Foreign language for preschoolers: 7 Simple Ways of Teaching Foreign Language to Preschoolers

Опубликовано: December 28, 2022 в 10:31 am

Автор: alexxlab

Категории: Miscellaneous

7 Simple Ways of Teaching Foreign Language to Preschoolers

If your child is between the ages of 2 and 5, you may be wondering how to teach them a new language.

Whether this is just a second language spoken in your family, a heritage language, or even just a second language you would like to learn as a family, starting in preschool is the right choice.

But how do you actually go about teaching a foreign language to a preschooler? I have 7 simple tips that can help your preschooler acquire a new language.

How to Introduce a Foreign Language?

There are many ways to introduce a foreign language to a child. If you speak a heritage language, simply speaking it around your child in a one parent one language approach is one way. Another way is to introduce the new language in the context of their play. There is also one parent one language approach.

1.

One Parent One Language

This method involves each parent speaking one language with the child. So if one parent is fluent in Arabic and the other parent is fluent in Spanish, each parent would only speak with the child in their respective language.

This became popular in 1908 when Jules Ronjat used it with his own child and popularized the method. This is still a popular method of teaching your child a second language today.

2.

Learning in a Playful Way- Simon Says

If you are introducing a foreign language to your child, you can do so while playing. This helps them remember what they learned during play, and it also gives the parent a chance to use the second language with their child.

For instance, if your child is fluent in English, you can teach them a new word in their second language while playing a language game as Simon Says.

Simon can give partial or complete commands in the second language. Children can use their context clues (or hints from you) to figure out what was said.

5 More Ways to Teach a Foreign Language

There are many different approaches to teaching a foreign language to kids. You can use games, reading bilingual books, TV/movies, and more to teach your little one to speak a second language.

While I am saying teach your child a second language, it’s more about acquiring the language through conversation and using it.

3.

Play Missing Word

Young children are very good at using context clues to understand what you’re saying. If you miss a word, your child can make a guess and is usually right.

So instead of missing a word, you can replace a word in a sentence, so your child starts learning the vocabulary of their soon-to-be new language.

For instance, if you teach your child Spanish, you can say, “It’s time to brush los dientes,” instead of “It’s time to brush your teeth.”

They can use their context clues to start figuring out what it is time for.

We played this with my children, mostly with articles of clothing first, then body parts. Slowly our sentences became more the new language than the old language.

4.

Reading Bilingual Books

Books that have words in both their native language and the language you want them to learn are an excellent resource for when you are teaching the new language.

Some bilingual books feature word exchanges, as we did in the game above.

Other bilingual books have the story written in both languages, so you can read the same passage in both languages to your child.

5.

Using TV shows and Movies to Teach a Foreign Language to Preschoolers

Tv shows and movies are a great way to make language learning fun and engaging for young children.

If you are teaching your child a new language, I recommend watching one of the Disney Junior programs in that language, if possible.

If that is not possible, find cartoons in the new language and play those. You will be amazed at how much language your child will acquire in this way.

Start with short 15-minute episodes and slowly work your way up.

You can also use this method for reading cartoon books for practice as well. If you aren’t familiar with the vocabulary in the cartoon books, you can find the words on Youtube or Google and print them out for practice.

6. Sing Children Songs in the New Language

Simple children’s songs that revolve around animals, colors, letters, and numbers are an excellent way to practice language skills with your preschooler.

Singing in the new language is a great way to introduce the language. Your child will learn to associate words with actions.

7.

New Language I Spy

Once your child starts to learn colors and shapes in the new language, you can start using that new knowledge to play I Spy but in their new language.

This allows them to learn new words as well.

If they do not know the word once they figure out the clues, it is an excellent opportunity to teach that word to your child.

I Spy is played by one person saying, “I Spy with my little eye,” and then telling them to find something.

For example, I said, “I spy with my little eye something that is…” And include new vocabulary words.

You can even say the entire phrase in your new language. If the child uses the native word when they figure out the clue, gently give them the word in the new language.

What is the best age to start learning a second language?

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recommends that children should be introduced to a foreign language early, either as toddlers or preschoolers.

Research on the subject has shown that it is not necessary to start teaching foreign languages at an early age for a child to learn the language, so don’t feel like you missed your window. Introducing another language is always beneficial to children.

Many parents worry about their child being able to learn a foreign language because of how young they are.

Children of this age can absorb new information effortlessly and retain it without much effort, even if they are in elementary school or preschool.

Considering Immersion as a Teaching Option?

One of the most drastic but quickest ways to learn a new language at any age is through immersion. Many people do this (we did!) and find success. If you’re considering moving overseas for your children’s language learning but are still struggling to decide if it’s right, get access to my masterclasses where I help guide you through pros and cons and the all-important “but can we afford it,” issue.

The Takeaway

Teaching a preschooler a new language should not be like teaching a high schooler a new language.

Leave the flashcards behind and help your preschooler acquire language through fun games and everyday exposure.

Teaching a preschooler a new language should not be rushed.

Your child will learn the words relevant to the task at hand. With time, they will become proficient in the new language.

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Teaching Foreign Language to Preschoolers: 4 Practical Tips

Inside: Tips and tricks on teaching foreign language to preschoolers.

Today I’m welcoming Josefina Cabello, who is an Ecuadorian Spanish Teacher in Tennessee and TpT creator. She has been teaching Spanish since 2011, taught ESL for 5 years in Ecuador, and loves empanadas (I’m right there with you, Josefina!). She’s got some practical tips for those of us teaching that extra-lovable and extra-wiggly age: preschool learners!

Teaching preschoolers for the first time can get a little challenging. The famous saying “time flies” becomes a reality with these kids. Having extra activities “just in case” becomes a must for every lesson planning.

After almost 10 years of teaching, my preschool classes are the ones I find the easiest when it comes to plan and teach. Here are my 4 tips when you are teaching foreign language to preschoolers.

You also might like: Preschool Spanish Lessons and Ideas.

TIP #1: PLAN AHEAD AND A LITTLE EXTRA.

Plan accordingly and ahead. Depending on the time length of your class, plan activities to keep your students engaged

Here is a how a typical preschool class goes for me (30 minutes period)

Sing songs or chants to review colors, numbers and shapes. (length: 5 minutes)
Introduce content: Bring something to get student’s attention, use realia, puppets, costumes, the list is endless. But this stage is very critical to keep students engaged (length: 5-7 minutes)
Review content: Use flashcards, memory game, bingo, I spy, anything visual and that keep students moving (length: 10 minutes)
Worksheet or group work: I create worksheets where students have to cut, paste, circle, color or follow my commands. Work together with your students, monitor them at all times. (length: 5 minutes)
Extras: We read a book, watch a video or play a game to review our content. This extra is always good in case any of the previous activities do not work right.

TIP #2: DON’T BE AFRAID TO BE SILLY!

Kids love it when you “play games” or “act silly.” It’s like you are speaking their language (even if you are speaking, say, Spanish). Bring on the puppets and action figures, kids love it when teachers use toys to teach their lessons.

When I am showing my flashcards teaching parts of the body, I love to joke with my kids. I tape a flashcards to my arm or to my nose and act like I do not know where it is. This way when kids say “your nose” I say “Oh, mi nariz?” and is not until my student repeats the word “nariz” I miraculously find the flashcard.

TIP #3: LISTEN TO YOUR PRESCHOOLERS, BUT STAY ON TASK.

Johnny wants to tell you about the Daniel Tiger episode when the cake got smushed. Sandy wants to show you her Peppa pig t-shirt and Danny wants to tell you about the Paw Patrol party he had on Saturday. Kids love it when you listen, and even more when you get engaged in the conversation, but you also need to stay on task. A sweet and nice way to ask them to stay on task could be by replying: “that sounds great, maybe we can talk about that after our circle time” or “I love Paw Patrol! maybe you tell me a little bit more after our circle time”. Keep your promise and ask them later.

When students are working on their worksheets, when you see them on the carpool line or in the cafeteria, show them you care. Tell Johnny that you hope Daniel Tiger gets a new cake on tomorrow’s episode, tell Sandy her new Peppa Pig shirt looks so pretty and ask Danny who is his favorite pup from Paw Patrol (just say yours is Chase or Marshall).

I created these for my students to review “feelings”. I have some Daniel Tiger fans in my classroom. They were beyond thrilled with these.

TIP #4: KEEP IT SHORT, FUN AND FRESH

Short: I try to keep my activities’ length no more than 5 minutes. Preschoolers have a short attention span and once you lose the attention from a couple of kids, it is a domino effect in the classroom.

Fun: Keep them moving. Teach them a “bachata” song to introduce the word “amigo”, play “flyswatter” to review family members vocabulary, or review Christmas vocabulary with fun activites.

Fresh: Preschoolers like routines, but also things that are new and fresh. Keep the routine for songs and chants to review numbers and colors. But bring some fun elements to the classroom, specially when you are introducing new content.

If you include flashcards in your class, here are some fun ideas:

Find your match: Give a group of students the labels and another group the pictures, ask them to find their match.
Left or right: Get two flashcards and place one on your left hand and one on your right hand. Call out one flashcard and make students guess in which hand you have it.
Flyswatter: Place all flashcard on the board. Give 2 students a fly swatter and ask them to “hit” the word you call out.
Thief in the market: Choose a small number of flashcards (say 5). Show these flashcards to your students. Ask your students to cover their eyes and invite one student to open his/her eyes and “steal” one card. They can either guess who stole the card or they can tell which card is missing. Great way to review “tienes” and “no tengo”

Most important, be yourself and enjoy teaching these little ones! They have so much energy and can bring so much joy to your everyday teaching.

Did I miss anything? Leave a comment with an extra tip for teaching foreign language to preschoolers.

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Easy Ways to Teach Your Child a Foreign Language From 0-6 Years

Did you know that your kiddo’s young mind is wired to pick up new languages naturally?

Lucky them, huh! Us adults can have a tougher time getting a handle on new vocabulary.

This is why it’s ideal to introduce a second language early, even while they’re still learning English.

Giving your child a motivating, fun environment and activities to learn new words will help boost the cognitive milestones they hit in those early learning stages.

Let’s take a look at some easy-peasy ways to nurture your child’s second language development at home from bubs to 8 years old.

Play-based learning activities
(Babies – 4 years)

Play is the universal language of kids and plays (pardon the pun) an incredibly important role in helping your child learn new words and phrases. If you missed my article about play-based learning, I recommend checking it out over here.

Play helps develop listening skills, the ability to follow directions, develop vocabulary and social skills – like sharing.

Talk through what you and your child are doing during playtime, introducing new vocabulary along the way.

You can build play into everyday activities and create an opportunity to use the target language, making a game out of getting dressed, playing with different utensils when prepping food, or bath time. If you’re looking for practical ideas on how to get started, make sure you get your hands on my free guide: How To Teach Your Kids a Second Language: Even If You’re Not Fluent

In our weekly language lessons, I follow a step by step guide that includes a 30 minute play-based lesson plans in our Cultured Home programs designed specifically to develop language skills.

And P.S – we’ve received awesome feedback from parents about our lesson plans, so check them out!

Get moving!
(3 – 4 years)

This is a great activity to nurture the development of action words – and burn off extra energy!

Basically, you call out the action RUN! JUMP! CLAP! SPIN! in your target language and then do the action together. A good game to play outside.

Create a learning space
(3 – 6 years)

The learning environment is called the third teacher in the Reggio Emilia approach to learning and creating a stimulating space at home where your kiddo can play is important.

Now, I love Pinterest inspo as much as the next mum, but you definitely don’t have to create a Pinterest-worthy playroom or space. It just needs to be simple and functional with a happy vibe!

Your space might include –

A mini library

A collection of a few age-appropriate books in the target language and a chair or bean bag to get comfy reading in.

A play area

This could be an area with a small table and a shelf holding toys that are sorted into plastic tubs.

You can label the tubs with images and words in English and the second language; for example Animals / Animali (Italian) for the plastic bin of farm animals.

Tools to create art

Keep an art caddy with basic materials for your child to do simple activities like worksheets for coloring, drawing and tracing words.

Through coloring, toddlers develop their fine motor skills, which is helpful when it’s time to learn how to write.

You want to create an inviting space that your child wants to come to – yep, this means it’s gonna need to be somewhere close to the action (ie – you) otherwise it won’t be used.

