How to teach your child a second language: How to Teach Your Children a Second Language: 14 Steps

How to Teach Your Kid a Second Language Even if You Suck at It

By

Susy Alferez

PublishedAugust 18, 2017

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The idea of teaching a child a second language can sound intimidating. If you, yourself, are rusty in that language (say, you haven’t conjugated a Spanish verb since the 11th grade), it can seem impossible.

I have been a nanny for over twelve years. Despite being fluent in English and Spanish, I was completely overwhelmed the first time a parent asked me to teach their eight-month-old son some basic Spanish language skills. How do you teach a baby to not only their first words, but their first words in two different languages? But I took up the challenge because I know firsthand the benefits of being bilingual. After all, this family had hired me on account of it.

I had discovered that the key to teaching a second language isn’t vocabulary, but consistency. Here are five ways to incorporate basic language skills into your child’s day:

Count Everything

In teaching Spanish to the little boy, I decided I would tackle counting first. At first, it was just me counting in between diaper changes or toys forgotten upstairs. I would count every step I took up and down the living room staircase. Soon, I was counting other activities and it became a sort of habit. I would count while getting him into the car seat, opening a book, or swinging on the swings. When he began to repeat it, I would count “uno … dos …” and allow him to shout “tres!” Later, I added more numbers, one at a time, holding out the sound of whatever number came last. For instance, I’d say “uno, dos, tres, quaaaatrooooo” and he’d shout “cinco!” It was a game, and it worked! In no time at all, he was counting to ten.

In my opinion, counting is one of the easiest ways to introduce a new language. Make it fun and silly—maybe whisper the first numbers and shout out the last number on your count. You’ll be counting to 20 before you know it.

The Magic of Three

Someone recently told me that things that come in sets of three are easier for people to remember. I have found this to be very useful in teaching another language, even with babies as young as six months. Counting to three in any language is less overwhelming than counting to ten. Do it regularly—count stairs, Cheerios in a bowl, or toys, three at a time, “Uno, dos, tres. Uno dos tres,” until you count them all. You can apply the rule of three to other things as well. Mom, dad, baby (mama, papa, bebe). Dog, cat, bird (perro, gato, pajaro). You can teach colors, places, and even the names of all your relatives. Use different tones in your voice, which will entice a child to watch your mouth as you say the words.

Nursery Rhymes

Music is universal. YouTube is a good outlet to find second-language nursery rhymes. Look for rhymes that repeat a lot, such as “Row Your Boat” or “Mary Had A Little Lamb. ”

There are some nursery rhymes that are exclusive to certain languages and they sometimes aren’t translated. Check out those, too. For instance, in Spanish, a couple popular ones are “Los Pollitos Dicen” (shown below) or “Tengo Una Muñeca Vestida de Azul.”

No matter which rhymes you go with, implement them at times your child is most likely to listen and engage with them, like car rides, meal times or bath time.

SAP

Change the language on your TV every other week. This is both simple and effective. Even if it is not something your child is actively watching, if you have it on as background noise, the sounds of the language become familiar and will ease pronunciation skills later.

Greetings

You’re already saying “good morning” and “good night” to your child. If you learn these two phrases in a second language and use them regularly, it will become effortless. Once you have mastered these two greetings, add more to your palette—“good afternoon,” “how are you?” 

You do not need a lengthy vocabulary to teach a language. It is taking the words you know and using them consistently that will help kids the most. Use this as an opportunity to learn or strengthen your second language. If you have friends with kids who speak the language, schedule as many play dates with them as possible. Having conversations with a native speaker with boost your child’s language skills, and as a bonus, you can begin some great friendships. Uno dos, tres—go for it!

How to Teach a Child Mandarin, Spanish or English as a Second Language

Parenting

Parents who want their child to get a jump on a second language can help them learn it, even if the parent can’t speak the language either.

June 28, 2018

It’s admirable that you want your child to learn a second language. But the fundamentals of Mandarin, Spanish, and Italian are difficult to impart when you do not speak the language yourself. With a lot of patience, however, even mono-lingual parents can give their kids a linguistic leg up for the future. And that learning can start sooner than you think.

