What languages do you plan to teach? Why and When?

[MissKNG]

Our state requires a foreign language and I choose German because my dad was right off the boat so it's the family heritage reason. I don't know when it will be a formal part of our curriculum though we watch videos now.

 

But I'm not limited to just German. Recently my big girl has shown an interest in ASL and my small girl speaks a little Spanish.

[LisaKinVA]

1. Latin (beginning about 1st/2nd grade, formal intense study will be completed in 9th grade... regular translation work will be done to keep up the skill, but it will be minimal. I plan on him taking either the subject exam or AP exam or National Latin exam...something along those lines!)

2. Mandarin (oldest is starting in 6th grade, will do 6-8 with computer-based program and switch to on-line, "live", course in high school... 3-4 years)

3. Greek (one year, 8th grade, to enhance Biblical understanding and vocabulary... computer based)

4. Other modern foreign language of choice in high school (2-3 years in high school -- online, "live" class).

[Donna]

We are doing Spanish now because there is a large Spanish speaking population near us so I figured it would be good to know.

 

I plan to begin Latin in the next year or two.

 

Dd wants to learn Gaelic because she loves playing Irish music. We have been to Ireland a few times and will probably be in Ireland quite a bit more in the coming years. We started learning it last year but our computer is broken so I am unable to use the program. We will re-start once I can afford a new computer and set it up again. Once she has a good start, we know local people who teach it.

[Laura Corin]

Three languages are not too many, but you have to plan to keep them going. We did Chinese first (we were living in China) followed by Latin and French (both languages that I had experience with). We left a gap between starting each one, so there was no start-up confusion. It has worked well.

 

For Chinese, I would not recommend attempting it without native-speaker tutoring. The tones are pretty much impossible for a foreigner to achieve without one-on-one drilling.

 

FWIW, our schedule went something like:

 

Calvin: Chinese at 7, Latin at 8, French at 12

Hobbes: Chinese at 4, Latin and French at 9 but staggered

 

Hobbes also dabbled with Greek.

 

Laura

Edited February 16, 2011 by Laura Corin

[Embassy]

Three languages are not too many, but you have to plan to keep them going.

 

I think it may depend on the languages and the approaches used. My kids have shown no confusion having several languages introduced at once. I don't use the same type of curriculum with each language and each language is very different from one another (Arabic, Mandarin, Greek, French). Maybe there would be confusion if we were doing French, Italian, and German at the same time though.

 

For Chinese, I would not recommend attempting it without native-speaker tutoring. The tones are pretty much impossible for a foreigner to achieve without one-on-one drilling.

 

Not everyone is able to start off with a tutor. That would be ideal, but it is certainly possible to learn the tones without a tutor. You have to first train the ear to hear the differences. Once you hear the differences it is then much easier to produce them. I used to do some work in accent reduction and the key to being able to produce the tones or sounds unique to your language is to first hear them correctly. To do that you need to listen to the different tones or sounds and correctly label which tone is being produced.

[Laura Corin]

Not everyone is able to start off with a tutor. That would be ideal, but it is certainly possible to learn the tones without a tutor. You have to first train the ear to hear the differences. Once you hear the differences it is then much easier to produce them. I used to do some work in accent reduction and the key to being able to produce the tones or sounds unique to your language is to first hear them correctly. To do that you need to listen to the different tones or sounds and correctly label which tone is being produced.

 

However, I don't think that most people realise that there is a big difference between learning to speak (say) French, where hearing the accent is relatively simple, and learning to speak Chinese, where hearing the tones is an alien and difficult skill. I speak French and can understand Spanish, as well as being pretty fluent in Mandarin. For neither European language would I recommend a native tutor so strongly.

 

I met many foreigners, when I lived in China, who had decided to press on with Chinese without getting the tones. They couldn't hear them and didn't realise how crucial they were. It handicapped communication and blocked their improvement in the language.

 

FWIW, some people on these boards are using Skype-based tutoring from China, which is a more affordable and geographically convenient option.