Keep up a constant narrative
(Babies – 2 years)

For bubs through to little toddlers, talking through what you’re doing, even though they won’t talk (coherently!) back, is important to give them as much language exposure as possible. Use the same sentences when doing routine activities like getting dressed.

If you’re a non-native speaker, translate the common words and phrases you need and begin to use them – your bub won’t be the only one learning a new language!

Choose toys that support language development
(1 to 4 years)

Oh my, there are so many awesome toys out there that can help you teach your child a new language. Here are a few tried and true favourites I love to recommend-

Duplo

Toys don’t get much more classic than Duplo – Legos bigger brother. These blocks are great for freewheeling imaginative play and the chance to introduce new words to describe what your toddler is doing. The bright colours of the blocks are also perfect for introducing colours in the new language.

Schleich Animals

These animal figurines are brilliant for independent play and particularly for learning animal names in the new language.

Grimm’s Blocks

Grimm’s blocks are gorgeous. These natural toys are well renowned educational toys used extensively in kindergartens and by speech and occupational therapists.

Activities with a clear beginning, middle, and end, are great too. Things like wooden puzzles, shape sorters, stacking rings, and simple sorting activities.

Label things around the house
(4 – 8 years)

This is a tip for the older kids, 4 to 8 years. Putting labels on things they see regularly is a great way to help them memorise new words in the target language.

Label stuff like the fridge, mirror, furniture, appliances, electronics, and toys. If you’re not a native speaker yourself, this is a handy way for you to pick up new vocabulary too!

Make vocabulary ‘drills’ fun with flashcards
(3 – 8 years)

High repetition vocab drills definitely play a role in learning new words and phrases – the problem with repetitive learning activities though is kids can get bored of them really quickly.

Unless you make them interesting with super fun flashcards! That’s one of the reasons I created our Cultured Home illustrated flashcard packs, to bring awesomeness back to word ‘drills’.

Create a routine for learning time with flashcards, it might be 10 minutes in the morning after breakfast or at night before bedtime. You can show the card and make up sentences using the words that are relevant to your child.

One Person One Language Method
(Babies – 8 years)

If you or your partner are native-speakers, you can use one of the most common strategies for raising bilingual kids – the ‘one person, one language’ method.

Basically, each parent consistently speaks a different language to the child. You might speak native Spanish with your child, while your partner speaks with them in English.

This method is widely recognised as one of the best ways to teach a child two languages from birth because it ensures your child has regular exposure to both languages.

Have a daily ‘foreign language’ set time at home
(3 – 8 years)

This is one’s for the native-speaking mamas. Set a time each day, the same time, where you only speak in the target language to your kiddos.

The idea is to have natural conversations, rather than structured lessons. It’s just you and them going about your usual activities but switching from English to the target language.

Non-native mamas, you can set up a specific daily time too, but it would be more lesson / activity-based, rather than just talking.

Use car time for video language engagement
(2 – 8 years)

Video lessons / watching content in the target language is important for your child to get enough exposure to the native tongue if you don’t speak the language yourself.

I think car time is a great opportunity to play some videos on a device and keep your kiddos entertained and learning while you’re running errands – and is one of the main reasons we created our video language lessons – so you can play them on the go or at home!

Get out and explore different cultural events
(All ages!)

Travelling overseas with your kids is an incredible learning experience for language exposure. But, if the budget doesn’t quite stretch to a paella fuelled family trip to Barcelona (*sigh) no worries!

It’s as easy as googling ‘cultural events / festivals in __________’ to find a festival celebrating another culture in your city.

Eating in a restaurant that serves traditional food or checking out museum exhibits that showcase cultures around the world is also a great way to create a cultural experience without jumping on a plane.

I hope these tips have started to get you excited about just what’s possible with your kids and help you take that next step.

For practical resources and a plan to move forward week in and our, make sure you check out The Cultured Home + The Cultured Classroom – weekly language lessons that help you introduce a foreign language at home – particularly for those who don’t speak the language themselves!

Au revoir!

✨ Psst… When you’re ready, here are a few ways I can help you get started with teaching your kids a foreign language at home. ..

1. Download my free 10 Page Guide for Parents to help you see how easy introducing a foreign language at home can be – especially if you don’t speak the language at all.

2. Want a plan to run consistent language lessons that are fun and easy?
Access your first week of play based foreign language lessons for FREE here, all that’s left is to select your language + start today!

3. Looking for a 12 month, step-by-step plan and play based resources to help you introduce a language to your little ones with EASE? Quit scrolling on Pinterest and Join our 12 Month Annual Lesson Bundles to get everything you need to started and KEEP GOING!

Foreign language teaching methods to help children speak fluently

So, you need to encourage your child to use the words they learn as often as possible outside the classroom, because the best way to learn any language is to use it.

Of course, the role of parents can be crucial here. First, the key thing is to motivate the child, not force them. When they are young, children acquire knowledge best in stress-free and pressure-free environments – through play. Therefore, it is necessary to create a stimulating and supportive environment for learning a foreign language.

What does a stimulating environment for language learning look like?

A child should feel safe and protected, and learn a second language outside of school in a completely natural way, similar to the way they’ve acquired their native language.
We need to praise and reward the child for everything they do right. If they encounter an obstacle, it is important to support them and overcome it together.
If you feel the child is tired, let them have some rest and enjoy other activities. Simply, learning a foreign language outside the classroom should be more like play than formal education.

Experts may not be able to tell you what the easiest way to learn a foreign language is, but they do recommend the best time when your child should start acquiring it. Specifically:

Research categorically proves that learning foreign languages at an early age gives the best results. Therefore, your child should acquire a second language in addition to their native language.

However, what is it that enables children to acquire languages more easily than adults?

Natural acquisition. When they start acquiring their native language, young children use their innate, instinctive strategies of language acquisition which enable them to start speaking at such an early age. It is similar with foreign languages – the younger the children, the more they will rely on these innate strategies and be more successful. An example of this is children whose parents speak different native languages. Such children will easily master both languages in early childhood.

In contrast, as children grow up, these effective innate strategies give way to other forms of learning, so they start learning languages by memorizing words and grammar rules, similar to the way they learn other school subjects, and consequently, the language in question is no longer a natural part of the child’s expression.

More time and space. When they are in preschool or early primary school, children still don’t have as many responsibilities nor do they receive huge amounts of information which leaves more space in their brains for learning foreign languages.

One of the best indicators of whether a child will be able to speak a second language fluently is the time when they started learning it. Children who started learning a foreign language later in life will often master its grammar rules without difficulty, but they will always differ from children who started learning it at an early age in one thing – pronunciation.

Children who naturally acquire a second language at an early age often have far better pronunciation and a sense of language than their friends who started learning the same language later. The language simply becomes part of their natural environment, and as a result, their command of it later in life is far better.

Many children picked up a language at a very early age simply by watching cartoons, mastering the grammar rules later when they already possessed a developed sense of that language.

So, regardless of whether your child is in kindergarten, preschool or primary school, you need to occasionally work with them in your free time to help them master a foreign language and speak it fluently.

There are many interesting and educational ways to help you achieve this while having fun with your child and doing something useful.

7 Foreign language teaching methods to help your child master a foreign language

1. Learn together

To help your child solve math problems, you need to be able to do arithmetic. If you want to teach them to read and write, you have to be literate yourself. And what about foreign languages, do you have to speak a language in order to help your child acquire it?

Yes and no.

Here’s the secret:

If you have already mastered the basics of the foreign language your child is learning, it will certainly be much easier to help them by learning together with them.
Grab this opportunity to master the basics of a foreign language with your child.

Don’t be embarrassed and don’t hold back: your goal is, first and foremost, to help your child, and you know you are ready to do anything for them. In addition, this is also an opportunity for you to learn the basics of a foreign language, so use it. Think of this as a great opportunity to spend quality time with your child doing something useful and constructive.

We will tell you a secret:

Children learn through observation and models, i.e. they imitate examples from their environment. This way, you will teach your child much more than the knowledge of language – you will imbue them with a positive attitude toward learning.

Namely, when your child sees that learning is something you do with pleasure, they will understand that it is a positive activity people practice all their lives, and that this activity can be fun and will bring them closer to their parents, which is the ultimate desire of every child.

If your child adopts a positive attitude toward learning at an early age, they will cultivate it throughout their life, and this means that you will not have the problem most parents face. You will not have to force your child to study, because they will acquire good work habits and develop a responsibility toward learning from an early age.

2. Play games in a foreign language

When they are young, children learn spontaneously about the world around them – through everyday activities. However, one of the best and most efficient forms of learning is through their favorite activity – play.

Learning through play is a proven method for the acquisition of a foreign language. For example, playing hide-and-seek with children can be a great way to teach them to count in that language. Also, the use of educational technology gives excellent results in foreign language learning at an early age.

You can find a number of interesting games or applications online, such as interactive puzzles that can help your child to learn the names of colors, animals and shapes in different languages. This way, apart from adopting words of a foreign language, the child will simultaneously acquire other important knowledge about the world.

3. Play cartoons and children’s shows in a foreign language

When learning a foreign language, you must take the following into account – there is a big difference between language exposure and language learning.

Usually, when we talk about language learning, we mean learning the grammar rules, memorizing words and drills. However, the most important thing for young children is to be exposed to the sounds, rhythm and melody of a language. And one of the best ways to do it is playing cartoons and children’s shows.

At a young age, children master speech by listening, repeating and associating words with certain actions. This is why many children are able to master a foreign language simply by watching cartoons in that language.

Also, many cartoons and TV shows are designed specifically for language learning where children are introduced to the meaning and pronunciation of words through the adventures of the cartoon heroes.

Exposure to a foreign language from an early age has another great effect on your child. It will make their pronunciation similar or indistinguishable from the pronunciation of a native speaker.

Simply, children are great imitators and adopt new things easily at an early age, including pronunciation, unlike older students who almost always retain their native accent.

4. Singing songs in a foreign language

Children love songs, and melody helps them memorize a number of words, which is why songs are a great memorization and learning technique. Singing songs in the target language is a great and efficient way to help your child master a foreign language, but also a great opportunity to spend some time together and have fun. Find children’s songs on YouTube that your child may like and don’t be afraid to sing along. Before you know it, your child will learn the song by heart.

5. Read books in a foreign language

You will find a number of specialized books for learning different languages from an early age in bookstores. With your help in reading, writing and meaning of words, your child will soon master the meaning and pronunciation of foreign words. You can also read simple bedtime stories in a foreign language. Such stories usually contain common phrases so the child will easily memorize them.

6. Include a foreign language into your daily activities

In early childhood, children absorb everything like sponges, so you don’t need any special aids for learning. Simply, go to the park, shop, or the playroom and play a game by first naming the objects, shapes and colors you encounter in your native language, and then in the target language. This is the best way for a child to learn words of the target language, because they will associate them with the objects and phenomena in their surroundings, and thus they will be able to actually use them when necessary.

This way, in addition to the foreign language, the child will also unconsciously strengthen their native language through play.

7. Learn a foreign language online

If your child has a second language at school, adopting a language in another, less formal way is a welcome distraction from classes, and a desirable and effective learning strategy. Learning a foreign language online is not only fun and often free, but also a good way for your child to further advance their language skills.

The great thing about learning a foreign language online is that it is completely in line with the children’s lifestyle: lessons are short and include tests, and children can solve these tests on their phone anywhere, between other activities. These sites and applications are packed full of engaging and fun activities for kids that will hold your child’s attention much better than traditional classes.

Acquiring a second language broadens our horizons, introduces us to other cultures and represents a valuable tool in our formation as a personality, and in our professional life. Parents have an important role in this process, just like school does. We hope the tips from this text will help you make the foreign language more relatable to your child.

The 13 Best Online Language Learning Resources for Kids

By Sheena Dizon and Stevie D.
Last updated:

July 18, 2022

Looking for the best online language learning programs for your kid(s)?

Whether you’re a language learner yourself or just an awesome parent/caretaker, giving children access to the joys and endless benefits of acquiring a new language is one of the best things you can do for them.

Let’s look at the best in online language learning for kids.

When Is the Best Time to Start Learning a New Language?
3 Characteristics of a Kid-friendly Language Learning Program
- Interactivity
- Creativity
- Variety
13 Online Language Learning Resources for Kids and Kids at Heart
- Little Pim
- FluentU
- MUZZY
- Duolingo
- Dino Lingo
- PetraLingua
- Mango Languages
- Languagenut
- PBS Learning Media
- Unuhi: Bilingual Books
- Studycat
- Gus on the Go
- Mondly Kids

Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)

When Is the Best Time to Start Learning a New Language?

