freemanfamilyof6 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Okay homeschoolers, I know I will get a spectrum of views on this so please tell me your thoughts. When is a good age to start a foreign language? For an average learner & also a gifted learner? Struggling learner? I have all 3. :) What language do you start with? I was thinking Spanish bc we live in New Mexico but? What other languages do you do & why? What curriculum do you use? Why? Are the CD programs preferrable? What do you like about it? How often do you do your foreign language curriculum? 5 days a week? Less? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godsaggie Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 I'm starting Latin with my dd10 this year. I purchased Latina Christiana but think I will send it back and actually go with Visual Latin. I intend to do it 3 days a week and have her listen to a chapter of the bible every day. I have read tons of reasons why Latin should be the first language taught...even though it is a "dead" language. It is the foundation for so many other languages, and with a good grasp on Latin, other languages are easier to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 When is a good age to start a foreign language? For an average learner & also a gifted learner? Struggling learner? I have all 3. :) The younger the better. You may want to use different approaches for your different learners though. What language do you start with? I was thinking Spanish bc we live in New Mexico but? What other languages do you do & why? I'd start with the one most important to you. We chose Mandarin and Arabic because they are major languages found in the 10/40 window. We chose French because my kids are Canadian. We chose ancient Greek to be able to read the Bible in Greek. What curriculum do you use? Why? Are the CD programs preferrable? What do you like about it? How often do you do your foreign language curriculum? 5 days a week? Less? I'd find something specific to the language. I've found that programs that offer a wide variety of languages aren't as effective for us. We do foreign language every school day, but not every language each day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 If you are looking for Spanish fluency, I would start as early as possible and try to get a native speaker to help at least once a week. That shouldn't be too hard in NM! Latin is the best language to learn to understand English grammar as well as to have to have a foundation to learn other related languages (including Spanish) later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EducationX2 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Average, gifted or struggling learner- the best age to start a foreign language is early. If not, then now. :D The most important question to ask when deciding on a language to teach your children would be: do you speak any foreign languages? If so, teach that one. If not, are the children particularly interested in a specific language or region of the world? Are YOU particularly interested in a specific language or region of the world? (Since it will be much easier for you to learn with them). If no to all of those, I'd probably go with Spanish in your case. Living in New Mexico, there should be plenty of resources around you. The number one best "curriculum" would be a native speaker. Maybe find someone to do a language exchange with- you work with them on their English, and they help teach your children Spanish. It doesn't even have to be formal teaching, they could just come in and play games with the children, cook with them, SPEAK to them. Also, look around you for other opportunities to speak and hear Spanish- Spanish language playgroups, Spanish language church services (if you go to church), Spanish grocery stores, etc. I'm just starting to do research on Spanish curriculum, so I don't have specific advice there, except stay away from Rosetta Stone. It really isn't the best way to learn a language. (To answer your questions, I teach my daughter French because I speak it, and we are starting Spanish in February, also because I speak it and because she has demanded to learn it. Sometime in the next couple years, after I've had some more time to learn it myself, she will start learning Portuguese in preparation for an extended trip to Brazil. In middle school she will start Latin, there are so many reasons why Latin is a good idea, but I think it is more important to teach the spoken languages while children are younger. We do language often. I aim for 7 days a week, although it never happens like that, and it is never 7 days of formal lessons. Often our French "lessons" consist of casual conversations- right now we are learning colors and some nouns, so I might just randomly walk up and start asking about what color the dog is, or what color the tree is, or look at that green car, or is the grass blue? Which for some reason always gets a laugh. :tongue_smilie: When it comes to learning a foreign language- 15 minutes 5 times a week is better than an hour twice a week. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freemanfamilyof6 Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 (edited) OK, Spanish is probably my first choice to start. More suggestions are welcome though. Any ideas what Spanish curriculum is good for the ages of my girls? (7, 6, 5 in the fall) Edited July 16, 2012 by freemanfamilyof6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freemanfamilyof6 Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 Looking for ideas of Spanish curriculum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 When I was considering Spanish, I really liked these programs: Sube Sonrisas Sing N Speak All of these expect that you can at least pronounce Spanish which isn't hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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