 

Laura

Edited February 16, 2011 by Laura Corin

[StartingOver]

We will start Latin in 1st. Then in about 3rd we will start Spanish, and about 6th add in French. They will get to choose a language in 9th. All languages will continue once started.

[Colleen in NS]

How did you choose that particular language and when do you plan to start each one (age/grade level)?

 

Would 3 languages be too much? I have no idea when to start them.

 

I started off, when ds was in grade 1 or so, with a plan to begin Latin study in grade 3, and Spanish in grade 5. I wanted Latin, for the following benefits: mind training, better English grammar understanding, English vocabulary understanding, and a foundation for some other languages. I planned to start in gr. 3, because I knew there was a course that would progress fairly smoothly (PL, LC1, LC2, and into Henle), and that I could learn from it, too. I planned on starting Spanish in grade 5, because I thought it would be fairly easy to learn after getting a bit of Latin background, and though it's not one of Canada's official languages, it's a popular language around the world. Well, we started off with The Learnables, which was fun for my son to listen to, but he wasn't learning the language the way I wanted him to. Even though I did discover a Spanish speaking person in my area, I couldn't afford to hire him to tutor or speak with my son. And he wasn't learning the language grammatically, so it was harder for him to study. I switched to another program that I liked better (SYRWTLS), and I tweaked that so that we studied it in the same way we were studying Latin. But in the end, I decided there just wasn't enough time in the day to make it part of our regular studies, and I dropped it from our required work. Ds could have continued on, on his own if he had wanted to, with either of the programs we had, but he didn't. I decided to make a thorough study of Latin our focus for a second language.

 

And I told ds he could choose another language for high school, whenever he's done his Latin study - he wants to study Scottish Gaelic, because of the culture in Nova Scotia where we live. By then, I'm thinking he will be well versed in knowing how to learn a language, and will do well with it.

 

As to whether three language is too much - only you can decide that. I think it depends on how people are learning and how deeply or how far they go in it. And of course some people have a gift for absorbing new language, so three languages might be easy for one and difficult for another. My feeling is that you can start any time. Sure, it's easy for a young child to pick up the sounds and speaking, but it's not impossible for older kids to learn, too.

 

Wow--after reading through this thread, I can't believe so many of you are doing all these languages so early! My kids are only 3 and 5--am I really behind on this?! I guess they are in the prime time to be able to learn another spoken language right now...but I don't know how I would teach them when I don't know it myself??

 

No, you are not behind. Your kids might have fun with programs that give them an ear for the language and some vocabulary and phrases, and of course conversing with a fluent speaker, but it's nothing to panic over.

 

You could give them something like The Learnables (or other vocab/phrase/listening/speaking - type programs) and let them play with it, or you could find a native speaker to hire to speak with them. While they are doing this, you could begin your own language study that is more grammar based, so you will be able to teach them that aspect later (as in, at least 8 years old and up). Or you could learn with them when they get older.

 

Languages

 

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

 

The rest of 4th: Latin

5th: Latin I

6th: Latin II + German I

7th: Latin III + German II

8th: Latin IV + German III

9th: German IV + Spanish I

10th: Spanish II

11th: Spanish III

12th: Spanish IV

 

Could you two give me a little more insight as to what you mean by the Roman numerals after the language name? It appears to me as though you mean first, second, third, fourth, and fifth year high school level courses. I'm just trying to get some understanding of exactly what is being talked about, because, for example, my ds is working through Henle Latin I (a first year high school course), and during grades 6-8, it will take him at least three years of working at it most days of the weeks of the school year. And even when I was trying to help him work through the first (high school) level of STRWTLS during grade 5 or 6, it was going to take at least 2-3 years at this age range. I'm just wondering if I'm comparing apples to apples, or apples to oranges with what I'm reading here.

