is a MamaBuzz review. The product was provided by: No Work Spanish for this review.

CONTEST CLOSED!

Congratulations to April B.!  You have won the No Work Spanish giveaway!  I just sent you an email – please let me know your mailing address within 72 hours so I can have this sent out to you!  Enjoy!

No Work Spanish is a very unique product.  These audio books were written by Anne Emerick, translated from English into Spanish, and put together on CD with both versions being read by bilingual actors.  Each chapter is first read sentence by sentence.  First, a sentence is read in English; then it is read in Spanish.  When the entire chapter has been read sentence by sentence, it is then read all the way through in Spanish.

Designed to help people learn Spanish without the ‘work’ of a traditional language program, No Work Spanish takes a very different approach to language education.  This approach is very modern, and incredibly inductive.  I don’t feel that this approach is all one would need to become fluent in a language, or even to learn to read the language, but I do feel that these audio books have their place.

In order to become fluent every student needs to have a good input of audio from the target language.  In order to really understand the cadences and syntax of a language, one needs to hear it spoken, and No Work Spanish does a great job of this.  Still, I feel it is better suited as a supplement.  Adults who have had former instruction in Spanish will be able to pick up a great deal of their vocabulary again as they brush off those rusty Spanish skills.  However, children will learn much faster with a more traditional, direct-input approach.  I believe it would take quite a while to build a workable vocabulary from such an inductive approach.  I recommend trying out No Work Spanish as an adjunct to such a program, not as a replacement.

In that supplementary role, I think No Work Spanish is great!  It is really a unique product, and my daughter (who hasn’t had any formal Spanish at this point) told me that she could pick out similarities between Spanish and English words just from overhearing me listening to the audio CDs.  I think that is pretty neat!  These are great to listen to when your hands are busy with some other work – when you are driving, washing dishes, cleaning house etc.

I received two audio books to review.  The first is Yaks March on Washington; told from the perspective of a ranch dog, it follows the true story of an Idaho rancher who travels across the US with six yaks on his way to a Tibetan festival.  This is a fun, short story, read by a male voice actor.  The pronunciation of both English and Spanish is clear and authentic (to my ears at least), and the story is told on one CD.  This practical, outdoorsy story will be very appealing to male students.

Poster Girl was my favorite.  Read over two CDs by a female voice actor, this audio book has the added advantage of some of the vocabulary words being presented BEFORE the chapter is read.  This direct presentation of vocabulary helps listeners pick up the words presented more quickly than the strictly inductive approach of the first story.  This is the No Work Spanish version of a chapter book written for primary grade students (under the same title) and it follows a girl named Paula through her challenges in trying to make a better science poster than the girl who always manages to out-do her.  My eight-year-old was interested in sitting and listening to this one for a while, so I think it’s a great fit for young, female students.

You can listen to free samples of these audio books online, and buy both of the first titles for $21.95 – a very good price.  The audios are also available as MP3 downloads and as separate CD audio books.  Additional titles are also available in the No Work Spanish product line.

You can find No Work Spanish on facebook and at their website.

You can also buy Yaks March on Washington and Poster Girl at Amazon.com!

CONTEST DETAILS:

I have one set of both of these audio books –  Yaks March on Washington AND Poster Girl – to give away to one blessed winner in the US or Canada!   To enter, please visit No Work Spanish and let me know which title in their audio series looks the best to you!

For additional entries:

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Each additional step taken counts for 1 additional entry. A total of 6 entries are available if you complete all of these steps. Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

The contest will close at 12 a.m. MST on Saturday, May 21st, 2011. One (1) winner will be randomly drawn for this set of two audiobooks on CD on Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 and notified by email. Please fill your email address in the comment form when you are completing your comment so that I can contact you. The winners must respond with a mailing address within 72 hours of my email, or a new winner will be chosen. This contest is open to those living in the US and Canada!