Our Homeschool's Learning Goals, 2017-2018

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I’m a little late to the game here—after all, late summer is really the season for posts about curriculum choices—but in the interest of giving you a peek into our daily life here, I thought that I would share our “homeschool” learning goals for 2017-2018 and what tools we’re using along the way.

Before I do that, however, I do have one important disclaimer:

I am mostly homeschooling my three-year-old, so at this point, our “homeschool" is really more of a lifestyle than anything else. We are doing some formal learning this year, but are not using any particular curriculum, and we mostly follow my son's interests within a loose framework. My preschool philosophy is basically summed up by what Lisa Healy wrote here—we rely on “natural learning.”

At this point, my primary objective is to build a culture of learning for my boys that centers around our family values. To do that, I try to structure our daily rhythms around activities that support that goal.

So instead of offering you a rundown of curriculum choices, I’d like to share with you our homeschool’s learning goals for this year. They are roughly separated into three categories:

Goal #1: Learning to Love God (Religious Study)

We are a Christian family, so prioritizing religious study is important to us. Our two daily practices that support this right now are: memorizing Bible verses and having family devotions at bedtime.

For our verse memorization, we tackle a new (short) verse every week. As I was not raised in a Christian home, nor has my education included much memory work, this is actually a wonderful challenge for me! I write our weekly verse out on our contact paper blackboard, which sits opposite our dining room table, so that we can review our verse at every meal and snack. Usually, the verses are related to character issues that we are working on (mine and his!) and I use Parenting With Scripture as a reference to find them.

At this point, I am trying to help my older son memorize each verse in English and Spanish (look for a future post explaining why), so the verse is written in both languages. So far this year, we have memorized Romans 12:10b, 1 Thess 5:11a, Psalm 37:8 and Psalm 56:3.

In terms of family devotions, we do them at bedtime with Scholastic’s Lee-Aprende Bible.

We have a number of Spanish language Bibles (some better than others), but this one is just at the right level of sophistication for my older son. When he was younger, we used the Big Picture Story Bible, even though it is not currently available in Spanish. We read one story from the Bible and pray—it’s pretty much as simple as can be.

We also frequently listen to these dramatized Bible stories (recorded in Spanish) over breakfast. They are rather long, clocking in at about 45 minutes each, so we usually only get through one half during a meal. However, they have been great at making familiar Bible stories—especially Old Testament ones—“come alive” for my older son.

Goal #2: Learning to Love His World (Nature Study)

We spend as much time outdoors as possible, for a number of reasons—some of which are more noble than others. Yes, I want my sons to appreciate God’s creation and the creativity that He displays through it. I also don’t want to lose my mind living in a 900 square ft. apartment with two active boys. Moreover, I find myself bored when I’m cooped up indoors for too long indoors. Finally, I love that being out of the house seems to magically reduce sibling rivalry so...we are outdoors a lot.

We live in a very urban area, but have easy access to hiking trails. We go for short hikes (1-1.5 hours) about every other week, and also visit nature centers about once a month.

Pants totally optional for nature babies (note big brother's amusement)

In addition, I’ve planned some formal nature learning for this year. This fall, we plan to: 

• Attend a campfire to learn about nocturnal animals (as my son adores bats, in particular) 
• Participate in a class about river animals at our nature center 
• Go on a bilingual nature walk at our local nature center
• Go apple picking and make applesauce 

We have also been encouraging my son’s burgeoning interest in scientific topics, so this year, we are doing some (very) loose unit studies on:

• Anatomy and the human body 
• The water cycle 
• The seasons

Once I’ve assembled our materials for those unit studies, I look forward to providing a resource post.

