Which foreign language to start with...

[Melinda]

Which foreign language did you start first, and how did you go about teaching it? Our oldest child will be a first grader in the fall, and would like to learn a language.

 

I can see great benefits in learning Latin, but half of my husbands family is from Chile, so Spanish would be good for them to know. I took German in high school, but we are also interested in learning Hebrew, Arabic, Cantonese, French, etc, etc, etc.

 

Boy, there's a lot of decisions to make. So how do I decide (or how did you decide)? I am leaning toward Latin or Spanish to start, just not sure.

[chiguirre]

We're doing Spanish first. I chose this route partly because I speak Spanish and partly because I don't want to include reading/writing another language until their English phonics are more solid. Spanish vocabulary will certainly make learning Latin easier when we do get to it.

 

Dd is enrolled in a girls-only K Spanish class that meets 2x a week. It's a lot more fun than I could make Spanish and she loves to go. Ds asked me to teach him Spanish too, so we've been doing Rosetta Stone online for free through the Houston Public Library. He's enjoying the "video game" because we don't have any real games and he's learning quite a bit of vocabulary.

[Laura Corin]

Personally, I think starting with a living language is a good idea: young children pick up living languages easily, and there's plenty of time for wrestling with Latin grammar later. As you have a family connection to Spanish (and it's not too hard) I'd start with that.

 

Just as a matter of interest: why are you interested in Cantonese, rather than Mandarin? Unless you have a family connection to Cantonese, Mandarin makes a lot more sense for most people: it's the lingua franca of one sixth of the world's population, whereas Cantonese is only spoken in one province of China, plus Hong Kong and various China Towns around the world.

 

Laura

[Trivium Academy]

I would start Spanish now through games and conversation- use something FUN! and wait until 2nd or 3rd for Latin. Spanish materials are so easy to obtain, even the kids' favorite movies can be played in Spanish if you have DVDs. Depending on their interest and how well they do, you can always have Spanish be informal until you're ready to study it formally.

[Melinda]

Thanks, both of you. You make good points. Cantonese was just an example off the top of my head. I am not interested in it for any reason other than that we would like to eventually learn several languages. You are right, though. Mandarin would definitely be a better choice if we do eventually learn to speak Chinese. Thanks :)

[Makita]

My DD expressed interest in learning Mandarin when she was almost 5. I have not real clue why, she just said, "I want to learn how to speak Chinese." We went with Mandarin because it is more widely used.

 

We started my exploring free online resources like Mango.Languages.com and borrowing language materials from the library (Muzzy, etc.). Nothing was really clicking. Then in the fall of '08, the local Language Institute offered a class for 4-6 year olds. We jumped at the chance!

 

We are now in the midst of the 3rd session and there have always been only 4-5 children enrolled. My understanding is 4 is the minimum so if anyone drops, I am going to hire the instructor for private tutoring. In some respects I'd prefer that now... my DD is the oldest and has the desire to learn... the others play and goof off sometimes. But I also want her to experience that for what it is.

 

The teacher does a lot of games, etc. with them. This 3rd session she is just now beginning to introduce the Chinese written characters and more phrases. She is also explaining/teaching the tones now.

 

We opted to go with Mandarin now as it is a more difficult language to learn. I figure it best to get exposed now when learning languages is easier.

 

I speak Spanish fluently and occasionally speak with my kids in Spanish. I would like to more regularly but it is the first thing that gets dropped.

 

We also took a Sign Language class for a short time and have all the Signing Time DVDs. I was big into signing before the kids could talk... so we know a number of signs. We just don't use it. Again, like Spanish, it gets dropped when we get busy.

 

In a few years, I will also add Latin. Not certain how just yet... we'll be doing it together as I, too, want to learn.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Makita

[Kate in Arabia]

We started with Arabic, and have been teaching it since birth. For us the main reason is religious, but also it is the only language other than English that both dh and I have some fluency in. I find the complexity of its grammar good exercise for the brain, lol, and I think it has helped with learning English.

 

If we didn't do Arabic, I probably would have gone with Urdu, which is the language spoken by dh's family. In your case, you have a link to Spanish already, and there are lots of resources available, that sounds like a good choice! Unless you and/or your dh are fluent in another language?

[Aurelia]

We started with Spanish because it's so widely spoken here. Ariel really likes hands on projects and songs and videos, so La Clase Divertida is a wonderful fit. It's designed for K-6th grade (best fit is K-4th) - and includes craft and cooking projects for different countries at each of the 3 levels. It's certainly not the most polished looking product on the market, but she has learned a lot, and uses it daily. Yesterday my mom was talking with another parent whose homeschooled child took Spanish at a co-op and the 2nd graders were far behind what Ariel has learned at age 4.

 

 

I would start with the language that is most likely to be used and if, after a couple of years, he really wants to learn something else, move on. We will probably add Latin around 3rd grade, since that's the WTM recommendation and Ariel will have already studied Spanish for 3 years, and will, I assume, be fairly comfortable with either a switch or additional language.

[Jennefer@SSA]

I speak Spanish (although nowhere near the level of proficiency I used to be at!) so that just made it so much easier for me to reinforce. We use the Elementary Spanish program on Discovery Streaming and ds really enjoys it and has learned so much. There are soooo many Spanish games and activities out there as well and so many opportunities for ds to practice as we live in Texas and my dad is mexican. There is even a PBS channel with all Spanish language programs for kids! We don't have digital cable but if we did we could certainly use those resources as kids need to develop an "ear" for the language they are learning. And like Jessica mentioned, so many movies you may already own have an option to watch in Spanish. :)

[mcconnellboys]

My oldest had trouble with foreign languages. He has some processing difficulties. With him, we started with Spanish in K and he is still taking it in high school. We took a break from it for about two years in junior high while he finished up through year two of Latin studies. He started those in fifth grade.

 

With my younger son, we started Spanish in K. He has been doing both Spanish and Latin since first grade. He does not experience as much difficulty with languages as my older son did. We just take it slowly.

[momof165]

Since half of your dh side speaks Spanish it would make sense to start with a living language such as Spanish. Kids at this age pick up a language so fast. I always would recommend the language that one of the parents or both are fluent in. It's just so much easier for the kids to pick up. On top, you can save the money you'd have to spend on a tutor.:D

 

My ds grows up bilingual (English-German) since this is the language spoken by one half of the family, the second half speaks Russian. Unfortunately, my Russian is anything but brilliant - hence, ds was first exposed to German. He is now learning Latin.

 

Sonja

____________________________________

Homeschooling JUST ONE - ds 9

[Matryoshka]

Since half of your dh side speaks Spanish it would make sense to start with a living language such as Spanish. Kids at this age pick up a language so fast. I always would recommend the language that one of the parents or both are fluent in. It's just so much easier for the kids to pick up. On top, you can save the money you'd have to spend on a tutor.:D

 

:iagree:

[mnllj7]

There is a great Spanish program out there now, it is Spanish for Children, it is a classical way of teaching spanish, It is by the same people that Did the curriculum Latin for CHildren. GOd bless, nancyt.