It’s no secret that it takes significantly less effort for a child to learn a new language compared to an adult. It’s even easier for babies to learn two languages at the same time, considering that they’re a blank slate, whereas adults have to make a conscious effort to not apply grammar and pronunciation in their mother tongue to their target language.

This begs the question of when the optimal age is for learning a language to fluency. Is it during infancy? Does the probability of reaching native-level proficiency significantly decrease if a kid only starts learning a second language as a teen?

For a while, most people believed that kids must start learning in early childhood in order to become bilingual. However, an MIT study from 2018 indicates that it’s highly likely for children to become fluent in another language if they start before the age of 10. In addition, after the age of 18, learning grammar concepts in a new language become increasingly more difficult.

To be honest, the results of this study aren’t all that surprising. And while the research states a cutoff age or a critical period for foreign language acquisition, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t become bilingual, trilingual or even multilingual as an adult. It mostly depends on the learning strategy.

Think about it. Kids will easily learn their mother tongue or parents’ native language because they’re constantly surrounded by the language either at home, school or both. They pick up languages quickly through this immersive environment and they don’t spend as much time analyzing grammar structures.

Although immersion is definitely a learning method that adults can benefit from, maturity also comes with the ability to do better with explicit rules and explanations of language concepts.

So when is the best time, you ask?

The earlier you or your kids start, the better. Starting before age 10 is recommended.

But at the same time, know that it’s never too late to learn a new language!

3 Characteristics of a Kid-friendly Language Learning Program

Before I list the resources that you’re looking for, I’m going to give you the three most impoerant characteristics of a kid-friendly program. Think of them as the three equally supportive legs of a stool.

Interactivity

A language learning program tailored for kids is highly interactive. It engages the senses and imagination and makes the kids an important part of the learning process.

When dealing with children, a straight-up passive lecture isn’t effective. They barely can sit still, much less keep their eyes on the lesson. You’re dealing with short attention spans and so you need to use activity after activity to keep them engaged in the lesson.

A kid-friendly program gives children something to do—with their hands, their eyes, their imaginations. It doesn’t expect them to get through the whole thing without a fuss.

So an online resource full of boring text won’t be a hit. It’ll barely register. If a language learning program is full of paragraphs, then move on.

Kids don’t think of language learning as a linguistic goal made up of words and phrases. They think of it as an activity—a game, a dance, a song or an audiovisual experience. They engage in the experience and forget that they’re already learning about the language.

So it’s like you’re layering the lessons behind some fun activities.

This is unlike the adult programs where the language lessons are so explicit and in your face. It’s not like kids are going to say to themselves, “Okay, today I’m gonna memorize 10 vocabulary words about food.”

Creativity

I’m sure you’ve had the experience of asking your little one to do something she doesn’t want to do. You’re feeding her, for example, and she stops opening her mouth, resisting you at every turn. So you start getting creative. You turn that tiny spoon into an airplane, doing backflips and somersaults in the air. Sometimes it’s a train “choo-choo-choo-ing” into her mouth.

Eating is an activity, but your way is more fun and creative.

Memorizing a list of words from a sheet of paper is also an activity. But it’s hardly creative. When dealing with kids, a program has to rise to their level of creativity and imagination. I’m talking about bright colors, moving objects, talking animals, cartoon characters, changing scenery, storylines, rescue missions, interplanetary drama, etc.

Suddenly, your kid isn’t just learning about numbers, he’s counting gold coins in Czech so he can buy the flying pony he’ll use to rescue the princess. And when he’s done saving her, he gets to meet her family—the king, some rowdy uncles—and along the way, learn about family vocabulary. That’s an activity, and a creative one!

Variety

They say that variety is the spice of life. If the same thing is done over and over, the novelty soon wears off. It’s not a challenge anymore. It becomes a chore.

Kids will only engage with material if it still interests them. If there’s something new, something unexpected.

They don’t care if they learn the language lessons you want them to or not. They don’t look far into the future and think, “Being bilingual will raise my value at work.” They’re in the present, thinking, “What’s in it for me right now?”

And if it’s the same thing over and over, they’ll want nothing to do with it.

A good online language learning program for kids knows this. That’s why the creators throw in plenty of different activities. They try to teach the same lesson in different ways. For example, a lesson about numbers can be taught in a song. It can also be taught in a story, or a game, so the kids don’t get sick of the same lesson. Because hey, it’s not really the same lesson. (Wink!)

Resources can also test for the same vocabulary set in different ways, even involving different skills. They can test for pronunciation by asking the children to speak into a microphone, they can do word pairs and they can make the activity more interactive by asking the kids to type in the answer. They can also tap into that competitive spirit and facilitate language contests with other students online.

A good rule of thumb is that a really good online resource for kids will have at least five different types of creative activities.

With all that being said, I’m now going to show you some of the best online resources for kids today.

13 Online Language Learning Resources for Kids and Kids at Heart

Some of these programs are specifically made for kids, while others are all-ages programs that just happen to have features that are great for kids.

Both types of programs have their advantages. With programs designed for kids, you can rest assured that your children are being catered to by experts, whereas with general programs, you may be more inclined to join in on the fun!

Little Pim

Recommended age: 1-6

Available languages: Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, German, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and English/ESL with English or Spanish.

Adults might run for dear life at the sight of a bear, but kids think they’re cute and cuddly.

Little Pim, that lovable panda, can be your children’s video guide to learning any or all of the 12 languages on offer. What used to be recorded on multiple DVDs can now be video streamed or digitally downloaded, but you still get that Little Pim cuteness and goofy goodness that won the program over 25 awards.

Their learning system, the Entertainment Immersion Method, was developed by top language teachers and neuroscientists. It employs repetition, play and child-friendly themes to tap into toddlers’ natural love for learning. The videos are a combination of animations and live-action clips that introduce topics like colors and numbers. They run for only five minutes to accommodate a young audience.

The program has a single subscription for all the languages, which also includes offline activities and printable, as well as more resources and learning tips. A subscription will set you back $9.99 per month, or $69.99 for the whole year. You can also access the companion guides to each lesson for free for a visual representation of the language taught in the program.

FluentU

Android | iOS

Recommended age: all ages

Available languages: Chinese, Spanish, French, English, German, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Russian, Portuguese in development.

FluentU is your best bet for using authentic language learning videos and audio clips to teach languages the whole family will enjoy. While other programs often only have a handful of videos, FluentU has a wide variety of video clips that cover all language levels—from absolute beginners to advanced learners—as well as all ages.

FluentU takes real online videos and turns them into lessons that are personalized and digestible. You won’t have to struggle to get your kids away from the TV to do their language practice, because they’ll be able to watch the same sort of stuff they’d be entranced by on TV, anyway—but in the target language.

Videos range from content made specifically to appeal to children—like cartoons, music videos and movie trailers—to content you may enjoy yourself—such as politics, news and TED talks. This means you may want to help select content that’s appropriate for your child’s age, level and interests, but this is a great opportunity for you to get involved in the language learning process and for you and your kids to learn both individually and together as a family.

Each video comes with interactive subtitles that allow you to get an instant translation of unknown words as well as dictionary entries for each word. You can also practice these new words with personalized quizzes that allow for written and voice input.

MUZZY

Android | iOS

Recommended age: all ages

Available languages: Online: Spanish (Latin America or Catalonian), French, English (British or American), German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese and Korean. On DVD: Spanish, French, English, German, Italian and Mandarin Chinese.

MUZZY is the BBC’s answer to language learning for all ages. This immersion program, described as “The World’s #1 Language Course for Children,” is centered around animated characters and stories in video “episodes.” The episodes are designed to naturally build on one another, enabling your child to learn through an engaging, interactive method, rather than traditional “teaching.”

You can get started with the online program for $14.66 per month, or save by going with a semi-annual or annual plan. You also have the option of a DVD set with a risk-free trial period and payment plan. You can watch the videos wherever is convenient, whether that’s on the website or the apps, or through an on-demand service like Roku, FireTV or Chromecast.

The program will introduce your child to 600+ vocabulary words and cover everyday topics like telling time, talking about food, transportation, occupations, basic tenses (past, present and future), asking questions and more.

Since Muzzy BBC is effective for all types of learners and is meant to let your child learn the language naturally, it’s a great low-pressure way to expose kids to a second language at any age.

Duolingo

Android | iOS

Recommended age: all ages

Available languages: 37 languages (some in beta), including some unique options like Navajo and Scottish Gaelic, as well as fantasy languages like High Valerian and Klingon.

Duolingo is one of the most popular language-learning programs online. It’s so successful because it’s (mostly) free, and it gives adults permission to learn like little kids!

The app divides lessons into bite-sized game-like experiences. It uses repetition and different interactive activities to embed vocabulary into your mind and keep it fresh. Learners are given little tasks. The idea is, the more of these teenie tiny tasks they do, the better they’ll remember the target language.

Duolingo also uses audio prompts and pictures, as well as animal cartoon characters to keep things fun.

This combination of fun and learning makes Duolingo an excellent option for kids as well as adults, so you can easily participate in it with your child. You can guide him and give instant feedback, making for some great joint language learning!

Duolingo may look simple and straightforward, but there’s actually a lot going on under the hood. Learners may be asked to choose the translation of a word from the given choices. Sometimes, the actual translation needs to be typed. Sometimes, the task goes the other way and learners are given the English translation and are asked to supply the target language equivalent.

Duolingo repeats the tasks, goes back and forth between languages, mixes and matches previously learned words and keeps learners on their toes. It also does a good job of remembering the words learners have difficulty with so they can be offered for review.

Duolingo is free, but a premium subscription is available for $12.99 per month (or less if you commit to more time), and includes perks like no ads, offline access and unlimited use of the app.

Dino Lingo

Android | iOS

Recommended age: 2-12

Available languages: 51 languages including popular languages like Chinese, Spanish and German, and less popular choices like Danish, Pubjabi and Hawaiian.

Dino Lingo is an award-winning language program for kids, named so for the cute dinosaurs who introduce your kids to their target languages. The program gets children learning new languages through games, songs, videos, worksheets and more. Languages come with a wide range of excellent resources created with kids in mind, like audiobooks and storybooks, flashcards and games such as memory games and word wheels (for vocab acquisition).

The program covers everyday topics like household items, family, body parts, clothes, nature and actions. It does so in a colorful and fun way that’ll have your kids happily repeating these lessons over and over.

Dino Lingo offers a subscription for $19.99 per month, or $119 for a full year. You can also stream videos on your Smart TV

Parents can also print some easily downloadable worksheets and activity books, so you can not only work closely with your little one, but also get a window into the things that they’re learning. This way, you can gauge a child’s progress and give them a helping hand.

PetraLingua

Recommended age: 3-10

Available languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, German and French.

PetraLingua is a multimedia vocabulary builder. Each course has 21 lessons that teach a range of vocabulary, from colors and clothing to fruits and vegetables. You can actually check the full list of topics covered before committing.

All told, each course features around 500 basic words, 80 animated language-learning videos, 11 songs, 140 interactive online games, a talking picture dictionary and a downloadable activity book.

Each lesson opens with an introductory video that identifies the vocabulary set that can be learned in that lesson. This is then followed by a parade of reinforcing activities, exercises and games that’ll help kids learn the new words. These include listen-and-repeat, listen-and-click and word-matching tasks that allow the kids to deal with the words in different contexts.

All told, each course features around 500 basic words, 80 language learning videos, 11 language learning songs, 140 interactive online games and a talking picture dictionary. For as low as $7.99 a month, or $47.99 if you commit to a year, you have yourself a great deal.

You can now purchase physical learning sets for each language for $89.99. These sets come with DVDs, CDs, books, songs and games, and include a year’s access to the PetraLingua online program.

Mango Languages

Android | iOS

Recommended age: 6 and up

Available languages: 70+ languages, from popular options to lesser-known options.

Your kids are going to need headphones for this one. The uniqueness of the program lies in its focus on conversational skills. If you want your kids to study in the morning and try out their newly learned phrases on the whole family in the afternoon, go with Mango Languages. It has that effect on children.

Each lesson starts by listening to a few lines of basic dialogue or conversation. The audio is accompanied by clear text of the whole exchange, and everything is color-coded so you can easily see which words correspond to their translations.

