Language Learning 101: Involve others. (Tip #9)

As part of our journey towards “official” homeschooling, I’ve spent the past few months working my way through a stack of the most influential books on the subject. I’m really into immersive learning (like a unit study—for me!), so I’ve been cashing in all of my birthday gift cards to buy more and more resources.

Along the way, one of the most intriguing philosophies of education that I’ve studied has been that of Charlotte Mason (you’ve probably heard of her).

Although prior to reading her books, I knew that Charlotte Mason promoted foreign language education for her students, I was pleasantly surprised to find that her philosophy of language education was strikingly similar to my own. 

In her book Parents and Children (aff), for example, Mason writes:

What shall we teach our children? Is there one subject that claims our attention more than another? Yes, there is a subject or class of subjects which has an imperative moral claim            upon us. It is the duty of the nation to maintain relations of brotherly kindness with other nations: therefore it is the duty of every family, as an integral part of the nation, to be able to hold brotherly speech with the families of another nations as opportunities arise; therefore to acquire the speech of neighbouring nations is not only to secure an inlet of knowledge and a means of culture, but is a duty of that higher morality (the morality of the family) which aims at universal brotherhood; therefore every family would do well to cultivate two languages besides the mother tongue, even in the nursery. (7, emphasis mine)

Her methods for teaching language also had a distinct emphasis on the language learning in service of the “other” and emphasized fluent communication as the goal of language learning. By the time her students were high school age, they were said to have been able to watch a play in French and deliver a proficient narration of it.

But for homeschoolers, consistent conversation practice can be difficult to schedule. Beyond tutors and outside classes, it might be difficult to find fluent speakers with which your children can practice their developing language skills. Yet it is certainly not impossible! Here are a few ideas for how to locate speakers of another language:

1. Look into volunteering opportunities in your community. 
   • Does your nearest city have a population that speaks the target language? Plan a visit to their ethnic neighborhood to see if any churches or community organizations might need help. Perhaps there is a church- or locally-sponsored food bank seeking volunteers to serve its Spanish-speaking clients. The whole family can get involved in an activity like that while supporting the language learner’s development.
   • Look on a site like idealist.org for non-profits that serve different populations in your community—their volunteer opportunities are often linked to their listings. 
      
2. Investigate language societies in your state or city that offer cultural events and conversation practice. 
   • For French students: Alliance Française
   • For Spanish learners: The Instituto Cervantes (English-language resource)
   • For German students: The Goethe Institute 
   • For Chinese learners: Local Chinese Arts and Culture Institutes (these tend to be community-specific) 
3. Get creative! These random suggestions might work for you:
   • If you are Catholic, why not attend a Spanish Mass at another parish?  
   • Check to see if your local library has conversation groups and if they don’t, start one! 
   • Search Meetup.com for a playgroup that is conducted in the target language. 

What suggestions do you have for involving others in your child’s language learning?

[Image provided by Flickr user Bill Benzon and used under a Creative Commons license]

Language Learning 101: LOVE the Language. (Tip #8)

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One of the greatest privileges of motherhood, for me, has been watching my children learn new things.

I mean, what is more fun than watching a baby figure out how to walk? Right now, I’m experiencing this for the second time with my younger son, who is just learning how to coordinate himself while upright. He applies himself so diligently to the task, cruising along the walls of our apartment and pushing his little walker around the living room, one awkward stride after another. When he falls, he doesn’t get discouraged—he just gets up and doggedly tries again. And when he’s able to take a few steps on his own, boy, is he proud of himself—and so am I!

If only we could all approach learning the way a baby does!

Yet sometimes, despite our best efforts to cultivate wonder and joy in our homeschool, children can mistakenly come to believe that learning is drudgery. Let’s be honest: sometimes we can feel that way too. Even the most enthusiastic adult learner can become discouraged by challenging material or by long practice sessions with new skills.

