Speaking more than one language can be a huge advantage both academically and professionally. Besides, learning languages can make you smarter. This is one of the reasons you should help your child learn a foreign language.
In case you’re worried your child is too young, don’t be. The sooner they start learning, the better. Young children’s minds are more receptive to learning than adults or even older children.
Once you decide to introduce your child to a new language, it’s only natural you’ll want to empower them to do their best and help them learn with verve. Here are three practical ways to help your child learn a foreign language.
Expose them to the Language
It’s sometimes enough to merely expose children to a language to have them learn it, or even better, acquire it. When it comes to this, bilingual families have certain leverage over the monolingual ones.
If you’ve married somebody who doesn’t speak the same language as you, use that to be a great stepdad and enable all the children in your new family to learn a new language. It’s quite simple. Each of the parents should always talk to the children in their mother tongue.
It doesn’t matter in which language you choose to talk to your partner. The key is to only speak to your little ones in one. On the other hand, if your family isn’t a bilingual one, you can still find ways to let the children hear and even use a new language.
For instance, a nanny who is a native speaker of that language may be the solution. Also, TV shows, interesting computer games, and songs in the language can help with vocabulary. Hearing the language spoken by native speakers can be very beneficial since it won’t only help children with pronunciation, but also with grammar rules and new words.
Enroll them in a Good Course
If you’re confident you know a language well enough to teach it to your children at home, that’s great. However, if you aren’t fluent in the language, or familiar with all the rules, the best thing you can do is hire a professional.
Finding the best possible course for your child may seem a simple thing, but before you make your final choice, there are some things you should take into consideration. For instance, you’ll want one offering experienced teachers, a friendly learning environment, and a good study program, with a curriculum created by people who have worked with children long enough to understand them and who enjoy working with such young learners.
This is why you should look for a language school with at least a decade of practice, such as the esteemed Monkey Tree English learning center, so your child can be taught by a native-speaking teacher who will instill your little one with love for the language in question, but also introduce them to the cultural aspects of the countries and people who speak the language as their mother tongue.
Therefore, choose a school which teaches children without pressuring them, and which creates a comfortable and stimulating atmosphere for language learning, so your children enjoy the process.
Make Learning Fun for them
Curiosity and the desire to play are something all children have, including yours. So, when you realize what the best time to start learning a new language is for your kid, make it your mission they have fun doing it. Just stop and think about what your child’s favorite activities are and use them as teaching opportunities.
For instance, if your little one likes singing songs, you should play them as many cheerful and easily-memorized songs as possible in the language you want them to learn. Furthermore, you can find different kinds of educational games.
These can allow your child to build their knowledge of a language, while also catering to their playful nature. Plus, if you’re a speaker of the language in question, you can make this a bonding moment. So, you can strengthen and improve your relationship by engaging in these language-learning activities with your child.
Ensuring your kid is amused, entertained, and excited with the prospect of learning a language can instill in them the love of the language and the love of learning anything new. Aside from making it easier for them to learn a new language, you may motivate them to observe school as something pleasant as well, which can be very useful in the long run.
Becoming a stepdad means getting a parenting job. Do your best to excel at it and put all your efforts into providing as many opportunities for your child to grow and advance. Helping your child learn a foreign language is a great place to start.
