(Even if You Don’t Speak a Foreign Language)
Figuring out how to raise a bilingual child can feel nearly impossible if you haven’t achieved fluency in a foreign language yourself. Learning how to teach your child a second language while simultaneously figuring out how to learn a language can be daunting, but it is possible with the right approach.
I have always wanted to raise my children bilingually. However, teaching my children a second language has been challenging and intimidating since I am not a native speaker. After some trial and error, I have developed a few strategies to methodically and enjoyably introduce the second language to them. If I can do it, you can too!
In this blog post, I’m going to give you my top 5 strategies for teaching your child a second language. I’m going to cover:
1. How I am teaching my kids a second language
2. Learn with them
3. Teach vocab through pictures
4. Make it fun
5. Don’t force it
6. Praise, praise, praise
7. Don’t stress
So if you feel like you’ve tried everything and still can’t teach yourself or your child a foreign language, don’t worry! Take a breath and know that all of that is about to change. (It’s simpler than you think!)
How I am Teaching My Kids a Second Language
Shortly after my husband and I got married, I became pregnant with our first child. I was so excited and started researching how to teach a baby a foreign language. What I found was a little disheartening, as almost every single method required that you were a native speaker of the target language.
I didn’t give up, though, and tried my best to introduce the second language. When my son was just eight months old, I found out that I was pregnant again. I was, of course, excited, but it was also a lot as an already newly minted mom taking care of an infant to take on being pregnant once again.
During my second pregnancy, I did what I could to teach my son, but it honestly wasn’t much. After my daughter was born, I was determined to raise my children bilingually. I tried implementing a few strategies I had learned online, but taking care of two kids under two proved to be quite a task, and I was, unsurprisingly, unable to stick to the rigid routines I set for our language learning.
Flash forward a year, and I am pregnant again. My two older kids are now 2 and 3 years old. I was busy beyond belief, but I am actually so grateful for that because if I weren’t, I don’t think I would have developed this super simple approach to teaching your child a foreign language without being a native speaker. It doesn’t take hours every day, and it doesn’t even take super crazy consistency!
Learn With Them
It can seem really daunting to teach your child a foreign language when you don’t know it yourself, but it can be done! It actually already has been done by a lady named Christine Jernigan. I am currently in the process of teaching my 3 kids Russian and absolutely loved her book “Family Language Learning: Learn Another Language, Raise Bilingual Children”. Which you can find on Amazon here for under $20. She specifically teaches you how to teach your child a language that you yourself are currently learning.
One of the easiest things to learn simultaneously with your children is vocab. Make some flashcards, listen to children’s songs, just find a way to make it fun and you’ll be killing two birds with one stone: spending time with your children and studying a foreign language.
You will need to do a little study on your own and for this, I would recommend picking up a beginning textbook/workbook and downloading Duolingo. It is amazing how much time you can devote to language learning when you swap out scrolling mindlessly on social media for some quick Duolingo lessons. Be patient with yourself and know that your skills will grow over time.
(I have put together a FREE12-week language learning planner for you guys so don’t forget to grab that at the bottom of this article!)
Teach Vocab Through Pictures
It is common when learning a new language to have a vocab list and make flashcards and quiz yourself on them until you have them all memorized. While this may work for older learners, kids’ brains work completely differently. They are still in the process of acquiring their first language. When you learn your native language, you are actually going through a period of acquiring that language. As an infant, your parents probably weren’t giving you vocab quizzes. You were just living life and picking up or acquiring your first language.
If you think about how you learned your native language, you learned what the word “dog” meant by looking at a dog and hearing the word “dog” over and over. When you think of the word “dog,” you probably have an image of a dog pop into your head. I believe that the best way to teach young kids a new language is to replicate this process of acquisition as much as possible.
This method will also help them to eventually think in their second language instead of taking it in and translating it into their native language. This method can also be used for adults, but since our native language is so ingrained in us, it can be a bit trickier to get our brains to work this way. It is possible, though!
Make It Fun
I cannot stress this point enough. You need to make it fun for kids, or you will lose their attention very quickly. If you make language learning a chore, they will grow to resent it, and it will become much harder to teach them. If there is a day when they’re not feeling it (because they’re human just like us, and sometimes we don’t feel like doing things either), allow some flexibility in your language learning goals for them.
YouTube is a great resource for kids’ songs and TV shows in lots of different languages. I love teaching my kids through songs because, for some reason, once the words have been put to music, it is so much easier for their little brains to soak it up. Because of this, it is important to play the same songs frequently so they get the repetition they need to really make it stick.
One game that I did with my kids that they absolutely loved was when I was trying to teach them the concept of asking for more of something. I had some candy and would give them each one piece and then taught them how to say “more please” in the target language. Every time they would say it, I would give them another one and say something like “OK, here you go!” also in the target language. It wasn’t a complicated game, but they had so much fun and to this day have not forgotten how to say “more please.”
When creating your own games, it’s helpful to keep in mind that kids really hold onto language that their brains deem useful. In the game example above, the phrase “more please” was deemed very useful because remembering it meant that they would get a yummy treat.
You could teach them how to ask to go outside and then, every time they ask in the target language, you drop whatever you’re doing and take them outside for 5 minutes. This may become tedious, but it will only take about a day before it will really stick in their brains. After the first day, you could teach them the word “later” and then use that until you are at a point for them to go outside again.
Don’t Force It
I kind of touched on this above, but I really want to drive the point home not to force the second language on them. Especially in the beginning stages of their language journey, it is vitally important to create a positive association with the target language. We want them to want to learn the language. Think about how much better you do at tasks that you actually want to do instead of must do.
I know it can be frustrating when they aren’t wanting to stick to the carefully thought-out language plan you meticulously wrote, but just know that one day off won’t really hurt. In the long run, you will be better off if you don’t hold the reins so tightly and keep the association with the second language positive. Think of it as helping them build a good relationship with the language.
Praise, Praise, Praise
This is probably one of the best pieces of advice that I can give you: be extremely generous with your praise for your child during the language learning process. If we want to create the most efficient language learners, we need to build confident language learners. One of the things I say to my children frequently every time we are practicing language together is “You are so good at Russian! You are seriously so good at learning Russian!” My four-year-old will now tell random people, “I’m really good at learning Russian!”
Another thing to be careful of when building a child’s confidence in their language learning ability is not to ask them questions that they don’t know the answers to. For example, if you are just starting to learn colors in Japanese, you wouldn’t want to say, “Do you know how to say ‘red’ in Japanese?” Of course they don’t know because you haven’t taught them yet! This could lead to them feeling dumb or like they aren’t good at Japanese.
I am not saying that you should try to make it so your child never makes mistakes, but you should always do your best to set them up for success. When your child does make a mistake, do your best to brush it off and say something like “ooh almost, let’s try again!” It’s important to keep the mood light and teach them it’s OK to make a mistake.
Don’t Stress
It sounds easier than it is, but really don’t stress! Language learning is such a fun endeavor, and you get to experience it with your little one, which can be such a great bonding experience. Don’t put any deadlines on yourself or freak out if you miss a day or even a week. As long as you come back to your language plan, your child’s learning will be just fine.
Conclusion
I’m so excited for you and so proud of you that you are starting this life-changing journey with your child! Learning a foreign language with my children has seriously been one of my favorite things we have done together. I know that not only will teaching your children bring about benefits for your relationship with them, it will also help them have healthier brains and more opportunities down the road. Don’t forget to grab my FREE 12 Week Language Learning Planner down below and definitely don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or feedback! Good luck, I’m rooting for you!
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