What is your plan for foreign language study?

[RainbowSprinkles]

I've been thinking about this for a while now. We have been learning German on and off (I'm half-German and fluent). I would like my dc to become more fluent in German. So I'm going to try to devote more time to German after our Christmas break. We also gave Latin a try (Prima Latina, didn't last). Next school year I will add Song School Latin. I'm excited about it. Starting in 5th grade I would like to add French or Italian (most likely French, since there seems to be more available resources). Eventually I would like to add Greek (probably in 7th grade) and then add another modern language in high school.

 

So this is the overview:

 

now through 4th~ continue German, add Latin in 4th

5th add French or Italian

7th add Greek

high school add another modern language

 

What does your plan look like? Does this sound like a lot of languages?

[Cleopatra]

Not too many languages at all! This would be normal if you lived in Europe! :001_smile:

 

My dd began Latin and French in 4th grade & German and Greek in 5th. With adding two at a time, I tried to make one of them easier (it ended up being French & Greek) so I didn't overload her. Everything went smoothly, without a hitch.

 

What becomes a problem is, not the student's ability to learn the languages but the time you need to devote to learn a language. We are pushing our limit. This year we tried to add Spanish but so far there is just not the time to do it. :sad: I don't like using Tell Me More as a stand alone program but I just might with Spanish; my dd will use TMM in her free time and it is the only way I can think of to jam Spanish into the day!

 

Your plan looks like a good one! You are soooo fortunate to be fluent in German!

[shinyhappypeople]

Learning Spanish is non-negotiable for us.

 

The tentative plan is to finish up Spanish with La Clase Divertida starting in January. Then, we'll continue with Spanish next fall using ... not sure what yet. Maybe LCD or elementary Spanish on Discovery Streaming. I also hope to add in one-on-one Spanish tutoring. I'd like them to master advanced Spanish skills by the end of high school.

 

I'm also planning to begin Latin with Song School Latin in the fall and continue with Latin for a few years.

 

I think what you're planning sounds like an awful lot to do simultaneously. Would you be continuing the study of multiple languages through high school or spend just a few years on each one?

[Embassy]

I don't think it sounds like too much at all.

 

We started:

 

Mandarin - Exposure starting in toddlerhood

French, Arabic, Koine Greek - Kindergarten/1st grade

Adding another language within the next year - probably Sinhala if our plans to live among the Sinhalese people happen.

 

We go slow and steady and progress is slow, but we have many years ahead of us. French has pretty much been exposure only for a couple years. We just started a formal French program. My son wants to learn Latin too so maybe that will be added for him. I speak a little German, Spanish, and Korean to them too. I'm not fluent (or close) but it is fun to communicate in other languages. They pick up bits here and there. A couple weeks ago my daughter surprised me by answering me in German.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Wehomeschool

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I don't think that sounds like a lot at all.

 

My plan is completely flexible, and will change based on various things happening in our life, but looks something like this:

 

French - started at 4yo, will continue.

1st or 2nd grade - add Spanish.

3rd grade - start Latin

6th grade - if she is doing well in the languages she already has, and wants to, add Greek. (For now, she is a huge language buff, of course by then she could want to focus on something else.)

(Somewhere in here we will hopefully be able to drop French as a formal study and maybe do a literature course each year in it)

8th/9th grade - another modern language, DD's choice.

(And will hopefully drop Spanish somewhere in here as a language and do lit courses)

 

Also, there is a strong possibility that we will be living overseas sometime in the next 10 years, which would change things up.

When she is 8 or so, we may go to a French speaking country for a year so I can teach English, in which case she would go to school there and hopefully become fluent in French.

Then sometime between 10-12 yo we may be in Brazil for an extended period of time for me to do my dissertation research, in which case she would hopefully learn Portuguese.

 

As a previous poster mentioned, at some point it becomes less about ability and more about time. We have already begun to make sacrifices for languages, DD would much rather learn French than learn how to read, so we do it.

