Oui, s’il vous plait! The Joys and Challenges of Raising Bilingual Children
Alex Practices Her Days of the Week in French
According to the August 15, 2011 copy of Newsweek Magazine, learning new languages may be the brain’s true “super-food.” We all know that kid’s brains grow rapidly, especially before the age of five, and that they quickly absorb what’s going on around them and learn new vocabulary and concepts daily. The earlier you introduce your children to a foreign language, the easier it will be for them to pick up that language’s unique sounds.
We introduced Alexandria to French this summer and it has gone phenomenally well. We began with the French alphabet and moved on to colors and numbers. There are so many awesome, visual, hands-on tools out there for learning languages! You Tube has proved invaluable for finding kids videos in French. We also love McGraw Hill’s “French For Kids” program. The songs and lessons are short and fun and Alex sings them frequently outside of class. We have worksheets, music CDs, and lots of books in French, French-language programs, and flashcards on the iPad too. We carry on practice conversations between dolls and stuffed animals (yep, high excitement there) and role play greetings, shopping, going to restaurants, etc. Learning a new language is a blast! There’s really no separation between play and learning in our house. Why should learning be a chore?
I had pretty low expectations when we began. I expected that we’d work on colors for a month, then move on to greetings and such. It would be a very lengthy process and eventually … years down the line perhaps… Alex would be able to hold a French conversation. However, something unexpected happened. Alex picked up the new words and greetings really, really quickly. Sometimes I swear she’s known this stuff her whole life! She hears something once or twice and it forever sticks in her amazing little mind. She practices her new French skills morning, noon, and night. She can’t wait to move on and learn more! She loves to quiz herself on the iPad and test her skills. Because of the success of our language time, we moved it up in our daily schedule. At first we practiced a few afternoons a week. Now, French is our first formal subject of the school day.
Something else happened… the other kids started participating as well. First, Ethan surprised the heck out of me by joining us one lesson and singing the French alphabet. It turns out he’d picked up a lot of what we’d been doing just by listening. Yesterday he surprised me again during math, counting out his math problems in French and then repeating them in English! Another surprise was when Derek, age 3, grabbed his toy microphone and belted out the French alphabet during Circle Time. Was this really happening? It was a mother’s dream come true. My 3-year-old is learning French just by hearing us speak the language. How cool is that? He can count to 10 in both English and French as well. Did I drill it into his head? Nope, not at all. He simply picked it up.
Raising bilingual kids is increasingly important in today’s global world. Children in Europe learn multiple languages in school. Kids in China are learning English from a young age! I want my kids to be part of this trend. Why start with French, you may ask? I speak passable French. I took it in high school and lived in the South of France for a time. Am I an expert? Heck, no. It’s fun to refresh the old French skills, though, and sing along with the kids. I’d like them to learn several languages during their school years. French seemed like the natural place to start for me because I’m familiar with the language and am a closet francophile (meaning I love everything French).
In a few years, we’ll introduce Spanish or Chinese. Until then, I look forward to many more French conversations with my kids. I look forward to seeing that look of pride on their accomplished faces when they successfully remember new words and carry on a successful conversation. I look forward to taking them to a French-speaking country in a few years and experiencing the wonders of discovery with them. I love the adventure and the challenge of it all.
Feeding little brains is so much fun.
Newsweek—“Why It’s Smart to Be Bilingual” http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/07/why-it-s-smart-to-be-bilingual.html
Here’s an interesting link about raising bilingual kids: http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/language/teaching-second-language/
Here’s another interesting article: http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids1.htm
One last resource! http://www.multilingualchildren.org/
What Does a Typical Homeschool Day Look Like?
Science Experiment Time!
People have wildly different ideas about what a typical homeschool day looks like and there’s a good reason for this. No two homeschool days are just alike, and homeschooling families teach in vastly different ways. When I started researching homeschooling, I found that reading about how other home educators filled their days was extremely helpful. To make it simple, I’ll just list Alexandria’s activities since she’s the only one officially of school age. Here’s what first grade looks like on an average Monday in the Melville home:
8:00-9:00- Free play time
9:00-9:15- Memory Work
School starts with Classical Conversations memory work. I put the CD in the X-box and Alex dances while she practices Week 3′s new memory work. We also have them printed out on cards. This week she’s memorizing the names of the Greek and Roman gods (history), Latin noun endings 1st declension (Latin), the parts of an animal cell (science), the parts of the Hebrew Empire (geography, prepositions al-at (grammar), and counting by 5’s and 6’s.