[Cindyz]

However, I don't think that most people realise that there is a big difference between learning to speak (say) French, where hearing the accent is relatively simple, and learning to speak Chinese, where hearing the tones is an alien and difficult skill. I speak French and can understand Spanish, as well as being pretty fluent in Mandarin. For neither European language would I recommend a native tutor so strongly.

 

I met many foreigners, when I lived in China, who had decided to press on with Chinese without getting the tones. They couldn't hear them and didn't realise how crucial they were. It handicapped communication and blocked their improvement in the language.

 

FWIW, some people on these boards are using Skype-based tutoring from China, which is a more affordable and geographically convenient option.

 

Laura

 

 

I found a Chinese school in the area that provides 2 hours of Chinese instruction beginning with phonics every Sunday. Do you think this would be enough as far as the tutor is concerned? We would also use a curriculum at home as well.

[Rosie_0801]

Pre-school:

We are working on English and Auslan until school age. Dd is language delayed (by choice) and ds isn't showing any great hurry either.

 

K:

Assuming they are both in the habit of constructing sentences in both of the aforementioned languages, they'll start with Latin. The Dad Guy is into Latin, and it is a very bad thing to waste a Dad Guy's enthusiasm. Otherwise, I wouldn't have started until later. As it is, we'll have quite a few years of playing around, learning vocab before they start a proper study. It won't do any harm. Also, I expect to be starting Latin myself in the next fortnight, so I will be able to teach this.

 

Grade 1:

Arabic Saturday school, with my supporting it at home in any way a non-speaker can. It's an official UN language and seems to me to give the most benefit for the time and money spent.

 

Year 10 (ish):

Once they are reading for maintenance in Latin, I hope to have them start French. I figure the Latin foundation will help them here. French is the second most important UN language and fluency in three opens many doors.

 

They may not choose to go through the doors, and they may not even graduate proficient enough to pass the UN language tests. I won't know what is possible to accomplish until after we've done it, I guess! I am confident they will have a good foundation to launch from should they choose to go that way.

 

Rosie

[Laura Corin]

I found a Chinese school in the area that provides 2 hours of Chinese instruction beginning with phonics every Sunday. Do you think this would be enough as far as the tutor is concerned? We would also use a curriculum at home as well.

 

You need to be a bit wary of Chinese schools though: are they basically for children who have heard a lot of Chinese at home but need to learn to write? Or is it a true beginner's class? The former was the case with the Chinese school that my boys attended in Scotland. They did fine (because they had grown up in China) but all the other non-Chinese kids dropped out, except one who had grown up in Hong Kong.

 

Laura

[*lifeoftheparty*]

I found a Chinese school in the area that provides 2 hours of Chinese instruction beginning with phonics every Sunday. Do you think this would be enough as far as the tutor is concerned? We would also use a curriculum at home as well.

 

I suggest going to check it out :) If they start with phonics, that is a good sign, but you never know until you check it out in person.

 

Honestly, I would just do it! The only thing that could happen is you/your child doesn't like it.

 

We had LOTS of phonics work when we first started to receive our language training...

 

bo

po

mo

fo

 

LOL! That brings me back :) If you want a tutor you can always check your local college (the Foreign Language Dept.) or a local Chinese Community Center, heck, even ask around at your local Chinese restaurant if you're desperate! The owners might have a college age student who could use the extra income :)

 

If you can't get a tutor at first, I would still study the characters and vocabulary.

[Ester Maria]

Italian, and it's a very easy language to learn, IME,

Are you sure? :D

(Sorry, couldn't resist commenting. I failed my native-speaking daughter on Italian grammar today - again.)

Edited February 17, 2011 by Ester Maria

[Cindyz]

You need to be a bit wary of Chinese schools though: are they basically for children who have heard a lot of Chinese at home but need to learn to write? Or is it a true beginner's class? The former was the case with the Chinese school that my boys attended in Scotland. They did fine (because they had grown up in China) but all the other non-Chinese kids dropped out, except one who had grown up in Hong Kong.

