mathnerd Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 We teach 3 languages in addition to English - one is conversational (native language of one parent), Latin (because child wants to learn it) and Spanish (requirement in the school he will attend in 2016, so we are prepping him for that). For those who teach more than one language, how do you space it? Do you make a schedule to cover only one language a day or do you cover 2 languages in the same day? Any advantages to your method? TIA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 I reserve the right to change my mind if I'm an utter failure at this but... English is our first language. Spanish has been muy impotante para mi since before they were born. We listen to Spanish radio, read children's books, poetry, and the Bible in Spanish, watch our movies in Spanish (DVDs usually have that feature) watch Spanish TV shows, and so on and so forth. I also teach math, cooking, and have general conversation in Spanglish. I plan to teach Latin and Greek 15-30 minutes a day every day until they can read and write in both languages. Maybe that's a pipe dream, I don't know. We've already started playing with Greek and I intend to introduce Latin in 2nd or 3rd grade. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDoe Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Currently juggling 7 languages in addition to English by last count. Two are full immersion, Two are traditional study, One is summer immersion, Two are in fluency maintenance mode (see films, listen to radio, some exercises, etc) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleAMom Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Dialectica, Which four languages do you study and what resources do you use for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Currently juggling 7 languages in addition to English by last count. Two are full immersion, Two are traditional study, One is summer immersion, Two are in fluency maintenance mode (see films, listen to radio, some exercises, etc)Wow! Amazing! I bow to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 We're currently working on Dutch, Latin, and Greek. Dutch was bilingual, but then forgotten. Crazypants does Duolingo and some other things with DH about everyday. Latin started last year with SSL1, now with 2 we do a few exercises every weekday. Recently we started on Greek, we do that about 2 or 3x a week. At some point next year that'll probably bump up to every weekday as well. In a few years I think I would like to add in another modern language. Probably once Dutch is (hopefully) solidified at a good working level. Once he can use it to get new content it can go into maintenance. Doing a bit every day is probably best. So then the limiting factor is how much time can you put into it, and how much time you need to progress. And languages, like math, are best done year-around. I'm gathering "fun" Latin to do for a few months when SSL2 is done. A few months away from a language makes knowledge evaporate faster than a cup of water in a desert. So the ideal schedule is everyday, all the time. Or as close to that as you can get. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I think daily is the important bit. Dd has done several languages since she was little but her skills have grown hugely in the past year using Duolingo daily. Keeping her streak in each language means she is motivated to do it daily. She has completed her French and German trees and maintains those and does translation. Also working on Dutch, Swedish, and Irish trees. Still does Latin with books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDoe Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Wow! Amazing! I bow to you. It is maybe a little too much, but on the other hand there does not seem to be a natural "hard" limit, except the available time. Strangely I do not consider languages as important as logic, science, math etc, but bought into the value of Greek and Latin which moved us a little beyond more "normal" language scope. There are some other languages I would like to add, notably German, Russian, or some asian languages, but cannot do so until I can move some more languages into "maintenance" mode. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 We dabbled in Greek first semester and then hit a wall. DS has been doing Latin and Spanish for the last 3 years in bits and pieces. This year we got more serious about languages. He does each language 4 days a week (looking to up that to at least 5 next fall). Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday he does Latin. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday he does Spanish. So, you see he has 2 days a week where he only has one language. (Last fall, it was more complicated with Greek.) After morning time, he does one of the languages and then after lunch works on the other. We may add either French or German in a couple of years. In grad school I had to teach myself both Spanish and German. I'll never forget the day I crawled out of bed, grabbed my German dictionary, and tried to translate a Spanish passage. Moral of the story: keep your language resources on separate shelves to avoid confusion. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 latin, french are fourtimes a week Greek threetimes german twice English and Dutch are the languages we use for teaching subjects. And for literature. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 Wow! Thanks for all the responses. It looks like a lot of you do multiple languages consistently. I think that I am going to do Spanish lessons on a daily basis (DS needs to catch up to other 3rd graders when he starts school in Fall) and Latin twice a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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