¿HABLAS ESPAÑOL?

Our co-op has two incredible language teachers - 1 for Mandarin Chinese, and 1 for Spanish. They are both native speakers. There are 3 things they both do that have our children learning. 1st - they both speak ONLY the language they are teaching to the kids during class (unless the kids just can't guess the meaning after several minutes). 2nd - they play lots of games, many of them games native to their country. and 3rd - they introduce native culture (through music, food, celebration of holidays, even exercise) on daily basis. The kids are learning so quickly!

I have found that little children learn very quickly when I use the "diglot weave" method. That is...tell a familiar story such as "Little Red Riding Hood" and begin to substitute the foreign language word for the English words. Eg.: "The big, bad lobo went to the casa of the grandmother". With each telling more words can be substituted. The children love this method and are so excited when they recognize the words.

We learned Spanish in Mexico City in 1977. The school used a method that I use to teach others now. My best tip......learn from someone with the correct accent...it is everything. To teach that we go around a circle (table) repeating a sentence, correctly, that the leader has said. Soon, the focus is on conversation and not stilted memorization and the language just flows. Follow with simple questions being answered, that everyone repeats. Follow up with seeing it written---uses all avenues to the mind. Hear it, say/repeat it, repeat it, answering a simple Q; then write it!!!

One of my children is now a junior in college. Here's what I learned. Don't decide for your children what foreign language they should study. This is a bad idea all around. They won't have 'ownership' in it. Take a little time to discuss options- perhaps your heritage (Italian, French, or Russian...) would hold more interest since they might see it as part of "who" they are. Also, assess why they are taking it in the first place? I had mine take the obligatory Spanish for two years in highschool. She remembers nothing, and didn't need it in college. Again, I should have allowed her to take the 'heritage' language first. She would have enjoyed it and probably remembered more of it. She may have had a desire to continue with it in college even though it wasn't required. That's my 2 cents worth, with 20 years of homeschooling under my belt.

Here is a fun way to keep the kids from getting too bored while learning a foreign language. Not everyone can afford to subscribe to a foreign language magazine or newspaper, but kids need to see "real"stuff, not just text books. Try going to Ebay and choose a foreign country to look at items. (Notice I did not say BUY- just LOOK!) Kids get a lot of fun looking at items that interest them, but reading the ads in, say, French, Spanish,etc. Imagine their faces when they read about their favorite Pokemon toys in Italian! Here's a hint, however. Be SURE to monitor them or you may be receiving boxes from all over the world (or make sure you hide your Paypal password-lol!) Bonne chance! Buena Suerte!

Memory is the key to learning language after 5 before 5 it is natural to hear and replicate sounds. So if the kids hear all the sounds you want even in just a isolated sound the formative years of learning they will have all their building blocks for language learning. So I play with my kids mimic my sound. if I say the ( ll ) sound in spanish they mock me. or some kind of click from africa they try it too. once they have all the sounds i need for the language that are not in my native english then I go onto memory words... adding music is helpful too when just doing sounds... so if you are trying to teach chinese for example you can add in the tones too making sure they say them correctly by doing music because it is natural to do tones with music.

Make it BILINGUAL! In any subject you're learning with your kids, include a few words of the other language. For example, when we were studying frog life cycles, I made a VERY simple "frog life cycle" poster (egg, tadpole, froglet, frog) in our second language! Your kids (and you) gain a lot of relevant vocabulary that way.

We are using Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition in French. My 14 year old son is picking upthe language fast! We also put index cards all over thehouse on objects to better familiarize himself with everyday words. When his dad takes him outside the house he speaks only French to him, and points to things telling him the words in French. The biggest information that hashelped my son is to understand is being explained the fact that their are male and female parts of speech and that has madethings a lot easier. We are also listening to movies, music, and playing board games in Fench. Emmersion is the best way!

Sing songs in the language you're learning! Children love to sing and they retain words better when set to music.

Sing songs in the language you're learning! Children love to sing and they retain words better when set to music.

One of the most memorable activities we've done with learning a foreign language is have the kids make little children's books in the chosen language. Creating simple sentences that tell a little story, then illustrating the little "book" is loads of fun. It makes the language instantly more practical in their eyes, and gets them learning without even feeling like it. We cut 8.5x11 paper in half and staple pages together for a nice size, but there are so many possibilities with this simple -- but meaningful and effective -- activity.