In the remainder of the lesson, the whole dialogue is deconstructed and broken down into lines, phrases and words. There’s a “Play” icon on every line so learners can self-pace and repeat the lines as often as needed. The learner is guided line-by-line and hears how each word is correctly spoken. If you hover the mouse on a particular line, up goes a translation of it.

You can even try using your microphone to compare your pronunciation to the native version you just heard!

Parents will appreciate the tracking tools, which let you see how your child is doing in their learning, and gives gentle reminders when it’s time to study some more.

For $17.99 a month, you and as many as five kids can start learning practically any language in the world. You can also choose to focus on just one language at $6.67 per month, instead.

Languagenut

iOS

Recommended age: 5-14

Available languages: Elementary school learners: 23 modern foreign languages, including English, French, Spanish, German and Mandarin. High school learners: Spanish, French and German.

Languagenut is the perfect vocabulary builder, pronunciation partner and spelling teacher. The program amply covers all bases and touches on all four key linguistic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The program has specific games that address each.

It’s widely used in schools in 32 countries around the world as a supplemental language teaching tool. But the program can be equally valuable for homeschooling families.

Languagenut may tackle the same topics (numbers, colors, greetings) as many other language programs, but it has some of the most graphically compelling interfaces on this side of language learning.

The elementary school program will teach your kids 440 words and phrases through 23 units. Target words are taught through 13 speaking, listening, reading and writing games. You’ll also find verb conjugation exercises, stories, songs and more.

There’s also specific content created for high schoolers who are learning Spanish, German or French. These programs take into account the learners’ age and provide engaging games, exercises and activities.

Plus, each program across their entire selection comes with 31 support languages—that means you can learn your target language from the comfort of your native language.

Pricing is available on request, and you can book a demo before committing.

PBS Learning Media

Recommended age: 2 and up

Available languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, German and Chinese.

Although this program doesn’t offer as many languages as the others on this list, PBS Learning Media does well in tackling all the different language skills in their audio and video lessons.

The clips are divided by grade levels: PreK-K, K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. There are only 16 videos available across all the languages in the PreK-K section, but the rest of the levels have a substantial amount of content with around 200 videos.

The section for grades 3-5 contains almost 400 videos, so PBS Learning Media would be particularly useful for elementary-aged kids. This level is also great for adults who want to learn like kids but find the early childhood content too simple.

Other than language and level, you can filter your search further by audio, video, interactive or themed collection.

The audio clips tend to be short, mainly focusing on listening and speaking skills, while the videos are a mix of songs, conversations and standard lessons. The standard video lessons are quite handy since they also come with supporting materials for teachers, such as the lesson plan, video transcript, flashcards, assessments and more.

There are also interactive video lessons which are normally part of a series. These interactive lessons allow you to learn new vocabulary through cute adventure games where you can explore with the arrow keys and select correct terms with the mouse.

All the videos and activities are free to use, but you’ll get additional resources if you sign up as a teacher.

Unuhi: Bilingual Books

Android | iOS

Recommended age: 2-10

Available languages: English, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Thai. Audio narration: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Mandarin Chinese.

Meaning “translate” in Hawaiian, Unuhi is a remarkable app for teaching a foreign language to children. Not only does it allow your kids to learn in their native tongue, but it also does it through the art of storytelling. Reading is crucial for cognitive development, and letting the little ones read bilingual stories in early childhood will also form their ability to think in the second language.

To help them read out loud, audio narration by native speakers is available for some languages, with more options currently underway.

The stories are short, with each page containing only one sentence in dual languages, accompanied by beautiful illustrations to let the kids visually connect with new vocabulary words. To reinforce these new words, Unuhi has numerous sets of flashcards that you and the kids can practice with.

Once you open up the app, you’ll be asked to select your two languages, but you also have the option to remove the second one if you want to focus on one language at a time.

The app is completely free to download and it gives you access to one e-book. You can either purchase moe e-books individually or select a bundle. Once you’ve purchased them, you can download them directly onto your device so you can access each story without an internet connection.

Studycat

Android | iOS

Recommended age: 3-10

Available languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, French and German.

Created by a language teacher, artist and game designer in 2000, Studycat was a small classroom program that became a hit among the students. Because it was so popular with the kids, the founders turned it into a digital curriculum that they could share with fellow language teachers, schools and parents. Then, in 2011, the app was born to reach learners across the globe.

Studycat is the virtual teacher and learning buddy that’ll guide kids through phonics and more than 500 vocabulary terms and grammar points which align with the Cambridge Young Learners Starters program.

But instead of Studycat taking over the lesson, kids learn through fun and play—specifically interactive games, original songs and relatable cartoon characters with different voices so learners can listen to the language in different accents.

And the best part of it is that you can use the apps offline, with no pop-up ads or external links for distraction-free learning.

There’s also the Studycat Club, which grants you access to a wide selection of resources, great for family and classroom learning, students and teachers alike. These additional resources help to balance screen time and inspire teachers to create their lesson plans and diversify their teaching methods.

Pricing is available upon request. You can also sign up for a free trial.

Gus on the Go

iOS

Recommended age: 3-7

Available languages: 30 languages, from popular options like Portuguese to vulnerable tongues like Ingush.

Gus is a friendly owl that helps children explore the languages of the world through interactive exercises and adorable animations. Each language has its own app, so feel free to download as many languages as you want.

After every lesson, there’s a lesson review composed of fun exercises. Completing the review will unlock a cute game and trophies, which is very helpful in keeping the little ones motivated to learn more vocabulary words. The words taught in these lessons are very basic, themed around animals, food and colors, among others, making this a very good starting point for complete beginners.

Some of the languages also have free printables, such as flashcards and crafts, to supplement what you’re learning from the apps.

And once you or your kids are ready to move past the basic vocabulary, you can go on to their latest innovation known as Stories by Gus on the Go. As you can guess, this app lets you learn your target language through classic stories, brought to life with the introduction of new characters and audio narration so you can read and listen to the story.

So far, Stories by Gus on the Go is only available in four languages: French, Greek, Hebrew and Spanish.

Mondly Kids

Android | iOS

Recommended age: 5-12

Available languages: 33 languages, from popular choices like Korean and Spanish to less common options like Farsi and Afrikaans.

Known for its innovation in language education technology, Mondly now offers gamified lessons for kids. In addition to the regular Mondly features (quick daily lessons and audio by professional native speakers), the Mondly Kids app has really kid-friendly illustrations and cool sound effects to keep them engaged with new vocab words.

And unlike the original app that includes a leaderboard, the statistics on the kids’ app are exhibited on a brain map. It’s a smart move to remove the competitive element of the original Mondly app, as having the little ones participate in this kind of competition might add unnecessary stress and pressure to a program that’s meant to be fun.

The Mondly app for kids is quite impressive in terms of the topics they cover. Other than the standard food, animals, colors, numbers and parts of the body, they also have categories such as buildings, leisure and professions.

On top of the free daily lessons, there are 77 premium lessons, with a total of 400 words and 75 new phrases to learn. There are also weekly quizzes that still follow that gamified format.

The app is ad-free so that you and your kids can simply focus on language learning.

Pricing information can be found on their website.

Check out these 13 programs and test them for yourself.

Each program has its strengths and specialties, so choose whatever fits your situation.

And if you really want to make the best of it, learn a language with your kid. Two birds, one stone.

Good luck!

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Sheena Dizon

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13 Amusing Language Techniques for Kids

Have you tried all sorts of language techniques with your child to no avail? Motivating kids to learn a new language can be extremely difficult! But there is hope for parents: we are here to the rescue. We will reveal the most amusing techniques for teaching kids foreign languages. Read on to discover:

how songs and poetry can promote language learning;
why play is important for children’s learning;
foreign language DIY activities and games for your kid!

Statistics

The seven most learned languages by kids all over the world are: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and German. What language kids choose to learn varies depending on where they are from.

When it comes to the United States, 70% of elementary school students are learning Spanish. According to statistics, 15% of them are learning French and less than 5% German. While Asian languages, like Japanese and Chinese, are predicted to grow in popularity, at the moment they are being studied by just over 1% of American kids.

In Europe, kids are mostly learning English (97.3%), French (33.8%), and German (23.1%), which are followed by Spanish (13.6%), Russian (2.7%), and Italian (1.1%).

Learning by heart

1. Learning poems

It is useful to learn texts in foreign languages by heart because it helps to activate one’s vocabulary and grammar while improving their pronunciation and intonation. A lot of children are made to learn folk songs, poems, and proverbs when learning languages at school because it plays a big role in developing fluency. With poems, vocabulary seems to stick in the learner’s mind for easier recall later.

Learning rhymes is easier than learning prose. This is because the prose is composed of long sentences, and our brains are optimized to filter out unnecessary information when reading it, capturing only the crux of a story.

With poetry and rhymes, however, our brain automatically receives the signal that the structure of the text is important, making us remember it. Poetry is also more expressive, imaginative, and emotional than prose, which aids our memory.

When picking rhymes for your child to learn remember that they should:

be short: because children have short attention spans and often struggle with focus.
be easy to understand: because kids are more likely to remember a rhyme, poem, or story if they understand its meaning
contain only familiar grammar constructions: because unknown grammar can be confusing and intimidating for kids
contain mostly familiar words: because challenging words are likely to distract from learning

To organize the process of learning poems by heart, follow these steps:

Start learning only if you and your child are both in a good mood.
Learn the poem together.
To achieve the best result, follow the scheme:

read the 1^st line aloud
let your child repeat it
repeat steps 1 and 2 several times (if your child agrees)
read the 1^st and the 2^nd line aloud
let your child repeat them
repeat steps 4 and 5 several times
read the 1^st, the 2^nd, and the 3^rd line aloud
let your child repeat them
repeat steps 7 and 8 several times

…and so on.

2. Singing songs

Not into poetry? Songs are even easier to remember than rhymes! This is because, according to science, music helps us remember things better because of a process called “chunking” whereby we group individual pieces of information together into larger units (chunks). Our short-term memory can only hold about 7 units of information at a time, and music allows us to chunk lyrics together by linking words and phrases in a song, making it more likely we will remember the song.

It is advisable to teach your kids songs by accompanying them with movements because children love to move and dance. Making an activity fun helps kids learn a language, and they are more likely to recall it if they learned it while enjoying themselves.

3 popular kids’ songs with movements are:

“Head, shoulders, knees and toes” in English
“Tourne Tourne Petit Moulin” in French
“El baile de la fruta” by Pica Pica in Spanish

Playing activities

3. Games

Psychologists from all over the world advise teaching kids anything in a playful manner because play helps to nurture imagination and gives a child a sense of adventure. Play is actually the best way to learn a language for young kids, according to experts. Through it, they can learn essential skills such as problem-solving, working with others, sharing, and even language skills.

If you decide to teach your kid a language through playing, keep games short, always remembering a child’s attention span is short. Play for however long the child is interested and cooperative, no longer than 30 minutes or an hour with toddlers.

5 popular and easy language games that are suitable for learning any foreign language are:

Guess the Language
Simon Says
Matching the Terms
Scavenger Hunt
Something on Your Forehead

4. Tabletop games

Tabletop games are games that are normally played on a table or another flat surface. They include board games, card games, and dice games.

Normally, kids become interested in playing tabletop games after the age of 10, as they require a level of sophistication. However, there are games with easy rules that can be understood by younger kids, too.

To buy tabletop games for kids in foreign languages, your best bet is a toy store in a foreign country during your travels! However, if you are looking to purchase one online, try Amazon and Etsy.

The great news is you can also easily adapt your normal tabletop games to learning foreign languages! For example, why not use bingo and dominoes for learning numbers and new words in another language?

5. Toys of foreign origin

Even just by knowing a toy brand’s name, your kid can practice a foreign language! 5 toy brands with names that can enrich your kids’ vocabulary are: ‘My little pony’, ‘Hot Wheels’, ‘Clever Sticks’, ‘Play Doh’, and ‘Cabbage Patch Kids’. But there are more! Pay attention to them next time you enter a kids’ store.

Parents should encourage their children to remember the toys’ ‘true’ names and not their translated versions, thus enhancing their vocabulary.

6. Going on treasure hunts

A scavenger hunt is a game in which the organizers prepare a list containing specific items or tasks that the participants must seek to gather or complete.

Kids love scavenger hunts because they allow them to use their problem-solving skills in a tangible way. Scavenger hunts are easy to customize to your child’s abilities, which means they are perfect for youngsters of any age.

