Teaching languages you don't speak

[Ausmumof3]

We've been doing Italian mostly with dino lingo and although the kids haven't learned every word I think they've absorbed most of what they are going to. Where do we go from here? The free apps seem a bit adult for them and I think I may have the same issue with Rosetta Stone though I'm not sure but I don't want them to stagnate now.

[Miss Tick]

Similar question here! What I have done is put together a variety of different activities to rotate through in a week.

 

We use the free flashcard program Anki to keep practicing vocabulary. I try to find a textbook to use as a grammar spine, there are lots of videos online these days in all sorts of topics - when we did a lesson on flowers I was able to find the same type of lesson in Spanish. There are "teach yourself ________" videos online, too, which can be useful. We will look at a page from a children's picture dictionary and use that for additional vocabulary. My library has Muzzy and Mango online, although those are probably a step backward from Duolingo.

 

My goals are daily practice, with focus on retaining vocabulary. If I can connect them eventually with a native speaker or an official class, I would prefer that they be focused on using vocabulary they already have, rather than learning it from scratch.

 

Good luck!

[8filltheheart]

My kids have managed to study languages despite my inability to help them. For French, we have used a mixture of resources: French Prep, Breaking the Barrier, French in Action (the complete program, not just the free videos on learner.org), novels in French, French camps, and finally an in-person Francophone tutor.

 

For Russian, we went with a Skype tutor fro the beginning.

 

For Latin, again various resources: Latin Prep, Wheelocks, and various sources from Bolchazy.com

[kristin0713]

This is the main reason we switched over to Latin. It is more accessible for me to teach and will prepare them for a romance language of their choice when they are mature enough to do an online course, on their own. When they were very young, I played French music often. We did basic French vocabulary and activities but it always seemed that French ended up on the back burner. I actually was quite good at French when I learned it in high school with no prior foreign language experience so I'm not worried. Learning Latin now will help them later and it takes the pressure off for now.

[Rosie_0801]

We do Arabic, for the fun of an unsolvable mystery :p even though I'm rubbish at spoken languages and dd has language disorders.

 

We're learning through reading and writing. Very slowly. Very, very slowly. But it's about the journey since we're never going to reach the destination.

 

I can't learn to speak Arabic, but I can learn to read it, even if I don't know what I'm saying. It's normal enough in English for our decoding skills to be higher than our comprehension levels, so we're doing the same. Once the ability to decode is in our heads, we can worry about building up understanding.

[HomeAgain]

Duolingo would not be a bad jump, but you can always look for material in their level online.  Classa prima work would probably benefit them some: http://www.lannaronca.it/schede%20classe%20prima%20p.htm

 

Lots of printables, little books, ways to build their vocab.

[mumto2]

We've been doing Italian mostly with dino lingo and although the kids haven't learned every word I think they've absorbed most of what they are going to. Where do we go from here? The free apps seem a bit adult for them and I think I may have the same issue with Rosetta Stone though I'm not sure but I don't want them to stagnate now.

 

This might be funhttps://www.futurelearn.com/courses/learn-italian.

 

Dd has learned many language to reasonable proficiency without me being proficient at any. It can be done. Like 8 we have used a whole variety of resources. German, which dh speaks relatively fluently has actually been our hardest because we quickly learned that his German grammar knowledge is poor. He can have conversations but that is about it. He has to be really careful!

[8filltheheart]

I should add dd's current favorite resource for French:

http://enseigner.tv5monde.com (has teaching resources)

http://apprendre.tv5monde.com (This has learning exercises. Dd has not used them, though, bc they only go through B2, but she says they look good.)

And for listening comprehension, the flash news:

http://information.tv5monde.com/les-jt/flash

 

They also have something called Thank You, Professor:

http://www.tv5monde.com/cms/chaine-francophone/lf/Merci-Professeur/p-17081-Merci-Professeur.htm

Edited May 3, 2016 by 8FillTheHeart

[wintermom]

Once you get past that initial "fun and easy" stage of picking up some grammar and vocabulary, things tend to get harder. That's when going with an enthusiastic live teacher or tutor can be really motivating. Lessons in-person or via skype with a speaker fluent or qualified to teach the language is money well spent, IME. 

[3 ladybugs]

I am doing this with 2 languages I know very little about. When I was in high school I took ASL. My son is learning Latin (I only went to public school, DH went to Catholic school for about a year), and German (I had about 3 weeks of this in middle school, DH had more of it and lived in Germany for his first 3 years as part of his father's military service). 

 

What I am doing is not worrying about him learning Latin to the point that he can really speak it well. After all it is a "dead" language. I am learning with him and that is it. German we are having him in formal classes with. They are once a week about 40 minutes away. Not really close but it is affordable for us (about $450 for the year, 30 classes that are 2.5 hours each). With this we have been told that if he were to stick with it, he should be able to be certified to speak German fluently enough to get into a german university (provided we can prove that he can do the rest of the stuff needed to be in university as they don't recognize homeschooling). So that is nice. The school is the same price for every age (including adult which we may do later). 

 

My sisters were adopted from China. My father and step mother barely speak Mandarin. However 2 weeks ago my older younger sister (14 years old) went to China as part of her school. She was required to converse in Mandarin well enough to do tasks over there (exchange money and a few other things). Needless to say she passed with flying colors. My sisters are in an Chinese immersion charter school.

 

My point is, you don't have to be fluent in a language to have your children learn it. My sisters can read and write in Chinese yet my father and his wife can't understand a word of it. The more a child is exposed to it though they will learn. Trust me as a mother to a child who takes her son to German every week and feel that anytime anyone says Guten Tag to me that I say it back sheepishly because I fear I will say it wrong. Yet my son's teacher, an older woman who clearly grew up in Germany and clearly has been doing this for years, tells me my son is doing wonderfully! This last week I even met a mother who has her daughter in my son's class. She has a German accent and was worried that her child wasn't going to learn enough german! I said to her, but you speak german in the home! She was still concerned! 

 

I think as a homeschool family we should figure out our end goal, be it having fun with another language, being able to converse with people that speak that language, or go to school in that country and then do research and find tools to best reach that goal.

 

My son is CLEARLY going to go into some automotive career. He may only be 7 but he has been into cars (to the point of exhaustion from both of us parents) since he was 1. German and german schools could really give my son a competitive advantage when the time comes. So that is why we do it. Everyone needs to figure out why want to do it, and go from there. I should add that the Latin is sort of a novelty for us and a way for him to learn other languages that he may choose later on (provided it isn't Chinese ;) ). 

[umsami]

I should add dd's current favorite resource for French:

http://enseigner.tv5monde.com (has teaching resources)

http://apprendre.tv5monde.com (This has learning exercises. Dd has not used them, though, bc they only go through B2, but she says they look good.)

And for listening comprehension, the flash news:

http://information.tv5monde.com/les-jt/flash

 

They also have something called Thank You, Professor:

http://www.tv5monde.com/cms/chaine-francophone/lf/Merci-Professeur/p-17081-Merci-Professeur.htm

 

Thanks for these! You helped me realize how much French I've forgotten. :D