Language learning

[Triniity]

Hi,

my DD gets interested in new languages! It´s quite cute how she always says that she speaks "english and arabic". She has two arabic brothers in her daycare group, and than she says something - and tells me it´s arabic. I don´t know if it actually is arabic, I don´t think so, but who knows ?

We have english music and she is asking about the words and what they mean (I guess I have an lead here, right ?!) I would like to start some english teaching with her, but it has to be fun and not schoollike. I thought about the "rosetta stone" program.

Did anyone start learning a language with their four year old? How did you do it?

Did anyone try rosetta stone? It´s not that cheap, therefor I only want to get it if I am really sure that it´s the best possible program (You can give it back though, if it´s not working)

DD is not reading yet, I need something that does not use written text or grammatic. thank you !

[pigpokey]

Rosetta Stone is working well here for Spanish and I am strongly considering adding another language in about six months with RS.

My kids started at 5 and 6. Rosetta Stone does have reading but you could probably skip it, just as we skip the writing component.

At 4 and with you needing day care, can you not find an immersion program? That would be so much better than RS. RS meets my expectations but they are not going to be really bilingual any time soon in 20 minutes a day of RS lessons. I figure it's a good jumping off point for immersion later, and after they finish level 5 they shouldn't feel completely lost if we did that.

[Triniity]

I have no idea what an immersion program would be

[rockportmama]

Immersion is when you're in a place where they only use the language you want to learn. Like going to Italy to learn Italian. Or in your case, a daycare/school where they do everything in English.

[Triniity]

I have no idea what an immersion program would be

[JuniperBCN]

We're a trilingual, unschooling family and English is not the language of our environment. My kids (2 and 4) are having no trouble at all and I think a lot of this is due to the access they have to media (internet/DVD) and books in English... there is sooooooooo much free stuff out there! It's clear from your writing that you have a proficient level of English, I would work with this following your daughter's interests. I know that a lot of people are strongly in favour of a one parent-one language approach, but my partner and I just read aloud in the language the book is written in and I don't see it causing problems... and in fact it's pretty cool for our 4 year old when he can help one of us improve our pronunciation and I think it's giving him some good examples of how words are put together as one of us is forced to slow down and sound out/work with a different word!

We also get DVDs from our library and just watch most them in the language the were made in. PBS kids has a lot of games and videos which gives a pretty safe place for kids to cruise around and would imagine that BBC's CeeBees (sp?) is similar.

I remember that you've said in another post your daughter really likes fairies and princesses, what about getting her access to some cool fairy and/or princess stuff in English? My 5 yo nephew (who speaks no English and hates the idea) will drop his aversion to "doing" English if it comes in a form that he gets to choose, like online games. His sister (3) will listen to stories in any language...

Not sure if you're located in Europe or another area where there are English speakers living in your area, but here there are a few English speaking play groups, au pairs who would love to pick up a few extra hours work "tutoring" (playing, really), our city libraries have begun to offer English story hours, etc.

[Triniity]

Hi,
thanks for all the suggestions. Made me think quite a bit. I live in germany, and actually we have the largest u.s. army base in europe around the corner, I´ll have a look around if there is anything like a playgroup in our area.

I thought about visiting the american service, there is a sunday school and I quite like the idea of dd learning english in this kind of environment (hey, that would be immersion, right ? ) - but than I am afraid that she would be quite lost, not understanding anything, and the service would be once a week, I am not at all sure if the time would be sufficient to actually learn something. But than, I could try a combination of things. I am going to look into it.
We have a bunch of english books. there are so many beautifull books out there, and since I read american blogs like a crazy bedridden woman, I kind of get only english tips, I buy the books anyway and than translate them for my kids. that was kind of stupid I think. I am going to read them in english. We have nearly all the froggy books! Hey! that´s a great idea, you got my creativity flowing!

Maybe they have something like a playgroup as well! thanks again!

Oh, and immersion daycare would be great, but there is nothing like it around my area. I guess. And dd and ds are at the inhouse daycare center of my workplace, which makes it much easier for me. (since I am working full time) I would not change their daycare center for language learning. Maybe I get them to start a language learning class or something, though.

[SundayCrepes]

If I were living on the base and I had little kids, I would be looking for German-speaking kids for my kids to play with. Maybe you could advertise on base some how to see if anyone would like to form a bilingual playgroup.

[JuniperBCN]

And maybe just to get the ball rolling, are there any playgrounds our areas where there are people living off base where you could find people playing with their small children? That way you could increase the frequency of exposure to English and be there along with your child.

As for attending American services, maybe you should try it and see what your daughter thinks... I would see it as a great way to get to know some other families and lead to more intimate playdates. I think one of the cool things about coming into our house is that even though we are in Spain, coming through our door you are surrounded by lots of conversation, books, music and film in English. It's like an exchange without having to go anywhere. And if you get lucky and find some friends, maybe you can start to borrow/copy some of these things.

Also, is there any way you can get access to the base library or is there an American society? Here we have the Institute for North American Studies and they have a library. There's also the British Council and they've got a library as well. Both require that you pay for a yearly membership, but it's reasonable and allows contact with other English speakers and/or people interested in English language learning.

I would also check out the BBC website and/or National Public Radio for you... if you're interested you could start listening to podcasts and such so that English is floating around the house and you daughter becomes more familiar with the sounds, etc making it seem less like a foreign thing. Does she like music? My kids have really enjoyed watching videos on Dan Zanes' website and PBS has some childrens music shows where you can watch clips as well. My 4 yo LOVES being able to pick and choose by himself on those websites... I think it makes him feel enormously grown up and powerful. The same with the games on some of the PBS kid shows' pages. I'm not crazy about plugging kids into a screen, but it's soooo important to me that my kids grow up being able to communicate well with my family that I'm not going to turn down free input that doesn't go against my values and my son really has a lot of fun and gets so excited when he discovers something new. It gives him lots of vocabulary input that he wouldn't get from just me and he actually has learned quite a bit.