Our family is in the process of learning Mandarin Chinese. Most of all, I think it is important to have a reason for wanting to learn the language! Talk about how many people around the world speak the language, are there communities of people near you who speak it? What countries could you visit once you learn the language? What careers are there that require speaking a foreign language? My tips are: 1. Start as early as possible exposing your children to a foreign language 2. Try to find someone who is a native speaker of the language you are trying to learn. Ask around, you'd be surprised how easy it is to find someone! If you can't find someone to meet with in person, maybe you can set up video calls. 3. Practice daily! 4. Try multiple methods and see what works best (books, video, audio) for each member of your family, or just use a combination. 5. Don't give up! "Slow and steady wins the race!" It's soooo rewarding when you can finally communicate with someone in the foreign language of your choice!

My children have not yet decided on a language they still have a couple of years before they have to choose, so every Thursday night is cultural night. The children have to pick a country, research food, culture, geography, and fun facts. We pick a menu and cook a meal from that country. Our three children work together to put a presentation to present at dinner time. They also go to Digitaldialects.com and learn how to speak different phrases, food, colors etc...they also like to make flags to put on the table as part of the decor.

We do calendar time in Italian every morning. I ask what day is today? What is the date? what month, what year, what time is it, how is the weather? They respond in Italian. I use a puppet , whose name is Principessa Primavera ( Princess Spring). They rather talk to the puppet than to me.

The best way to keep my family active i the language is to find which families, and missionaries, in our church speak the language. For instance, we will try to converse with spanish speaking members. We ask them to correct us and they are usually happy to do so : ) Also, we write cards and letters to our missionaries in Spanish. We ask them to have their members write to us in routine. It is a great way to keep the language active and part of our routine.

I like to write notes to my kids in the language they're learning. The 1st we're learning (yes, me too) is German. We also look for trailers in German such as "How to Train Your Dragon". The kids get a real kick out of listening to real Germans speaking. We're also getting them involved in a Lego group and we go online to look for Germans working with Legos. Youtube is a great resource for finding kids speaking in their native tongues.

so how do I delete a double post?

One of the ways that we have "fueled" interest in our children desiring to learn a second language, is by us "endeavoring" to learn a second language. They pick up on our enthusiasm in languages just in our "boldness" in asking perfect strangers how to say "hello" or "Good morning" etc in their mother tongue.

When they were very small Dora the Explorer was a good start. They learned how to say hello in Mandarin from Dora's around the world doll, and then they practiced one day on a Chinese gentleman, who really thought that they could speak Mandarin. We try to make the connection between language and culture, so they eat the food, learn some history and geography from the cultures where the highlighted language is from. When we can, we travel to these places or at least meet people from these Nations.

We are now pretty decent with Spanish, and our youngest is inspired to learn it. Interaction with our neighbors will cement that for our youngest.

Kids are some of the best teachers of other kids in foreign language learning, and they play together so its fun and natural.

I often ask Spanish speaking friends to practice English with me, not with my children. I encourage them to speak Spanish to my children.

One of the ways that we have "fueled" interest in our children desiring to learn a second language, is by us "endeavoring" to learn a second language. They pick up on our enthusiasm in languages just in our "boldness" in asking perfect strangers how to say "hello" or "Good morning" etc in their mother tongue.

When they were very small Dora the Explorer was a good start. They learned how to say hello in Mandarin from Dora's around the world doll, and then they practiced one day on a Chinese gentleman, who really thought that they could speak Mandarin. We try to make the connection between language and culture, so they eat the food, learn some history and geography from the cultures where the highlighted language is from. When we can, we travel to these places or at least meet people from these Nations.

We are now pretty decent with Spanish, and our youngest is inspired to learn it. Interaction with our neighbors will cement that for our youngest.

Kids are some of the best teachers of other kids in foreign language learning, and they play together so its fun and natural.

I often ask Spanish speaking friends to practice English with me, not with my children. I encourage them to speak Spanish to my children.

Learn to tell simple jokes in the language!

We have used a variety of Spanish textbooks throughout our homeschooling adventure. They have all had their strengths and weaknesses. What I find, however, to be THE most effective tool for my boys to learn the Spanish language is for us to speak it on a regular basis every day. For the most part, I speak to them in Spanish throughout the day and encourage them to do the same.

