Learning Foreign Languages

Teaching a foreign language (or languages) to young children is different from teaching older children and adults. According to the American Educational Research Association article "Foreign Language Instruction: Implementing the Best Teaching Methods" (see citation below*), young children learn foreign languages best by almost total immersion. Older children and adults learn fastest and best by learning the grammar rules and vocabulary of the language.

Surprisingly, according to this article, teenagers and adults can learn a foreign language faster (in terms of total hours of instruction) than younger children. A major difference in learning for younger children is that when they are surrounded by a foreign language, they pick it up with ease and may acquire better pronunciation than older learners.

There are a few common ways that children are taught foreign language in the United States.

Dual Language Programs

Dual language programs are often close to total immersion. Children are taught all, or almost all, subjects in the foreign language. There is almost no English spoken at all.

A program in a Jacksonville, Florida, elementary school has children spending one half of the school day in one classroom using only the foreign language and the other half of the day in a classroom using English. Academic subjects are rotated so the same lessons are taught in both languages, but on different days. Half of the students are native speakers of the foreign language, so their immersion experience is in the English classroom. No matter which classroom they are in, half of the class are native speakers and half are learning the language.

These programs work best if the children enter them before second grade, and often they are not allowed to enter such a program if they miss entrance in kindergarten.

Even children in immersion programs will need more instruction at an older age in grammar, vocabulary, conversation, and pronunciation.

Native speakers of a language other than English always experience immersion in a foreign language if they attend school in the United States, of course. At school and in other interactions, they must use English, where at home they often use their native language - although their parents may make a rule that they also use English at home.

Electives

Many schools or parents teaching at home use the elective approach to teaching a foreign language. This method means that the language is taught, mainly through vocabulary at the younger ages, on an occasional basis or for only up to a few hours per week.

With this method, children learn how to give greetings and talk about the weather, clothing, colors, numbers, and perhaps even common phrases that can be used in places like restaurants or libraries.

I don't believe that this amount of learning is very important to learning how to actually speak another language. I do believe, however (and the article backs me up), that it teaches children confidence in learning other languages. It is also - usually - a fun way to learn another language, so it can add to their motivation when these children want to learn more at an older age.

These children will have to learn more about grammar, pronunciation, conversation, and vocabulary if they want to actually speak the language.

Games and Media

There are now video, computer, and online games and videos that purport to teach children a foreign language. There are also VERY popular children's TV shows that teach vocabulary and phrasing throughout each episode.

In my opinion, these tools for language learning do the same thing as the elective method. They add to motivation by making the learning fun and desirable. They give exposure to the language so that children might feel confident about their ability to learn a foreign language in the future.

I have not seen research that shows children truly learning to speak a foreign language through media alone. Please feel free to share in the comments if you know of other research.

Older Children and Adults

The American Educational Research Association article includes a graph showing the number of hours of instruction English-speaking adults will need to learn a foreign language. The numbers are: 600 hours for a language similar to English (they mention Dutch, French, and Spanish), 1,300 hours for a language "different from English (e.g., Farsi, Russian, and Urdu)," and 2,200 hours for a language "far from English" like Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese.

College Instruction

One of the most interesting statistics in the article is the fact that a normal year-long college course in a foreign language is only 180 hours of instruction a year at the most.

That's three years to learn an "easy" language and twelve years for an extremely difficult one!

Based on these numbers, I would suggest that college students who want to learn a foreign language should minor in the language if it is a more similar-to-English language and major in it if it is dissimilar.

Learning Outside of College

What should you do if you are a teenager or adult who did not take or is not taking foreign language instruction in college? First, find the motivation that will allow you to commit yourself to 600 hours of instruction in a language that is close to English or 1,300 hours in a language that is different from English. If you are a native English speaker who wants to learn a language that is extremely different, such as Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese, commit yourself to 2,200 hours of instruction and study. Then, visit a place where that language is spoken to solidify your learning and reward your study.

Advantages to Any Exposure to Foreign Language

I want to make it clear that I don't think any of these methods of foreign language instruction is a bad method. They have different advantages. Any exposure to a foreign language or culture is helpful in broadening a child's (or adult's) perspective. That kind of learning is priceless.

And to be very practical about it, knowledge of any words at all in another language can 1) make a person good company when other speakers of that language are around, 2) enliven conversation, and 3) help a person to read books and other materials that quote or draw from other languages.

*American Educational Research Association, "Foreign Language Instruction: Implementing the Best Teaching Methods," Research Points (Spring 2006).

Picture Charts for Training

Little ones get dirty. Often.

My latest goal is to start teaching our younger child how to wash his own hands and face.

I often get frustrated trying to teach my children a skill because I forget that I need to break it down into the smallest of steps. For example, teaching my two-year-old to wash his own hands and face actually involves at least eight steps.

