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13 year old learning Spanish by himself? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5239 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 9 of 22 18 October 2014 at 11:46am | IP Logged | ||
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I believe if he has an interest in learning the only thing you'll need to do is to encourage it. I would advise he try to make the learning as fun as possible. SO here are some suggestions he might like to think about.
- If he likes football pick a Spanish team to support and try to watch their games on YouTube or Sky. I'm sure Serpent could tell you how to access Spanish Football TV. - If he plays video games, then try to switch the language to Spanish, or maybe buy a couple of old games to play in Spanish. The SIMS is a good one because you'll learn a lot of words to do with living, houses, etc. - Create a D&D character and award your character experience points for each book read, or 1/2 of Assimil completed. Try to get to a level 12 mage! :) - Create a Spanish Twitter account and get some friends in Spain to talk to. This is always useful. - HabitRPG a website that will help to gamify and create good habits. - Find a book he wants to read and buy if for him in Spanish. - Have him talk to his school about possible exchanges with Spanish students, lots of schools in the UK have an exchange program where he could live in Spain with a Spanish family for a couple of weeks. - Keep a diary in Spanish. Sort of an encrypted journal since only people who know Spanish could read it. - Find some Spanish music on ITunes top 40 list for Spain. Get a couple of tunes he'd listen to. - Play scrabble - Download some recipes in Spanish and he (and possibly your mum) can cook some of this stuff while he translates. - If he has a smartphone, look on the playstore for Spanish triva apps. Anyway, there are lots of things he can do not just studying Assimil all the time. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5012 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 10 of 22 18 October 2014 at 12:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Unlike most people here, I have experience with self teaching a language at the age of 9 and as well the experience with being taught a language during my whole life with both good and bad methods. And while I agree with some of the advice here, some parts make me cringe, no offence meant. So, here are my two cents:
1. 13 year olds are not small children, they are already teenagers, they are expected to practice holding a longer attention span (and learning Spanish can be a great tool in the struggle. Basically, if he enjoys learning Spanish, he is very likely to naturally get better and better at focusing on something. But if the methods are badly chosen or the motivation dries out, it may be demotivating for future learning attempts as well) 2. I'd like to point out a difference between Fun and "Fun" methods and tools. Fun: Things the learner enjoys, usually using some sort of gamification well or "just" being interesting, captivating and so on. Native input falls in the cathegory. Fun tools work miraculously. But always remember that what is fun depends totally on the individual learner. "Fun": Things primarily function of which is to be fun at the cost of effectivity. What some people seem to miss is that children DO lose motivation due to lack of progress. I've met many teenagers or even younger children who do not enjoy their language classes because they don't feel like they are learning something new and usefull. The trouble is that most today's materials aimed at children or younger teenagers fall into the second ("fun") cathegory and so do most apps and such gadgets. Their philosophy and marketing is "the child will not know he is learning but he will learn" while the truth is "the parents will believe the child will be learning but he won't". 3. 30 minutes a day is enough. It is difficult for many people to get more, either to focus for that long or to just magically conjure those free 30 minutes in between work, chores, other studies, their children and so on. That's why it is great to use shorter activities for further practice during the day as well, such as listening to songs, listening to the Assimil conversation again, writing two sentences, doing a few flashcards in the srs etc. If he can trully put in 30 minutes a day, there shouldn't be any trouble. 4. Assimil is surely a nice choice in most cases. However, I don't see the age as the trouble here, I just don't think Assimil Spanish is as awesome as some others. I tried several units some time ago and I felt bored, which is something unimaginable when it comes to Assimil German or Swedish. 5. As an srs, I think Memrise is much better for young learners, despite all its faults, than Anki. Even my small sister liked it. 6. Use native material soon on, based on the reason why he wants to learn. Music? Movies? In love with a Spanish speaking classmate? Fan of Real Madrid? Opening up the culture can be the most important factor, deciding whether he sticks to learning long enough to have results. Lyricstraining is one of the most awesome tools here, I believe. Spanish tv series could be great when he is ready for them (which should be exactly at the age when teenagers profile their tastes in tv and movies), there are original Spanish comic books, Spanish is widely used on the internet, there is no shortage of opportunities. 7.Excellent note by rdearman: use an opportunity like a foreign exchange program if there is one. Really! 8. Balance out the fun and the not that fun but needed aspects of learning. I can only recommend grammar and vocabulary exercise books as I liked them at his age (just as my classmates did!) for their clear, brief and relevant approach. While my English teacher (which I had since my 12 years of age to 15) taught me nothing (only made me hate English), Murphy's Essential Grammar in Use did a better job. Really, kids want to make progress efficiently too! They are not scared by the word "grammar", at least not before some horrible teacher gives them a reason to or before the language teaching industry tells them "there is something called grammar and it is evil but we will protect you from it". I can recommend Gramática de uso del espanol and Viva el vocabulario as nice, not too heavy to digest resources. 9. Don't force him into Assimil if he doesn't like it. Instead, I'd recommend you to a larger bookshop together, to leaf through some alternatives, even of the primarily classroom type, and to choose something more appealing. Going through a mediocre course (given the right supplements) will give better results than getting stuck at lesson 5 of Assimil or another awesome course and giving up. 10. (related to not only point 9) Make sure he is included in every step and choice. He wants to learn by himself, so allow him. Be an advisor, a help. Not a school teacher who makes the choices and forces him to follow them. Edited by Cavesa on 18 October 2014 at 1:08pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5020 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 11 of 22 18 October 2014 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | ||