We use Byki (www.Byki.com) it's free, and easy! MANY many languages to choose from. Tons of user lessons. We're studying Hebrew. I Highly recommend using it, even for lower elementary grades. It uses the 'flash card' technique. There are so many user uploaded lessons that you can find one for any age, any grade. :)

We use Byki (www.Byki.com) it's free, and easy! MANY many languages to choose from. Tons of user lessons. We're studying Hebrew. I Highly recommend using it, even for lower elementary grades. It uses the 'flash card' technique. There are so many user uploaded lessons that you can find one for any age, any grade. :)

You are never REALLY fluent in a foreign language unless you have emerged yourself in the culture. Most of us cannot just up and travel to the foreign county of the language we are studying so in that case this is what we do. We in the case of learning Spanish have a day where we pretend we are in a Latin speaking country and we can only speak Spanish for that whole day (or how ever long we can handle it). I try to cook a meal from the country we have 'traveled' to. We listen to their native music and even dance around. We even take a siesta (nap) midday. It's fun and it encourages the kids as well as myself to use our imaginations while learning and appreciating culture and language. This year LATIN! And you may say, "But that is a dead language." We are going to bring it back to life this year in our home! Ridere, Vivere, Amare!

Make it a game. We're learning colors by playing Candyland. They pick the card and say the color before they can move. We play Uno or Skipbo to learn numbers, saying the number as we lay down a card - Uno is dual benefit because you can also say colors.

Make it a game. We're learning colors by playing Candyland. They pick the card and say the color before they can move. We play Uno or Skipbo to learn numbers, saying the number as we lay down a card - Uno is dual benefit because you can also say colors.

I taught using charades and spanish bingo and the words really stuck in their minds more while playing games than with just flashcards. I divided my kids into teams and then had them charade to their team a word that was on their card (I had given the cards with words to them a few days before to get familiar with them). Or you could have your child charade back and forth with you- my kids loved this too because mommy was getting involved in a funny way.
We also started Rosetta Stone so I plan to use the words from there for the games.
We also used Currclick and found Spanish words for boys and the other items from that same person helped too.

When my girls were first learning, we used sticky notes with the names of things all over the house. If they saw the the word, they remembered it.

My husband, my 11 year old son and I are all learning French by using Tell Me More. We love it and it works well for all of us to learn it at the same time so that we can speak to each other. We want to be able to speak fluently when we go to visit Paris sometime next year.

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I love the fact that Rosetta Stone lets my 6-year-old learn a new language without ever hearing a word of English. The program lets her learn in context, the same way newborns acquire language. Sometimes, my jaw drops, wondering "How did she get that right?" with words she's never heard before. The program costs a bit more than some, but you can use the same program for every member of your family. We're moving in two years and this way, we're ALL learning at our own pace!

My girls are also learning sign language through our neighbour who is deaf. My girls are friends with the neighbour's daughter (who can hear) so she helps teach and translate.

We have tried Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More and I just want to say that I love Tell Me More! You can't beat it for the price or the results!

Nothing beats learning a foreign language than to host foreign exchange students! My girls have learned Japanese and Chinese because of our exchange students. My oldest also takes a Spanish class thru a program called Foreign Language for Youth, which sets up various public schools to "host" and they do a before school or after school program, twice a week for 40 min, and they have a teacher who not only speaks the foreign language but is from a foreign country and teaches the children about their country and customs as well as the language. My daughter can't wait to go to Costa Rica as a foreign exchange student herself!

This might not be the most practical of methods, but I believe it to be the BEST. There are "Language Schools" all over the world that exist to train missionaries to live in another culture. Every aspect of the schooling trains your student not only to become completely fluent in the language, but also become extremely well versed in the culture. You don't just learn how to speak someone else's language, but you learn why you would even want to. The schools are SHORT TERM, but they are intense. Once you start, you're not allowed to communicate in your native tongue, but in your target language instead. In most cases, satisfaction is guaranteed, but the school itself is pricey. It's definitely not for everyone, but it's worth praying about!

We're using a method called "extensive reading" to learn French. It is so difficult to find good, thorough textbooks that are also appropriate to the homeschool setting and affordable... but we can easily find children's books from Canada! We read them together, parsing the sentences literally and then translating them together into standard English. The idea is to keep the materials easy for the level she's at, so that she can read without excessive difficulty, and gain reading fluency. It's a lot more similar to the natural way of learning a first language than the "traditional" method of learning grammar before vocabulary, and memorizing charts and lists.

We have been teaching ASL to our children. We sign while we talk, which helps to reinforce the skills. We also taught them to sign the signs they would need the most as toddlers, before they could communicate verbally.

Go to your local Mexican restaurant and let your children volunteer to help clean up after lunch crowd in exchange for the Language help. If they HAVE to speak the language to communicate, they will!

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