Foreign Language at an early age

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking of enrolling my 18 month old in a Spanish class offered through Jabberu. If anyone has had any experience with introducing a foreign language to their child at an early age, I would love your thoughts/feedback on this. I've heard great things about Jabberu but I'm a little unsure about doing this at a time when DC is still learning how to speak English. TIA!

[Anonymous]

I think it's a great idea and everyone I talk to tells me it's the perfect time to start-- parents who have done it as well as educators. I'm trying to teach my 2 year old French since I'm currently living overseas in a French-speaking country. She gets a fair amount of immersion during the day and I'm trying to enhance it through songs, games, and books. I wish I had started it sooner-- like 18 months-- because my main difficulty is her resistance, i.e., "No Mommy! That's not a chien, that's a dog!" I'm around a lot of families who speak more than one language to their toddler. For some, it SEEMS to me, that their child is a little bit behind their peers in language acquisition, but I've heard that this is normal and they will make up for it later by having stronger skills overall. This wouldn't concern me even if it were in fact true... unless they start basing college acceptance on preschool success. A useful tip I got to lessen the confusion and to make sure they are keeping up with English is to compartementalize (sp?)-- like Mommy speaks French and Daddy speaks English, or we speak French in the morning and English in the afternoon, etc. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We speak to our 2-year-old DD in 3 languages, and I must admit I am amazed how she can keep things straight in her mind...She is already forming 2-3 word sentences in all three languages. As already mentioned, having the one-language-one-person rule is quite helpful. At this age, the mind seems to be like a sponge

[Anonymous]

OP, how often does the class meet? My understanding is that frequent immersion in another language (say, from a parent or caregiver) works fabulously well for little ones. Infrequent, occasional classes aren't so helpful.

[Anonymous]

If the immersion is constant it's wonderful. A once a week class can't even teach adults who can use the internet to study at home after class.

Kids who are exposed to multiple languages take longer to start using them but they will have the ability to use all the languages they were exposed to easily.

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP here. The class meets once a week for an hour. This is also a concern of mine since my husband and I don't speak Spanish at home, so she would only be immersed in it 1 hr per week plus any occasional DVDs, etc.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking of taking something like this with my 18 mo also.

I figure "What's the Harm"? How is it any different than taking a class in English. From what I understand, at this age, it's mostly songs, rhymes, etc.

At the very least, DS will be hearing sounds from a different language. Even if it's just an hour a week, I'm sure I'll remember a few words from the class and use them during the week.

OP, I'd say go for it. Just keep it as another fun activity (i.e. no flash cards, or crazy high pressure tactics).

[slwhiddon]

Hi - This is Shelley from Jabberu. I wanted to jump into the discussion, just to let you know about the type of support that we provide for parents; I thought that might be helpful as you're making your decision.

At enrollment each family receives a "Guide to Growing Up Global". Included as part of this guide are 17 vocabulary and activity sheets - one for each of the themes we cover in classes. These sheets include the Spanish (in your case), the phonetic spelling and the English translation for all of the main vocabulary as well as several sentences (it's important to note that we do not translate in class - it is an immersion class - but for the parents at home, we do provide English). Also included are several suggestions for reinforcing the language at home - perhaps incorporating the language into an everyday activity or a special art project, game or family outing.

There is no question that the more frequent the immersion, the more quickly a child will progress in the language. Many of our students are taking a language that is not spoken at home and we see great progress - especially when these vocabulary and activity sheets are used by the family.

There are wonderful benefits to starting the learning process early, as you're considering. I would also urge you to check out some of the research that can be found online regarding starting a second language at the same time as learning a first language. There is no delay in the first language if a second is introduced. Best of luck and please let us know if you have any other questions or if you'd like to schedule a free trial class.

1-888-951-1119

[Anonymous]

OP, I think introducing a second language is a wonderful idea and it can only help. However, as PPs noted, how much Spanish your child will actually learn will really depend on the level of exposure. Since you speak only English at home and living in an English dominant world, a once a week class, even with some extra exposure, is not going to lead to fluent or even near fluent skills. Just have realistic expectations. The class could be a great activity and an excellent way to "build" your child's brain, but if in the long term she's to understand and let alone speak Spanish, you'll need to really increase exposure. DVDs and such can be helpful, but do you really want your child to be watching more TV? That's one thing to consider. I don't want to sound discouraging at all, because whatever level of exposure you can arrange, even a once a week class, will benefit your child. If nothing else, it's wonderful stimulation.

We're raising our kids bilingually and even with a native speaking parent (Russian, my husband) and a nanny who speaks only Russian (she doesn't even speak English really), they quickly became English dominant as soon as they started school. If your child is taking a Spanish class I wouldn't expect any delay with English skills. We did extensive research on this issue and spoke with various peds in our ped group and the consensus of it is that if you're raising children in a true multilingual (immersion) household, there may be some delay in speaking (but NOT comprehension). However, the delay is not considered a problem at all--and in fact, though there may be some delay, not only do multilingual chlidren "catch up," they soon begin exceeding their peers in language skills in all the languages the child knows. Consistency and frequency are key if you want them to have real skills.