Goal #3: Learning to Love His People (Language Arts + Cultural Education)

Here are some of the daily and weekly practices that we have adopted to support our sons’ language development in Spanish:

• We practice (as consistently as possible) the One Parent One Language model; I speak Spanish to the boys and my husband speaks English. I communicate with the boys in Spanish probably about 80 percent of the time. I do need to personally be more committed to speaking Spanish to them in public—it’s so easy to slide into English to avoid social awkwardness, but really, there’s no reason that I can’t translate for non-Spanish speakers.  
• Xavi attends bilingual preschool twice a week; we signed him up for this specifically so that he would have other people holding him accountable for speaking Spanish and so that he could get a sense of the utility of the language outside of our family.  His preschool is a bilingual, Christian, Reggio-inspired school whose educational philosophy really supports the work that we are doing at home, and I am so grateful for that. Even though he’s only been going for a few weeks, he is already much more confident in his Spanish speaking abilities—I am blown away by the positive impact it’s had so far!
• We read aloud in Spanish for at least 30 minutes daily, usually in the morning and at bedtime. We just started on chapter books (he loves the Magic Treehouse series, which are available in Spanish) and we have many picture books that we enjoy in rotation. 
• We memorize one poem every other week(ish) in Spanish. These are short—usually only four verses or so—yet it is truly amazing to see how easy this is for him to do. I think it helps that I reward him with an m&m (yes, a single m&m) if he recites it correctly each morning. 
• We try to do as much of “daily life” in Spanish as possible—we listen to the news in Spanish, listen to music in Spanish with our Amazon Unlimited account, and look at the Spanish language newspapers that are available for free at the Metro. When in public, we also speak Spanish to other Hispanophones as much as possible. 

Important cultural tip: if the piñata malfunctions, you can just tear it open and throw the candy (see my example).

In terms of cultural learning, well—we’re doing it all the time! Much of our cultural learning comes through our read-alouds, but we also have a big adventure planned: next summer, we are planning a month-long trip to Latin America (exact location TBD). This will provide the boys with lots of Spanish language exposure, plenty of cultural learning opportunities, and give me a chance to collect materials for future home education endeavors. I really can’t wait!

So that’s it—whew! Thanks for sticking with me this whole time. Later this week, I’ll be providing a chart of our daily routine so that you can have a more visual sense of how it all works out.

Language Learning 101: Celebrate Progress. (Tip #10)

If your homeschooler has been studying a foreign language for any length of time, he or she probably knows by now that sometimes, mastery of a new language comes slowly. It can take many rounds of flashcard review, chanting verb conjugations, and listening to native speakers in order to be able to utter a single coherent phrase. And even once your child is able to speak or write a phrase in the new language, he or she might feel just plain awkward about it (that’s normal, by the way, and it passes).

Because language learning requires such a significant time and energy investment, it is crucial to help your child celebrate his/her progress during the process. Much like learning math or learning to play a musical instrument, learning to communicate in a new language requires a significant investment of time and energy—and without some fun thrown in, this level of investment can feel burdensome.

So, what’s a homeschooling parent to do? How can we come alongside our children to show interest in their budding language skills and encourage them to keep working hard at learning a new language?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Invite your child’s friends over for a language-themed party. Have your child plan the menu and activities (lots of cultural learning right there!) and offer a mini-vocabulary lesson to his friends—at least the food vocabulary, if nothing else! There are a million ways to do this, so here’s a few possible themes (and I’d love to hear your additional ideas in the comments):

• German students: Oktoberfest with sausages, sauerkraut, and pretzels (and maybe some German folk dance)? 
• Spanish students: A Three Kings party with “rosca de reyes” on Epiphany. 
• French students: Birthday Party for the Marquis de Lafayette (ties in well with a history unit on the American Revolution!).

2. Host a family movie night with a film in your child’s chosen language of study. This is be rounded out with some delicious treats as well. Common Sense Media, which I always check before showing anything to my own children, has a great list of foreign films that are safe for kids.

3. Plan a poetry teatime for your homeschool co-op that includes works written in your child’s new language. Many libraries have bilingual anthologies of children’s poetry—be they Spanish/English, French/English, or German/English. Work with your child (and your local librarian) to choose her favorite texts, and then make copies of the poems available in both languages. If you have a particularly extroverted and/or performative child, perhaps she would be willing to recite the poetry in its original language for her friends. Again, make this fun with some decorations and food. Preparing themed snacks for the teatime can be a great learning experience and fun bonding time for you and your child as well. 

Have you planned any similar activities to encourage your family’s language learning? What did you do? 

