It's been about a year and a half since I last blogged about Spanish lessons for my child. He's four now and is at that age where he seems to soak up everything like a sponge, the perfect time to be introducing a foreign language!
For the past year and a half, I have tried several things. Vocab, phrases, songs, books, videos, games, etc. Nothing seemed to be working that well.
Until I discovered that one of his day care teachers knows Spanish. So I asked her to speak Spanish to him when he's at school. She was happy to do it, even sending me emails of the phrases she's using so that we can use the same phrases at home. I told her we'd been trying vocabulary, and she said kids can learn with flashcards, one word at a time, but it's slower. The best thing to do is to speak Spanish to them, and let them figure out what they are saying (with some help, like hand gestures).
The result? After one week he's telling me what those Spanish phrases mean! I mean, it could be that he did soak up a little bit from those videos and books and songs (I sure hope so), but he wasn't showing any improvement at all until this week.
The conclusion? If at all possible, get someone other than the parents to teach the kid, and then let the parents assist at home. I don't know why this works, and homeschoolers might disagree with me, but there's something about being outside of the home, with someone other than a family member, that makes kids pay attention and learn. It's magical. Or, it could be that I'm not the best teacher.
No comments:
Post a Comment