I too can see or at least imagine all the good intentions. Don't you see any negativity ? ----- Where to start - try googling one of these : "learn Spanish for free" "free podcasts to learn Spanish" "learn Spanish on your own" or start by reading and searching htlal. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4256 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 12 of 22 18 October 2014 at 5:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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To be able to concentrate for thirty minutes at a time is actually really good. I would advise against doing stuff for more than thirty minutes at a time anyway. Just relax for 10-15 minutes after every thirty minute strut and carry on with it to keep your blade sharp.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AlexTG Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 4641 days ago 178 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Latin, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 13 of 22 18 October 2014 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Cavesa 150% on everything she says. Stop recommending approaches that
we know don't work just because it's a kid! The same as every learner, he needs: 1. Lots of interesting comprehensible input. Football games are not comprehensible yet, TV shows are not comprehensible yet etc. 2. Grammatical explanations. Drowning in a sea of confusion is something teenagers do a lot of, that doesn't mean they enjoy it. Get something with clear and concise grammar explanations and let them dominate the language. Most teenagers actually love learning lore btw, see minecraft, fasion mags, Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy football, comics, Lord of the Rings. 3. Yes, something which builds a love of the language. Things which can be enjoyable before you have any comprehension: Songs, shows (with subtitles), movies (with subtitles) Btw 30 mins is heaps, I barely ever study a single thing for 30 minutes. Do two 30 minutes sessions a day and you're doing way more than I do in the early stages of learning a language. Potential strategy for the first 2 months(after which he'll be able to add native materials to the mix): Read through an Assimil lesson each day. Forget the recording, the language is spelled "phonetically" anyway. This will basically turn it into a comprehensible + i reader. He can reread or listen to any of the lessons if he feels like it but it's not necessary. Read some grammar each day. Watch Destinos whenever he feels like it. Listen to music whenever he feels like it. Edited by AlexTG on 18 October 2014 at 6:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5239 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 14 of 22 18 October 2014 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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Why does comprehension make any difference to football? You can see the score on the top left corner and if you like sports you'll already know a lot of that is happening anyway. You'll begin to immediately pickup works like SCORED! GOAL! Keeper, pass, left side, right side, etc. Also if you're a football fan then you'll try to read about the team or the players, you'll pickup words that way to. The point is to find something in which you have an interest, which ISN'T just language learning, and use your new language to participate in that activity.
What is the problem with watching football or TV? I've picked up more Italian from watching Italian TV with no subtitles than I ever did watching Italian movies with them. So I disagree 150% that input has to be comprehensible to be useful. What you actually need is input N+1 but as a beginner that is difficult to get. I started learning Mandarin 2 months ago, yet I make a point of watching as much TV in mandarin as I can, and yes in a hour long program I can only get 5-10 words, but I'm happy to get them, and I learn probably another 2-5 words in the same hour. So although I don't comprehend the program I still get use out of it. I don't watch football, that is Serpents hobby, but I watch food programs and I've learned a lot of Mandarin about boiling, stir-fry, pan-fry, soak, water, heat, etc. I'm curious what "things which don't work" were recommended? 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| AlexTG Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 4641 days ago 178 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Latin, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 15 of 22 18 October 2014 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah sorry, by comprehensible I meant N+1. You can watch sport and enjoy it, but other
than a few not very useful words you won't get much out of it if you're a total beginner (at which point it's not N+1). I think most people would have trouble enjoying TV without subtitles at the early stages but maybe I'm wrong. Certainly it's not the most efficient use of one's time when N+1 input is available in Spanish (like Destinos) By "things which don't work" I was referring to the unbalanced nature of the suggestions, focusing on things which were deemed to be "fun" like duolingo and native resources when we know you can't learn a language with these alone. Edited by AlexTG on 18 October 2014 at 6:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6600 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 16 of 22 18 October 2014 at 7:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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The comprehensible input can be provided by visual clues though. An English speaker learning Spanish can pick up A LOT this way.
Although I second the recs for destinos, lyricstraining etc. GLOSS also has some lessons about football. As a teen I think he'll also enjoy this web&mobile app for learning the pronunciation. I remember how playing around with this site improved my listening, too. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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