When learning a new language, the potential for burnout is very real. The beginning stages of language study—particularly for older learners—require lots of memorization, conjugation practice, and sometimes, necessary frustration before any true learning can occur.

For that reason, I love the idea of prioritizing delight in foreign language study. There has to be a balance between hard work and enjoyment in learning. My thinking on this has been deeply informed by Julie Bogart of BraveWriter, who writes the following in a post entitled "What Enchanted Education is Not:"

“The goal is to remember that for kids and teens, rote learning using pen and paper (abstraction) and receptive learning through reading text books is rarely enough to keep the enthusiasm high and the learning applied. Anyone can “enchant” learning because you have heart, connection to resources, and a home filled with space for exploration and coziness. ”

So what are some ways to infuse delight into your language learning? I’ll have plenty of posts on this soon, but here are a few ideas to start with:

1. Work with your child to cook a recipe from the target culture. If you’re studying Spanish, I adore Rich Bayless’s cookbooks (like this one and this one) for the way that they integrate cooking and cultural learning. 
2. Take an hour to Google photos from a target country and compile them into a daydream-worthy calendar. 
3. Visit a bodega to buy a paleta, or some pan dulce, or a package of tamarind-flavored candy. If you’re studying a language other than Spanish, seek out an ethnic grocery store!
4. Watch a movie set in a country where the target language is spoken--even better if it's in the target language!
5. Buy your child his/her favorite book in the target language. As an intermediate language student, I improved my Spanish by reading Harry Potter. Win win!

What are some ways that you have brought delight to language learning in your homeschool? What have been the most enjoyable learning experiences that your family has shared?

[Slighly modified image provided by Flickr user Dermott O'Halloran and used under a Creative Commons license]

Language Learning 101: Activate Your Senses! (Tip #7)

When you speak your native tongue, do you always do it sitting down and perfectly poised with pen in hand?

Of course you don’t! So why would we expect our children to learn a new language in such an artificial scenario?

When we are talking with others in our native language, we are constantly gesturing, shifting position, and even moving around the room to make ourselves understood. Language learning, then, is naturally enhanced by such a physical element—after all, we communicate not only with our words, but with our bodies.

Some homeschoolers are catching on to this and studying through curriculums like Excelerate, which uses a method called Total Physical Response to teach Spanish.

But what if you’re not following one of those curricula?

Here are some ideas on how introducing physical movement to your child’s language study can help reinforce his or her learning.

1. “Active" verb conjugations:
   • Have your child practice conjugations aloud and apply a particular motion to each conjugation. For example, if he is reviewing the present tense conjugation of the verb HABLAR in Spanish, he could clap between each conjugation like this: Yo hablo (clap), Tú hablas (clap), Él habla (clap), etc. Not only does the action help make the conjugation more memorable, but saying the conjugation aloud also reinforces it in the brain. 
   • Playing “Simon Says” with your child is a great way to practice the command form of verbs along with new vocabulary (such as body parts or colors). 
2. Vocabulary Charades:
   • Play “Vocabulary Charades" with your child to practice his/her vocabulary. Suggest a word and have your child act it out. Not only will the game help cement new words in your child’s memory, but it will also likely be a lot of fun for you as well! 
3. Drama practice: 
   • For the child who can read and write in her language of study, encourage her to read and act out scenes from authentic pieces of literature. She can prepare by watching any cinematic representations of the scene—which will not only provide acting clues, but challenge her listening skills as well! 
   • Have the child memorize a poem in his/her target language and perform it for the family, complete with “choreography”—timed breaths, movements to emphasize certain words, meaningful glances at key moments in the poem. You might be surprised at how physical a poetry performance can be! 
   • And my personal favorite: have your child write out brief scenes based on thematic vocabulary (a supermarket scene, for example, to practice food vocabulary). If you speak (or are learning) the language along with your child, you can offer to be the other “actor” in the scene—or perhaps there’s another homeschooled child who’s willing to fill the role! I love this from a pedagogical angle because it hits all of the key components of language learning: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Honestly! It doesn’t get much better than that. 

