I don’t know about you, but Back-to-School season always gets me thinking about self-improvement. And isn’t learning another language something that we all wish we could do? I know I do.
My husband and I went to Paris a couple of years ago, and let me say that French is totally over my head. I can’t read it, I can’t understand it, and they were not able to understand my feeble attempts at speaking it.
However, in high school and college I did fairly well in Spanish, and when I went to the Dominican Republic with Compassion last fall, I was actually able to communicate a bit with some of the children and the interpreters.
So I requested review copies of French Level 1, and Spanish Level 1 and Level 2 from the Behind the Wheel System, so that I could see how the system worked with a language that I’m totally unfamiliar with, as well as one that I’ve made a bit of headway in speaking and understanding.
After trying to listen to Behind the Wheel French 1, I’ve concluded that learning French is not something that is going to happen in my lifetime. I was still befuddled. But my eleven-year-old daughter Amanda has decided that she’s going to learn French. She said it will be her own special language.
However, Spanish is another story. I took three years of Spanish in high school and four semesters in college. Until fairly recently, I retained a lot of the vocabulary that I learned — and then old age (and/or Mommy Brain) started stealing my brain cells.
Behind the Wheel Spanish has filled in the gaps!
I previewed Level 1 and Level 2, and I think that there’s enough review at the beginning of Level 2, that I probably could have just jumped in with that one. However, Level 1 did not feel overly elementary either.
When my children listened to the Behind the Wheel Spanish 1 with me, they were able to repeat after the instructor and begin to learn the days of the weeks and the months of the year, as well as some phrases with halfway decent pronunciation. Spanish is a bit familiar to them, through Dora and other instruction in school, so that made it easier.
One key feature that surprised me, was that it really felt like a class. The instructor teaches and encourages as if he’s sitting right across the table from you. The fact that a native speaker repeats the phrases adds depth to the lesson, and makes it feel conversant. Pauses of a good length are in the CD to give the learner a chance to repeat the phrases. There is lots of repetition, which is necessary to feel comfortable speaking and understanding a foreign language.
Each CD set comes with a booklet that has information about general pronunciation as well as written reminders of the lessons covered within that level.
Would you like to bone up on a foreign language? I recommend Behind the Wheel. There are currently courses available in
Spanish (Levels 1, 2, and 3)
French (Levels 1 and 2)
German (Level 1)
Italian (Level 1)
Portuguese (Level 1)
Arabic (Level 1)(There are many levels coming soon, and even some new languages!).
Check out a some behind-the-scenes info about what makes Behind the Wheel a great way to learn a language. Download a sample lesson from your choice of languages.
We have Behind the Wheel Language CD sets to give away to three readers. Just look at the programs that are available now as listed above, and let us know which language and which level you’d like to win.
This is open to U.S. and Canadian residents.
This giveaway is part of our 2009 Back To School Giveaway Event. Simply leave a comment on this post to enter (US and Canadian addresses) and, please, be sure to read our Back To School Giveaway rules.
As always, don’t forget to earn more entries: subscribe to our Feed, sign up for our 5M4M Newsletter, add our 5M4Giveaways button in your sidebar, write a post and link back to this contest on your blog, and spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, or email! Please see our site’s Terms and Conditions of Use for a complete list of our contest and giveaway rules.
Written by 5 Minutes for Mom Contributing Editor: Jennifer Donovan
5 Minutes for YOU to read, relax, & connect with other moms. We're here to inspire, encourage & empower you.
{ 184 comments… read them below or add one }
I would love to win something like this with all four of my children attending French Immersion schools and a husband that is fluent.
My daughter would love the Italian instruction. Its something she wants to take in school, but its not offered.
Would love to refresh my 3 years of high school spanish. I’d like to start with level 1 so my kids can get involved too.
i subscribe to your feed
your button is on my sidebar
would love the spanish!
I have your button.
I subscribe to your feed.
I subscribe to your newsletter.
Would love Spanish level 1 for me and my three kids
I subscribe through Google Reader
Spanish would help both my husband and I as we are teachers in an area with many Latinos. It’s not on your list, but I hope one of the new languages will be Mandarin. I’m hopeless at it, but my husband and daughter would love it.
Your button is on my sidebar.
I subscribe through Google Reader.
I would love to relearn French. I’ve forgotten so much, this would be a nice thing to do.
Hello, I’m leaving you a comment because you have the most lovely blog. Fantastic writing and I love your pics as well. Best wishes !
What a great way for my daughter to learn Spanish.
i subscribe to your feed and would love to win the Italian!!
Would love to win the Spanish for myself and the kids! They take Spanish in school and are fascinated by it… the other day I walked into the room to find my 7-year-old son watching PBS in Spanish! Thanks for the opportunity!
