Language Learning Ladder
1. Be Aware
Be aware of what to expect. Children learn new languages differently from adults so it’s important to know the milestones and potential complications. Check out our Support & Discussion forum to get ideas and tips from other families. Learning a language is a gift to your child and when they speak their first word in that language it makes it all worthwhile, just like their first steps.
2. Decide
Decide on how you want to teach it. Set out guidelines for yourselves, is one parent going to just speak the language, are you going to immerse yourself in the community through playgroups and take classes, are you going to hire a nanny/au pair who speaks the language.
3. Don’t Wait
Don’t wait.. start now.. Every child is born with the ability to mimic language and sound, actually it can start even earlier, with the ear developing in the womb at 3 weeks and becoming fully functional at 25 weeks. The earlier the better, children are like sponges and pick up accents and languages easily up until the age of 8 , after that it can be difficult to pick up the accent. When they are young, they don’t have the fear of making mistakes.
4. Get Support
Get support through playgroups or other parents. Check out our forum for ideas and discussions, our aim is to provide you with a community to make the process of teaching your child a language a fun one. Look at schools, preschools, crèches and day cares that can provide the option of bilingual exposure.
5. Get Resources
Have books, toys, CD’s & DVD’s in your chosen language around your home. You can get other items as part of your daily routine in the language that can encourage conversations. Shopping Lists and Clothes are a good way to get started.
6. Keep Positive, Persevere and Praise
Keep your child exposed to the language in whatever way you can and be patient, this can be frustrating at times but remember it is the same for bilingual, multilingual and monolingual parents. Keep positive, persevere and praise regularly and don’t put high expectations on yourself. Remember your reasons for teaching your child an additional language and keep at it with fun.
7. Starting with number 1
Start teaching yourself, you are your child’s number 1 source of knowledge and information. If you can’t find any of the above why not start your own playgroup and check out our forum for other families in your area, or look at our resources page. You may feel like you are alone but there are many other families around the world who are in the same situation as you and some are even just around the corner. Check out our Article about starting up your own playgroup.
8. Have Fun
Have fun! Children relate very well to a relaxed environment, let them have fun with learning a language too. The joy of giving the gift of another language to your child, provides them with fulfilment and happiness and can develop their creative minds too.
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Take one step at a time…
