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HERE are more of the things I did for my kids to develop a love for languages.
COMBINE THEIR INTERESTS WITH LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
MY son’s school requires a lot of writing for their foreign-language class. In the beginning, he really didn’t care much for it. So I thought about what activity he liked best. My son has always loved coloring and doodling.
I believe that because he started with this Crayola Write Start pencils, which were chunky and the colors were thick and vibrant, it made him want to hold a pencil, marker or crayon every time. One time when he had a quiz, I got square-shaped blank papers. I said the Chinese word and wrote it in one blank paper. Then he drew the picture of that Chinese word. We ended up doing a matching game after.
I also gave him a lot of different colorful media to use as a writing instrument. I always have different colors of Dry Erase markers in the car, where he uses the windows as his blackboard.
I think seeing colorful writings of Chinese and English words is home to kids, because a lot of them enjoy coloring. Now that he is 6, both Chinese and English writing time is a hobby for him.
TRAVEL
When my daughter was 4, she found the lesson in school hard, prompting her to declare that she didn’t want to learn Chinese anymore, because it was so tiring. That summer, I brought her to Shanghai. She saw I had to speak the language to order food, give directions to taxi driver, and ask for directions when we were at the zoo.
At the end of our trip, I pointed this out to her. For some reason, after we came back from the trip, I never heard that comment again.
HOW DO WE ENCOURAGE OUR KIDS IN LEARNING LANGUAGES?
A lot of us send our kids to multilingual schools. It is easier if we know the foreign language being taught, but that is not always the case. I remember feeling so proud of a mom for whom, during a parent-teacher conference, I happily functioned as a translator between her and my daughter’s Taiwanese teacher. She was so dedicated in knowing how her child can learn Mandarin, even if she was not Chinese.
There are also times when we feel the stress for our kids. They are already learning so many things in school besides having to learn Filipino and another foreign language.
The bottomline is: It’s not an easy task. I have managed and am still managing how to make learning languages an ongoing hobby for my kids. What I have learned so far are:
- Learning a language is a process: It doesn’t happen overnight. Early exposure is key. Learning to match interests to new languages helps a lot. Having people around who help encourage the learning is a blessing. I’m lucky my best friend Liza always gives my kids Chinese books and CDs to keep their interest in learning Mandarin.
When I was 6, I remember a granduncle bringing home a three-volume Chinese dictionary for me. He sent us volumes of Chinese idioms, too.
- Providing a rationale to learning is half the battle: When my son was having a hard time learning Filipino this school year, I told him a story during one of our casual alone days. I said, “Do you love Dad and Mom?” He said yes. I told him, “The Philippines is like your parents. You live in the Philippines, so you must love the Philippines. One way of showing love to the Philippines is learning Filipino well.” He is 6. You might think such would be too deep for kids to comprehend, but I’ve always believed kids would love to hear the rationale behind learning this or that, because it gives them more purpose; it’s much better for them than being simply told they have to learn this, because we said so.
- Kids need to be global: When we were growing up, learning a language seemed like a bonus. I believe kids nowadays live in a world that is melting pot of different races and cultures. Establishing relationships, whether for business or socially, is a daily way of life. Knowing more languages can be a quick ice-breaker.
- Languages foster a growth mind-set: When I read the book How Children Succeed, I was encouraged to prepare my kids to not be constrained by what is consistent. This age of technology is ever-changing. A constant input does not always result in a set output. I believe learning languages forces a lot of push to change. There are different alphabets, different intonations. You get laughed at when you mispronounce a foreign word. All in all, the process of learning languages in itself is humbling and nurturing at the same time.
I hope these tips were helpful. I couldn’t share here all the resources I have used for my kids and for myself. If you have any questions on this, feel free to e-mail me at mommynolimits@gmail.com.