How to Teach Your Child a Second Language
Teaching your child a second language can be beneficial. Not only does it help them communicate with their family if your loved ones are bilingual, but it has the potential to offer desirable benefits like better problem-solving skills and more career opportunities in the future.
Despite your desire to teach your child a second language, like Spanish or Chinese Mandarin, you might not know how to get started. Take the following steps, and getting started might be easier than you think.
Enroll Them In a Language Program
Enrolling your infant, toddler, or preschooler in a language program from a leading provider like World Kids School can be one of the best things you can do to kickstart learning a second language. While you might not have the skills to teach them, a program provider does.
They can provide play-based learning opportunities with a hands-on curriculum so they can be entirely immersed in the second language you want them to learn in a fun way. This can be important if you don’t have much free time for teaching at home.
Introduce a Second Language Early
The younger your child is when they start learning a new language, the higher their chances might be of becoming fluent in both their primary and secondary languages. According to studies, children can find it easier to become fluent in a second language when they start learning it before age 10. Language-learning abilities decline after age 18 due to social changes and continuing brain development.
While anyone can start learning a new language at any age, becoming fluent is much more challenging after childhood. In fact, many people starting to learn after age 18 may only ever be grammatically correct rather than fluent.
Learn Together
You might assume that teaching your child a language you don’t speak means you must outsource all learning to a language school, but that’s not the case. You can learn together in the comfort of your own home and bond during the learning process.
Any family can work on colors, shapes, numbers, and songs together, even if you don’t speak the language you’re teaching. You can also help your child by providing them with language games to play, apps, and flashcards that reaffirm the language help they’re receiving with a program provider.
Prioritize Immersion Learning
Enrolling your young child in a language program can be an excellent way to provide immersion learning opportunities, but you can also work on immersive language learning at home. Play songs in Spanish, Chinese Mandarin, or another language your child is learning, and watch plenty of movies and videos to surround them with a new language as much as possible. Learning a second language doesn’t have to be entirely textbook-based, especially when they’re learning from infancy.
Teaching your child a second language can seem too hard when you don’t speak the language yourself or don’t have the time to teach them. However, enrolling your child into a language program from a young age and immersing them in the language as early as possible might set them up for bilingual success.
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