 

Laura

 

 

I was a little worried about that. The picture looks to be mostly Chinese children who probably have at least one parent who speaks Chinese at home? I'm not sure though! Here's the link:

 

http://www.awvchineseschool.us/Class_0.aspx

 

We would also do a curriculum at home.

 

I suggest going to check it out :) If they start with phonics, that is a good sign, but you never know until you check it out in person.

 

Honestly, I would just do it! The only thing that could happen is you/your child doesn't like it.

 

We had LOTS of phonics work when we first started to receive our language training...

 

bo

po

mo

fo

 

LOL! That brings me back :) If you want a tutor you can always check your local college (the Foreign Language Dept.) or a local Chinese Community Center, heck, even ask around at your local Chinese restaurant if you're desperate! The owners might have a college age student who could use the extra income :)

 

If you can't get a tutor at first, I would still study the characters and vocabulary.

 

The tutor idea is a good one too. We'll explore that as well!

[Embassy]

I was a little worried about that. The picture looks to be mostly Chinese children who probably have at least one parent who speaks Chinese at home? I'm not sure though! Here's the link:

 

http://www.awvchineseschool.us/Class_0.aspx

 

 

It looks good to me. The description of the class sounds like it would be a good fit for a beginning class. If you look at pictures of other classes you will see it isn't just children of Chinese descent attending.

[kristinannie]

Here is my plan, at least so far. I speak very good German and wish I could teach my kids German from the outset. However, I think that Spanish is such a better language for kids to learn from the beginning since we live in the US and it is so much more useful (plus they will have more chance to practice).

 

 

K-at least 6: Spanish

 

3-8: Latin

 

At some point I will add German if my kids seem to enjoy languages. I am hoping to start in about 5th or 6th. I also speak some Russian and Croatian. I will let the kids go wherever they want with languages. If they ask to learn another one, I will try and work it out!

[Cindyz]

Yesterday I had a client who came to the United States about 9 months ago on a one year work visa. He and his wife are from Israel and they both spoke perfect English. Yes, they had an accent, but other than that, their English was perfection. They had no problems with expressing themselves or understanding me. It was as if they had always lived here.

 

I asked him about how their country handles foreign language in schools and he said he started to learn Hebrew around 3, and then English around 5 years old, and he knows 2 other languages as well. He said he was absolutely shocked when he came here and realized that Americans only speak English. He said children are perfectly capable of learning 6 languages easily and that it should start early for best results.

 

I asked him if he thought 6 years old was too young to start learning 2 foreign languages at once and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Of course not! They are like little sponges! Fill them up with it now while it's easy for them and while they love it!" He also said he thought it's best to start with the most difficult and "foreign" first while their brains are more open to learning it.

 

...just thought I'd share. :)

Edited February 20, 2011 by Cindyz

[mom2bee]

I just want to point out that the majority of the International Students at my college are multilingual. Of course they speak English (to some degree or another) since the college is English speaking, but most of them speak 2 languages besides English.

 

From my informal survey I've found that the African students tend to speak the greatest number of languages, (4+ one guy speaks 8 FLUENTLY and 6 to a lesser degree.) with Europeans tending to be second, speaking Romance, Germanic and other types of languages. I'm finding many of the Asians are only bilingual, their native language + English, but there are a few Asians who speak 3+ languages, the majority are only bilingual.

 

My schools ISO has 100+ students in it

[*lifeoftheparty*]

I was a little worried about that. The picture looks to be mostly Chinese children who probably have at least one parent who speaks Chinese at home? I'm not sure though! Here's the link:

 

http://www.awvchineseschool.us/Class_0.aspx

 

We would also do a curriculum at home.

 

 

 

The tutor idea is a good one too. We'll explore that as well!

 

That school looks AWESOME! I would sign up in a heart beat!!

[Joan in GE]

Our children started out learning English (mother tongue), French, local language, then we made a detour towards Mandarin (since we were thinking of moving to China), then came back to German, since it seems like we'll be staying here.