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]

Our Week in Review: October 7, 2017

What we’re reading:

I’m halfway through Karen Glass’s Consider This, about how Charlotte Mason’s teaching philosophy manifests the classical model of education. I’ve also been listening to the audiobook of everyone’s favorite Latin American novel: 100 Years of Solitude (Audible Spanish/Audible English). It’s been a while since I read this, and I’d forgotten how funny García Márquez is! This is also the first time I’ve listened to this particular Spanish voice actor narrate an audiobook, and I’m adoring his beautiful diction and melodious voice.

Xavi and I made our way through another Magic Treehouse Book (this time in Spanish): La casa del árbol #5: La noche de los ninjas. It gave us great inspiration for some imaginative play that we did during our hike on Monday afternoon-he and I spent the whole time looking for the “secret cave” where the “Ninja Master” was hidden. (Spoiler alert: we did not find the Ninja Master in our local forest).

What we’re doing:

This week kicked off with a bang—really, more like a bamba—as we got to watch 123 Andrés perform live at our local library!

123 Andrés--our favorite bilingual children's performer!

If you’ve never heard of 123 Andrés, let me be the first to introduce you to one of the best (if not THE best) act in Spanish children’s music today. In 2016, he won a (well-deserved) Latin Grammy for Best Children’s Album for Arriba Abajo and has also produced the excellent album ¡Uno, Dos, Tres con Andrés! Both of those albums are played on heavy rotation in our house, and I think my favorite song is Si tuviera un mariachi/If I Had a Mariachi—but that may just be because I have always dreamed of being serenaded by a mariachi band on my birthday. Best of all, they are bilingual—so if you’re learning Spanish alongside your children, they will be helpful to the whole family!

I cannot stress enough how wonderful this music is for Spanish learners of any age. Not only does 123 Andrés teach Spanish grammar and vocabulary through song, but his songs also represent many different Latin American musical traditions, including salsa, bachata, mambo, and mariachi. I love that my sons are being exposed to these rich traditions from Latin American culture and learning to appreciate them.

As for the concert, Andrés and his assistant Cristina just flat out enthralled their young audience. They were funny, energetic, and wonderful about involving the kids—inviting some up to dance, or even to sing along at the microphone! Xavi was so excited to go on stage with Andrés to boogie down. Andrés and Christina are currently on tour, so check their schedule to see if they are coming to a town near you.

What we’re watching:

First two episodes of Poldark, Season 3. I watched the second episode while awake in the middle of the night with a very sad teething baby, and it definitely made those lonely hours a bit more bearable.

What we’re memorizing: 

Well, we're a little behind on introducing a new poem and verse, but you know, I'm still calibrating these rhythms, so we'll just pick up again next week!

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]

Our Week in Review: September 30, 2017

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What we’re reading:

Xavi and I finished reading his first chapter book this week—Good Morning, Gorillas! We picked it up at the Scholastic booth at the National Festival of the Book a few weeks ago, and he finally decided that he was ready to start it on Monday. I had planned to read a few chapters each day, but he loved it so much, we finished the entire thing in a single day! We then took a trip to the library and checked out six other Magic Tree House books (in Spanish). Let’s just say Xavi is enthusiastic about this series, and we’ve already spent a lot of time playing “Jack” (Xavi) and “Silverback” (Me).

I’m listening to the audiobook version of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s For the Children’s Sake. I’m nearly finished and have really enjoyed hearing about the author’s unique upbringing as the daughter of L’Abri founders Francis and Edith Schaeffer.

Also, from the blogs this week:

I’m filing away this one for future reference: What if My Child Refuses to Do School Work?

And ranking my favorite takeaways from here: The Best Advice from Working Homeschool Moms

What we’re doing:

On Thursday morning, we visited our local nature center for a class on rivers and the animals that live in them. I'd like to say that Xavi's favorite part was touching the black rat snake that they brought in for us, but really, he preferred racing the other kids down the forest trail during the post-class hike. Oh, and playing in the river while dressed as Batman (see above). Felix enjoyed being adorably disruptive during the class, at least until he was put in "the pack" (i.e. our baby carrier).

Selfies are NOT my forte...bear with me as I find the most flattering angle please.

