Approaches to Teaching a Toddler French

[rparker]

I would like to teach my 33 month old to speak a second language. My initial plan had been to teach her Spanish because I already have a basic level of competency and decent pronunciation. I am really interested, however, in learning to read (and possibly speak) French.

Is there a specific approach where we could learn a completely new language together despite having different educational objectives? Would Rosetta Stone be the best choice for my daughter? If so, would it also be an adequate choice for an adult wanting to learn to read some fairly "difficult" French texts? Or is there a better program than Rosetta Stone for teaching preschoolers a second language?

My guess is that I'm going to have to use one approach for my daughter and supplement my own learning with textbooks. I just don't want to spend the money on the Rosetta Stone homeschool edition if it's only really useful for older children/adults interested in learning to speak a language on a basic level. I have an older version of the level 1 Spanish so I'm somewhat familiar with the way the program is structured and I guess that's why I have doubts about its usefulness for an adult wishing to achieve a high level of reading proficiency. I would view it as a worthwhile investment though if it gave my daughter a good foundation in a second language.

Thank you for reading this and any insight you might have!

[wombatclay]

We really like Little Pim. We have access to RosetaStone at the library but didn't click with it... but the Little Pim seems to work! Does your library offer any language programs? Ours has lots!

However, my dh is fluent in french and speaks it to the kiddos most of the time so we don't rely on just the dvds. Also, it's not a program for reading literature. A textbook might be better (for you) if the goal is to read rather than converse.

[simple living mama]

I know some French and I spoke it to my kids as much as possible while they were little. That's was approach when they are so young. Now that my daughter is in her teens, she's taking teaching herself through podcast such as Coffee-side French.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

i haven't used this but have used some hooked on math and hooked on phonics for my 4 year old: http://www.hookedonphonics.com/Produ...roductID=35778 if you use code slick50 you get an additional 50% off the price so only 7.49+tax/shipping. My ds has loved all the hooked on phonics/math sets we've done so far. I may actually get him this set once he gets his birthday money as i just bought him the k-2 hooked on phonics set he loves their programs so much. But every child is different. I know my local library we get free access to Mango languages, so might find out about if your library offers something like that in your area too.

i haven't used mango languages yet, but just checked it out and i requested they add more languages to choose from at my library and it looks like they have they now have the language i wanting to study, so it's definitely worth asking at the library to see if they don't have this program if they may get it in the future!

[rparker]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

We really like Little Pim. We have access to RosetaStone at the library but didn't click with it... but the Little Pim seems to work! Does your library offer any language programs? Ours has lots!

Our library is extremely underfunded and really lacking in most areas. I did find Little Pim on Netflix though and added it to the top of our queue.

[rparker]

update

I've thought about it more and discussed it with my husband and I think for the moment I'm going to stick with Spanish until I have true fluency and then move on to French... this isn't 100% inline with my current interests, but is probably a better approach for introducing a language to my daughter. I already have some very good Spanish grammars and dictionaries for myself so now it's mostly a matter of deciding which language software will give my daughter the next best thing to exposure to native speakers.

[rparker]

Originally Posted by ILoveMyBabyBird

i haven't used this but have used some hooked on math and hooked on phonics for my 4 year old: http://www.hookedonphonics.com/Produ...roductID=35778 if you use code slick50 you get an additional 50% off the price so only 7.49+tax/shipping. My ds has loved all the hooked on phonics/math sets we've done so far. I may actually get him this set once he gets his birthday money as i just bought him the k-2 hooked on phonics set he loves their programs so much. But every child is different. I know my local library we get free access to Mango languages, so might find out about if your library offers something like that in your area too.

Wow, that's a pretty good deal! I'll probably look into it more when my daughter is a little older. This will be our first attempt at anything remotely resembling formal "school" and I want to keep it pretty low key for the first few years and avoid very much exposure to workbooks and flashcards. My plan is actually to mostly focus on doing some of the Montessori sensorial activities with her. The only reason I want to start something as "academic" as a second language is because it seems like she's in such a sensitive period for language acquisition and I'd hate to miss the opportunity.

[St. Margaret]

Thanks for the Little Pim rec-- I've been searching for more Italian resources and they have some! DD wants to read the one kids Italian dictionary we have over and over, and I'm going crazy. (She also gets out the kids picture books we have and reads them to herself-- just making up fake Italian-sounding words the whole way through ).

[rparker]

Originally Posted by St. Margaret

DD wants to read the one kids Italian dictionary we have over and over, and I'm going crazy. (She also gets out the kids picture books we have and reads them to herself-- just making up fake Italian-sounding words the whole way through ).

Have you tried searching Amazon for popular English children's authors translated into Italian? We have several Dr. Seuss titles in Spanish and a few of them actually translate pretty well, although I'll admit it seems to be hit or miss... still, it's more fun than reading the dictionary Huevos Verde con Jamon is my personal favorite and it looks like there's an Italian version as well!

[St. Margaret]

Yes, we have it in Italian! I should try looking for some others... almost all our Italian books are from my family when they've been abroad...