Do you have any strategies for integrating physical activity into your language study? Are you using Excelerate? I’d love to hear about your experience!

[Image provided by Flickr user Sam Deng and used under a Creative Commons license]

Language Learning 101: Connect Language to Culture. (Tip #6)

What is the end goal of language learning?

Each family may have a different reason for studying foreign languages in their home: some may do so in order to prepare for travel opportunities, others may do it as part of the college admissions process, and still more may study languages in order to prepare their children for future employment opportunities.

Undergirding all of these motivations, however, is a simple truth: language study is not about language alone—it's about the cultures and peoples connected to that language. We study languages in order to better know those who are different from us—and to make ourselves better known to them as well.

If your daughter wants to work in Mexico, for example, she will not only have to study Spanish grammar and vocabulary, but she will also have to learn how to live like a Mexican. She’ll have to learn how to greet others with a kiss on the cheek, to do her shopping during the week, since many stores are closed on Sundays, and to tip the baggers at the grocery store. She’ll also learn that tacos in Mexico are nothing like what’s on the menu at Taco Bell—they are much, much more delicious.

Anchoring language study within a broader plan of cultural study, therefore, is essential to providing children with a complete experience of language learning. Grammar and vocabulary divorced from culture are tiresome and unrewarding, but contextualizing language learning within a broader cultural framework naturally provides motivation for students.

Luckily, most language curricula are already structured to include this. But if your language curriculum doesn’t, how can you help your homeschool student pursue cultural learning?

Here are some general recommendations:

• Consider learning alongside your child in English. Here are some ideas:
  • Watch travel shows about other countries that speak the target language. Maybe some Rick Steves or National Geographic?
  • Check out cookbooks from the library that focus on cuisine from a target country. 
  • Combine the above two and watch cooking shows that have a cultural element. Pati’s Mexican Table and Rick Bayless’s show are both great for Spanish learners.  
• Look for cultural learning opportunities in your neighborhood. 
  • Does your neighborhood or city have any ethnic grocery stores? Take a field trip to study the new foods and compare the experience to your typical grocery shopping. 
  • If your child is older, perhaps he/she could volunteer to teach English to immigrants in your area who speak the target language. 
  • Perhaps your family could get involved with a church ministry that serves people from different cultures. 

And if your child is studying Spanish, may I also recommend my list of our family’s favorite resources? These have all been tested and approved by us personally, and have provided loads of opportunities for discussing what life is like in other countries. They have also been a good motivation for my older, extroverted son to keep practicing his Spanish, because, as I remind him frequently, “The more languages you know, the more friends you can have.”

If you’d like to read more about the importance of cultural education, I suggest this excellent article on how to raise global children.

How have you helped your child make cultural learning a part of his or her foreign language study?

[Image provided by Flickr user Alex Proimos and used under a Creative Commons license]

Language Learning 101: Make Mistakes, Then Correct Them. (Tip #5)

Did you ever think about how much courage it takes for our children to learn a new language?

A lot!

If you yourself have studied a second language, you know that awkward stage—the one where you keep mispronouncing words, struggling with conjugations, and mishearing your conversation partner. I remember that stage well myself, and I also remember the relief when I finally got through it!

It takes a great deal of determination—and indeed, hope—to soldier on through the beginning stages of language learning.

So when I am working with students, I like to emphasize the value of courage in language learning—especially the courage to make mistakes.

After all, linguistic researchers generally agree that making mistakes has an important role in language learning. When a child makes mistakes in his reading, writing, or speaking of a foreign language, that means that he is challenging his own language abilities, and ultimately, growing in his communicative skills.

But there’s an important caveat: as much as possible, mistakes should be corrected, so that they don’t become erroneous patterns in the brain.

After all, our brain assimilates that which we practice, and so if we repeatedly use incorrect conjugations, for example, those patterns will become ingrained.