I’d love to win Spanish Level 1 for my kiddos. It would be a fun way to learn I think.
I subscribe to your feed via Google Reader.
I subscribe to the 5M4M newsletter.
I have the 5M4M Giveaway button on my blog.
I would love to have French or Spanish level 1. We went on a mission trip last summer to Mexico and it would have helped us out a lot. We are trying to plan a mission trip to France for next year. Thanks!!
I subscribe. Thanks!
I get your newsletter. Thanks!!
I have your button on my sidebar. Thanks!
I tweeted about this giveaway.
http://twitter.com/Carols119
I would love to learn french!
i subscribe!
Interesting product. I’m fluent in Spanish and have been trying to teach my sons. However, if I won this giveaway I would pick Portuguese Level 1. My husband speaks Portuguese and it would be nice to pick up some vocabulary to impress him with.
mfalcon13 (at) hotmail (dot) com
I subscribe to your feed via email.
mfalcon13 (at) hotmail (dot) com
I subscribe to your newsletter.
mfalcon13 (at) hotmail (dot) com
this would be wonderful! i would pick arabic
My girls would love Spanish! Dora has started a trend.
I would love the Spanish 1 CD! I would really like to learn more along with my kids!
i was just thinking the other day of new things i would love to learn. and learning a new language was one of them!
great prize for many.
I would love to win French Level 1; this would be great for our homeschool!
Oh boy! This would be so great for my family (with a 2 year old) and my kinder/1st grade class here in Austin, TX!
I would chose Spanish. I have forgotten everything I learned in school
I would so love to win the German level 1. My son wants to learn it and we don’t have a curriculum for it yet.
I am a follower too!
I took a few years of French in high school, but my daughter has learned some Spanish here and there through programs on TV and whatnot. I would love the Spanish CD’s to keep that learning rolling!
Thank you!
I see that it’s not available yet, but I would have chosen Japanese.
As for what’s available, I’d go with Spanish 1.
French Level 1
And I’m subscribed!
I would love to win French-Level 1. Thanks for the opportunity!
We’d love to have Arabic Level 1 or Spanish Level 1.
bebemiqui82(at)yahoo(dot)com
your button’s on my blog.
bebemiqui82(at)yahoo(dot)com
Spanish level 1
throuthehaze at gmail dot com
subscribe in google reader
throuthehaze at gmail dot com
This is such a great way to learn another language.
would love spanish
subscriber
It would be good to learn French, thanks.
What a great way for my grandkids to learn a language other than English. jelly15301@gmail.com
E-mail subscriber. jelly15301@gmail.com
I’d love to win Spanish Level 3 for my son. He’s in his third year of high school Spanish (and also had it in middle school), but it’s still his toughest class! This program sounds like it would really help his comprehension skills.
I’m an RSS subscriber!
I’m an email subscriber.
I have your button on my blog, Susan Heim on Parenting, at http://susanheim.blogspot.com.
I tweeted! http://twitter.com/ParentingAuthor/status/3511604828
I shared on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/ParentingAuthor
I’ve always wanted to learn Italian….
I’d love to have Portuguese Level !
I’m a subscriber!
i’d love to learn spanish
I would love to win the Spanish level 1. This would help out my son as he just started Spanish at school.
I subscribe to your feed through yahoo reader.
I subscribe to your newsletter.
I follow on twitter under April1p and tweeted: http://twitter.com/April1p/status/3513324367
I took Spanish in high school 40 years ago and would love to brush up on it. I think i retained enough that level 2 would be good.
email subscriber
i would like to learn German (took a course a while ago but have completely forgotten it…) because we’re planning on visiting Germany next year
I had 6 years of spanish in school – I would love a refresher course – level 1 – because most of it is gone from my mind. (I know you actually have to use it to remember it!) I would also love my daughter to learn it, too! thanks
Your button is on my sidebar, thanks!
I get your emails, thanks!
I get your newsletter, too, thanks!
The back to school button is on my sidebar, too, thanks!
tweet, thanks! http://twitter.com/idahojill/status/3513523530
sounds like a great way to learn!
rss subscriber
I get 5m4m newsletters
I would love to win the Spanish CDs.
I subscribe to your newsletter.
I subscribe to the feed.
subscriber!
I would love to win the German Level 1 CD.
I subscribe to the newsletters.
Your button is in my sidebar.
I’d love level 2 french; I think the entire family could use a refresher since we’ve been back in the states for so long now.
