Teaching a child a language??

pavlovs_dog

JonathanA wrote: »

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!?

if the person in question is acquiring both/all languages simultaneously, then a mastery of the first language is not an issue (as would be the situation of roxie's son). if roxie herself were to want to learn a language at her time of life (i think im safe in the assumption that she is a least a few years past the age of 11 :eek: ) then she would struggle to do so if she did not have a sufficient grasp of her first language.

exposure now is great *if* it is comprehensible and functional information. its all well and good being able to natter away in 20 different languages at age 5, but if you are not getting the opportunity to use theose languages frequently, then within a few years your ability in the language will be largely lost. of course for some it is like riding a bike, and all comes flooding back when exposure begins again, but sadly this is not the case for the majority.

Badger_Lady

My sister and I learned German through the Muzzy tapes - it was great! Simple cartoons that teach very naturally, not purely by "translating" between languages, but also teaching the language in its own right - much more suitable for young children.

If you're keen to keep up the learning, I think it would be more than appropriate... but does it necessarily need to be both French and Spanish simultaneously? It could work well, or it could cause a mixup - I don't have enough experience to know the answer to that.

Millie's_Mum

Have a look on this and see if there are any classes near you, My 4 yr old goes to french class every week during term time and loves it


http://www.lajolieronde.co.uk/

Mojisola

RoxieW wrote: »

I don't want him 'hothoused' but with languages I do believe that the earlier the better.

You're right - there's a part of the brain which is used when you learn a second language but, if it's not put into action by about the age of seven, it gets used for other things. No wonder we all struggled learning languages when we didn't start til secondary school.

Make it fun - why not watch with your son and start to sprinkle your everyday chats with Spanish words?

ladymarmalade

Ha ha classic title for such a subject.

Would it be worth seeing if you have any local students livng near by who are studying either language. For many students it would be a great source of experience as many go away and teach english as a foreign language in the 3rd year of the degree (I leave for mine in September )

sali_mali

Hello Roxie, I don't have any advice, but wanted to say that I went to a Welsh school and was exposed to the language from the age of 4 and am now fluent. My parents are English speaking, so there isn't really any need for you to learn the language unless you are teaching it.

I would agree with PD however, that it is important for your child to be able to converse with othes who can speak the language frequently, otherwise it just doesn't stick. I never got the hang of French or German when I started in secondary school (actually, I was entirely rubbish) because a couple of hours a week just isn't enough.

Good luck

mymatebob

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

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.

My goodness what a lot of mistakes there are in this post.
Glad I am not the sort of person to point them out

Lillibet_2

Hi Roxie

We're just embarking on starting our nr 3YO on Spanish, I have ordered the Muzzy set but I think I have gotten a dodgy dealer so am not holding out too much hope it'll arrive:rolleyes:. In the mean time I have been letting Spud watch his favourite DVD's with the Spansih language setting on, instead of in English, Disney DVD's are best for languauge selection I find : Monsters Inc. Ice Age & Cars! We also have a DVD player in the car, this is when I am thinking of putting the Muzzy DVD's on : he's a captive audiance!
My Spanish is very weak & hubby's non-exostant, hubby & I can both speak a "bit" of French but we think Spanish is much easier to pick up so that's why we chose it, but it was a close decision. Mine is comming back to me s-l-o-w-l-y. I have also just got hold of my local Grapevine magazine & found a couple of adverts for toddler language clubs in my area so am going to investigate them today.

Good luck, and ignore the WUM's, I'd like to see them think clearly, let alone type, with a screaming toddler hanging off of one arm & a puppy chewing your leg as I'm trying to do at the mo, it's possible but hard!

RoxieW

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

if roxie herself were to want to learn a language at her time of life (i think im safe in the assumption that she is a least a few years past the age of 11 :eek: ) then she would struggle to do so if she did not have a sufficient grasp of her first language.

:mad: Of course I have a sufficient grasp of my first language. I just made a hurried mistake. :mad:

RoxieW

Lillibet wrote: »

Hi Roxie

We're just embarking on starting our nr 3YO on Spanish, I have ordered the Muzzy set but I think I have gotten a dodgy dealer so am not holding out too much hope it'll arrive:rolleyes:. In the mean time I have been letting Spud watch his favourite DVD's with the Spansih language setting on, instead of in English, Disney DVD's are best for languauge selection I find : Monsters Inc. Ice Age & Cars! We also have a DVD player in the car, this is when I am thinking of putting the Muzzy DVD's on : he's a captive audiance!
My Spanish is very weak & hubby's non-exostant, hubby & I can both speak a "bit" of French but we think Spanish is much easier to pick up so that's why we chose it, but it was a close decision. Mine is comming back to me s-l-o-w-l-y. I have also just got hold of my local Grapevine magazine & found a couple of adverts for toddler language clubs in my area so am going to investigate them today.

Good luck, and ignore the WUM's, I'd like to see them think clearly, let alone type, with a screaming toddler hanging off of one arm & a puppy chewing your leg as I'm trying to do at the mo, it's possible but hard!

Thanks for this - that's a good idea.