“It’s like teaching a kid their first language, in that you start when they’re in the womb,” Kristin Espinar, an applied linguistics expert and owner of Activate Your IELTS, told Fatherly. “There are studies that say even after a month a baby can already distinguish between the sounds and intonations of their own language as compared to another language.” Espinar recommends that, even before a kid is born, parents expose themselves (and their growing babies) to the language of the culture they might like their kid to eventually learn. That might mean making friends who speak the language (or eavesdropping), watching foreign films or listening to foreign music hits.

How to Teach a Child a Second Language

• Start before they’re born by exposing the child to the target language while they are in the womb.
• As soon as they are born, use story time to get them used to the sounds of the target language through simple bilingual children’s books.
• Make a point to learn the language along with your child.
• Find local opportunities to immerse your child in the language.
• Use songs and rhymes to make learning fun and try not to stress the kid out about learning.

Once your child is born, start small. “You can immediately start reading little stories to them,” Espinar says. She recommends simple bilingual children’s books that focus on colors, animals, letters, and numbers. For toddlers, try singing childhood songs and rhymes that are already familiar to a child, in the target language. That might mean singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Spanish, or the Itsy Bitsy Spider in Mandarin. This helps children learn groups of phrases in the target language rather than just words. Plus, the music and repetition will help a child remember.

Not only does this help a child become accustomed to the language—it helps a parent begin to learn too. “That could be a fun goal for parents,” she says. “If you don’t speak Spanish and you want your child to, wouldn’t it be beneficial if you spoke it as well?”

As time goes on, you’ll want to take advantage of local opportunities to engage with the target language—especially if you can’t afford to fly out and practice your French in Paris. Look into cultural festivals, restaurant visits, and even meet-ups and play dates with native speakers. “You’re going to have to make a huge extra effort,” Espinar says. “It becomes a family project.”

Daunting? Perhaps. But sticking to a language studying regimen can help take off the edge, Espinar says. When kids have time each day carved out just for language learning, it helps them (and their parents) remain enthusiastic. “Let’s not stress out the kids with it,” she says. “I see parents put a lot of pressure on kids and it makes them not want to learn and shuts them down.”

How can I teach my child a second language?

Many parents are considering teaching their child a second language, why not you? You instill in them a skill that can do nothing but help them in the future. In a globalized world, languages ​​are becoming more important and in demand, and many parents want to have their children while they are still young. But the problem with many parents is that they don’t know how to do it.

For many English-speaking parents, they grew up in a monolingual world where the only thing they learned was talking about hobbies and vacations in French classes at school. This makes the task of teaching your child a second language seem daunting. But don’t worry, there are many things you can do as a parent to help your child learn a second language, and we’re going to show you some of them. nine0003

If you are not yet sure that teaching your child a second language is right for you, then you should read our article on why you should teach your child a second language. here.

Things you can do as a parent

Your participation as a parent depends on your language level. Let’s start with bilingual parents.

Bilingual Parents

You guys are lucky to start this journey with your children armed with the most useful resources possible; themselves. nine0003

It is very easy to speak the dominant language in a bilingual family, especially if one of the parents speaks only one language and the children have preferences. And it’s understandable: you want family life to be smooth and comfortable, so you resort to your preferred language, but it won’t help your kids learn a second language if you want to.

But if you want your child to learn two languages, you will have to start speaking them at home. You can try setting days when you only speak English and specific days when you only speak your other language. Thus, the child will be well acquainted with both languages ​​and grow up in a bilingual family. nine0003

If you’re worried about excluding your partner, try to involve them as well. Remember, when you are talking to your child in your foreign language, you are not going to talk about difficult things. With gestures and encouragement, your partner will probably be able to understand what you are saying as well. This is also a good opportunity for your partner to learn some of your language.

• Do not use language as a secret language to exclude your partner.
• nine0024 Do use language to teach your children and also encourage your partner to learn some of them.

Parents with some understanding of another language

If you are not bilingual but have learned a language to some extent, you also have a good start to help your children.

How much of a second language you speak to your child will likely depend on your level of proficiency in that language. If you are confident enough and almost fluent in it, you will speak it much more than someone who has a basic understanding. nine0003

If you can understand a foreign language, use it if possible. Maybe you only know basic commands like “come here”, “sit down” and “put on your shoes”. This is normal, teach your children to hear these words, understand them and respond. If you are more confident, you are obviously going to use a lot more.

