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Languishing in Languages? - Teaching Foreign Language through the ages - Kindergarten - Junior High

1:25 AM, Apr. 16, 2008
This article is the second of a four part series on how to teach a foreign language to your children (even if you don’t know the language yourself!) 

 Ages Kindergarten through Early Junior High 
 Good news! You still are in the realm of brain development where language is concerned. Children that are in the age range of 5 to approximately 10 or 11 are still learning words, developing language style, and even forming accents in their first language. With all this development, the brain is ripe for acquiring a second language as well. 

 Motivation is Key 
 You will see this heading in each of my series’ articles. At this age, your child has a definite opinion on activities and items he likes or dislikes. Does he dislike reading? Avoid those Language Readers like the plague! Does he enjoy games? Be sure to grab a memory game with animals, and learn those animals in the target language. Whatever takes up space in your child’s brain CAN be translated to another language (and may already exist!) 

 Best Method 
 Immersion again, is the best method for acquiring a language, but it MUST be premised with a foundation - at least 20 to 30 useful words or phrases on which to build. To “fake” immersion in your own home, do NOT use just CD’s. Use something the child can SEE while hearing, and preferably something that elicits a response or emotion. Animated movies usually have a choice to choose a language. Use that DVD feature, and ask your child to learn three specific words. For Tarzan, see if he can listen for Gorilla, Different, and Jungle. Or choose a specific chapter, and watch first in English, then in the target language. 

 After learning to look and listen, add those CD’s into the mix with fun music, or some simple conversations. Repetition is good! 

 Worst Method
 Drill and memorize - the way we used to have to teach (and learn) foreign language in the schools is actually the worst way to do it. We put those few words that we drill into our short term memory, because they have no consequence. Follow the MEANING your child wants to express. After mastering a few manners, and some nouns he likes, he will most likely bombard you with “How do you say..?” Stop what you’re doing, look it up, write it on a sticky note, and use that new word before bed time that day. He will most likely OWN that word forever because you chose to harness his excitement. 

Not bad... 
Now lists of words are not inherently bad. After all, what is language made up of? WORDS! Just be sure there is meaning behind them. A child who loves going to the zoo and discussing the habitats of wild animals will thrive on a list of those animals in Spanish. A child who is more into arts and crafts will look at the same list and would rather learn “los animales” to refer to the whole bunch and be done with it.  

How do I find my child’s motivation? 
 Ask him or her! Ask would you like to color these pictures while we say the German words? Or do you want me to act some of the words out and see if you can guess what I’m saying? Do you want to learn a new song? etc. 

 Abandon lessons that bring frowns. If your child says, “This is hard!” or “Why is Spanish, or German, or French, or Latin, so boring?” STOP. STOP. STOP. Don’t mention the subject again for a few days. You will be in danger of creating a barrier to all foreign languages. You can revisit it when you see something that is easily translatable, or some tool that you know will peak his/her interest. 

 Try a class, if available. If there are other children learning the same language, the child will WANT to make use of the words in order to communicate. The environment of a classroom is invaluable at this age, to confirm in his mind that language is FUN, USEFUL, EASY, and POPULAR! 

 Beware of:
 -Workbooks without phonetic spelling 
 -CD’s or books that are aimed at an older audience - build confidence, don’t destroy it. Better to get a preschool book that’s “too easy” - (Hey! German is EASY!) 
 -Drill and regurgitate. Is there meaning behind the word?
 -Grammar heavy programs. Focus on MEANING, not formula, at the beginning.

 Enjoy your language learning journey! 

 Suzanne Gose (known by her students as Señora Gose) is a homeschooling mother of almost five children - baby number five is due this July.  A former public school teacher, she currently teaches over 80 homeschooling students in weekly Spanish classes at Key Curriculum in Bryan, Texas. She is also the author of the Flip Flop Spanish Workbooks and other language teaching tools. You can see them at www.flipfloplearning.com
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