For an adult, getting educated in a brand new language is not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. This is why when it comes to our children, we must get them started as early as possible so that it can be a much smoother ride for them to take on a second language.
For instance, if you want your child to know how to learn Chinese, you are most likely going to need some extra assistance. Even if you are bilingual in Chinese and English, teaching it to your child may still not be within your realm of expertise.
We aren’t all born to be instructors, which is perfectly fine because plenty of valuable advice and training is available to help children learn a second language.
Take these tips into consideration to assist your child in learning a foreign language so that the process can be a fun enough activity that they will be inspired to stick with it.
Speak to Kids in a Language You Understand
If the parents or grandparents of a child are bilingual, when is the best time for them to start speaking that second language to a child to help get it ingrained in the kid’s mind? According to a Scientific American study, kids are well-equipped to learn a second language until they hit 18, a time in their life that we typically associate with the end of high school or the beginning of college.
But the study also declared that the ideal timeframe to start that second language is by age 10 to achieve grammatical fluency. The earlier you start speaking languages to a child that you want them to learn, the deeper their interest can become in that language.
Some parents may be afraid of speaking to their child in more than one language because they may assume that it could create learning disabilities; studies have shown that more than 50% of the people in the world can speak a second language. Therefore, exposing your child to two languages at a young age lays the foundations for their future success in learning.
Enroll Them in Language Classes
If you are getting concerned over less desirable results that your young child has when you try to teach them languages, consider enrolling them in language classes at a nearby school.
Among the many benefits of your child learning a second language in a class include their ability to meet other children their age with this shared language interest, a more organized learning environment, and the chance that the instructor may be a native speaker of this particular language to ensure that it is taught authentically.
Keep Them Organized
Learning new languages requires quite a bit of organization in order to ensure that the results are effective. As the old cliche says, “practice makes perfect.” Just as it is in getting better at basketball or hockey, so is it the same with learning a new language. Keep your child practicing when time allows and provide them with a designated area for their learning sessions to help them remain focused.
From the beginning of learning this new language, keep them in a routine, such as keeping their learning area organized and having them put their toys or other distractions in another room until they finish practicing their second language for that day.
Watch Movies and Read Books in That Language
Look for fun ways for your child to be able to expand beyond language classes, online teaching, and digital applications in order to really make learning languages something that becomes second nature to your child.
Books and schoolwork aren’t going to keep their attention focused. But if you are able to turn language learning into more of a multimedia experience, that may get you even more excited about it.
Depending on how commonly used this second language is that your child is learning, you can find various movies in different languages that your child can watch that have translation subtitles.
Maybe you might want to deviate from textbook resources on some days and find entertaining storybooks written in the new language that can get your child more entrenched in this new language.
Travel Abroad
Another thing you can do to encourage your child to learn a new language is to take them on vacation trips to countries or cities where the second language is spoken more frequently. This trip is not only a way to provide them with enriching experiences, but also a way for them to get used to hearing this new language in the world around them and the culture attached to it.
You can keep their interest in the language sustained even after you return home from the vacation by reminding them of it with pictures and videos taken during this exciting trip.