Combine this with the methods mentioned in the next section and your child should begin to learn more and more of the new language. nine0003

Important! Try not to give them your mistakes. Firstly, mistakes are always acceptable when you are learning a new language, but if you are not so confident in yourself and keep repeating the wrong things to your children, they will reinforce them and it will be much harder for them to change when they are older.

Parents are learning from scratch just like their kids are

If you’re in the position of learning a language from scratch, like your child, don’t worry, there are many things you can do to help them and learn for yourself on this way. nine0003

• Label things in the house in the new language. This is a way for you and your child to learn together and you can talk about things in a new language. If your child is a little older, you can ask them to help you make the labels.
• Sing songs in different languages ​​to and with your children. You should be able to learn a few basic songs and then sing them to your child in the new language. Such songs are good to perform with fun activities that children can imitate.

nine0023 Learn basic sentences and commands to say things like “put away toys” in a new language.

• Find YouTube channels you can watch together that teach you a new language
• Watch children’s TV shows or cartoons in different languages ​​so they can get to know them and enjoy funny cartoons at the same time.
• Walk with a student to class so that both of you can study together
• See if they can enroll in a bilingual school or kindergarten. nine0026
• Learn the basic conversations about your day or the food they like to eat and try talking to them in a new language or asking them questions
• Download apps and games to your tablet in the target language they can play in

Classes you can take with you

A great way to teach your child a second language, especially if you don’t know the language yourself, is to take him to class. You also give the child the opportunity to communicate at the same time, which is very useful for his development. nine0003

You also don’t have to worry about boring classes with lots of kids and textbooks. Now language learning is constantly improving, and in English-speaking countries there are many interesting, interactive classes with small classes.

Two examples of this in the UK:

Lingotot and Kindslingo

They specialize in small groups and games to help children learn and they focus on having fun – which is what you want for your child.

You might also consider having a tutor for your child come to your home and speak the language with them, or if you are likely to ask a nanny to help you, then why not find a foreign nanny so they can learn the language while they take care of you.

Holidays Abroad

When you plan a family trip each year, why not consider going to the country of the language you want to learn for your child. If your child is learning French, take an annual trip to France to give them the opportunity to practice their French. nine0003

And make sure you don’t just order them. Help and encourage them to start speaking French with the locals from an early age, even if it’s just ordering croissants in the morning, this conversational practice will help them a lot. Just make sure you don’t push them out of their comfort zone too quickly or it could interfere with their learning process. A fearful or negative experience with a new language can completely prevent a child from learning a language.

Give them a safe base where they can try their language skills and help them speak in manageable chunks. Obviously you won’t send them alone to buy tickets when they first speak to a Frenchman! nine0003

Another option you could do while abroad is to send them to a language course. This is something they can do in the mornings and in the afternoons they can spend some well-deserved time with their family.

Read with your children

When you teach your child a second language, make sure you read with them as if you were reading in your own language.

This is our list of recommended Spanish books for children. If you need recommendations for children’s books in other languages, just let us know. nine0003

This is the most important thing to remember. If you think that your child is learning English, he will make mistakes, say the wrong things and confuse his words. It’s a natural part of their English learning, and it’s the same if they’re learning Chinese or Spanish.

Children need to know that it’s okay if they make a mistake and they can just learn and try again. If they say something wrong, smile at them and just repeat the correct words to them. Think about it in English:

If a child says “mom, he hit me”.

You can say yes. “Yes, he hit you.”

You show the child that you understand him, but at the same time you model the correct form of language for him.

We hope you have found our tips on how to teach your child a second language helpful. If you are currently teaching them a second language, or planning to do so, let us know your tips in the comments below. We always want to know what methods have been tried, if they worked for you and if you would recommend them to others. nine0003

two approaches to make a child bilingual

Second language teaching: two approaches to make a child bilingual

Updated: 17 November 2014

Views: 3347

There are two approaches to making a child bilingual. The first is the way in which the child actively learns two languages ​​for about three years. The result is synchronous bilingualism. In the second case, the child first learns one language, and then proceeds to another. This is called consistent bilingualism. nine0003