I wish I had taken Spanish or French in HS instead of Latin. It didn’t even help me on SATs.
member (dot) thao (at) gmail.com
Your button is here
http://wondertwinadventures.blogspot.com
member (dot) thao (at) gmail.com
I subscribe to email updates
member (dot) thao (at) gmail.com
http://twitter.com/twinpowells/status/3520586503
member (dot) thao (at) gmail.com
I would love to learn spanish myself. Although 2 of the grandchildren would benefit more.
I subscribe via email.
This is a great giveaway, sign me up.
Love the languages! What a great opportunity.
Great contest! Thanks
This would be fabulous! We live in a largely Hispanic community and we would love to be able to learn their language!
I’d like Spanish Level 1! This would be great for the whole family!
I would love to try the Spanish version, I have found myself on many occasions calling an interpreter in my line of work and I much rather be able to understand what they are saying.
Spanish level 1
I am a subscriber
German – Level 1
Spanish Level 1
button on sidebar
feed subscriber
newsletter subscriber
Since they don’t have Canadian, I’ll would love to learn Spanish, starting at 1.
Between high school and college, I’ve studied Spanish, French, Italian and German. I also had a few informal study sessions in Portuguese with a fellow student originally from Brazil. I can still pronounce the languages pretty well, if you put the words in front of me, but I can’t really speak anything anymore. Because I was born in Spain and because of the prevalence of Hispanic language in our culture today, I’d like to try Spanish Level 1, just to try to pick back up some of what I’ve lost.
This would come in handy.
I could use Spanish Level 1.
I’d love to win this prize. Thanks for the chance.
I would totally love to brush up on my school Spanish!
Here’s my extra entry as a newsletter subscriber.
I’d LOVE to brush up on my Spanish!
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter.
I have your button on my blog…always!
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter – thanks!
I’d choose Spanish Level One
subscribed to feed
5M4M newsletter
5M4M button’s on sidebar (at URL listed above)
tweet: http://twitter.com/heathersphere/status/3586125926
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter
Thanks for the entry. This one is such an amazing idea!
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter.
Happy End of Summer!
I’d like French Level 2. (I hope the fundamentals are still in the recesses of my mind.)
I subscribe by email.
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter.
My future daughter-in-law and her family speak Spanish. This will help a lot with communication.
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter.
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter.
The hard part would be picking which language to learn first!
I have your button on my blog http://colitascorner.blogspot.com/
Tweet http://twitter.com/Lstixrud/status/3594567697
I’m an e-mail subscriber!
I get an extra entry because i received the newsletter today! Yippee!
what a great idea
Twitter: jamericanspice
August 28, 2009 at 6:28 am
This would be lovely to win
Twitter: jamericanspice
August 28, 2009 at 6:30 am
subscriber to newsletter
Twitter: jamericanspice
August 28, 2009 at 6:34 am
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter
Twitter: jamericanspice
August 28, 2009 at 6:34 am
I have your button
Twitter: jamericanspice
August 28, 2009 at 6:35 am
tweet
http://twitter.com/Jamericanspice/status/3600211403
I’d like Spanish 1.
I subscribe to your feed.
I subscribe to your newsletter.
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter.
I would love to win the German Level 1 CD.
subscribe to feed
subscribe to your newsletter
http://kngmckellar-glorias.blogspot.com/
have your button
http://twitter.com/kngmckellar/status/3601366785
tweet
ooo german!
subscriber
I would like to win spanish. Level 2 would probably benefit me the most.
I would like to win Spanish Levels 1 for my daughters. Thank you.
Tried French in High School; then I tried spanich on my own; could not master either. Would love to try another language; maybe Italian, arabic, or portuguese.
I would like to learn French! What a great idea.
I would love to learn another language!
I’d love to learn Spanish. Thanks for the opportunity!
I tweeted!
http://twitter.com/debralu
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter.
This would be so helpful! My son is taking French in school and it’s been a long time since I learned the language–I can’t always help him when he has questions at home. Thank you for the contest!
I subscribe to your feed!
I subscribe to your newsletter!
I tweeted about this on my page–AmberRose1995!
I would love to try this!
I’m subscribed to your RSS feed.
I’m subscribed to your newsletter.
Please enter me into the contest. Thanks!
I subscribed to your feed.
I signed up for your newsletter.
I have the back to school button on my blog – We’d be interested in French here.
I’d love to win the Arabic Level 1 program. THanks!
I subscribe to your feed. Thanks!
I receive the 5M4M newsletters. Thanks!
I earned an extra entry with today’s newsletter. Thanks!
Tweeted: http://twitter.com/MamandeEDS/statuses/3618277722
We would love to try the Italian series. My husband is second generation, and we are attempting to teach the little ones basic words;)
I am also an email subscriber!