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A question for parents | ||
Tags: Children | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4731 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 9 of 15 04 November 2011 at 7:05pm | IP Logged |
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Music can be a great way to introduce a foreign language gently. My family listens to a lot of Hindi music (although the kids don't know very much Hindi, we lived in India when they were very young).
Now I have a few French CD's: some for kids, and some pop music. "Songs in French for Children" is very old fashioned but fun to listen to. And Lyric Language has good bilingual songs with English and either French, German or Spanish. My 7 year old daughter requests Lyric Language French quite often, and she will be heard singing some of the songs in both languages, from time to time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fomalhaut Groupie United States Joined 4725 days ago 80 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 10 of 15 04 November 2011 at 10:22pm | IP Logged |
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I'd do the worst and make my child fluent in Ancient Babylonian. Helps if his name is Gilgamesh.
but seriously, is it ok to teach the kids the language if you yourself aren't native, but still fluent? i mean, this is how languages spread from beyond their geographic location? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Zerbie Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4674 days ago 9 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 11 of 15 04 November 2011 at 11:20pm | IP Logged |
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Okay, I'm NOT a parent, but have a triglot friend with a 4 year old. She has explored a variety of options of keeping
him exposed to a languages other than their native (American English), and making languages fun play for him, including bilingual play programs for his age group. Now at 4, they play at language learning together, and he initiates it by expressing curiosity about any language he hasn't seen/heard before. So I know it can be done and enjoyed. I also rather like the idea of an au pair, if you can find someone who you trust. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Leipzig Hexaglot Newbie Wales Joined 4625 days ago 22 posts - 33 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchC2, Lowland Scots, SpanishC2, Portuguese, Catalan Studies: Welsh, Tok Pisin, German, Italian | Message 12 of 15 05 November 2011 at 5:24pm | IP Logged |
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HMS, I'm glad you're going to be proactive so that your child is not disadvantaged by
the British system's mishandling of languages. 4-5 hours a fortnight from 11-14 is too little, too late - especially since it wastes the natural ability of younger kids to absorb languages. Expose them to authentic materials and make it fun, and you can make a lot of progress. My little niece speaks Spanish with me, Welsh with her granddad and watches TL children's shows/plays games in the TL with her parents, who are learning with her to some degree. She loves it, probably because she doesn't see it as work. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5048 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 13 of 15 07 November 2011 at 2:40am | IP Logged |
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Children? Forget about 'authentic materials'*, it's 'need' and fun that will get them hooked on it.
Plan ahead, since your child(ren) won't be ready for any real 'other' language learning in less than two years. I'd say your best options, in ascending order of feasibility and descending order of adequacy for your purpose are: -Move to another country -- 'nuff said. -Get acquainted with other bilingual / immigrant couples. If you make friends, your children may grow up with speakers of other languages, which will give them the best opportunity to acquire another language with 'no effort', and a reason / use for it. -Au pair, etc. -Target language versions of anything you'd buy for a regular child: Disney movies are especially broad in their availability, but they're just the tip of the iceberg in these Internet times we live. (*) Are cartoons and the like 'authentic'? Depends on your definition, but sure they're one of your best allies among the most affordable options. Edit: and of course, congratulations :) Edited by mrwarper on 07 November 2011 at 2:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5203 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 14 of 15 07 November 2011 at 3:17am | IP Logged |
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I was able to raise 2 children who are now teenagers and who are bilingual. They are bilingual because I,
the father, always spoke French at home, and the mother always spoke English; they grew up in an otherwise English environment, but went to French school. I don't think parents should speak anything else than their first language to their kids -- it's the most natural thing to do. My kids' English is better than their French. They are probably equally comfortable in both, but I can see that the level of sophistication is not the same. Because of that, I sometimes feel like I failed, that I should have exposed them to more French, or I should have taught them more. But when I look at the situation of other bilingual couples around me who have children, I'm forced to conclude that I still did better than average. Some kids spoke their parents' languages until a certain age, but eventually refused to use one of them. You simply can't force a child to speak a language when they don't see the point of it. They can be really lazy when it comes to languages. In short, I wanted to say that as two monolingual parents, you should be careful not to expect too much. We have the power to expose the children to lots of things, including languages, because we want the best for them, but ultimately, we have little power over what they eventually decide to do. edit: poor writing slightly improved. Edited by Arekkusu on 07 November 2011 at 4:19am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5907 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 15 of 15 07 November 2011 at 11:00am | IP Logged |
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My husband and I are American, we speak English in the house and outside is German. Our three kids speak both languages to varying degrees.
Our 5-year-old has vocabulary problems in both English and German. She doesn't have the vocabulary of a monolingual kid her age. She also "switches". That means she'll start the sentence in one language and finish it in the other. It drives her teachers crazy! :D I'm not sure but it might be partly my fault. Not long ago I tried to speak German at home, but I would always revert back to my English. No matter how good you are, it's hard to -schimpfen/scold- in a foreign language! So it's best not fake it. So our 5-yr-old is going to speech therapy to train vocabulary and some of the German sounds which are the most difficult for children: "R-iese/W-iese", "Str-umpf", and basically all "R"-words. Our 9-year-old also still "switches" but only when she plays with her younger sister. School is starting to "sink in" and the division between English and German is clear. She still has a weaker vocabulary in German than her classmates but it's getting better through her increased reading level. our 11-year-old is just now learning to write English in the school (as a foreign language). She speaks English and German equally well. Her vocabularies are getting better and will get stronger as long as she makes an effort to read and write both languages. All of their German they pick up by being with their friends. We've discoverd that that's the BEST way for them to learn German -- through playing with other kids. Edit: My case is different but I know a lot of monolingual parents in a similar situation (HMS) that take trips abroad and use that as an opportunity to teach their kids the language. It's not easy. Edited by Sunja on 07 November 2011 at 12:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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