You can incorporate scavenger hunts into learning foreign languages by setting up the clues for locations or items in a foreign language!

7. Collecting things

Kids also love collecting different things like shells, flowers, or leaves! This is because it allows them to spend time outside in nature while expressing their individuality through their specific interest and finding things that they can offer to others.

A great idea for language learning is to ask your child to collect some items that they like, to organize a small exhibition, and to write a caption for each exhibit in another language.

8. DIY

Another activity that kids are fond of is DIY. Children love to spend time with their parents crafting while creating nice memories. DIY activities help kids develop their creativity and it should not come as a surprise that they can be used to teach languages, too.

5 DIY activities that can be combined with learning foreign languages are:

making hand puppets and putting on a show in a foreign language
creating greeting cards in foreign languages
cooking a foreign meal together with the parents
inflating balloons to learn the names of colors in another language
make stick animals to learn their names in a foreign language

Go digital!

9. Cartoons

Children get a lot of joy from watching cartoons. This is because cartoons are fun and they can learn from them easily, while they also transport them into magical worlds.

There are 2 types of cartoons that you can use to teach a kid a language, i. e. cartoons where the heroes speak only the foreign language and ones where they speak partly one’s mother tongue and partly the foreign language.

The advantage of a cartoon that exclusively uses a foreign language is that it really challenges a child to pay attention, accelerating learning. On the other hand, cartoons in two languages are better for a smoother learning process that is more gradual and probably best for younger kids. The latter often involve heroes asking children to repeat some words or phrases in a foreign language. Kids always do it with great pleasure!

10. Gadgets

Kids also love playing with mobile devices. These days, they can become familiar and fascinated with them at a very young age, drawn in by their interactivity and imitating the adults they see using them.

However, gadgets are quite an evil for kids’ eyes and health! If you are going to be using smartphones, however, it is best to do so for productive activities, like learning foreign languages. Opt for a tablet rather than for a smartphone because its screen is larger and it will cause less tension in your kids’ eyes.

The 4 best apps for kids learning foreign languages are:

Teach Kids Languages
Little Pim
Gus Οn the Go
Mind Snacks

11. Taking photos

Using a smartphone, kids can take photos from a very early age these days! Some children even have a talent for it and there is nothing to suggest your kid could not be a great photographer at age 8 or 9!

Photography is exciting for children because it allows them to express themselves and easily unleash their creativity.

For language learning purposes, you can ask your child to take several photos of their toys. Then let them show you the photos and call the toys in the foreign language.

Another idea is to ask your child to write a short story based on the photos, which kids over the age of 5 should be able to do. With the help of this task, you can teach them simple grammar constructions too, such as “This is my ball” or “This is a green car”.

12. Shooting videos

Like with photography, even young children should be able to shoot a simple video these days using a smartphone. This is a particularly stimulating activity for children, as it gives them the feeling of creating a movie.

Try filming a short video in a foreign language with your child where they describe their toys or anything that interests them. As you would with the photographs discussed above, use the video to teach simple grammar by getting your child to narrate the film.

13. Online lessons

3 advantages of learning foreign languages with language tutors online are the facts that:

you can learn from anywhere,
it’s more budget-friendly than traditional foreign language classes,
you get to learn from native speakers.

If you decide to choose an online tutor for your child, it is important to take the following into consideration:

their references and credentials
their training
their expertise in the subject taught
if they have a good rapport with your child

On the e-learning platform Eurekly, you can find a professional online language tutor for kids like the following experts:

Nathalie, from Belgium, teaches French for kids. A multilingual individual with a passion for language, culture, and travel, she has been teaching since 2012 after receiving her Master of Arts in Linguistics and Literature French/Spanish. She teaches different levels of proficiency and ages using a wide range of fun resources to encourage participation and progression.
Ivonne is a German native teaching the language to kids. As an educator and foreign language assistant, she takes pride in designing foreign language lessons that feel comfortable to her students concentrating on their individual needs in lessons supported by worksheets and vocabulary lists.
Youngkeun is a professional tutor of Korean for kids. She conducts fun lessons and aims to teach you to speak Korean with confidence and like a natural! Having worked as an educator and a choir conductor, she has extensive experience teaching and training young people and loves to introduce her culture to others.

Eurekly tutors practice a personal approach to every child and their lessons are fun. Why not try one of their free trial lessons and see for yourself?

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Preschoolers learn English, German, French or Spanish in small groups. The main task at this age is to freely speak a foreign language on familiar topics without fear. There is no cramming or boring memorization in our classes. Learning a foreign language on the course “English for Preschoolers” takes place in a natural, relaxed atmosphere, the most important thing for us is that the child enjoys learning, then success is guaranteed. This approach fully reflects the principles of neuropedagogy, which is based on the introduction of modern psychological and pedagogical technologies into education. Thanks to this, classes with kids help from a very early age to develop not only language skills, but also the personality as a whole.

Our unique innovative method has proven itself in the best way, the results are visible in practice – our little Polyglots ™ are ahead of their peers in knowledge, they speak a foreign language fluently. We regularly update our programs in accordance with the achievements of world linguistics and pedagogy. The structure of the lesson allows children to study, repeat and remember the material being studied in a fun way. Our classes are never boring!

Children aged 4 to 5

Learning objectives:

Increase both passive and active vocabulary
Intuitive understanding of the meaning of teacher’s free speech
Understanding sentence structure and grammar
Communication on simple familiar topics
Vocabulary enhancement
Development of psychological and physiological qualities of personality

Vocabulary: 420 words

Course Features:

This English for Kids course is ideal for children learning their first foreign language. Classes are held in mini-groups in the form of a game. Outdoor games, songs, creative tasks stimulate children to learn English. The topics studied in the classroom are familiar to the child, surround him in everyday life: toys, family, home, animals, food, clothing, free time, nature, seasons, transport. Lessons are built taking into account the age characteristics of the child, do not tire him and contribute to harmonious development, since they are based on the laws of neuropedagogy. Classes are held in a friendly creative environment, so children come to us with pleasure.

Children aged 5 to 6

Learning objectives:

Increase active vocabulary
Strengthening passive vocabulary
Development of speech skills
Listening (perception and understanding of sounding speech)
Free communication on familiar topics with teachers and students
Teaching reading and writing
Formation of personality taking into account age characteristics

Vocabulary: 750 words

Course features:

In this course, children significantly increase their vocabulary. The pace of learning becomes more intense, but learning also takes place in a playful way. A variety of exercises, games, creative activities help to strengthen the knowledge already gained, to learn new concepts. Communication is becoming more and more relaxed and active, children use questions, questions, expressive statements, conduct free dialogues on simple topics. We start writing and reading. Learning success at this age is especially evident, which certainly motivates little Polyglots™. This approach contributes to the formation of the child’s personality and takes into account age-related needs.

Children aged 6 to 7

Learning objectives:

Development of listening skills
Advanced Grammar
Listening (perception and understanding of sounding speech)
Free communication on familiar topics with teachers and students
Teaching reading
Teaching writing
Reading comprehension
Personal development assistance
Release of psychological clamps

Vocabulary: 750 words

Course Features:

The English for Preschoolers course is ideal for those who will soon start school. Children actively explore new topics and concepts. We pay special attention to the development of listening and fluent speaking skills. Children learn to communicate fluently in English in everyday life. We study passive grammar: functions, meanings of building elements of the English language. We spend more and more time at the table, doing grammar exercises, developing reading and writing skills. However, this does not make the classes boring, because, despite the in-depth intensive study of the English language, the classes are held in a creative and friendly atmosphere. We do a lot of interactive tasks, draw, color, solve crossword puzzles, move and sing. This allows us to take into account the features of the brain at a young age according to the laws of neuropedagogy. A variety of activities form new contacts between brain cells and prepare the baby for school.

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Tuition fees

Group lessons	from 300 rubles/session	Sign up
Individual lessons	from 450 rubles/session
Kindergarten	from 7 000 rub/month
* The offer is not a public offer. The minimum price of training is indicated, taking into account current promotions and discounts. Specify the exact price for the course of study you are interested in at the Polyglot Center.

Group lessons

from 300 rubles/session

Private lessons

from 450 rubles/session

Kindergarten

from 7 000 rub/month

* The offer is not a public offer. The minimum price of training is indicated, taking into account current promotions and discounts. Specify the exact price for the course of study you are interested in at the Polyglot Center.

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English for preschoolers

Foreign from 3 months (just kidding). It’s just awful how much information. So, so, so… English for preschoolers. English for preschool children. English lessons for preschoolers … Oh, I found: the first steps in learning a foreign language, Green Country English School.

Content

English for preschoolers. Let the show start
Types of English language teaching for preschoolers
Home English language education for preschool children VS school education
Motivating preschool children to study English
English lesson for preschoolers. Write, read, listen or speak?

From the first days of life, we try to help our baby on the path of his development, to push, to direct him in the right direction. And one of the significant stages is the study of English at preschool age. After all, it is now that the child’s personality is being formed, he is trying to find and understand himself in this world, he begins to cooperate with the surrounding children. Communication becomes one of the important factors in your child’s interaction with the outside world. And our task as parents is to help, to give the best, especially when it comes to teaching English to preschool children. In this article, you will find methods that will help your baby achieve the desired goal: to speak a foreign language.

English for preschoolers. Let the show started

English lessons for preschoolers are an investment in your child’s future

Let’s talk about what your child needs in the early stages of learning. If you decide to practice a foreign language from the first days, then songs, lullabies are best suited. So, for your child, when he grows up, the sound of foreign words will not be a shock. In addition, at an earlier age, the child’s brain records everything on the “film” of the subconscious and then it will be easier for him to read information from there. It is a lot of fun and both you and your baby will like it, and if you also dance with him while singing, you will get twice as much pleasure. Moreover, if you do not know a foreign language, now you can learn it together. It’s simple and fun. I offer you the following scheme for learning English with preschoolers by songs:

Find a song you like.
Listen to it once.
Find the words to the song. Print them out or save them as bookmarks. Read the song once. Try to understand what it is about.
Check unfamiliar words in the dictionary. You can write them out. Or read the Russian translation of the song.
Now you can look at the lyrics and sing along with the performer for your baby.

But if your baby is already 2-3 years old and only now you are thinking about teaching your child, then I propose to consider some features of teaching English to preschool children at home and in a language school.

Types of teaching English to preschoolers

You may have already guessed what we are going to talk about. Yes, there are not so many types of teaching English to preschoolers, namely:

home
school
online (but it can also be attributed to home)

English lessons are fun and interesting for preschoolers

Individually they are not so good. Parents may not have time at home, and school may seem difficult. But together they are very effective. And if you send your child to Green Country School, then you definitely will not regret it. After all, we have an individual approach to each preschooler, a personal account with tasks that can be done at home, a specially designed program of the flipped lesson. We completely forgot to say: with us your child will be able to attend master classes, where we will not only deepen him into a foreign language, but also connect mathematics, geography, yoga and much more.

Let’s take a closer look at the difference between home and school English for preschoolers. Why don’t they work separately, but together – what is needed?

Home English teaching for preschoolers VS school teaching

How we waited for our baby to be 1 year old. The whole family prepared. And now we are already 3 years old. There were many joys and experiences during this period, many events are still waiting for us in this life. Three years are a very important, transitional moment in the life of both children and parents. After all, right now the period of the child’s perception of himself as an inseparable whole with his mother ends and the period of his “I”, separation, individuality begins.

Children like English lessons for preschoolers

When teaching English to preschool children, all these psychological characteristics should be taken into account and approached as a game. It is also important to remember that the process of teaching English to a preschooler should be enjoyable for your child. If we, adults, can still overpower ourselves and do what we don’t like, then a child can’t. If, nevertheless, you force him to do what he does not like, then there is a high probability of harming and almost forever destroying the love of learning a foreign language.

So if you decide to conduct English lessons with a preschooler on your own, try to come up with or find interesting games, tasks in which the child should be involved. I give examples of English activities with a preschooler below, so that it is easier for you and so that you do not spend a lot of time searching for them.