We love the Classical Conversations memory work. Some weeks are harder than others, but Alex loves learning new things and proudly recites them. We review the CD in the car too and she still tells me the facts she learned weeks ago. The purpose is to help her develop knowledge pegs from which to further her education as she progresses through school. When’s it’s all set to music, it’s hard not to memorize the “songs” and have fun!
9:15-9:30: Piano practice.
9:30-10:00: French
Today we completed Unit Two of our French for Kids program, learning to answer questions with “oui” or “non” and then advancing to using “j’aime” and “je n’aime pas” to answer questions. The CD is fun to listen to and the workbook is bright and colorful.
Next, Alex practiced her French color flashcards we made a few weeks ago. She has them absolutely mastered now and is very proud of herself. We finished up with lots of time to spare, so we brought out the iPad. She spent the rest of French time reviewing the alphabet, colors, shapes, numbers, and body parts in French on the iPad. I’m loving her ever-expanding French vocabulary!
10:00-10:40- English (phonics, writing, spelling, reading).
Alex began this period by working on her new spelling words, writing each word four times on her worksheet. We’ll review them lightly throughout the week and then test on Friday.
For Phonics, we use Horizons Phonics and Reading. Today we covered Lessons 27 and 28 and their accompanying reading comprehension material. Next she watched Hooked on Phonics Second Grade Lesson 8 on DVD and read the accompanying workbook material. This lesson ended with her reading “The Puppy Look,” which was quite wordy and challenging. She did awesome.
10:45-11:15- Story Circle
This is a fun time where we explore books, songs, nursery rhymes, and music. Circle time! All of the kids take part. They each choose books and we form a circle on the living room carpet. We put some fun, light music on and read each child’s selection. Today we read “The Ants Come Marching,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” and “Oliver.”
Next, we cracked open “What Your Preschooler Needs to Know” (Derek’s favorite) and practiced singing some favorite nursery rhymes. We got out the drums, maracas, and other small instruments and each child had a blast playing and singing. Then, each got to choose one to perform for everyone else. The others gave lots of applause. When they got to “Ring around the Rosie” they all held hands and skipped around the carpet (besides the baby of course) and keeled over with laughter.
11:15-12:00- Math!
Alex chose to do math via Time4Learning.com today. She has a choice between that and our Horizons Curriculum every day. We love Time4Learning.com because the lessons are so engaging. It’s an awesome supplement. Today she finished her section on fractions and entirely completed a new section on the principles of addition and subtraction. She finished up just in time for lunch.
12:00-1:00- Lunch and play time
1:00-2:00- Social Studies
The little kids go down for naps at 1, so that gives Alex and I lots of one-on-one time. We curled up in the chaise lounge and cracked open The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. This is another text we absolutely love. Year one covers Ancient Times, from the earliest nomads to the last Roman Emperor. We love the easy-to-read-aloud stories that bring history alive in fun and interesting ways. Today we read about Ancient Africa (Ancient Peoples of West Africa, Anansi and Turtle, Anansi and the Make-Believe Food), The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (Egypt Invades Nubia, The Hyksos Invade Egypt), and The New Kingdom of Egypt (The General and the Woman Pharaoh, Amenhotep and King Tut). Since we did an in-depth unit study on Ancient Egypt in July, Alex loved this section and enjoyed hearing stories about some of the Pharaohs we studied. King Tut is her definite favorite.
2:00-2:30- Science
Today we did an experiment about making air do work. We got a plastic sailboat and a long plastic bin, which we filled with water. How could she make the boat move without touching it? Alex experimented by blowing the sailboat to move it across the water. She wanted to find out if it would move faster if she blew it harder and how it would sail if she loaded it up with a little doll and then later some coins. How many coins could we load into the boat and still make it float? How many pennies? How many nickels? We did an accompanying worksheet and also recorded all of our observations.
2:30-3:00- Alex’s Free Learning Time
Alex and Derek are still busily playing with the bin of water. It has become an entirely different experiment now. They’re seeing what floats and what doesn’t float and roaring with laughter. They’re all wet and the table is a disaster, but it’s awesome to watch and they’re really learning so much! I’ll let them continue as long as they like (until they lose interest or I need to set the table for dinner, whichever comes first 
.