As a parent, you can support your learner in making—and correcting—mistakes in two key ways:

1. Encourage your child to take risks with the language that he or she is learning. If she is studying Spanish, why not help her find a Spanish-speaking pen pal to write to? It will surely be more difficult to write a letter than to complete a workbook page, but it will also be much more rewarding. In that case, a site like ePals may be valuable (with close parental supervision, of course). 
    
2. Help your child find the right resources to correct his or her mistakes. Aside from workbook answer keys, help your child find ways to correct his/her own practice. The games available on a website like conjuguemos.com and the learning units of the U.S. military’s GLOSS site can provide real-time feedback on mistakes, for example. When you are evaluating other resources, be sure that they provide thorough answer keys and enough practice questions to allow for repeated “loops” of practice—students should have many opportunities to practice the same vocabulary and grammar concepts. 

While this is all more challenging if your child is learning a language that you yourself are unfamiliar with (Klingon, maybe?), it is certainly not impossible, and is worth the effort!

What have you done to encourage your child in taking risks and making (good) mistakes while learning a new language? 

[Image provided by Flickr user jridegwayphotography and used under a Creative Commons license]

Language Learning 101: Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable. (Tip #4)

In my experience, I’ve found that one of the most character-building elements of foreign language study is this:

Language learning exposes your weaknesses.

Maybe your child struggles with memorization—well, learning new vocabulary might be difficult. Or maybe she's naturally reserved, so practicing a second language takes even more courage than speaking in her mother tongue. For homeschool students—and any other language learner—mastering a foreign language is easier if they can keep this mantra in mind:

Be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

At no time in my life have I felt more socially awkward than when I moved to Spain to study abroad for a semester. Although I had a fairly good command of the language, those first few weeks were extremely humbling, as I had to communicate with those around me through halted, sometimes incorrect speech.

It was a great lesson in recognizing my own limits and learning to apply myself to overcome them. It was also a profound lesson in accepting the kindness and patience of those around me, and appreciating the grace that they showed to me as I struggled to express myself.

Students who are just beginning to study a foreign language will likely feel the same awkwardness that I did. The sheer differentness of the new language can be overwhelming. But I find that this kind of reaction can be a great learning opportunity for our children to learn about themselves and who they are as learners.

So if your child is struggling with learning a new language*, remind them of two things:

1. This experience is totally normal. 
2. This experience is potentially fruitful. 

Then, ask these questions to help determine if the challenges that your child is experiencing could, in fact, be an opportunity for growth:

1. Is your child struggling to learn a new language because of a lack of study skills? Perhaps he/she could use this opportunity to institute regular, self-directed practice. 
2. Is your child struggling to learn a new language because of a lack of confidence? Could you find ways to offer extra encouragement to him/her, even if you’re not learning the language yourself? 
3. Is your child struggling to learn a new language because sometimes, it’s just hard to learn new things? Great! This is a valuable lesson to grasp early in life. Sometimes time and practice are all that a student needs to get over that initial discomfort. 

To be sure, more questions may emerge in this conversation, but these are all good starting points if your child is feeling that deep discomfort. Try to remember that instant proficiency is not the goal in language learning—as if that were even possible! The journey to mastery is as important as the ability to use the language itself.

*There are students with special needs (such as dyslexia or dysgraphia) who will face significant struggles to learn a new language—their experience is not the same as the discomfort that I describe here. I do have a post planned about the relationship between special learning needs and language acquisition, however—so stay tuned! 

How has your child handled the experience of being uncomfortable with a new language? How has he/she grown from working through that?

[Image provided by Flickr user anaxolotl and used under a Creative Commons license]

Language Learning 101: Practice the Right Way. (Tip #3)

Here’s my third tip in our series: in order to master a foreign language, students need to practice.

But what does it mean to “practice?”

Ideally, language practice would satisfy these three criteria:

1. It would be regular—in a perfect world, happening daily. 
2. It would spiral—including the review of old material while adding on new vocabulary and grammar. 
3. It would be engaging—employing interesting resources that are suited to the learner’s strengths. 