List of games to prepare for an English lesson with a preschooler:

Cards with words (word + translation + picture). A very good way to learn English. You can make them yourself or use Quizlet. On this site you will even find ready-made words. All you have to do is print them out. And the English lesson for preschool children is already ready, it remains to come up with a couple of games.
Card games:
• Show me. Lay out the cards in front of the child, say a certain word. The child must choose the correct card.
• Yes-No game. Show the child a card and name the words, but only incorrectly. For example, a hippopotamus is drawn, and you name a tiger. Your baby must tell if you are correct or not.
• What’s missing. Lay out a row of cards (4-5). Speak words to your child. Then ask the child to close their eyes. Remove one card. The child opens his eyes and looks for which card is missing.

English lessons for preschoolers promote general development
Magic bag. Put objects already familiar to the child in English in a bag so that he does not see. Ask him to take one item out of the bag and name it.
Touch your leg, nose, hand… (parts of the body). You say: “Touch your leg.” The child must touch the leg. Of course, before this game, your baby should already know the parts of the body in English.
Poems. Another very good way when teaching English to preschool children. There is a rhythm in the verses, which helps to quickly memorize phrases, words, grammatical constructions. Plus, if you do not just learn a verse, but play a short scene with your child, then you will get more pleasure and a more effective result. After all, then your child will show and tell this verse everywhere.
Watch educational cartoons in English. Good for teaching English to a preschooler are small cartoons of 5-10 minutes in which the same words are repeated many times. If you think that your child does not understand anything, then you are mistaken. In such small cartoons, everything is very clearly shown, for example, if we are talking about a hat, then the cartoon character will hold it in his hands, show and say that it is “hat”. It can be such cartoons as English singsing, Big Muzzy and others. It will be good if you not only watch cartoons, but also learn small fragments from them.

How much information, you say… And that’s not even half. But not everyone has the time to cut out cards. In this case, it is best for you to give your baby to the reliable, warm, almost motherly hands of the Green Country school. Only we have an individual approach to each preschooler. We take into account all the smallest nuances when teaching English to preschoolers. Also, as already noted in the article, the socialization of children plays an important role in the preschool period. By choosing a Green Country school, you give your child the opportunity to communicate with peers in English. Green Country is like 3 in 1 coffee: play, have fun and learn at the same time. It is we who provide training in aerobatics in English for preschool children. And you can calmly, without fear, let your baby go on a further flight.

Now let’s compare the pros and cons of teaching English at home and at school for preschoolers.

Home schooling	Education at the English school Green Country
The child studies with his mother. Familiar surroundings, less stress.	A preschooler is learning English with peers. The process of socialization is faster.
Mom needs some time to prepare tasks and games for learning.	The best specialists have developed a special technique that will help your child fall in love with English and become fluent in it in the future.
If your English is not very good, your child may also make mistakes, which then need to be corrected.	Your preschooler will be taught a foreign language by the best teachers with impeccable knowledge of English, who at the same time love children very much.
A child may sometimes not perceive his mother as a teacher.	Teaching English at school – disciplines, contributes to a more responsible perception of the subject.
Since the child learns English at home, parents do not need to spend time on the road.	Preschoolers in English classes, in addition to the main subject, learn to interact in a team.
The child feels more relaxed, sometimes he will have to be convinced that he needs to study English.	There is a healthy competitive atmosphere in the school. Children do their best in front of each other.

This table shows that both home and school education have pros and cons. But together they complement each other. So you can not hesitate to send your child to our Green Country school and combine it with homework. You will have ready-made materials on which you can conduct English lessons with your preschooler at home.

Motivating preschool children to learn English

When teaching English to preschool children, the biggest motivation will be interest and fun. We have already discussed that if a child does not want to do something, it is very difficult to force him, you can even harm him and permanently discourage him from studying not only English, but also other subjects. But these two components will open the door to the amazing, cognitive world of the English language for your preschooler. Until your baby understands, does not fully realize that English is the language spoken by more than half of the world, that people who know English are more competitive, they have better paid jobs, they think differently. We understand this as parents. But if a child likes something, he will want to do it again and again, and in this way we instill in him a love of learning, learning English and more. After all, in the future it will be better to study, to work the person who burns with his work, and not the one who does everything under duress. So let’s remember that in addition to the parental “should”, there is also “I want” or “I don’t want” a child, and it’s better to make sure that the preschooler wants to study English. And here, parents can also face the task: what is the first thing to teach a child – to write, read, speak or hear English speech? I suggest taking a closer look.

English lesson for preschoolers. Write, read, listen or speak?

English lessons for preschoolers make new friends

“Here you need to improve your grammar… Oh, I forgot how to spell this word again… And I also want to read Shakespeare in the original…” what to say about children. After all, English for preschool children has its own specifics.

Do you remember how we had an English lesson at school? First we learn the alphabet, then the rules of reading, we start a dictionary and write out all unfamiliar words there along with transcription, then we learn grammar, do exercises, etc. What about talking? Not provided, because you first need to learn how to write and read. And the head of a 7-year-old child swells and swells until it bursts. What can you say about a 3-5 year old child? In this way, you can beat off his love of learning English forever.

By choosing the wrong methods, some schools are digging their own grave and trying to drag their students into it. Green Country School took into account all the factors above and created a comprehensive approach to teaching English to preschool children. In an English lesson for preschoolers, there is 80% practice and 20% theory. Children learn to use the information received in practice, consolidate the material at home and begin to learn new things. At the English lesson for preschoolers, we also do not forget about interactive tasks, combine the knowledge gained with drawing, modeling and dancing, and it is the children who attend the Green Country English School that develop faster, learn to speak English, socialize, and achieve success in later life . Don’t waste your time, money and energy on a bunch of English lessons for your preschooler, put them in the warm, loving and professional hands of the Green Country English teachers and you won’t regret it.

Anastasia Biryukova

Foreign language in kindergarten

Municipal autonomous preschool educational institution “Kindergarten No. 20 of the general developmental type “Mosaic” of the Chistopol municipal district of the Republic of Tatarstan

The possibilities of a foreign language as an academic subject in the implementation of the strategic focus of the kindergarten on personal development are truly unique. It is known that preschool age is favorable for learning a foreign language, since a small child has a well-developed long-term memory.

In the modern world, due to global, geopolitical, economic and socio-cultural changes, more stringent requirements are imposed on a person. There is a growing need to communicate fluently in a foreign language, and sometimes even in several. The way and volume of perception of information has changed, so it is necessary to change approaches to learning. There is an opinion that early teaching of foreign languages complicates the content of preschool education, and is harmful, as it deprives the child of childhood. However, studies have shown that the study of foreign languages, with the correct organization of classes, develops children, increases their educational and cultural level.

It has already been proven that early learning of foreign languages not only accelerates the formation of foreign language communicative competence, but also has a positive effect on the overall development of the child. It should be noted that early learning of a foreign language is understood as learning carried out on the basis of an intuitive-practical approach in the period from the birth of a child to his schooling.

Possessing a high plasticity of the functions of the brain and psyche, children have great potential for development, the realization of which depends on the upbringing and education of adults around them. Therefore, they must begin to develop in various directions from the first days of life.

At the Institute in Philadelphia (USA), under the guidance of a well-known doctor in the United States, Glenn Doman, they proved that the most effective learning occurs during the period of brain growth. Therefore, it is much easier to teach something to young children. And the ability to master speech is inherited by the child from the moment of birth and manifests itself from the first years of life. A child could speak several languages at once, if the people raising him formed for him (artificially or naturally) different language environments. Then it becomes more difficult for older children to master foreign languages. The fact is that by the age of six, a child is fluent in speech in his native language, communicates freely with people around him, and the unique properties inherent in the mechanism of the ability to speak freeze, since they have already ensured the viability of the organism in the environment and their purpose for the organism has been exhausted. And the assimilation of a foreign language occurs in the process of purposeful learning, more on the basis of the action of such functions as memory, thinking, and will.

In addition, it has been noted that a child who has learned any activity early (including early learning a foreign language), if he continues these activities, loves to learn, easily studies himself and never suffers from idleness and boredom. Thus, the child develops a positive educational motivation.

It has been proven that children remember best the words that name what they are interested in and has emotional significance for them. The emotional factor is generally of great importance in the process of learning a foreign language.

Emotionality is easily combined with artistry. At foreign language lessons in kindergarten, an artistic environment is also often and successfully created. Theatrical, musical, literary or other activities of children in teaching a foreign language not only arouse their genuine interest and desire for learning, but also have a positive impact on the development of their personal characteristics [4].

According to psychologists such as L.C. Vygodsky, L.V. Shcherba, the study of a foreign language has a positive effect on the development of native speech. Long-term experimental teaching of a foreign language, carried out by the team of the foreign language teaching laboratory of the Research Institute of General and Secondary Education of the Russian Federation, confirmed the positive impact of the subject on the general mental development of children, on developing in them ways of adequate behavior in various life situations, and on better mastery of their native language. The most favorable period to start learning foreign languages psychologists determine the age from 2 to 8 years.

This is not a complete list of the positive results of early learning a foreign language. It must always be remembered that the main principle in any training is its humanistic orientation.

There are many opinions about which method of teaching kids a foreign language should be chosen. One of the most relevant and effective methods is teaching a foreign language in a playful way.

The largest theorist of gaming activity D.B. Elkonin singles out four most important functions for a child in play: a means of developing the motivational-need sphere; means of knowledge; a means of developing mental actions; a means of developing voluntary behavior. Game activity has an impact on the development of attention, memory, thinking, and imagination [8].

So, the game is a teaching tool that activates the mental activity of children. The learning process through the game becomes more attractive and interesting, makes you worry and worry, which forms a powerful incentive to master languages.

At the initial stage, G.V. Rogov and I.N. Vereshchagin, E.I. Passov, D.B. Elkonin, E.I. Negnevitskaya and other scientists, methodologists and psychologists.

The problem of finding the organization of training at the middle and senior stages was reflected in the works of N. A. Salanovich, V.V. Andrievskaya and other authors.

However, the problem of the specifics of the organization of the educational process with the inclusion of gaming activities at various stages of education – primary, secondary and senior – has not yet been sufficiently studied. The most important condition for the effectiveness of educational games is the strict consideration of the age-related psychological and pedagogical characteristics of students.

For example, when teaching a foreign language to young children, it is necessary to take into account such features as inquisitiveness and curiosity. Also, it is important to remember that it is difficult for them to keep their attention on one activity for a long time. Therefore, their activities in the classroom should be diverse, emotionally saturated. Many methodologists believe that at preschool age, the goal of learning is more successfully achieved with game motivation and with peer assessment of behavior.

Children master the role-playing game by the third year of life, get acquainted with human relations, discover the presence of experiences in themselves. Children develop imagination and the symbolic function of consciousness, which allow them to transfer the properties of some things to others, an orientation in their own feelings arises, and the skills of their cultural expression are formed. And this allows them to be included in collective activities and communication. As a result of the development of gaming activities in preschool age, a readiness for learning is formed.

Games can be used for the introduction and consolidation of vocabulary, for the formation of skills and abilities of oral speech. It is in the process of playing activity that conditions are created for the natural communication of children.

How many years have many of us adults studied English? At school, at the institute. We have a decent vocabulary, but we speak much worse English than any teenager on the streets of Europe. Why we, having studied English for years, cannot communicate in it, but our children speak it? They answer the teacher’s questions, play, even make comments to each other only in English. It’s all about different methods. Always and everywhere (including in pre-revolutionary Russia), a foreign language was NOT STUDYED, it was simply spoken. And the child gradually, step by step, mastered a foreign language. And the system by which today’s adults studied and by which, unfortunately, many children are still studying (and not only in schools, but often in paid courses), is based on the principle “from the alphabet – to the word, from the word – to the phrase “. Based on a comparative analysis of the most modern methods of teaching English, we chose the course of V.N. Meshcheryakova.

Our teaching aids

Stage I for children 3-5 years old

II stage for children 4-6 years old

III Stage

A child from 3-4 years old can join the English language, but it is not necessary to learn it at all. What do kids this age like to do the most? Of course, sing and play! That is why we use a musical-game form in English classes according to the method of Valeria Meshcheryakova. And in this, the main help is provided by the audio application to our classes, the I CAN SING disc for children 3-5 years old and the I CAN SPEAK methodological guide for children 5-7 years old. The purpose of teaching by this method is not to memorize individual words and phrases, but to teach to communicate in English, to learn by playing. In children 3-9For years, there has been the ability to “imprint” entire language blocks into the brain without analyzing them. It is thanks to this ability that we all learned our native language. And it is this ability that we use, working according to this method. “Imprinting” the structures of the language being studied occurs most effectively when immersed in the language environment, so the lessons are conducted entirely in English. The teacher has a whole arsenal of means to bring the meaning of what was said to the child, bypassing direct translation. This is visualization, and gestures, etc.