Today was an awesome and productive day. Some days we accomplish less, some days more. Some days we have outings, other days are purely academic. The best part is that while we do meet my pre-set goals each week, how we reach those goals is largely child directed. If Alex is totally into piano, I let her extend her practice time. If we’re on a unit study, she could spend hours on a project if she so desires (like Egypt! ). We just shift things around a bit, and it all works out well. We are having so much fun and Alex is learning more than I ever thought possible.
Top 5 Back-To-School Apps!
Image via Wikipedia
If there was one tool that has completely revolutionized education, it’s got to be the iPad. I mean, seriously. There are hundreds of thousands of amazing apps right at your fingertips and new ones being created daily. Whether your student is learning their ABC’s or fractions, studying the fundamentals of French or prepping for the SAT, there’s a high-quality and effective app out there. This is not just for homeschoolers, but for anyone with a school-aged child. Here are the top 5 educational apps we love:
Stack the States
Learning US geography has never been easier. This colorful, dynamic learning game offers a great challenge: answer the questions correctly to earn a state and built a pile of states high enough to reach the checkered line. Alex, my first-grader, loves this challenging game and barely even realizes she’s learning state capitals and shapes, state abbreviations, locations on the map, landmarks, bordering states, and more. In a very short period she’s memorized the location of all the states and tons of other useful facts. She enjoys increasing the difficulty level and collecting states for her personalized map. Geography has never been more fun. For more advanced students, Stack the Countries is a great tool too! That one is even challenging for me.
Dinopedia
If you’ve got a dinosaur lover on your hands, then the National Geographic Society Ultimate Dinopedia: The Most Complete Dinosaur Reference Ever is one of the best investments ever. There are more than 700 dinosaurs in this interactive app featuring brilliant pictures, videos, fun facts, interesting dinosaur profiles, and all kinds of dinosaur related information. Alex has spent hours upon hours studying the dinosaurs and surprises me with all she learns and retains. This is the best dinosaur app we’ve found, and we’ve tried lots of them. If it’s from National Geographic, you know it’s quality and accurate. We love this app!
This one is a recent discovery for us and one that’s been used over and over again. The best part is that it’s free and works well on the iPad, iPhone, and the iPod touch. BrainPop features a different educational movie each day. The videos are simple and feature the same two characters each time, but delve into lots of interesting topics. We’ve learned about hurricanes, Mars, Jane Goodall, The Civil War, Wind Energy, Nutrition, Cameras, and so much more. Alex can hardly wait to see what her next movie will be and we’ve had so many interesting conversations as a result. She loves it so much that she was really concerned when we went camping. “But mom,” she complained, “I’m not going to be able to upload my BrainPop movie without the Internet!”
Piano Complete
This is the most expensive app in this list, but it’s also downright amazing. Better Day Wireless Piano Complete with 500+ Songs offers over 1000 piano lessons! It doesn’t matter if you’re a complete beginner either. You can learn with just one hand or both on either sheet music or by following falling notes. There are over 500 songs in many categories, including classical music and children’s songs. Alex has taken piano lessons for a year now and this is an excellent supplement. She enjoys practicing now more than ever and learning new songs on the iPad, then performing them on the full-size piano. It makes practicing away from home much easier and keeps her occupied too.
Rocket Math (Free)
If you’re looking for an easy way to get your child to practice their math skills, this just may be it. Build your own rocket, blast off into outer space, and play a math mission. It’s fun and challenging to build a rocket that will actually stay in orbit without crashing back to earth and steering while answering math questions makes it a challenging video game. There are many math missions with several difficulty levels. Topics include addition, subtraction, telling time, counting money, shapes, multiplication, division, fractions, more. We’ve been using this app for several months and it’s not only provided lots of math practice but also hours of fun.
Related articles
- Improve Your Kids’ Basic Math Skills With The Help Of MathBoard [iPad] (makeuseof.com)
- Get ready to Discover Dinosaurs on your iPad (themactrack.com)
- Apps I’m Lovin’ (angelamaiers.com)
- Math on the iPad: Just Skill and Drill? (integratetech.wordpress.com)
- Educational Apps (tadtown.wordpress.com)
