It's said that children's minds are like sponges, and this is particularly true when your children are young. They're learning about the world around them, and almost everything is new and full of wonder. Your preschooler is of course still developing their English language skills, but now can also be a good time to introduce them to a foreign language. It might not be that they will go on to speak the language fluently, but it gives them some additional language skills than can be built upon in later life. Teaching your child the basics in a foreign language doesn't have to be difficult, and there are three easy ways to get started.
1. Watch and Learn
Let them learn while being entertained. There are a number of TV shows aimed at preschoolers that allow foreign language skills to be developed while your child is watching a show that they'll quickly come to love. Spanish language skills can be learned while watching Dora the Explorer. French skills can be picked up from the French version of Sesame Street (5, Rue Sésame). The German version of the show (Sesamstraße) serves the same purpose. These shows are good choices because they offer familiar characters who happen to be speaking in an unfamiliar language (for the moment, anyway).
2. Language Lessons
Some early learning centres offer foreign language lessons aimed at preschoolers. Such lessons are developed to be fun and effective, specifically designed for the abilities and attention spans of preschoolers. Alternatively you could find out if any of the staff at your child care centre are bilingual. Perhaps they could set aside a small amount of time each day to teach the children key words and phrases in their native language. Your child will not become fluent through this method and yet it lays the foundations for them to learn the language with greater efficiency at a later stage.
3. Speaking at Home
Are you or your partner a non-native English speaker? Presumably English is the language primarily spoken at home, but you could quite easily teach your child key words and phrases using objects at home. Your child will quickly be able to learn the names of various things at home in a foreign language simply by pointing at the object and saying its name in your native language. If you are not bilingual, perhaps a family friend or babysitter is.
Learning a foreign language can be both stimulating and rewarding. Kids will have fun doing it, so why not get them started nice and early?
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