seccotine_ch

Hi

I had the time to re-read some discussions and some of your websites
and it gave me some precious "food for thought" about
using "curriculum" material.

There is some material that I find very attractive, so I'll try to
see if my kids share my enthusiasm about it.

I still would like to know what you think about doing some "formal"
learning, in order to pass the test at the end of the year (though I
try not to focus too much about it - if he fails, he fails and we'll
figure out what to do at that moment, but still, I can't totally let
go).

I have another question :) My son would like to learn English.
Actually, he'd like to learn English, German and Spanish. This year,
I wont be able to register him to a real "English course" - and I'm
not totally convinced about them anyway. What else can he do to learn
a foreign language he's interested in (apart from going in a foreign
country) ? Any ideas, suggestions ?

Many thanks in advance
Helen, from Geneva, mother of Sylvain, Cyrielle et Circé

Ren Allen

~~What else can he do to learn
a foreign language he's interested in (apart from going in a foreign
country) ? Any ideas, suggestions ?~~

The only way to truly learn a language fluently is to be immersed.
BUT, before you can get to the immersion part it's fun to play around
with it and let it become familiar. I think songs are a great way to
learn words and phrases, much more fun and easy to pick up.

We listen to tapes sometimes or CD's of Spanish songs. Allows the
language to become more familiar even though I realize we'll need to
head south of the border to truly learn spanish.

Ren
learninginfreedom.com

seccotine_ch

Thanks Ren :)

When he was younger, we didn't have any DVD player, so we watched
videotapes and they were only in English and he liked them anyway. We
knew them by heart, he watched his favorite ones hundred times, but
then we received a DVD player and he preferred to understand what the
characters were saying ;p

I am actually looking for creative ways to "play around with
English". I've called one of the English bookstore of Geneva, they
told me they had plenty of books and CD with songs for kids.

I'm not sure books would be good, though. But maybe the songs ... ?

Helen

--- In [email protected], "Ren Allen"
<starsuncloud@...> wrote:
>
> ~~What else can he do to learn
> a foreign language he's interested in (apart from going in a foreign
> country) ? Any ideas, suggestions ?~~
>
> The only way to truly learn a language fluently is to be immersed.
> BUT, before you can get to the immersion part it's fun to play
around
> with it and let it become familiar. I think songs are a great way to
> learn words and phrases, much more fun and easy to pick up.
>
> We listen to tapes sometimes or CD's of Spanish songs. Allows the
> language to become more familiar even though I realize we'll need to
> head south of the border to truly learn spanish.
>
> Ren
> learninginfreedom.com
>

Debra Rossing

Put on the subtitles and use alternate language tracks when available on
DVDs - put the sound in French and the subtitles in English then switch
it to sound in English to be able to hear the cadence with subtitles in
French to follow the story. And so on - we've taken really familiar
material (like M*A*S*H TV show episodes) and had the subtitles in
Spanish and the audio in French just for fun.

Deb

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

His favorite cartoons in English, music in English that he likes. Then immersion like Ren said.
Alex ( that has a bilingual family)






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pamela6000

-Helen,
How old are your son? We live part of the year in a foreign country
(Italy). My kids are bilingual (3 and 6 yrs). It is true that the
only sure way to learn it well is being immersed. Is your first
language English? If not, do you have any English speaking friends
where it is their mother language? One way many kids in Italy learn
English, is by having an English speaking nanny. I was not a nanny
but "taught" English to 3 kids by just being with them and playing
with them only in English for 3 hrs a day. If you could find someone
(especially good if around your child's age) that could come and
play with him in English..this would be the best way!!!
Of course...this would only be for speaking English. If he wants to
learn to read and write..that is different...and if he is motivated
and sounds like he is, then some kind of reading/writing cirriculum
later may be the best for this.
Regards
pam

-- In [email protected], "seccotine_ch"
<seccotine@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks Ren :)
>
> When he was younger, we didn't have any DVD player, so we watched
> videotapes and they were only in English and he liked them anyway.
We
> knew them by heart, he watched his favorite ones hundred times,
but
> then we received a DVD player and he preferred to understand what
the
> characters were saying ;p
>
> I am actually looking for creative ways to "play around with
> English". I've called one of the English bookstore of Geneva, they
> told me they had plenty of books and CD with songs for kids.
>
> I'm not sure books would be good, though. But maybe the
songs ... ?
>
> Helen
>
> --- In [email protected], "Ren Allen"
> <starsuncloud@> wrote:
> >
> > ~~What else can he do to learn
> > a foreign language he's interested in (apart from going in a
foreign
> > country) ? Any ideas, suggestions ?~~
> >
> > The only way to truly learn a language fluently is to be
immersed.
> > BUT, before you can get to the immersion part it's fun to play
> around
> > with it and let it become familiar. I think songs are a great
way to
> > learn words and phrases, much more fun and easy to pick up.
> >
> > We listen to tapes sometimes or CD's of Spanish songs. Allows the
> > language to become more familiar even though I realize we'll
need to
> > head south of the border to truly learn spanish.
> >
> > Ren
> > learninginfreedom.com
> >
>

Amy Makice

On 9/18/07, Debra Rossing <debra.rossing@...> wrote:
>
> Put on the subtitles and use alternate language tracks when available on
> DVDs - put the sound in French and the subtitles in English then switch
> it to sound in English to be able to hear the cadence with subtitles in
> French to follow the story. And so on - we've taken really familiar
> material (like M*A*S*H TV show episodes) and had the subtitles in
> Spanish and the audio in French just for fun.
>








I'll second this- we like to watch Twister in French- for some reason we all
get hysterical when they yell "cow!" in French. It's not like the plot is
that hard to follow if you don't fully understand the language : )




--
Amy
www.blogschmog.net


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