Group and individual English classes under the program of Valeria Meshcheryakova “I LOVE ENGLISH” are designed for children from 2 to 9 years old.

The I Love English technique is completely playful. It is with the help of a variety of games that we achieve a complete understanding and assimilation of the material being studied.

Toys from England come to visit children and communicate with them in English. Singing, outdoor games, dancing help children feel comfortable in the classroom, and they choose the measure of their inclusion and activity themselves (there are many such children who at first prefer to be on the sidelines, observe, and then gradually join the general activity). In the lessons, we, first of all, use the hearing aid – we teach children to hear foreign speech and understand it. This is the first step to speaking.

The goals of our classes:

– mental and social development of the child through a foreign language; – Acquaintance and introduction to a foreign language;

– the formation of a positive attitude of the child to the study of English, the development of his interest in the language;

– development of the ability to listen and understand foreign speech;

– formation of the center of foreign speech in children.

The I LOVE ENGLISH method is unique and gives excellent results, and most importantly, children simply fall in love with English and attend classes with joy. The principle that guides V. Meshcheryakova when developing training programs is as follows: “Classes should bring pleasure to the child.”

Literature:

1. Amonashvili Sh.A. Psychological features of mastering a second language by younger students // Foreign languages at school. – 1986. – No. 2. – P. 24-27.

2. Barannikov A.V. On the introduction of a foreign language in the 2nd grade of primary school in the context of an experiment to update the structure and content of general education in the 2002/2003 academic year // Foreign Languages at School. – 2002. – No. 2.-C.4-10.

3. Vitol A.B. Do preschoolers need a foreign language? // Foreign language at school, 2000, No. 6.-p.24-25.

4. Komarova E.P., Tregubova E.N. Emotional factor: the concept, role and forms of integration in holistic teaching of a foreign language // Foreign language at school. – 2000. – No. 6.-C.11-15.

5. Lazareva E.V. Early teaching of English by means of art: education of human nature // Foreign languages at school. – 1996. – No. 2. – P. 42-50.

6. Meshcheryakova V.N. I can sing // Teacher’s book / Textbook. – Kazan, 2009.-24p.

7. Ulanova O.B. English for preschoolers: play and learn, M., publishing center “Academy”, 1998.

8. Elkonin D.B. The psychology of the game. M.: Vlados, 1999 – 360 p.

Bilingualism of the preschool child: myths and reality

References:

Maksyutova, G. Yu. Bilingualism of a preschool child: myths and reality / G. Yu. Maksyutova. – Text: direct // Young scientist. – 2010. – No. 11 (22). – T. 2. – S. 134-136. — URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/22/2326/ (date of access: 04.10.2022).

There are too many people in the world,

who have not been helped to wake up.

A. -S. Exupery

Conformity and facelessness – these are, perhaps, the main “psychological disasters” of our time. Helping to wake up, give impetus and develop the creative abilities of children is one of my main tasks in teaching English. After all, every child is a unique person, he is unique from the moment of his birth, and teaching a foreign language at school comes down most often to memorizing and reproducing techniques and actions, typical ways of performing tasks, to elementary cramming. With this approach to teaching a foreign language, children are deprived of the joy of discovery and gradually lose the desire to create and act independently.

A modern school needs to prepare students for an active life in a changing world, for cultural, professional and personal communication with representatives of countries with other social traditions, ideas, and a different state system. One of the most important conditions for solving this problem is the orientation towards communicative goals as a general methodological approach to teaching foreign languages.

A contradiction arises: on the one hand, it is necessary to awaken the child’s creativity, develop his creative abilities, form a personality, on the other hand, it is necessary to teach him to master the complex vocabulary and grammar of a completely unfamiliar language. How to be? I tried to find the answer to this question in the studies of humanistic psychologists, in the articles of the best teachers and methodologists. It became clear to me: it is necessary to create in students internal motives for a positive attitude towards learning activities through the development of creative activity and independence, the activation of memory, attention and imagination. Motivation and interest in a foreign language must and can be laid already at preschool age, which will be a good step towards successful schooling. In TsEVD “Ornament” English is an obligatory component in teaching children of 5-6 years of age. Early learning a foreign language creates excellent opportunities to arouse interest in the linguistic and cultural diversity of the world, respect for the languages and cultures of other peoples, and contributes to the development of communicative speech tact. At an early stage of learning, language should, first of all, be considered as a means of personality development. Through communication and activity in the language, the child develops, educates and learns the world and himself, i.e. masters all that spiritual wealth that can only be given by the process of foreign language education. The program developed by the author of this article for the development of communication skills in preschoolers when learning a foreign language has a carefully developed theoretical justification and meets all the requirements of this type of program. Children transfer the acquired communication skills into everyday life, easily enter into a dialogue, show initiative, which reflects the effectiveness of this program.

There are a lot of theoretical developments and a lot of different problematic points of view about teaching a foreign language to preschoolers. The experience of practical work on teaching English to preschool children allowed the author to trace the effectiveness of teaching a foreign language at preschool age and allows dispelling the myths about the expediency of learning a foreign language by preschoolers that exist in the minds of parents and teachers and psychologists.

MYTH Babies should not be taught a foreign language.

REALITY Teaching kids is not only possible, but it is also necessary to start learning the language at preschool age! The experience of bilingual families shows that communication in two languages does not interfere with the development of the child. Up to 7-8 years, learning another language is easy and natural. In preschool children, the structure of native speech has not yet been established, and any other is also perceived naturally. Physiologists believe that “there is a biological clock of the brain, just as there are stages in the development of the endocrine glands of a child in time. child under 9years is a specialist in mastering speech. After this period, the brain mechanisms of speech become less flexible and cannot easily adapt to new conditions. The child’s brain has a specialized ability for a foreign language, but it decreases with age.” The most productive period for teaching a foreign language to preschoolers is the period when the brain is growing, and the opportunities for learning during this period are truly unique. Children do not need to memorize separately tenses, grammatical constructions, they perceive the language as a whole. The younger the child, the less his vocabulary in his native language. But at the same time, his speech needs are also less: a small child has fewer areas of communication than an older one, he still does not have to solve complex communicative tasks. This means that when mastering a foreign language, he does not feel such a huge gap between the opportunities in his native and foreign languages, and his sense of success will be more vivid than that of older children.

MYTH Children of preschool age are psychologically unprepared for the perception of foreign language speech and learning a foreign language at preschool age can adversely affect the child’s mental development.

REALITY Such a danger can arise if parents and teachers do not know the measures, they try to stuff the kid with information beyond his power. In order to better understand and explain the psychological state of the child in a foreign language class, I graduated from the Faculty of Psychology at the ZabSPU, already working as an English teacher. I want to explain the situation from the point of view of a linguist-psychologist – children do not have a psychological barrier, like adults. They automatically “switch” from one language to another when the situation calls for it. We, adults, are psychologically afraid of mistakes, we don’t want to be in a ridiculous position. Children have no such fear, and this is their advantage – they immediately begin to communicate. Many mistakes and difficulties of adults are explained by the fact that we automatically transfer grammatical constructions and pronunciation of our native language to a foreign one. The child has not yet formed stereotypes, and it is easier for him to learn two different languages in parallel – both his own and someone else’s. There is no task to drive into the child’s head all the English tenses! At a tender age, an intuitive “feeling” of the language is laid, which will then greatly help the maturing student. He will not cram, but understand, feel, in which situation which grammatical construction is better to use. Classes with teachers – linguists help to develop native speech faster, because memory, articulation, intelligence, and communication skills are trained. Toddlers who get to know other languages and cultures are more flexible, relaxed, better able to adapt to unusual environments and new people. The self-esteem of the child rises, he proudly tells his parents, grandparents, and friends about his successes.

MYTH English for youngsters is just a newfangled “trick”.

REALITY Teaching foreign languages as a branch of methodological science began to emerge in the 19th century. At that time, in no country in the world was the experience of teaching foreign languages to children as widespread as in Russia. According to contemporaries, in Russia in the 19th century one could meet a child who was fluent in three foreign languages: French, English and German. The luminaries of psychology – both ours and foreign (L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinshtein, B. White, V. Penfield and others) – wrote in the middle of the last century that foreign languages are easier for a child than for an adult.

In today’s world, in connection with global geopolitical, economic, socio-cultural changes, the newest and latest requirements are presented to a person. So, there is a growing need to communicate freely in a foreign language, and from time to time even in several. Life has changed, the method of perceiving information has changed and its size has changed, hence the approaches to learning must change. It has already been confirmed that this not only accelerates the formation of foreign language communicative competence, but also, in turn, has a positive effect on the overall development of the child. In the conditions of modern life, many families spend holidays abroad and can observe for themselves that the main language of communication (even at an elementary level) is English. Communication on it is an essential condition for social communication and comfortable rest. But how to communicate if the language is completely unfamiliar to you? Of course, you can communicate in sign language. But you will feel much more confident if you or your baby talk to another person in English.

MYTH It is difficult for a preschool child to learn a foreign language.

REALITY Programs for teaching a foreign language to kids are very different from programs for adults. It is easy and fun for a child to study only where he is interested! The program for teaching children English at the Ornament CEVD combines language learning and the development of communication skills, little “English” learn to make contact with the teacher and with peers, learn to find a common language in the literal and figurative sense.

It is known from developmental psychology that the leading activity of a preschooler is play. Given this, classes are built in the form of games, fairy tales, travel. Children do not get bored with the game, including the game in English. To make it easier for kids to understand new words, the teacher helps with gestures, facial expressions, drawings, music. In the course are counting rhymes, rhymes, comics, puzzles, toys, puppet theater . .. which helps to develop not only speech, but also fine motor skills, imaginative thinking. In the classroom, children draw, sing, play small performances, learn the special rhythm of the English language and learn pronunciation, that is, they develop, and not just learn the language. Children are very fond of watching cartoons and listening to simple songs in English and imitating what the characters are doing. In the game, children feel easy and natural, and in the course of communication they remember words, expressions, get acquainted with the basics of grammar.

Literature:

1. Glen Doman Harmonious development of the child. – M .: Publishing house “Ves Mir”, 2001. – 264 p.

2. Evseeva M.N. English language training program for preschool children. Publishing house “Panorama”, 2006. – 128s.

3. Komarova E.P., Tregubova E.N. Emotional factor: the concept, role and forms of integration in holistic teaching of a foreign language / / Foreign language at school, 2000, No. 6

4. Teacher of the Year in Russia: The Best of the Best: Sat. method. materials. – Issue 3. – M.: Humanit. Ed. Center VLADOS, 1999. – 344.

5. Shabelnikova E.Yu. Teaching children aged 5-6 years in English: classes, games, activities, linguistic and cultural material. Volgograd: Teacher, 2009. – 127p.

Basic terms (automatically generated) : foreign language, English, child, preschool age, language, education, foreign language of preschoolers, native speech, native language, Russia.

English for children in Astrakhan. Teaching English to preschoolers

School of William Reilly

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El Amirrro

April 6

, I am studying here, teachers are good and very cool

Yana

1 March

An action lured me to school and I was just about to go and restore the language. Well, and so it went on knurled, while I like it, I study in a group, it’s interesting . .. I myself would never have sat down for training!

Anzhelika Zavadskaya

February 13

Excellent school, my daughter is 4 years old we go with pleasure and get new knowledge

Lesya Dorokhin

October 24

Excellent teachers, professionals in their field. Convenient location

Nadezhda Sokolova

October 21,

We started to study English with the child at home, but then we realized that this was not enough for the child. Were in different schools, she was not interested and bored there. Having come to this school, the child was tested, they learned the level of knowledge at that time and we got into the group. It was the middle of the school year, but despite this, the child liked everything, she pulled herself up after the others and joined the team. I like that this school has a system of lessons from textbooks, which was not the case in other schools. Even for parents, the teacher explains everything clearly. The child always goes to these classes with pleasure!

Elena Shepeleva

April 18

Excellent school!!!!!!!Kind and competent teachers, interesting classes. We have been studying for more than 3 years, now the child himself easily translates texts in English, understands the conversation. Thank you very much to the Reilly school and teachers !!!!!!!!

