Learning a foreign language may terrify most adults--but not kids. To them, it's a game with a secret language, and they pick it up easily, without feeling pressure to speak with a perfect accent or correct grammar.
As I learned recently with my daughters, seven-year-old Rachel and nine-year-old Anna, it doesn't take much to get kids going. We started speaking Spanish spontaneously one night at home when I had made tacos for dinner. As I was setting out the ingredients, I named them in Spanish. Suddenly, half in English and half in Spanish, the kids were asking "por favor" and "gracias," for "frijoles," "queso," "tortillas" and "tomates." Not long after, we were at our favorite Mexican restaurant when Rachel wanted to know how to ask in Spanish for a glass of water and flan. A little hesitant, she sidled up to the counter and shyly asked, "Quiero un agua y un flan, por favor?" She then returned to the table, glowing with pleasure at having made herself understood.
If you are like us, you and your kids will probably end up speaking your own unique family version of whatever language you choose, with a generous helping of mistakes and English mixed in. Teaching your kids to have fun with a foreign language while they are young will go a long way toward helping them feel good about more structured language learning, whenever they get to it. The following activities are based on our experiences with Spanish, but they can be adapted to whatever language you are familiar with.
You don't need much language study under your belt--basic high school or college language courses are enough. The level you start at is so simple that you will need only the most basic review to feel comfortable. From there, the material you teach your kids will depend on you and them: What you are ready to teach, what they want to learn, and whether there are situations in which they can use the words they have mastered.
I have worked with Anna, Rachel and a couple of their friends in a series of short, playful, physically active lessons, and I have followed up with lots of reinforcement over the breakfast table, at the grocery store and especially at restaurants. My rule of thumb for each lesson is to present only a small amount of new material, to break the lesson into short segments, and always to include a game and some shake-it-up movement. Also, no lesson is complete without a snack and a drink--the way to kids' language learning is through their stomachs.
Maggie Megaw is a regular contributor to FAMILYFUN.
