Teaching preschool-aged children a second language
- kaileeatindale
- Oct 21, 2017
- 2 min read
Studies indicate that the best time for a child to learn another language is in the first three to four years of life. Here are some important reasons for exposing children to early second language learning.
Language learning is a natural process when children are young.
Preschool years are vital years as the foundations for thinking, language, vision, attitudes, aptitudes, and other characteristics are laid down.
Young migrant children are the models.
Research confirms developmental stages for language learning: Every healthy child is born with 100 billion brain cells, and each cell makes up to 20,000 connections. Whether these brain cells make connections or whether they die depends on if a child lives in an enriched environment. An enriched environment is one that provides plenty of sensory stimulation.
How can you teach a second or third language to young children? Infants can learn by listening, seeing, imitating, and practicing.
Tips for teaching the children in your care a second language:
Learn by doing. Play grocery store, make a snack, or take a walk. While you are interacting with the children during these activities, speak a second or third language.
Reinforce with pictures and sounds.
Learning should be fun. Learning while playing is the best way to learn because it creates emotional attachments, and emotion is the door to learning.
Learn in a relaxed but challenging state.
Learn with music and rhythm. Music is one way to use the whole brain. Lyrics combined with music are easier to learn.
Learn with lots of movement—use the body and the mind together.
Learn by talking to each other.
Link numbers and words in a playful way.
Learn by touching. Do little finger rhymes in a second language.
Learn by tasting. Have youngsters celebrate language learning by eating foods and saying the food name in the new language.
Learn by smelling. Play smelling games. Hide objects in a sack, and have the children guess what is inside. Encourage them to say the new word in the language they are learning.
Use the whole world as your classroom. Turn every outing into a learning experience.
Teaching young children a second language develops an awareness that there are different cultures throughout the world and everyone is different. This awareness has the power to develop acceptance and overall, bring about a social change by changing the perspective of the younger generations. Teachers are the largest professionally trained profession and have the power to bring about social change. It is important to utilise this power!
Adapted from:
Vos, J. (2008). Can preschool children be taught a second language. Retrieved from: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleId=60
Australian Government, Department of Education and Training [DET]. (2017). Early Learning Languages Australia. Retrieved from https://www.education.gov.au/early-learning-languages-australia learning-languages-australia
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