Foreign Language in Kindergarten

[Phryne]

I am not seeing much support among homeschoolers for starting foreign language at age five.  Even A Well Trained Mind doesn't recommend Latin until a little later.

Granted, there are plenty of other things for a five year old to do, but I can't help remembering all the (outdated?) articles I have read and experts I have heard stressing that no one is better at learning language than a very young child.  When I was a child (though no one taught me a foreign language until I was twelve), the concern from language learning advocates was about a window closing on a young child's ability to learn a foreign language with the most success.  I don't seem to read about that in books, articles, or posts about homeschooling now that I am a parent.

 

Would I be crazy to throw Latin (or Spanish or French) into my days with my Kindergartener, on top of the limited [English] reading, handwriting, and math work we will do?

[Rosie_0801]

No, that's not crazy. :) If you want to do that, go ahead. :)

[SoCal_Bear]

I started Chinese before K. I'm not a native Mandarin Chinese speaker. Latin and French are both in the mix as well right now. So, not crazy to me. =) 

[Loesje22000]

I would not start Latin at 5yo, but any modern language seems fine to me.

We started English at age 5.

 

You might want to consider though, that starting a language might be pretty easy, but maintaining it, expanding it, takes a lot of effort (and money).

 

We also dabbled in several languages, and it didn't harm dd so far :)

[Jackie]

My daughter just turned 7. She's now reached basic fluency in her second language, and will be starting her third language this summer.

 

WTM is a guide. Use it how it fits you.

[Violet Crown]

We start Latin (exposure, memorization) that early, as it's the language of our worship services and much of our daily prayer; but study of Latin grammar waits a few years. If there are the resources available, age-appropriate language learning is never a bad idea.

[CadenceSophia]

I would not start Latin at 5yo, but any modern language seems fine to me.

We started English at age 5.

 

You might want to consider though, that starting a language might be pretty easy, but maintaining it, expanding it, takes a lot of effort (and money).

 

We also dabbled in several languages, and it didn't harm dd so far :)

This!

 

It is a big commitment if you actually intend your child to do more than dabble. Not a bad thing, but your child will not attain the supposed benefits of starting early (mostly in accent acquisition) unless they are also spending a large portion of their day immersed in the language (roughly 30% of waking hours, but like everything that number can be debated). There is no particular benefit to learning colors and numbers in a foreign language that can't be compensated for in later years.

[fralala]

Welcome! Stick around here and I think you'll see that a lot of homeschoolers think learning foreign languages at a young age is important, and that the question is not "Should I?" but "How should I, appropriately and successfully?"

 

Especially if-- as it sounds-- you're lucky enough to possess knowledge of a foreign language, why not sing songs in that language, read books, recite poems, play games, and watch cartoons?

[8filltheheart]

I would not start Latin at 5yo, but any modern language seems fine to me.

We started English at age 5.

 

You might want to consider though, that starting a language might be pretty easy, but maintaining it, expanding it, takes a lot of effort (and money).

 

We also dabbled in several languages, and it didn't harm dd so far :)

I agree. Latin is really not a great choice for a 5 yr old bc today it is not an oral language. The effort required to read and write it at that young of an age is not worth the ROI. Waiting until they are a few yrs older will lead to faster mastery and less frustration at lack of progression bc Latin becomes grammar intense.

 

Spoken language is different. It is picked up quickly by little kids, but it does have to be maintained or they lose it just as quickly. Our oldest was completely fluent in Portuguese. After returning Stateside, he pretty much lost most of it in a few yrs. He could probably pick it back up easily if he tried but as of now he couldn't follow a conversation.

 

It is also possible to learn languages to a high level when older. My dd didn't start Russian until 9th grade and has an excellent accent. This dd loves languages and is fluent in French (self-taught), between a B1-B2 in Russian, and took Latin for 5 yrs. It was a a HUGE time commitment to maintain her skills across all 3. She ended up dropping Latin due to lack of time. She has also lost some of her Latin bc of not keeping up with it.

 

Lots of options. No right or wrong way, but the outcome may surprise you. (Never thought my dd would become fluent in French on her own.)

Edited May 29, 2017 by 8FillTheHeart

[Violet Crown]

I agree. Latin is really not a great choice for a 5 yr old bc today it is not an oral language. The effort required to read and write it at that young of an age is not worth the ROI. Waiting until they are a few yrs older will lead to faster mastery and less frustration at lack of progression bc Latin becomes grammar intense.

 

On the other hand, Latin is a great choice for a 5yo because it's a dead language. :) No worries about accent, or providing an immersion environment. A basic form like "In nomine Patris, et Filiis, et Spiritus Sancti" (for example), memorized effortlessly in the elementary years, gives the older student genitive singular for three of the five declensions. We use a Latin curriculum for which the student memorizes "basic sentences" that exemplify grammar as it's learned; and the previous years of memorizing Latin phrases help the process greatly. No frustration at lack of progress so far.

 

YM, as always, MV!

Edited May 29, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Bluegoat]

I also would not start Latin at 5 - kids that age are great at natural language approaches and mimicing, which are better suited to a modern language.  We usually have the Ordinary in Latin at our parish church, so we would talk about that, but not really much other study of Lain until later.

 

Now, for a parent who felt really unable to teach a modern language at that level, Latin might be a reasonable option.  Most Canadians have at least taken French to high school and have a sense of what it should sound like, so it's likely going to be a better option than Latin for most here.

[Renai]

I am not seeing much support among homeschoolers for starting foreign language at age five.  Even A Well Trained Mind doesn't recommend Latin until a little later.

 

Granted, there are plenty of other things for a five year old to do, but I can't help remembering all the (outdated?) articles I have read and experts I have heard stressing that no one is better at learning language than a very young child.  When I was a child (though no one taught me a foreign language until I was twelve), the concern from language learning advocates was about a window closing on a young child's ability to learn a foreign language with the most success.  I don't seem to read about that in books, articles, or posts about homeschooling now that I am a parent.

 

Would I be crazy to throw Latin (or Spanish or French) into my days with my Kindergartener, on top of the limited [English] reading, handwriting, and math work we will do?

 

As far as a window closing, more recent research shows the biggest benefit of learning a language young is acquiring the accent of the language. A person can become fluent at an older age, and the benefits of that are they have more background knowledge (life experience, vocabulary, etc.) to hook the new language-learning to. Also, the reason many times early learning is thought to be more successful is because of the method used in learning young vs. later. 

 

Having said that, I start early. There is something to be said about learning the different sounds of languages. One does start losing the ability to hear sounds of languages that are not used.

 

Anyway, we are bilingual household - Spanish/English. I started letting my girls, at very young ages (<5), listen to, and say simple phrases in, German and Japanese because those are what I was somewhat familiar with. My oldest dropped them early, but is currently self-studying Japanese. The youngest became interested in German because of a German-speaking neighbor of ours. Since the younger is learning reading in two languages already, her German-learning is limited to speaking and listening. She is also listening to the oldest's Japanese studies and has been babbling in Japanese around the house.  :laugh: It's a good start.

[Sarah0000]

Not being bilingual, I've found the easiest aspects of foreign language to maintain with my young child are cultural knowledge, reading, and writing. The time and effort required for conversational and vocabulary fluency is just not worth it in our situation. It might be different if I had just one young child but I've got younger children that I have to teach in English.