Friday was Felix’s birthday and today, we are celebrating his first year of life at a local park. We are so grateful for our playful, happy little boy!

What we’re watching:

This week hasn’t left too much time for watching TV, between party planning, two Bible studies, preschool activities and blogging. I did sneak an episode of Poldark while folding laundry, however.

What we’re memorizing:

Our poem and Bible verses are the same as last week.

La última hojita del árbol by Douglas Wright

1 Thessalonians 5:11: "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.”  

1 Tesalonicenses 5:11: “Por eso, anímense y edifíquense unos a otros.” 

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? 

Our Week in Review: September 23, 2017

What we’re reading:

I re-read Julie’s post on the Enchanted Education as I thought about facilitating nature-based playtime with my older son, Xavi.

Ana's post on How to Rock Your Homeschool Blog was an encouragement as I'm getting started on this journey.

Xavi is really thrilled with his new (to him) Spanish-language copy of Winnie the Pooh stories (aff link). I’m working on perfecting my Pooh Bear voice.

What we’re doing:

Nazca Lines Craft for Kids: SpanishMama has come up with a really unique craft that is suitable for preschool to late elementary aged kids. As my husband and I were short-term missionaries in Peru, the Nazca lines have a special place in my heart! If you don’t know what the Nazca lines are, Spanish Mama has included helpful background information and educational videos in her post.

Lots of short hikes around Arlington. Mostly on nature trails. Sometimes just to Dunkin' Donuts (it's an urban hike, it counts!). DC has had a very tolerable late summer, and we’re taking advantage of getting outdoors as much as possible!

What we’re watching:

I can’t stop watching Poldark on Amazon Prime (aff link). I’m on season two and so glad that I didn't discover this series while writing my dissertation!

What we’re memorizing:

Douglas Wright’s poem “La última hojita del árbol.” As the leaves on the tree outside our apartment are just beginning to turn, this couldn’t be more timely! If you’re interested, Spanish Playground has published more of Wright’s autumnal poetry here.

1 Thessalonians 5:11: "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.”  

1 Tesalonicenses 5:11: “Por eso, anímense y edifíquense unos a otros.” 

Language Learning 101: Seek Authentic Exposure. (Tip #2)

When I was in high school, I thought that I would improve my French proficiency by checking the Pimsleur CDs out of the library. I listened to them on my father’s gigantic, state-of-the-art CD player, dutifully repeating the phrases back to the lifeless speakers and trying hard to scrutinize my own accent. 

Well, if you’ve read my last post, you know how that all worked out. I wasted hours of my life and made little to no gains in my language proficiency. 

While there is a place for grammar and vocabulary drills in language learning, and I have often used such methods in my own classroom, too much emphasis on these activities can severely limit students’ fluency in the target language. Just think about your own language development—did you learn your mother tongue from tidy grammar drills and listening exercises? Of course not! You learned your first language from being immersed in it, in all of its vibrant and sometimes messy glory. 

So it makes sense, then, that we should strive to include authentic language in our home language study. Some of the benefits to doing this include: 

• Increasing student engagement
• Providing an easy way to study cultural topics
• Exposing students to the complex language that they need to encounter in order to develop true fluency

Luckily, there are MANY kinds of authentic texts that you can use in your homeschool, including:

• Newspapers in the foreign language (check out this post from FluentU to find newspapers published online in many different languages)
• Magazines in the foreign language (we subscribe to Highlights High Five Bilingüe)
• Blogs written by native speakers 
• Podcasts by native speakers (my preschooler LOVES PNC’s “Crezca con Éxito” series with Sesame Street characters) 
• Internet radio in (we listen to Mexico City’s IMER—similar to NPR—and Baby Radio—a Spanish-language station for kids) 
• Apps and Online Programs (GLOSS, which the U.S. Military uses to train its interpreters, is available for free online and is an excellent tool for any language learner) 

And best of all, any one of these resources can be used to supplement your homeschool language curriculum. You don’t have to choose between a more traditional grammar-focused course of study and authentic materials—they naturally complement each another. 

Next month, I’ll be writing with some more recommendations on how to use authentic texts—particularly for parents who are not familiar with their child’s chosen language of study, but until then, I’d love to know if you’ve found ways to incorporate authentic texts into your language study. 