 

The sooner you can have an idea what languages you will need in the future, the better, so that you can start learning them. My daughter has a big advantage over her brother since she started the German at a younger age, and they have both completely forgotten the Chinese that they spent a year on. (I'm hoping that somewhere in their sound/tone memory the Chinese will come in handy if they ever have to learn it).

[Testimony]

My boys are learning Latin still, but my older one started last year (6th grade) Spanish. Why? Because his grandmother speaks no English and his father never taught them how to speak Spanish. Thus, it is left up to me. We must teach him the language now. Aaargh!!

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[KAR120C]

I'm just curious what languages you would like your child to learn. How did you choose that particular language and when do you plan to start each one (age/grade level)?

We started languages early but then floundered a bit (a lot) for a few years, so we're not quite where I wanted to be by now... DS started Spanish when he was four, with a class, and it was a lot of fun. But after two years of singing about vegetables I was sick of it and the language school didn't have any plans for anything more until he was ten (!!) He did learn a lot of vocabulary. We quit that, floundered about some more, tried Pimsleur... That was surprisingly good. If you can overlook the emphasis on beer (I like beer. Is it cold beer? I like cold beer. How much does a cold beer cost? I have twenty pesos. Two beers, please.), it does give you some sentence structure and conversation, and speed with the basics. We added a reader and Breaking the Barrier (grammar book) and very nearly got to the end of a high school "year" of Spanish at that point.

 

He started Latin with Minimus when he was 8 or 9 and enjoyed it. We did Oerburg (Lingua Latina) together the year after that... just the first ten chapers. That went rather well, but that was as far as I could go with it myself. Then we took a year off both Latin and Spanish (inadvertently...) but picked up a little Russian.

 

This year we've picked up both Latin and Spanish again and he's plowing through. He's middle-school-aged but working ahead in a lot of things, so I don't know if it's age or ability or both... but he's doing a full high school credit worthy Latin 1 (Lingua Latina again, but with a LOT of extra drill, grammar, etc. -- it's an online class through Lone Pine Classical School and it is absolutely fabulous but a really REALLY heavy workload!) and he's doing two high school credits worth of Spanish, also online (Oklahoma State University's K-12 outreach).

 

I don't think he could have handled this "high school credit" type of language learning any younger or without the informal background. The formal study of language, for us, has involved a lot of discipline, organizational skills, memorization, and understanding the structure of language. That's not to say that you can't learn a language young -- all those kids in France have no trouble speaking French (LOL) -- but unless you can really immerse yourself it's difficult to make progress. I don't regret any of the stuff he did younger -- I do think it helped tremendously. But I do find it irritating that what is widely available for (and appropriate for) young children is so much singing about vegetables.

 

At this point, the plan is to continue with Latin for three more years or as long as he enjoys it and is doing well. I'm cramming him through Spanish as fast as we can... there may be some bribery involved to get him through Spanish 3 over the summer... because we might be making an international move which would reduce the Spanish opportunities but open up French (compulsory) and German (optional but useful)... and I'd like him through as much Spanish as possible before he adds French. And I'd really like to add Russian back in... mostly because I want to do more formal study of it myself -- my own Russian is very VERY spotty, having been learned in bits and pieces and from a variety of sources (some of them actually Ukrainian...) He has expressed interest in Japanese too... If the move goes through as planned we'll be in a more urban/multicultural area and might have resources for that that we don't have here... but there are lots of other things on his plate too. We'll have to see how it plays out.

[FaithManor]

We require Latin for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. After that, our kids have the option of another credit of Latin or beginning a modern foreign language.

 

DD took Spanish and though I would have preferred French, it went okay. But, our 8th grader wants to do German, the middle boy Danish, and the youngest French and HEBREW! I am scared to death of Hebrew. The Danish isn't going to be an easy program to pull together either. I hope the youngest changes his mind and just sticks with French. (I minored in it and my sister did too. She's desperate to go back to Paris and Normandy - ds is champing at the bit to see "Utah" beach because his grandpa fought there and so we may throw a trip for the two of them out as a carrot for studying hard.)