1. Bring potty stool to sink and stand on it.
2. Turn on water.
3. Pump soap into hands.
4. Scrub hands.
5. Wash face around mouth.
6. Rinse hands with water.
7. Rinse around mouth with water.
8. Dry hands and face on hand towel.

For our training, I made a picture chart with blank spaces for star stickers each time he successfully does a step. After a certain number of earned stickers, I will give him a reward. (There is a toy dinosaur waiting in my closet for just such a purpose.)

When we were potty training our older son, my husband made a chart like this which was very helpful.

If anyone is interested, I have made it a public document you can view here. The images I used are mostly from www.clker.com.

A little tip: The chart my husband made for potty training worked very well; the only problem was how dilapidated it got in a damp environment like the bathroom. This time I plan to slip it into a plastic sheet protector and hang that on the bathroom wall where my child can see it.

P.S. I've already realized I missed a step in the chart. There is no step to put the potty stool back where he found it after using it. And the only reason I don't add it is because I want to keep this washing-hands thing to one page!

Unplanned Learning Activities

Some examples of unplanned learning activities that took place in our home yesterday, during what I would call an "off" day:


1. Going outside as the light grew in the morning sky, listening to the birds, (me) drinking coffee on the porch, (two-year-old) blowing bubbles.

2. Following along and helping with my chores.

3. A big sing-along of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Farmer in the Dell, and the ABC song.

www.clker.com

4. Color sorting, grouping, and free play with loops from a weaving loom set that just happened to be out on the table.


                                         


This is the kind of morning I would call a productive, happy learning time, even though I felt "off" and scrapped the usual planned learning activities.

Top Five Books I Dislike That My Children Want to Read Over and Over Again

 5. The Cars movie tie-in book Old, New, Red, Blue.

 

This book is for beginning readers and has an average of three words per page. 

4. My Big Animal Book

 

This book involves pointing (by you or your child) and endless repetitions of what animal that is and what sound it makes.

3. The Monster At the End of This Book

                                            

This book requires lots of frenzied expression and a Grover voice. Hard on the vocal cords, although a very cute and popular book. I think it was my husband's favorite book as a young child. He is very good at reading it aloud, too.

2. My First Tractor Board Book

Like the My Big Animal Book, this requires labeling everything in the picture for my son, and it is tedious.

I have to separate this from the book simply called Tractors (Wheelie Board Books), which is on wheels and has pictures of tractors on each page but not very many words. I don't mind as much saying, "tractor," on each page until we are done with the book. Pictured below, it was also the first book my toddler "read" aloud to himself when he thought no one was looking. That was somewhere around his one-year birthday, I think.

                                            

1. Mythical Beasts

                                            

This and many other similar Groovy Tube books (we have Magical Creatures as well) are relatively inexpensive and come with a tube of small figures from the books. The figures are not the highest quality I have seen, but they have lasted - with some major and minor disfigurements - for my older child for years. His love for the figures is equaled by his love for the books, which take about fifteen minutes each to read.

These books that I dislike are important for one reason: my children love them. Any books that are beloved by children are priceless in terms of the future bond they build between children and the marvelous world of reading.


What books are you asked to read a dozen times in a row?

Car Drawing

Yet another idea from 2's Experience Art was enjoyed by the boys and me. We started with crayons taped to the cars, as instructed by the book, but it was hard to get them in the right position to make a mark. Markers (washable ones) worked much better for us.

My toddler loved this activity. My almost-kindergartener was gleeful about it until we finished and cleaned up. Then he was very disappointed in the product, saying it wasn't a real picture. I assume he has entered his objective art phase: nothing abstract will do right now.

 

Soap Crayons, Not So Much

 The book I rave about, 2's Experience Art, has a suggested activity to draw with soap crayons in the water table. I tried to make soap crayons by combining powdered dishwasher detergent, a small amount of water, and red food coloring, and then packing the mixture into a muffin tin to dry out. They dried out, all right.

They crumble at first touch and don't leave a mark. Not the greatest crayons ever. On a positive note, our water table became beautifully, shinily clean after I tried applying the "crayons" to its surface and then rinsed and scrubbed with a sponge.

I ask you, readers, what do you use for soap crayons?

Hurricane Tracking with Children

Storms, maps, colored pencils, and time with Dad = Great Idea!

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml

My husband had the idea to print out and laminate a hurricane tracking map to track hurricanes with our son this season. He found a hurricane tracking teaching strategy website here. Apparently there is a set of standards for what color to use for what type of storm.

He put the hurricane tracking map on a thumb drive and got it printed out poster-size and laminated by a printing store for $14. (It would only have been $3.50 to print out the poster, but with a laminated chart, we can use it again each year.)

We already have several colors of dry-erase markers that can be used to color-code the storms.

Using weather.com, I read off the coordinates for the tropical storms that have been seen so far this year while my husband marked them on the chart. During the process, he taught our son about latitude, longitude, hurricane trajectories, and some geography.

Next time, it will be our son's turn to help!