Going out for Mexican food for dinner last night inspired me to add this entry. Whatever language your child is studying (except Latin) - try to find an opportunity to use it in the community at least once a month. Spanish is pretty easy - Mexican, Cuban, etc. restaurants or grocery stores. Chinese is the same - find instances where your children can actually practice some of what they have learned. This practical use is one of the reasons I look for curriculum to sell that teaches the language that you can actually use in the real world. Being able to put that studying to practical use helps give you an incentive to learn more. I remember studying Spanish for 3 years before we went on vacation to Mexico. Being a teenager, I thought I knew it all and was totally fluent. I told my parents that I would translate for them since they could not speak Spanish. I still vividly remember my first attempt to use my Spanish. I could speak well, but had NO IDEA of what the person had said back to me. They spoke extremely fast and used "conversational" Spanish, while I had learned "proper" Spanish. That is when I realized I still had a lot to learn and wanted to work on being able to understand Spanish. This is why I now recommend watching movies in the language, so you become accustomed to different accents and slang expressions.

So you don't have to go on an expensive vacation - look for native speakers within your own community!

I thought a title like this would grab your attention. First of all, it depends on the language your child wants to learn. Secondly, it depends on how old your child is - the best curriculum for a 6 year old is not the best for a 16 year old. Thirdly, it depends on what type of learner your child is - visual, auditory, etc.

In general, software is better than any book, audio or video/DVD method. With a book - it is strictly visual, you have to be able to hear the language (from native speakers) to learn a foreign language. With an audio CD, unless you are following along word for word in a book, it is strictly auditory. It will ALWAYS be more effective to be auditory and visual - you will remember it better (of course if you are at an intermediate level and need to work on oral comprehension - that is a whole different matter). However, even with audio and video methods, you are still just a passive listener/watcher. With software - you see it, hear it, and should have a program that asks for your input - whether you are typing it in, clicking on the right answer or giving it verbally (YES, there are great CD-ROMs out there for less than $50.00 that have speech recognition) - you are getting immediate feedback as to whether or not you have learned correctly. The best programs such as "Learn to Speak Spanish" and "Learn to Speak French" (our price - $20.00) even have videos of real people on the CD-ROM so you can see the actual person speaking and with speech recognition "talk back" to them - the next best thing to having a real person with whom you can practice talking.

A lot of homeschoolers ask me which foreign language they should first teach their child (children). If your children are young (as in 6 or younger) - I would make this recommendation. If there is a language which you know well, then obviously start with that language. If your family heritage is Russian, and you are planning a trip in a year or two, learn Russian with your children. Even if you don't speak the language, you can learn with your children by watching a video together (such as Bilingual Baby in Russian) or listening to an audio CD (Teach Me Russian) or doing a software program together (Vocabulary Builder Russian). I guarantee your child will learn faster than you, though!  If there is no connection to another language, you can either start with a more difficult language, such as Chinese or Russian - making your child quite marketable when they are older, or an easy language such as Spanish - plenty of materials available and native speakers with whom to practice.

If you never thought of teaching a foreign language before and your child is still in elementary school - see the above. If they are in middle to high school, Latin is a good choice. In my opinion, the benefits of Latin to everyone are to strengthen their knowledge of the English language in terms of both vocabulary and grammar and to help in preparation for tests such as the SAT.  I think Latin is better taught in middle and high school than to elementary school students, and would welcome a discussion on that subject.

However, you still need to study a spoken language that is used today to communicate. Speaking properly in another language becomes harder and harder the older you become. You need materials - whether audio, video or software where you can hear pronunciation by native speakers.

I look forward to comments. 

Well, this is my first blog, ever. I was encouraged to start this, because foreign languages are something not every homeschooler knows well enough to teach (unless you are bilingual - you want your child to be hearing native speakers and learn properly from the beginning), but they know it is important.

Why should I talk about this subject? I am fluent (more or less) in French and Spanish and speak a little bit of German, Russian, Hebrew and Dutch. We have 3 boys, we did not homeschool them. We are fortunate to be in Atlanta, Georgia and have the Atlanta International School. This is a complete IB (International Baccalaureate) program - age 4 to 12th grade. Our oldest son graduated in 2004 with a bilingual (French and English) diploma. I started my business, World of Reading, in 1989, in order to be a resource for foreign language and ESL materials.

Enough about why I am writing, let me get to the subject. Start now!!!! I don't care how old your children are - start now!!! If they are younger than 3 - let them listen to CDs in the car, if you are bilingual, read to them at night - put on a video such as Baby Einstein or Bilingual Baby, etc. - just expose them to the language. If they are older, you have to take a more direct approach - but studies have shown the ideal time for learning a language is birth to age 6 - after that, the older you are, the harder it becomes.

Anyway, which language to start with, what is the most effective, will come in later blogs. I am curious to see what people want to know and respond to comments, not just talk myself.

Give your child the words of the world
| Regale a sus hijos las palabras del mundo que les rodea
| Ha'aniku le'yelade'ikhem et milot ha'olam
| Donnez ΰ votre enfant les mots du monde
| Donu via infano la vortojn de la mondo
| Regala a tuo figlio le parole del mondo
| Schenk deinem Kind die Sprachen der Welt!
| Sekai no kotoba wo, otaku no okosama ni dohzo
| Gee u kind die woorde van die wκreld

The question I get asked most by homeschoolers is "What course should I buy for my high schooler. They need the equivalent of at least 2 years of high school instruction". For French and Spanish, the answer (in my opinion) is easy -
"Learn to Speak French" and "Learn to Speak Spanish" software programs. The current version of the Spanish - with 4 CD-ROMs and an audio CD is $20.00

The current version of the deluxe French edition has 4 CD-ROMs, an audio CD, a DVD, a workbook, a microphone and a travel guide for just $25.00. (Our prices at www.wor.com) Despite the low prices, these programs are the equivalent of at least 3 years of high school French or Spanish. The grammar in each goes up to the subjunctive, each has speech recognition and videos of the people speaking, as if you are talking to a real person trapped in your computer. The French version offers 10 little videos (about 2 minutes each) on different cities in France and the Spanish version has 10 little videos on Mexico. Each title has a beginning section for the basics and then 30 topics to choose from. 

I will never forget a year ago, a 17 year old girl telling me she had used a certain curriculum for 2 years. I won't mention the name, but it cost over $100.00. She said, at the end of it she could talk about princesses and castles, but could not ask for change in a Mexican restaurant.  These programs will enable you to carry on real conversations. Also, for a foreign language, buying a curriculum is NOT ENOUGH.  You need to watch films in the language, read fiction, etc. to really learn a language and be able to communicate. You don't want to spend all your money on just the curriculum.