So my children have been learning French for quite a while. We began with Little Reader and the French add-on. Subsequently we have used many of the traditional options including Rosetta Stone and DuoLingo. I will be honest, that although they have learned a large number of nouns and other vocabulary they have not learned to speak. We have been searching for that missing component of our program that will get them from being able to identify what a French phrase says or what a French word means to having meaningful interactions in the language.
Initially, I had hoped to find a French tutor to come and speak with them for a few hours a week, or even a nanny/babysitter. Unfortunately, in the area in which we live it is nearly impossible. French is not even offered in the local schools.
For that reason I turned to italki. Italki is a tutoring program that connects French learners with certified French teachers at a time which is convenient to the learner. You can choose a certified teacher (most expensive option), a community tutor (less expensive), or a language exchange (free). For my kids I have opted for the lessons with the certified teacher, however we've had such great experieinces, I am contemplating taking some lessons on my own with one of the community teachers.
Most of the lessons we have had so far are taught in an immersive conversational manner. They are usually video lessons although we had one instructor that did audio and had us look at different pages, which they then discussed. After the lesson the kids are given a list of words and pharses covered, which they can then review on their own prior to the next lesson.
My hope is that as their conversational skills improve we will be able to incorporate in more movies and books as well. I'd love to hear what other parents are doing to encourage fluency in non-native languages with their children. Leave your strategies in the comments!
I am teaching English to my 1y11m, as my husband works in another city most of the time, so I divide our day in two parts: first half of the day we interact only in English, whereas after the afternoon nap only in Russian (I cannot say that she will be bilingual, as bilingualism is much more cultural phenomenon, than only language knowledge, but trying to provide her with much more language knowledge in early childhood, when it is easier to absorb such knowledge). I hope to introduce Italian in winter one or two days a week, as I speak it fluently. As for me, it quite difficult to make kids speak foreign language if they do not interact in it with other people, but at least passive knowledge of language is also important, as it is easier to "upgrade" it, going for holidays to the country, finding a friends, etc. than to make a kid learn it when she/he 10+ years. Hope that I managed to express my point of view :).
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link to italk, it would be an excellent opportunity and for my girl.
Thanks for the comment!Sounds like you have a great system going. We hope to do some traveling to French speaking countries. I agree that without immersion any real fluency is unlikely.
DeleteThank you! The most difficult was to make me speak English half of the day, I had tried since November, but switched totally to English speaking mornings only in June. We also use Brill kids. I saw you posts on Brill kids forum, and they were great stimulus for me. Thank you!
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