Seeking out the Spanish lessons and ayuda

It is mid-March and there's a slight panic building about my slack-ass ability to keep pace this summer with Maria's phenomenal progress in learning Spanish. The espanola she hangs with all day is very proud of her and tells me so as she wrinkles her brow at me and my slack-ass-ness. She is gentle about it, but still, I know she thinks: "Get on the programa, Mama.''

In preparation for intensivo time, I have been searching out free Spanish podcasts on iTunes and downloading whatever I find. No loyalty as I weed them out...and there are plenty to weed out.

My favorite is Notes in Spanish, which offers conversations between a Madrilena and an Englishman, who speaks pretty darned well. He's got that "th'' mastered. You'll find basic, intermediate and advanced conversations. And, I love how she gently corrects him as he speaks. A lot.

Then, I found Discover Spanish and I'm somewhat in love with the guy, Johnny Spanish. Great voice, but ay, why that name? Rant aside, it is fun and Maria has enjoyed listening and repeating the lesson as she colors her hands blue with a Crayola marker, or sneaks into the pantry to find another chocolate Kiss.

Then, there is Sra. Roman at Vocabulario Espanol. (search for it on iTunes). It's entirely in Spanish and it kicks off each lesson with a nice little "1-2-1-2-3-4'' musiquita. The lessons are on everything from "me gusta...'' to "la comida'' to "la casa.'' Of course, I almost fainted when la Sra. said "no me gusta el agua.'' Do you know how much I nag my kid to drink water? Sra. Roman doesn't like vegetales either. Sra. Roman might have a limited run at our house this summer.

So, it was a welcome surprise to come upon Professor Pocket, a new bilingual music and story CD produced by two in-laws, one of whom is Dominicana. The first CD is "Our Silly Farm Adventure.'' The songs are fun (it includes Los Pollitos Dicen), Desi the Dinosaur has a great voice, and Maria has insisted on listening to it each day since we got it last week.

You can preview the songs here and purchase from their site or download on iTunes. (Good God, I love iTunes). The second CD is due later this spring.

Now, when I told my husband about my sumo summer Spanish plans he added this: "Hey, what about downloading some Italian too?''

Cohopio.