Many parents want to know what the best method is for their children to learn another language, notes Robert Jaye. They also want to know how soon is too soon for their kids to learn a second language. This article will address these questions.
Even if you are just starting to learn it yourself, you can still say the phrases and words that you are teaching to your kids.
An effective approach to teach your kids another language is by allowing them to listen to it. Really, isn’t that pretty much the way that children learn their native language? So if you speak the language, you can begin speaking phrases to your kids. Even if you are just starting to learn it yourself, you can still say the phrases and words that you are teaching to your kids. You can also use an audio course for this purpose or read books written to that language to your kids. Whatever method you use, your kids will start learning the language.
It is a well-known fact that children can learn a second language like English or German a good deal easier than adults can. Actually children are capable of learning several languages at the same time. One reason for this is because kids store the second language in the same area of the brain as they store their native language. Adults, on the other hand, store a second language elsewhere in their brain. That is, the second language is not stored in the same place as the adult’s native language and this simply makes it more difficult for adults to learn another language.
An additional reason why kids can so effortlessly learn languages is because their brains are in essence an empty sponge just waiting to absorb something. Instead of allowing a child’s mind take in just anything; parents can guide their kids by seeing to it that they take in another language that will serve them well in the future.
Research has shown that six week old children are able to learn short phrases in several languages. Now of course children can’t speak at six weeks of age, but when they are able to speak they can speak the languages they were exposed to in infancy.
With that in mind, how can parents take advantage of this opportunity while they can? When should you start teaching your child English? Numerous experts agree that language learning should be started before the child is seven years of age. The process of learning another language becomes more challenging for kids after that age and continues to become more difficult as age increases.
About the author
Robert Jaye is the content manager for LearningGermanNow.org.
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