 

We wait for high school because our kids would be overloaded if we started sooner. We have Latin and introductory Logic studies, plus very intensive science studies at all times, and serious 4-H academic pursuits including science research papers, projects in seven different science categories, creative writing projects, government and history, and the arts. But, we do have some easy computer programs in each language that they can play to help build some basic vocabulary skills.

 

If I were starting back at the beginning with littles, I'd be doing French with them right from the start. But, at the time, I guess I felt like I would be cramming something down their throats that was my own personal love. I wanted them to have a choice of language to study. Now I realize they'd all be speaking at least some French and I would have kept my skills current - they've stagnated quite a bit. Dh needed a memo from Strasbourg translated last week and I'm ashamed to say that I struggled a bit. I just haven't had a chance to use it or continue to study it since leaving college so it was a huge mistake on my part not to have begun with dd when she was little. After a bit of wrangling, I did get it translated but it was disheartening just how much I've lost!

 

So, I guess...the current plan is to continue with Latin, play with the foreign language software, and start in 10th with three years of modern foreign language or have two years of high school Latin and two years of modern foreign, or for the youngest, allow him to double up in Latin and French his freshman year unless he's ready to start French in 8th, and then drop Latin in 10th and double up on French and Hebrew. Oh my, I hope I can find a knowledgeable, child friendly rabbi to tutor him. But, I know not all rabbi's are actually fluent in Hebrew. Many are experts in Arabic. Maybe I can get him to switch to Arabic...that would be a handy language to know!

 

Faith

[Mom22ns]

My plans and my children's plans seem to vary on this topic. I had planned to teach Spanish. We started last year and it was doing very well for ds and ok for dd. A couple of weeks ago, my children staged a rebellion. Dd wants to learn French and ds wants to learn Japanese (Japanese? seriously?).

 

I just tell you this to warn you that your best laid plans may have nothing to do with your children's desire to learn. I switched ds to Japanese using Live Mocha and he is really working hard. I don't give a lot of student choice in my curriculum, but having them invested in their learning is huge.

[JadeOrchidSong]

I was a little worried about that. The picture looks to be mostly Chinese children who probably have at least one parent who speaks Chinese at home? I'm not sure though! Here's the link:

 

http://www.awvchineseschool.us/Class_0.aspx

 

We would also do a curriculum at home.

 

 

 

The tutor idea is a good one too. We'll explore that as well!

 

I don't think the one linked above is a good class for your children. They look like they are for children with native Chinese speaker parents.

Also be warned that they use the Taiwanese style of pronunciation marks, not the mainland China's PINYIN. They are two totally different ways of marking the pronunciation.

Another warning is that the writing is very very different in that the Taiwanese writing is traditional with much more strokes in each character while the mainland China's writing is simplified, which is the most common writing now. If you want your children to work in HK or Taiwan, the traditional writing is useful. Otherwise stay away from it because the 1.3 billion Chinese in mainland China use the simplified Chinese character. writing system.

[SSchwab]

Wow--after reading through this thread, I can't believe so many of you are doing all these languages so early! My kids are only 3 and 5--am I really behind on this?! I guess they are in the prime time to be able to learn another spoken language right now...but I don't know how I would teach them when I don't know it myself??

 

 

 

I thought I should wait until they are older until I talked with a German teacher. She said between 10-12 years old the brain changes the way language is intergrated and it's easier to teach before that. So, we jumped in with our 9 year olds.

Also, I thought I should do Spanish because there are so many Spanish speaking people in the US now and she said to pick another language because there is little demand for Spanish interpreters since so many are going that route. She said another language looks much better on a resume because there just aren't that many out there doing another language.

She actually lost her job here because of the Spanish immersion programs in our elementary schools. Now, by middle school no one wants to do another language.