Teach a child a second language????????

Question

- how many of you know a child fluent in two different languages?

- at what age do you think a child should be taught the second language and would be able to understand both languages?

- what second language would be most beneficial to teach the child or what second language would you teach your child?

Answer 1

I know lots of kids fluent in two languages. My child is an English/Japanese bilingual (from birth) and most of her friends are the same. I taught at an International pre-school where most of the kids were Japanese/English bilingual (apart from those who were French/English bilingual or English/Japanese/Russian tri-lingual).

I also teach an English class for Japanese toddlers/pre-schoolers at my house.

My daughter started at birth (or actually before birth because she heard both in the womb). I spoke to her in English, while my husband (Japanese native) spoke to her in Japanese. Various relatives spoke to her in their native languages.

At 3, she has a good command of English and a reasonable command of Japanese (probably at a good 2 year old level). She happily spends 3 days a week with me in English, 2 days in Japanese (with her grandparents and daycare while I work) and weekends in English and Japanese while we spend family time.

She understands both VERY well, but cannot always respond in Japanese and is not so chatty (very chatty in English). She will be going into Japanese school later, so I am not worried about her Japanese level - she will pick it up.

I teach English to little kids and their mothers from about 2 years old. They love singing songs and learn a LOT of language from songs and from action songs and TPR (total physical response). These same kids have moved on to pre-school age and I am using the songs we know to springboard onto conversations (with me and the toys).

At the international pre-school we did the good-morning song in English, Japanese, Spanish (we had a spanish speaking teacher), French and Korean (French and Korean students).

Of course in our family Japanese is the second language, but I am thinking of adding another language. Maybe something we can learn together. I am thinking of adding Spanish or French. Chinese would be very valuable, as that would introduce her to the idea of tonal languages.

The earlier the better for languages. The major window for language learning is until 3 years old, but there is a secondary window until about 7 years old I believe.

With my daughter I decided to concentrate on her 2 languages  for the first period...but still have time to add second languages if we want.

For a child to be fluent in a language, rather than just knowing some words, the child has to spend 30% of their time in that language environment.

Check out www.multilingualfamilies.com for more info or post on to the langauges section (lots of bilingual/multilingual families there)

Answer 2

Hi!

At age 4 I new German, English and my mother tongues (two languages) fluently. It is best to teach your child or expose your child to a second language early. Choosing the language to learn will depend on which country you are a resident of, and heritage. For example, if you live in the United States, Spanish will be the first language your child learns next to English. I hope this answers your question somewhat.

Answer 3

The age for best language aquisition is 6 mo and 3 yrs old.  This is when area of the brain (I think it is Brocha's area) is best suited to learning new vocabulary at a rapid aborbtion rate.  The connections are built best at this age.  In fact there have been studies to show most of the vocabulary a child will develop for every day speech is developed at this age and after this age it is more difficult to learn language.  They call it the window of opportunity, if you will.  

If you already know a language, it is best to teach them at this young age when the brain is forming connections.  However, if you haven't, or this isn't practical, teach the child from the earliest possible age- including preschool.  Depending on the child, they may pick up sign language very naturally during the preschool ages since this is when the motor skills involving hand movements are really developing.  Also, before the child starts reading, their memory is amazing- they are like little sponges.  As for your second question about comprenhension- children can only comprehend what is relavent to them in their lives at any stage- however, the basics of any language are what you'd be teaching anyway.

The most practical second languages today are Spanish if you live in the USA, since this is the most common language spoken in the US other than english and is coming more common (and in some places required) across the land.  Worldwide, or if you can- teach your child Manderin Chinese- it's the most commonly spoken language in the world- with the largest population- also, a lot of outsourcing goes there.  Also, consider a romantic language and another form of language (like Japanese) since both have different letter structures.  

I know a lot of children who are fluent in both spanish and english, and several who speak several languages like Russian, Ukranian, and English, as there is a high population of people from this region in my area.  The kids have no trouble switching back and forth from one language to another.  In fact, these students do much better in my Language Arts classes after about three years of being in the country, since there are words in some languages that don't transfer to English and they are constantly searching their brain for translations and word meaning.  Their grammar is much better than the students only speaking English as well.  Their family uses one language, and they use English in school, so they are able to practice both.  I think practice and maintaining use of a language is important to keeping it in your mind.  So, if you have your child learn a language that you can use yourself all the time, then they are much more likely to benefit from it and remember it.  Good luck@!