[Joyofsixreboot]

My plan (or sort of plan)

We've been dabbling in Spanish for a year. Co-op and spansh games and videos~for us this is a 'it would be good to learn enough to be understood'

 

We will start Latin very slowly in January with Song School Latin and I'll probably follow with LFC

 

I'd like to have them start German in 6th grade. I speak German and this is the one I really want them to know but co-op offered Spanish and here we are.

 

If they want to add another language in high school of their own choice that's fine with me. If not I think three foreign languages is not a bad place to be.

[KatieH]

We started Latin (not formally, just introduction to pronounciation and the like) in 1st grade. We'll be starting Greek next year (4th grade). I'm not really concerned about modern languages until middle school, at least. But we'll probably do French and possibly Spanish. I would do a modern language now if dh or I were fluent, but we aren't.

[mammaofbean]

we started mandarin chinese and spanish before kindergarten, dd is six now and we just added latin. dd has done some french off and by herself this year on the bbc website but the schedule is just too full right now for me to take on another language. ds is three and just does spanish and mandarin chinese. once dd is able to work more independently in core areas i will add french formally. we have toyed with the idea of adding dutch or german and may do that in middle or high school.

[DragonFaerie]

Here's my plan:

 

 

Grade 4- Latin I

Grade 5- Latin II

Grade 6- Latin III / Spanish I

Grade 7- Latin IV / Spanish II

Grade 8- Spanish III / Choice I

Grade 9- Spanish IV / Choice II

Grade 10- Spanish V / Choice III

Grade 11- Choice IV

Grade 12- Choice V

 

 

I hope I'm not starting too late but I want them to have a handle on English/grammar before tackling other languages. If this plan works out, they'll have a solid foundation in Latin and five years of two modern languages (Spanish plus a language of their choosing) when they graduate.

[MeganW]

I think I have read every post from the past on this! It seems like people in general have been happiest when they have worked on a language for 2 years before adding another, then worked on that for two years before adding another, etc.

 

I have also seen comments that 5 languages seems to be the tipping point between too many & just right.

[TracyP]

My plan:

Spanish starting Ker and 2nd grader (next year) with la clase

Latin starting in 6th

3rd language of their choice starting in 9th grade

 

I worry that this may be too ambitious so I'm glad to see others going for 3+ languages.

[Moniksca]

We learn french from K-9th, I want to add in latin this year through song school latin then lively latin (4th). I'm not sure how long he'll continue in latin but ds will add in a language of his choice in 8/9th.

[Cleopatra]

I worry that this may be too ambitious so I'm glad to see others going for 3+ languages.

 

Three to four languages is reasonably normal in Europe. When I expressed surprise that people knew so many languages, they looked at me like I had worms crawling out my ears. :D They could not understand what the big deal was.

 

From my experience, with modern languages, the sooner you introduce the child to the language, the better. It doesn't have to be formally. When they're younger, their brains are still flexible and it's easier for them to recognize sounds and form unfamiliar sounds than it is when they're older.

 

When I began, I too was concerned about too many languages ...... I was concerned about adding more than one language per year ...... and as it turned out, my dd outperformed my expectations. In hindsight, I think she could have handled learning 3 new languages at once but, it all depends on the child. Just begin slowly at first and watch how the curriculum works for your dc. French for my dd started as drudgery because I began with First Start French. I still like the program but for some reason it did not work for her. So I changed what I was using and she began to flourish ....... Also, her first year of German was torture because I chose a small homeschooling class where the teacher made all the (young) kids memorize copious amounts of vocabulary and verb conjugations without giving them a context of where to put them. This year she's doing OSU German, learning lots and really enjoying herself.

 

If you have plans, even if you believe they're overly ambitious, just give them a try. The worst case scenario is that you end up where you began. :001_smile:

[skueppers]

I have no long-term plan. My children have been learning German from birth, and have attended a German-language preschool. My Kindergartner is now attending a German class for native speakers on Saturday mornings (they study reading and writing), and we also devote about 90 minutes a week to formal study, plus watch German TV and read German books.

 

We devote so many hours a week to German, there is no way I can think about adding another language anytime soon. Someday, sure, but I can't possibly predict when that will seem like a good idea.

 

I would rather study one language with great thoroughness, and worry about an additional language later on.