Natalia Natalia

April 9

We go to school for the first year. The impressions are the most positive. Next year we will definitely enroll a second girl. Good luck to all the wonderful team

Elena Korobeynikova

15 March

The child has been going to an English language school for two years now. Very interesting, songs in English, cartoons, etc. I really like the program, a colorful working journal and cognitive tasks on the disk, also online

Zoya Popova

March 7,

I have long wanted to start learning English. I heard about the William Reilly school for a long time, but did not dare, and then my daughter wanted to study the language there, and I decided to go too. We are both studying there for the second year, we really like it! Classes are held in a playful way, there are a lot of audio materials, a lot of conversational exercises, we even sing. Not burdensome and easy to study here, I recommend!

Oleg Afonin

1 March

We have been attending this school for the fifth year now. The impressions are the most positive. In high school, her daughter’s English performance is one of the highest in the class. I recommend to all.

Alla Eromeeva

January 16

I really liked the school. Prices are low, availability by location (I actually studied at a different address on Savushkina), while a high level of education and competent teachers. The classes themselves are fun and productive. The brain and tongue are grateful to you!

Sergey Livshits

16 January

Took a general course for adults. I want to say thank you to the team of teachers who worked with us. It was interesting and definitely helpful.

sporty kids tv

July 11

Sending a child to a child’s summer camp. The child liked it.

Ksyusha Klepikova

February 11

Because I study there

December 18

The school is good. Teachers and administrators are kind. The learning process is not boring, there are frequent games in English.

10 December

We study English for the first time and have not regretted choosing this school. The child is interested, enjoys going to classes.

December 10,

I am very pleased with

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Dos Taubaev

February 21

I go to courses in English 3 months , all good.

Victoria Kosareva

27 March

This is my second year at this school and I really like it! Lessons are held in English, a lot of emphasis is placed on speaking, which I think is the most important thing in learning the language. The material is presented easily and accessible, there is no dull cramming indiscriminately, as in school. The course program is modern, the topics are interesting, the most necessary set expressions that are often used in speech are given for memorization. Special thanks to our teacher Svetlana! She inspires and energizes to learn English. A real teacher from God.

Alisa Dmitrieva

March 11

My 4-year-old miracle now perceives English not as lessons, but as a language that can also be spoken. And these are not just songs and games, but a real separation of colors, counting, toys in his mind in two different languages. Respect to the teacher Olga Alekseevna 🙂 after attending the usual English lessons for kids, where the pronunciation of the teacher frankly cuts the ear, classes at William Reilly are a completely different and extremely useful experience. Thanks!)

December 12

I have been studying at school for 2 years already, I really like the program and the teacher. I like that during the classes we make up dialogues, learn to communicate. For a person who did not know English at all, there are results

December 10

We have been studying at this school for less than six months, but the results are already visible. I have two children attending this school, they go there with pleasure, the children really like it, but we like the result and the school curriculum has improved.

William Reilly School

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Astra

Feb 13

Very cool school! It’s a lot of fun and good learning here!

Sveta Chernovitskaya

October 21

Excellent school!

Anna Simakova

October 19

Amazing!

December 10

High level of professionalism of teachers. Convenient location.

William Reilly School

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Elena Alkina

April 4

, the smell is disgusting

Yulia Lebedeva

October 21

The school is wonderful, the child attends classes with pleasure, the teachers are professionals in their field, the lessons are held in a playful way, the children do not even notice how time flies, the result is visible. After attending classes at the William Reilly School, the child stopped looking for a reason not to go to English lessons at a regular school and now he does his homework in English. Recommended, your child will love it.

November 27

Cool teacher – Ekaterina Valerievna Shelgacheva!!!

February 2

This is interesting.

Features of teaching a foreign language to children of preschool age

Theory and methods of teaching and education (by area and level of education) | World of Pedagogy and Psychology №4(21) April, 2018

0013 Volkova Svetlana Alexandrovna
Senior Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages, Ural State Agrarian University, Russian Federation, Yekaterinburg

Annotation: Interest in learning foreign languages does not disappear due to well-known social and economic conditions. Demand is not only for teaching adults, but also for children, including preschoolers. Many experts agree that preschool age is the most favorable for mastering a foreign language due to certain mental and psychological and physiological characteristics of a child of this age category. Parents are offered many different programs for mastering a foreign language, but the problem of choosing a teaching methodology, a way to organize the educational process, and prepare methodological materials does not lose its relevance. The article discusses the psychological and physiological characteristics of preschool children and, as a result, the fundamental principles in teaching a foreign language to this group of students.
Keywords: learning a foreign language, preschool children, psycholinguistic features, sensitive period, psychological and physiological characteristics Volkova Svetlana Aleksandrovna
Senior teacher of foreign language department, Ural state agrarian university, Russia, Ekaterinburg

Abstract: Certain social and economic conditions develop interest in studying foreign languages. It concerns not only adults, but also children, including preschoolers. Many experts agree that preschool age is the most favored for mastering a foreign language due to some particular psychological-physiological characteristics of this age group. Parents face many different programs for foreign language learning, but the problem of choosing the teaching methodology, the organization of educational process is still of great importance. The articles considers the psychological and physiological characteristics of preschool age children and, as a consequence, the basic principles in teaching a foreign language to this age group.
Keywords: learning a foreign language, preschool age children, psycho-linguistic peculiarities, a sensitive period, psychological and physiological characteristics

Many parents, realizing the need for knowledge of foreign languages, try to instill interest in them in children from an early age. Responding to demand, many preschool educational institutions, various development centers today offer their services in this area.

The relevance of the problem of teaching a foreign language in a preschool institution is substantiated by scientific data on the need to make the most of the sensitive period in children.

The considered age group is characterized by special psycholinguistic characteristics, it has a good language memory, which allows you to actively expand the active vocabulary, intuitively assimilate grammatical phenomena, as well as imitative speech abilities at the phonetic, lexical, grammatical and stylistic levels [2].

According to modern scientific research, by the age of 3 years the development of brain cells is completed by 80% [4]. At this age, the child develops speech skills. He is able to remember a large amount of information, if it is correctly presented to him. Also at this age, long-term memory is especially developed. With the systematic repetition of the material, the child can easily memorize foreign words. There are a number of reasons that speak in favor of learning a foreign language at preschool age [4]:

– A child at preschool age is most open to learning everything new and is able to absorb information that is interesting to him, which is why it is important to approach the presentation of a foreign language correctly.

– Children of preschool age have much more time that they can devote to learning a foreign language, which means that they will be able to learn it more deeply in the future. If the child is interested in this, then in the future he will certainly want to learn one more, and maybe several foreign languages.

– Children aged 3-4 do not have a “language barrier”, which is very conducive to learning a foreign language.

– Learning a foreign language at an early age, along with practical significance, develops in children the ability to better comprehend their native language. Some parents believe that it is not worth “loading” a child with a foreign language until he has fully mastered his native language. In this case, one should not forget that the memorization mechanism in children does not work at all in the same way as in adults. The kid easily learns parallel streams of information, builds interdependent mental chains. He, sometimes unconsciously, compares both languages, compares the words and expressions he has learned, shares his impressions of what he has learned with his parents, using all his language resources at once – both those obtained thanks to his native language and thanks to a foreign one. In addition, it is not uncommon for children who study a foreign language at a younger preschool age to improve their general articulation and speech skills.

– Learning foreign languages improves children’s memory, their perception, thinking, imagination, etc.

– It probably makes sense to start learning foreign languages from English, as it is an international language, the language of the future. English has become an integral part of our daily life. More and more often we listen to foreign music on the radio, most of the programs on the computer are in English, there are a huge number of videos, articles in English on the Internet, as well as a huge number of books written in English.

Thus, many experts agree that preschool age is the most favorable for mastering a foreign language due to certain mental characteristics of the child: quick memorization of language information, the ability to analyze and systematize speech flows in different languages, the natural ability to imitate, lack of language barrier.

“A modern preschool child learns language not as a subject of study, but as a means of communication – directly in activity, actively experimenting with it” [1].

Psychologists note that taking into account the psychological and physiological characteristics of preschool children in the process of learning a foreign language, it is possible to have a beneficial effect on the development of a child’s speech in his native language. Learning poetic and song foreign material, involvement in gaming activities contributes to the development of communication skills.

But the problem of choosing teaching methods, ways of organizing the educational process, preparing methodological materials does not lose its relevance.

Given the psychological and physiological characteristics of preschool children, there are several fundamental principles in teaching a foreign language [1].

I. Psycholinguistic principles:

– The principle of taking into account age characteristics.

The proposed tasks should be appropriate for the age abilities, skills and developmental level of the child. Children are focused on learning about the world around them, interacting with it, therefore, it is necessary to take gaming activities as the basis for teaching a foreign language.

– The principle of gradual complication of the material.

At the initial stages, it is recommended to present children with a model for listening and imitating, after the successful mastering of these skills, it is required to motivate students already to initiate communication, to independently build statements.

– The principle of psychological comfort.

A preschooler gets to know the world around him mainly through his emotions, therefore, to create comfortable conditions for the child, the calm voice of the teacher, game methods, and tactile sensations are recommended.

II. Pedagogical principles:

– The principle of purposefulness of the pedagogical process.

The teacher must clearly represent the ultimate goal of training and draw a conclusion about the appropriateness of each proposed task.

– The principle of systematicity and consistency.

Assignments should gradually increase in complexity based on the material already covered.

– The principle of creativity.

An unusual way of presenting language material, the use of visualization always arouses greater interest among students and better activates their educational and cognitive activities.

– Principle of novelty.

It is necessary to maintain interest in learning a foreign language. This can be achieved, for example, through a variety of activities, directly through interesting material for study.

– The principle of visibility.

When learning a foreign language for preschoolers, visual supports, both visual and auditory (audio recordings, educational computer games, cartoons, etc.), are of great importance.

III. Methodological principles:

– The principle of communicative orientation.

To develop speaking skills, offer real situations from the life of a child, which will give him the opportunity to get used to foreign speech, learn to highlight words in the flow of speech, fulfill requests, which ultimately should lead to a desire to become an active participant in the communication process.

– The principle of verbal advance.

The principle is based on the idea that the language should be acquired through oral communication, which is best suited for preschool age, since children do not yet know how to write and read in their native language. Thus, preschoolers get acquainted only with the sound side of speech.

Mastering a foreign language by preschoolers requires the participation of not only a qualified teacher, but also sensitive parents who can also help in learning a foreign language.

Psychologists and specialists in the field of preschool education have developed a system of recommendations for parents, the following can be distinguished [3]:

– it is necessary to come up with a native speaker, for example, a toy and use techniques for switching from one language to another;

– play with the baby using a foreign language (sculpting, drawing, outdoor games, crafts, home play experiments). This will allow you to master the language material in a natural play environment for the baby and create a favorable emotional background;

– gradually add views of cards with inscriptions in a foreign language and voice the names of objects;

– learn how to pronounce foreign sounds correctly with your child and play phonetic games;

– begin to give grammar in the form of simple constructions using the example of children’s fairy tales or games;

– arrange the lesson in such a way that the change of activities occurs every 3-5 minutes.

Childhood is the time of new discoveries, new knowledge, this is the time when the material is assimilated faster and less effort is expended. Teaching a foreign language to a preschooler can be considered as a preparatory stage for school, so in the future it will be easier for him to adapt to a large teaching load. He will develop communication skills in both his native and foreign languages, develop attentiveness, perseverance, diligence and interest in acquiring new knowledge.

But the question of choosing a methodology, setting goals and objectives of preschool education in the field of mastering foreign languages remains unresolved. Additional preschool education for children is considered as an independent component of the modern model of education. Parents can independently choose the most suitable program in their opinion from the many offered.

References

1. Bodrova E.V. Fundamental principles of modern methods of learning English by preschool children (3-7 years old) // Bulletin of the Kostroma State University. Series: Pedagogy. Psychology. Sociokinetics. – 2014. – No. 2. – Access mode: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/osnovopolagayuschie-printsipy-sovremennyh-metodov-osvoeniya-angliyskogo-yazyka-detmi-doshkolnogo-vozrasta-3-7-let
2. Mashinistova N.V. Language development of children of senior preschool age // Siberian Pedagogical Journal. – 2012. – No. 9. Access mode: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/yazykovoe-razvitie-detey-starshego-doshkolnogo-vozrasta
3.

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Foreign language for preschoolers: 7 Simple Ways of Teaching Foreign Language to Preschoolers

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