How many times a week / how long do you spend on foreign language?

[lea_lpz]

My kids are in k & 3rd (ds6, dd8). We probably average working on Spanish 2-3 days a week. I would like to do it 4 days a week but it doesn't seem to happen. We will usually spend somewhere between 15-30 minutes a day on Spanish when on the days we do it. Should I just accept that we only do it 2-3 days a week and move on or should we really try to do more?

 

If your kids are younger (early elementary) and you spend more time on a foreign language how do you incorporate it into your routine?

[Arcadia]

At that age, my kids did 15-30mins of seat work on weekdays and they have a B&M 2.5hr weekly class for german. They started when they were 5 and 6. German is hubby and my third language.

 

For chinese (native) we didn't do any seat work, until this year when my kids were 9 and 10. However they hear hubby and me as well as our friends talk in chinese so they could understand even though they pretend not to :lol: They attend a weekly 2hr B&M class and their cello teacher speaks chinese to them.

 

We also spend time watching cartoons in the other languages. We would also learn the folk songs of the other languages. We do that while eating lunch/dinner/supper.

[SeaConquest]

My 1st grader does Latin 2 days/week and Hebrew 2 days/week.

 

Next year, I plan to do Hebrew 4 days, Latin 2 days, and French 2 days. We will see how it goes.

[Rosie_0801]

About fifteen minutes per day. Just reading and writing, at present. I'd like to be able to increase it, but that's not an option for another semester at least.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Rosie_0801

[HomeAgain]

We spend roughly 10 minutes, 3-4 times a week.  It will increase as he gets older and more familiar with the structure of the languages, but this is more than enough time for an introduction to vocabulary and grammar for his age (5).  If he stays home, next year will increase to 25 minutes (15 on one language, 10 on Latin), then 30 (15 each), then 40 (20 each), up to an hour for each language in middle school.

[ikslo]

15-30 minutes 5 days/week is our goal.  Occasionally 4 times/week if we are low on time, but I try to rotate which subject gets dropped so that it is not always German.   DS9 plays Poptok sometimes for vocabulary if he's really not in the mood for anything else.

 

I would love to do a weekend B&M class, Arcadia.  I'll have to look into that.

 

OP, have you considered doing it first everyday, at least until it becomes more of a habit?

[Miss Tick]

we try to spend 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week. One thing that helps here is doing different things most days. Salsa one day, Tin Man Press worksheets another day (highly recommend these), she does a phonics lesson and then I read to her, we study a page of the picture dictionary and discuss it, etc. It doesn't have to be high quality every day, exposure is good! Find something easy to add on the harder days - videos, or passive read aloud. When I'm really gung-ho we can modify a game like Who Is It? or Headbandz (shudder) and do it in Spanish. I haven't been that gung-ho this semester!

[J-rap]

At that age and for a number of years, we only did about 15 minutes/day, about 3 days/week.  It was mostly for exposure.  Simple vocabulary, simple workbooks, lots of songs (that taught vocabulary), computer games that worked with vocabulary.  We probably would have done it differently if we were in an area where they really could have been immersed in it somehow, or if our relatives spoke the language, etc.  But, given that it was only us on our own, we just went for the casual exposure.

 

Until high school.  Then they began really intensively studying, usually 2 hours/day.  We took advantage of every opportunity we could think of outside the home, too.  By the time two of them (the two who wanted to continue with language) entered college, they could do very well, and after two more years of it in college, they were fluent.  A third didn't pursue language in college, but given his intensive study in high school and the fact that language comes easily for him, he has a very good handle on both Spanish and Germany.  He lived in a German-speaking boarding house in NYC, and also spent a semester working in Germany. 

 

I always like to tell people that in case they think if they don't begin intensive language early, their children will never get to be good at it.

 

Of course if we had easy exposure at an early age, we would have worked harder at it earlier!  For example, my daughter married a young man from Latin America, and though they plan to raise their kids in the USA someday (where they'll pick up English naturally), I'm sure they'll also work pretty intensively on Spanish, right from the get-go.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My 3rd grader spends about 30-40 minutes on German, 5x a week.  He does 3 DuoLingo lessons (about 15 minutes total, 2 review and 1 new lesson), 1 Memrise German A1 lesson (about 5 minutes), 10-15 minutes of a Pimsleur lesson (a half lesson) and then another 10 minutes with daddy in the evenings, who actually knows German.  lol.  

 

Adding DuoLingo is an easy way to add in daily practice without it stretching you (mom) too much in terms of active time.  Pimsleur is also an easy option because we do it while preparing lunch or cleaning up after, so again, not stuck in a seat.  

 

As far as "Is it necessary" to spend more time on a foreign language... it depends on your goals.  Are you looking for comfort and familiarity so that approaching high school foreign language level will be easy?  Then yes, it is enough.  If you want to have children who can effectively communicate in the language before high school level coursework, then no, it's not.

 

I would not be teaching German if it were up to me, but we are required to by law where I live.  Since we're already doing French (legal requirement and local language, also kid's paternal "mother tongue"), and English (my first language), it is a strain for me to administer a full German course as well.  But since we MUST teach German, I want to do it well, and these resources are working really well for us thus far.  Once ds has completed duolingo, we will probably move on to an online class.  Once he's completed year 1-2/3 high school German, we'll probably move on to a tutor and a homemade program of reading texts, watching films, etc.   

[MinivanMom]

My early elementary kids spend 15-20 min on French, 4 days per week. We've made it a part of our basics here: reading, writing, math, and French. 

[KrissiK]

We do Latin and Greek 5 days a week. When they were young, it probably took 10-15 minutes a day. (We started Greek just last year) Prima Latina and Latina Christiana are very gentle introductions to the language, so they don't take long at all, but it lays a foundation. We're doing Elementary a Greek and taking our time. Laying a foundation in a gentle way. I am if the persuasion that studying a language for 10-15 minutes a day every day is more productive than a longer amount of time only 2-3 days a week. And the kids are not as likely to burn out if you don't spend too awfully much time on it.

[lea_lpz]

At that age and for a number of years, we only did about 15 minutes/day, about 3 days/week. It was mostly for exposure. Simple vocabulary, simple workbooks, lots of songs (that taught vocabulary), computer games that worked with vocabulary. We probably would have done it differently if we were in an area where they really could have been immersed in it somehow, or if our relatives spoke the language, etc. But, given that it was only us on our own, we just went for the casual exposure.

This is what we do and I am not fluent in Spanish so this is probably part of it. I'd like to see us consistently do 15 min a day 4x a week so it's more spread out. I feel like I need more structure.

[lea_lpz]

As far as "Is it necessary" to spend more time on a foreign language... it depends on your goals. Are you looking for comfort and familiarity so that approaching high school foreign language level will be easy? Then yes, it is enough. If you want to have children who can effectively communicate in the language before high school level coursework, then no.

Our goal is the former. I would like them to be able to be familiar with Spanish enough to start taking Spanish 1 in 7th grade and take Spanish 2 in 8. Then ideally continue in through high school either doing AP level or taking CC Spanish jr / sr year of high school.

[lllll]

nm

Edited December 16, 2015 by w11

[Jackie]

DD is 5. Currently, we do Spanish for 30 minutes/day five days a week, and 10 minutes a day on the weekends, but foreign language is a big focus for her. She's an independent reader and writer, so most of that is independent time on DuoLingo and with Salsa Spanish episodes.

 

ETA: our goal is more toward fluency than exposure.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Jackie

[OvercomingSchool]

Fifteen minutes, five days a week for my elementary school student, half an hour for my highschooler. When we did Latin, it was another 15 minutes of that, too. If we could, we'd do more!