Synchronous bilingualism

If a child learns two languages ​​at the same time from an early age, his brain processes and learns both in the same way as if there was only one language. First, he memorizes individual words, then begins to combine them into phrases, and later into sentences. The difference between bilingual and monolingual children is that the former confuse the languages. For example, in a statement in one language, they can insert a word in another. This is absolutely natural, since the child’s brain has not yet fully learned to separate languages ​​- this process takes time. The brain develops, the child memorizes more and more words and gradually learns to separate languages ​​and vocabularies (we will discuss the issue of mixing languages ​​​​in more detail in the chapter on the fifth step). There is a common misconception that bilingual babies start talking later than monolingual babies, but in fact both of them speak their first words at the age of 15-18 months. As I wrote in the previous chapter, if your child begins to speak later, but understands oral speech well, then his speech lag is minimal. if you are worried about your child’s language development, I recommend taking him to a specialist (for more on speech delays in bilingual children, see the chapter on step seven). nine0003

Consistent bilingualism

Many children learn one language in their first years of life, after which they begin to learn another. This happens when the child speaks one language (not English) at home, and English is studied in kindergarten.

When a child who speaks one language enters an environment where they speak a language that is still unfamiliar to him, he first of all learns phrases to express desires, for example, “Give!”, “Can I play?” etc. the language development of such a child can be compared with the behavior of a tourist on vacation abroad, who is able to learn a number of key phrases in the local language, such as “where is the toilet?” and “How much does it cost?”. In fact, both the tourist and the child strive to adapt and survive in a new language environment. nine0003

Knowledge of one language – or rather, experience and understanding of logic and practical ways to comprehend it – can be very useful when learning a second one. In this case, the child will begin to build complex sentences faster in a new language for him. The brain of such a child is used to training, and the second language will go easier. At the initial stages of learning, languages ​​can be mixed, and the already mastered language will inevitably manifest itself, because the child is more familiar with it. Gradually, as you learn, this mixing will decrease. Usually, about a year or two after the start of learning a second language, the child can already easily express his thoughts in a second language. nine0003

If in middle school or high school he suddenly transfers to an educational institution where teaching is in a language he does not know, the situation can be critical. after a couple of years, such students are already able to speak a new language for them, but their knowledge is clearly not enough for a thorough understanding of the intricacies of complex subjects of the school curriculum (for more details, see the chapter on the seventh step).

There are no strict rules or guidelines as to when exactly one should (or should not) start learning a second language. If you are already giving your child a new language, it is extremely important not to give up the first one. Thanks to this approach

• knowledge of the first language and practical skills in its use will be deepened;
• using the experience of learning the first language will help to master the second.

Which approach is more effective: simultaneous or bilingual?

if the child stays in the language environment for a long time and talks a lot on his own, the approach does not matter much. Personally, I see that a synchronous approach in the case when parents speak with the child in both languages ​​from the moment of birth is more productive. It is not only more effective, but also easier for the father and mother. nine0003

The brain of children is more flexible than that of adults, so it will be difficult for parents to switch after four, five or more years of communicating with a child in one language and start talking to him in another. if they start learning both languages ​​immediately after the birth of the child, they will save themselves from unnecessary stress, because their son or daughter will have more time left before school starts.

As already mentioned, if the matter is shelved, the child may grow up monolingual.

Tips for parents who choose a synchronous approach to learning

1. Start slowly. Keep in mind that if you overdo it at the beginning, the child may feel uncomfortable with the new language.
2. At first, to simplify understanding, it makes sense to translate to the child what you say in a new language, but gradually you need to get rid of this practice.
3. Start communicating with your child in a new language at certain times and during certain activities. the main thing is not to rush, so that in the process you can explain everything in detail. For example, Sunday breakfast is the perfect time. No one is in a hurry and everyone is in a good mood. Then gradually master the new situation with a new set of words. For example, while bathing a child, learn words and expressions related to bathing and washing. nine0026
4. Start reading simple books in a new language. Translate and simplify phrases as needed. Reading aloud helps you learn and remember new words.
5. Gradually increase the time you devote to learning a second language. Add new contexts and activities, such as watching TV and playing on the computer.
6. Praise your child when he answers you in a second language.
7. Don’t give up! Do not forget that time is the best assistant in your endeavor. nine0026

Q&A

–– My daughter is very shy. Although French is still the only language the girl understands, she speaks very little of it in kindergarten. Soon she will go to a kindergarten where they speak English. Do I need to be prepared for the fact that there she will stop talking altogether?

Shy children sometimes become even more withdrawn, experiencing a period of silence, if they find themselves in a new environment and language environment.