Teaching a child a language??

borntobefree

Roxie - the title of your thread is funny :rotfl:Good Luck xx

Spendless

Roxie - there is currently a thread in discussion time, where bi-lingual MSE'rs are chatting about knowing 2 or more languages,. There are several members who speak both Welsh and English for example. You might want to read thru the thread.

tinkerbell84

bigheadxx wrote: »

In Wales most kids learn Welsh from an early age and are generallt taught through the medium of Welsh. Their English speaking parents are in the same situation as you. I think getting hold of some popular kids programmes that have been dubbed in French and some reading books is a good start.

No they're not!!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Unless you go to a welsh medium school you are taught in english :rolleyes:

RoxieW

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

1) whilst perhaps not put over in the most tactful of ways, the above posters are correcting in stating that a good grasp of correct grammar in the first language is essential to successfully master subsequent languages. a lot of students in my language groups have struggled to get their head around the grammar and syntax of other languages because they do not have a good enough understanding of their own grammar and syntax to compare it to.

2) i cant speak for the virtues of muzzy, but exposure is the way to go. check out 'foreign' versions of amazon or ebay to import popular childrens dvd programmes and books.

check your local newspaper and library for details of local play groups. i know of a french and welsh medium one in my local area to enourage language development amongst children from monolingual families.

3) the secret to learning any language is to start with the basics (nouns) and build up, gradually adding pronouns, verbs, adverbs, tenses, idioms etc. start with numbers, colours, alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, names of food, rooms of the house etc and go from there. without the basics you cannot master the advanced stuff.

4)it will only 'stick' in the memory, and therefore benefit your child long term, if s/he has the opportunity to use the language they are acquiring. occasional exposure in school is insufficient. if you are prepared to go down this route, then it might be an idea for you to learn the language yourself, so that your child has someone they can converse with through that medium.

holidaying in an area where the language is spoken would also prove beneficial

Thank you - I do have a good grasp of the english language. Although not sure why I should have to justify a mistake to anyone? I wasn't proposing to teach him myself. I thought this would be obvious from my first post asking about dvds and clubs.

We are going to Spain this year so I will be making a big effort to speak the language (to the best of my abilities - ie, pretty much what I've heard on dora the explorer ) and encourage ds1 to do the same.

RoxieW

Spendless wrote: »

Roxie - there is currently a thread in discussion time, where bi-lingual MSE'rs are chatting about knowing 2 or more languages,. There are several members who speak both Welsh and English for example. You might want to read thru the thread.

thanks, I will.

Dick_here

RoxieW wrote: »

For your information I have an english degree

Now who says education hasn't been dumbed down...

posh*spice

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

Now who says education hasn't been dumbed down...

Ignore him - he's mean.;) and a WUM (wind up merchant!)

Kelinik

My kids have Muzzy, if you can get it 2nd hand (maybe ebay?) then its great but possibly a bit pricey otherwise.

JonathanA

To answer the original question, we purchased Muzzy for our kids (7 & 4 years old). We haven't been rigid in terms of making them watch it, but we will let them watch it when they ask. We haven't sat them down and gone through the work books etc. We've had the DVDs about 6 months now and whilst the kids aren't fluent, they are picking up a good grasp of the language and of words etc. It has also been a good refresher for me, as I haven't studied a language for 20 years, it does come back quickly.

For us, the incentive is relatives who live overseas, it would be great if our kids could talk to their cousins in German rather than expecting them to speak English.

Muzzy wasn't cheap, though the interest free payments lightened the cost a bit. We searched around on ebay for the DVDs and although there were a few, German was relatively scarce, so we ended up buying them from Early Advantage.

They follow a storyline, and you have the DVD in both German & English (in our case), but our kids have only ever asked to watch the German one!

Whichever route you decide, good luck, it is definitely worth it in my view and I don't subscribe to the school of thought that says they should have mastered a first language before progressing to a second one - exposure now will surely be of benefit to them as they get older!?

pavlovs_dog

RoxieW wrote: »

I wasn't proposing to teach him myself. I thought this would be obvious from my first post asking about dvds and clubs.

i never said you were atempting to teach him yourself, nor was my advice directed at you as if that were the case. my post was written from the point of view of an experienced linguist who has had the benefit of being the pupil and is now going on to become the teacher.


for what its worth i think its great that you are giving him the opportunity to go abroad and practice his language skills. but when learning a language we all make mistakes, thats natural. its also natural for others to point out those mistakes and correct them, so that we can learn from them. i appreciate the explaination you gave above for your typo, and i admit that on the forums my fingers often work faster than my brain but your hugely defensive response could well hinder you in your attempts to learn the language - to whatever extent that may be - in order to facilitate your sons learning. whilst on forums there is always going to be a small minority who point out mistakes so that they can have a laugh at your expense, most take the time to respond to posts because they are genuinely interested in helping. as that is the spirit in which this post has been written, i'll share the following with you;

1) if you 'edit' your first post you will have the option to amend the title of the thread, to avoid any further comments/teasing

2) there are several threads about muzzy and imparting languages to children on the boards, see HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE for examples. if you search th forums you'll probably find more besides.