How do you use authentic texts in your homeschool? What resources have you found most helpful? 

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

Language Learning 101: Have Realistic Expectations. (Tip #1)

Image provided by Flickr user Anh Dinh and used under a Creative Commons license

Welcome to my first series, Language Learning 101! Over the next few weeks, I will be explaining the science behind how we learn new languages and how you can use this research to inform your homeschool’s approach to language learning. So let’s jump in!

Here’s my first tip:

Have realistic expectations for language learning. 

This advice comes first because it provides the foundation for all of the other principles of language learning. 

Yet I’m blushing as I write this post, because it was my own lack of realistic expectations that led me to having a PhD in Spanish. 

Let me explain. 

When I started college, I planned to major in French. I enjoyed my French classes in high school and had even done well enough to join the French Honor Society. With dreams of studying abroad in Paris, I applied to live in our school’s French-only dorm, and as a freshman, that's where I moved in on the first day of school. 

The next day, I took the French placement exam and scoured the course listings for the literature classes that sounded most appealing. Medieval Literature? Women Writers of the Magreb? Sign me up! I was raring to go. 

And then, one day later, I learned my placement results.  

I had placed into “Baby French”—the lowest-level French class offered at my college. I would have to start over from “bonjour.” 

I was mortified. 

In my humiliation, I decided to abandon my French studies right then and there and switch tracks entirely.

I enrolled in “Baby Spanish” that week, and immediately fell in love—not just with the language, but with language learning itself. It was a providential second chance that profoundly shaped my life’s course. Twelve years later, here I am: Anne Guarnera, PhD. 

And what I know now—having studied and become fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese—is that as a new college student, I had completely unreasonable expectations of what it meant to be “proficient” in a foreign language. As I learned quite rudely during that first week of school, being able to conjugate verbs on worksheets and read newspaper articles in French did not mean that I had mastered the language. Even though I had attended a rigorous high school, my language education simply wasn’t adequate. 

So what do I know now that I wish that I knew then? Well, I might have become more proficient in French if I had known these three things: 

1.) Language learning is a multi-faceted process. 

Learning to speak, listen, read and write are all essential skills to develop on the journey towards learning a new language—yet there is some evidence to suggest that one’s writing ability is reflective of one’s overall mastery of the language. As a new college student, I mistook my ability to read and understand spoken French for an ability to speak the language well—but as it turned it, I was woefully unfluent. If I had read more about the connection between writing skills and speaking skills I might have had a better sense of my weaknesses (as I did struggle with writing) and realize that I didn’t understand French grammar quite as well as I imagined. 

2.) Language learning takes focus and dedication. 

Learning a foreign language is lot like learning to play an instrument—in order to do it well, you must put aside regular time to practice, and also structure your practice in a way that allows you to review while building new skills. While I may have done well in my French classes in high school, I realize now that I was often studying “to the test"—not studying for long-term retention. Having learned two other languages since, I now know that flash cards and grammar worksheets aren’t enough if they are abandoned after every post-chapter assessment. In the third post of this series (coming up soon!), I’ll be sharing some of the strategies that I’ve adopted—and that have also worked for my students—to plan for both the daily practice and long-term proficiency building exercises that are needed for language mastery. 

3.) Language learning is a joy. 

When I compare my experience studying French to my experience of learning Spanish and Portuguese, it is clear that one crucial element was lacking: joy. As a high school student, I studied French mostly out of a sense of duty and perhaps some cultural elitism (enough with the “Cinco de Mayo” and sombreros already!). Even though I wanted to do well in my classes, I didn’t have a passion for the language itself. When I started studying Spanish, however, that changed. During my first two years as a Spanish student, I was privileged to study with two professors who truly, visibly delighted in the experience of speaking and teaching Spanish, and their enthusiasm for the language was infectious. Their joy was a gift to me, and made me believe that it is realistic to enjoy the experience of language learning—and I hope that my work here can convince you of the same.

If you’ve studied a foreign language, do you feel like your expectations for language learning were realistic? What surprised you about learning a new language? 

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!