So, let’s think about how to meet these requirements.

Making it regular:

One (very obvious) way to make language practice a regular occurrence is to set aside daily time to study. Perhaps your homeschool student could set aside 10 minutes every morning to review the vocabulary flashcards that he/she has made. Or perhaps he/she could use time in the car, on an app like duolingo, to review how to conjugate the preterit tense.

But another way to make language practice regular is to replace English-speaking activities with activities in the target language. It’s even better if they’re authentic resources, which integrate cultural education into language learning.

Does your teen usually scroll through blogs first thing in the morning? You can add (appropriate) blogs in Spanish to his/her RSS feed. Does your family enjoy listening to audiobooks in the car? Well, why not listen to one in another language? You may have to start with short stories or even picture books in order to match your child’s level of listening proficiency, but audiobooks (as well as podcasts) are a great way to reinforce listening skills by immersing your child in the target language. If you’re looking for such resources in Spanish, look no further—I’ve compiled a complete list here of my favorite authentic (and safe!) resources for homeschool students.

Making it spiral:

In general, language learning naturally builds upon itself. Once you master a basic set of vocabulary, such as greetings and introductions, you naturally include them in future conversation. Yet the maxim “Use it or lose it” still definitely applies. If the majority of your conversations in the target language revolve around literature, for example, it can be easy to forget sports vocabulary. Or if you mostly talk about sports, useful everyday vocabulary—such as that related to food and cooking—may fall by the wayside.

For that reason, it is essential to structure foreign language practice in the form of a spiral. 

(Want to know more about what spiraling is? Here’s a great explanation by a fellow homeschooling mama).

Some language curriculums popular with homeschoolers naturally do this (such as Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone), but others do not. If you are using a combination of materials, or materials that have thematic units, spiraling can be as simple as writing out a schedule that includes weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews of old material.

Making it engaging:

Some kids (…quietly raises hand…) really like to do vocab and grammar drills. For them, the worksheets included in their language curriculum or even a workbook like this one (aff link) will be enough to keep their attention and provide a sense of accomplishment and reward. 

Other kids need a little bit more convincing. For these students, apps and on-line resources can provide the game-like atmosphere that can help them stay focused and motivated while practicing vocabulary and grammar structures.

In the past, when I’ve had such students in my classroom at the University of Virginia, many of them found the Web site conjuguemos.com to be a great tool for review. I like that for vocabulary, it is arranged by theme, and for grammar, it is arranged by concept, so it can be an excellent supplement to any language curriculum and it takes about two seconds to navigate.

What are some of your best tips for building in language practice to your homeschool routine? 

Introductions and Language Learning 101

¡Hola!

My name is Anne, and I’m the writer behind Language Learning At Home. 

In the past three years, I’ve birthed three babies: two adorable sons and one 300-page dissertation in Spanish. 

Now that I have my PhD, I am staying at home with my sons, educating them bilingually, and using my training to help other parents understand how best to incorporate language learning into their academic plans and family culture. 

My goal—really, my passion—is to help you bring both delight and diligence to the study of foreign languages in your homeschool. 

And to that end, I’ve got some exciting things planned for us. 

In the next few weeks, look out for my series Language Learning 101, which will cover 10 basic principles of effective language learning. These are: 

1. Have realistic expectations. 
2. Seek authentic exposure. 
3. Practice the right way. 
4. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. 
5. Make mistakes, then correct them. 
6. Connect language to culture. 
7. Activate your senses. 
8. LOVE the language. 
9. Involve others.
10. Celebrate progress. 

I hope that this series will be of use to you as you begin the school year, and will provide guidance and inspiration for the months ahead. 

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from YOU in the comments. What questions do you have about language learning? What challenges has your family faced in studying foreign languages? What have you done well?

I’m so looking forward to hearing from you and sharing my ideas with you—¡hasta pronto!