Okay, as far a teaching languages in elementary- it depends.  Most public schools offer spanish in middle school, and somtimes french.  Mine offers russian, only because we have a lot of people who speak it here.  Some schools may offer languages in about 4th grade, or possibly entice parents with Japanese offered.  I think private schools use this as a plus.  I know I took french for 4 years in school, and I can't really remember much since I barely ever use it.  However, it did help me with English Grammar and word comprehension.  I even see my 6th graders have lights going off in their head when they can relate a new spanish word to a vocabulary word in their reading.

Answer 4

You already know Spanish so go for Spanish.  The child will consider the language natural to learn if one of the parents has some knowledge of it.

Nowadays children are being pushed to learn all kinds of things before they reach the age of three.  We are creating a generation of academics, I sometimes wonder what for?

Wouldn't children be happy simply being kids, playing around having fun?

Not against bi-cultural education, but if it looks like a struggle for the child.  I would stop it, no matter what others say.

Answer 5

ur having a laugh!!

Answer 6

What language besides English are you proficient in?

A child can learn a second language at the same time he is learning his primary language.  They recognize both languages as one.  It is often desirable for one person to  speak exclusively one language when they converse with the child. ( eg. a parent)  A second person (eg. the nanny) can converse with the child in the second language exclusively. Both should be speaking to the child from birth or as soon as possible.  Language develops in stages over time.  At age 2 most children are having the most development of speech and language. Begin as soon as possible.

Answer 7

Most of the children that i know speak both spanish and english.  It is most beneficial because the hispanic population is on the rise in the united states and is now the number one minority group.

It is best to teach them as young as you can, that way they will know it very fluently and may not even have an accent in either language.  It is also said to be easier for children to learn a second language.

I am going to teach my child from birth.  My husband to be's first language is spanish and mine is english.

Answer 8

Hi Clara, well I think that the best age to teach a child a second language is in kinder garden, and you start with basic stuff such like shapes, colors, days of the week, months...you know, just vocabulary, and some verball structure too, not too complicated though. My first language is spanish, and I started to learn english as a second language when I was 4 yrs old (kinder), and this is because the kinder I went to had english classes so it helped me a lot. Also, when I was in elementary, I had english classes and what the teacher would do is put us to read...read, read and read, then after that we would write summaries. There are some tv shows for children that you might want to show to the child, so the child can practice his/her hearing.

I believe that the most benefitial language to teach a child is spanish, because if...well, if you live in the U.S we all know you have to speak english, but the second most important language to speak is spanish. For example, like in a job, they want you to be bilingual...english and spanish, so a good start is when the child is 4 yrs old, and...teach him/her spanish.

Answer 9

ASAP! my granddaughter learned both English, and dad labels a few words (in Spanish-seaste - jump!). she is pretty good at both languages. kids in my class speak both native language and a few words in English and they are three years old  . then you can also teach baby sign language too.

Answer 10

in all good elementry schools under the central board in india all kids are fluent in at least 2 languages.we begin with the second language at age 6 and i do not know of any case where the child found it difficult to juggle with the 2 languages.about the most beneficial language you yourself are the best judge.

Answer 11

Sign language is actually very easy for the child to learn. Especially if there are pretty young. I work with 3-5 year olds and we use sign language when they can't communicate with words so we can understand what they want

Answer 12

I just enrolled my five year old in to a program that will teach her spanish. Her first language is english and before she was accepted to this program the school did a couple of assessments to see how well she spoke the english language. She is currently in a pre school program that has one spanish teacher and one english teacher per class. She has picked up alot of different words in spanish and knows the meaning of them. I was told that it is better for the child to be younger when first learning a second language. I also taught in a early headstart program with older toddlers, some of who could not speak english at all some of the children spoke spanish and some haitian creole. They picked up the english language within a year and still were able to comprehend their home language.