How to teach English to my 2 year old?

Question

My 27 month old baby can talk reasonably well in our native language. But, she doesn't know a bit of English. Since we are in US now, it is a big concern for me now. How to teach her two languages at the same time?

Addl info : I dont have much social network. I dont drive.

Answer 1

Have your child watch cartoons in English , along with you teaching your child English , (s)he will pick it up quicker .. Good luck

Answer 2

well coming from a chinese family, my mom never taught me any english so it was kinda awkward going to school not knowing how to communicate with other students. but eventually, i learned how to speak it. teaching a language is never effective, im sure most people here can agree learning a second language is never fun or productive in anyway. the greatest way to learn a language, any language, is to be in an enviornment where the language is spoken most frequently. like i learned english as my 2nd language in kindergarten, and i turned out okay. the most you can do right now is probably try to use simply words like, mom, dad, thank you, hello etc. and read your 2 year old some stories. yep thats about it. dont worry too much, itll turn out okay.

Answer 3

If you can speak and read english, start reading to her. You can read it in whatever language its in, then read it again in english, or your native language if its in english. :)

My kids' pediatrician says to read to my kids 20min a day, and to cut out two hours of tv a day. She also suggested I read the same story, every day, until I felt my child(ren) was understanding or saying words I'd said from the story.

I've been doing it for a while, and it seems to be helping. My son, 16mths, doesn't speak at all, but he knows the story, I can tell. My daughter 2 and a half, can almost repeat the story as I'm reading it. :)

God bless.

Answer 4

I'd start with educational tv like Sesame Street.  You don't want to overdo tv with a 2 year old, but SS is one hour per day.

Designate a specific time each day to be "English time" and have yourself and your partner speak English only for an hour or so.

Point out things during that time each day and say their English names...basically the same way he/she learned your native language.

Don't worry too much--once they're in school your problem will be getting them to speak the native language at home.

Answer 5

The best thing you can do is immerse her in all-things English for a specific period of time.

I always suggest to my student's parents to set aside at least an hour a day to talk, read, play in English with their children.

If she is a typically developing child, she will have no problems acquiring English.

Also, try to limit television exposure. Although Sesame Street and other programs do teach concepts, children learn best via parental interaction and play. :^)

Also, please make sure that you don't code-switch between languages (e.g., mixing the two languages together-- for example, go to the cama and get me the zapatos). A child should be able to acquire both languages fully.

Although code-switching is a normal component of second language acquisition, make sure you give your daughter the correct model of whatever sentence she 'mixed' in one language.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me.

Answer 6

Simply speak to your child in both languages.  Thats what I do with my 22 month old twins.  I speak to them in both spanish and English all the time this way they get used to listening to both languages at the same time.  And do speak both languages ;)

Answer 7

Start talking to her in English...try to have her hear as much conversational English as possible.  Talk to her in both languages.  Kids learning two languages will likely appear delayed in language at the preschool and early childhood ages, but end up being more advanced.

Answer 8

Don't worry, they can pick it up in a second, just wait until they start daycare or preschool. I am bilingual as well, I have a 16 mos and a 36 mos old, I regreat not teaching them Spanish earlier. 95% of their language is Engish.

Answer 9

Start by speaking English with her, she's only 2 years old so it will be a little bit easy, also by watching educational TV, like Sesame Street or any others that's  appropriate for her to learn the language...

:)

Good luck!!!

Answer 10

My daughter is half white and half hispanic. My husbands family only knows spanish and can not understand English. My family only knows english and no spanish. I have taught my daughter words and I would make her repeat them I would then tell her that the english word is english and the spanish word is spanish. She is 3 years old and every since she could talk she has been able to realize that anyone that talks spanish is the only one that can understand those words and anyone that speaks english can understand her english words. Now that she is older she is grasping the consept of the fact that some people can speak both. She waits and listens to what you say and then knows if you spoke english or spanish and then knows what she needs to say and in what language. I have not had any problem with her mixing the two. I also have used flashcards. I found english-spanish flashcards at the dollar tree and they helped her. I don't know what your native language is byt maybe you can make some flashcards with pictures and the word in both languages and make up some games with them. That makes it funner. I know your child is too young to read but they can use these for games now and for learning words and spelling later. Make your child equally subjected to both languages so that they know there is a difference. Then talk to them in both just with small commands at first. Like sit down... or tell them I love you in your english. Even if they reply in your native language you will know that they are grasping the meaning of words in english. Then tell them " No I am talking to you in >>>>> so you answer in >>>>>>>." Then repeat what you said and wait for a response. You don't want to avoid helping your child learn your native language because then they will have to relearn it.

Answer 11

Well, I grew up in a house where only Polish, Ukranian,  German  and Russian were spoken.  Yet I learned to assimilate the English language when I went out to play and met people or just thru everyday activities.  Kids are smart and pick up a lot. Don't worry yourself so.  Tv, radio, friends, neighbors.  Kids pick up things fast.. My first day of kindergarten I asked the teacher where the bathoom was, (I tried all the languages) and looked at her like she was stupid because she couldn't understand me.  Pee, she understood.