It's a process in which you BOTH learn - and have fun doing it.

Parents can help their children learn languages. It's easy!

In fact, you're doing it successfully already and probably don't realize it.

You're successfully doing it and you don't even know it. That's right, you're already helping your child learn English - one of the most complex and difficult of the popular languages.

Simply, it's a matter of transfering those skills to a foreign language. The teaching process is a learn-along project that will undoubtedly bring you closer.

If you can't speak another language yourself, get plenty of tapes or consider boarding a foreign student. Most importantly, make learning fun.

If you have a clear reason for wanting your child to learn a second language, there is more chance for success. Your attitude and enthusiasm for the importance of learning a second language will be picked up by your child and translate into real progress..


WHY LEARN FOREIGN LANGUAGES?

Language learning is something that everyone can do - at any age - and do it throughout their lifetime! It is learning new sounds, expressions, and ways of seeing things. It is connecting with other cultures to help develop your child's perspective of the world. Speaking someone else's language helps you to understand that person's culture and their outlook on life.

Learning a second language can increase your child's self-confidence and help your child speak better in English. It improves vocabulary. Scientific studies show that the brain activity required to learn a foreign language develops parts of the brain that otherwise would not expand.

Until a child reaches age 12, the brain is a super-sponge, laying the foundations for thinking, language, vision, attitudes, aptitudes, and other characteristics. After this stage of development, the windows close and the fundamental design of the brain is complete.

The younger a child is when they begin a second language, the more chance they have of mastering the language and achieving a native sounding pronunciation. So, it is easier to learn a foreign language during these vital first years. The best time for a child to learn another language is in the first three to four years of life when learning a second language is as easy as learning the first.


HOW TO LEARN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

If your child attends one of the seven public elementary schools in Savannah that have integrated a foreign language into their daily curriculum, the foundation is already being laid. If not, take the initiative to start exposing your child to a second language on your own.

When Sarah Reed was in the Pre-K program at Island's Elementary School, she loved learning Spanish. Wanting to encourage Sarah's natural talent for the language, her mother, Karen Reed, purchased Spanish materials. Recently, she hired Freddy Sanchez, a native Spanish speaker and elementary art teacher, to tutor Sarah. Reed feels that teaching a child a foreign language is invaluable.

She says, "Some parents pay for their children to participate in ballet, soccer and other activities which helps physical development. It is just as important to expose children to a foreign language to nurture mental development. It is worth paying for."

Sarah especially enjoys "JumpStart Spanish," an excellent software program produced by Knowledge Adventure.

Around the world, children grow up knowing several languages merely because they have been exposed to those languages while young. As immigrants continue to settle in the United States, foreign influence grows through the languages we hear on the street, the music we listen to and the food we eat.

When children are immersed in a language, through play and exploration, they can learn language quickly and easily. Children are natural language learners.


Six Tips for Teaching Children a Second Language

Make it real. Can you identify the flag of the country? Is their traditional garb different than ours? Learn about the geography of the country. Label the items in the house in the foreign language and have your child refer to them in the language. Have your child choose a nickname in the foreign language. Play grocery store, make a snack, or take a walk. While you are interacting with the children during these activities, speak the target language. When you are shopping, ask your child the name of objects in the target language. Have youngsters celebrate language learning by going to a restaurant and ordering food in the foreign language or naming the food in the language. Go to restaurants and shops where the new language is spoken and encourage your child to carry on a conversation in the language. Emphasize communication, using the language in real-life situations.

Involve the senses. Sensory stimulation is created with music, games, pictures, puzzles, mirrors, colors, textures and aromas. Use music, dance and rhythm to engage the whole brain. Introduce them to rhymes, songs, games, and counting in the second language. Create flash cards. Say the sounds of the language that accompany a picture. Learn with lots of movement - use the body and the mind together. Use touch by doing little finger rhymes in the second language, holding objects or tracing images. Encourage your child to express the language through art, by drawing pictures and creating crafts from countries where the language is spoken. Have your child create a picture dictionary. Don't forget the important senses of taste and smell. Have your child smell and taste foods before identifying the food in the new language.

Make it fun. The more fun it is to learn a language, the more a child will want to stay with it. Laugh together. Perform silly plays. Play games. Learning while playing creates emotional attachments, and emotion is the door to learning. Keep the learning situation stress free and relaxed. Anxiety is an obstacle to learning. Let go of correcting mistakes. Model the correct phrase and the child will pick it up when ready. Use age appropriate computer games and programs in the foreign language, that your child can play alone. Explore the Internet together.

Learn by communicating. Just as children learn their native language by listening, seeing, imitating, and practicing, so they learn a second language. Talk to them from the start. Tell them what you are doing. Encourage your child to say new words in the language being learned. Greet each other in the new language. Use common courtesies and simple phrases in the language. Make friends with community members who speak the target language. There are students of all ages in the public schools who are non-native English speakers. How rewarding for your child to become friends with a foreign-born student who also needs support in learning English. What an exciting way to share cultures. Helping your child find a foreign language "friend" will pay tremendous dividends. Then it's not just you helping the child, but it spontaneously occurs while they are having fun interacting with their foreign language friend. Get a pen pal for your child with a student in a country where the language is spoken.

Make the foreign language an important part of your daily routine. Set aside a regular time each day to study and practice the language with your child. Integrate the new vocabulary into household activities such as getting dressed, preparing dinner, setting the table, or doing homework. Have your child practice the language by talking to each other over a meal. Help your child to feel that the language is a natural, authentic means of communicating. Reinforce the language with your child by listening to foreign radio or watching films in the foreign language, (almost all of the Disney movies are available in foreign languages).

Make the whole world your classroom. Today's fast-paced society offers parents resources that easily are applied to foreign languages. Directions and product information are often written in other languages. Turn every outing into a learning experience. Your child can practice the new language while counting oranges, comparing leaves, classifying different birds, food, or anything that interests the child.


Resources

The Library
Many of the resources that you need to help your child learn another language are available on loan from your local library. Look for children-oriented software, CDs, audio tapes, videos, picture dictionaries, children's books in the foreign language.

Info on Spanish language at Georgia Southern for fifth & sixth graders
www2.gasou.edu/facstaff/suazoj/spancamp.htm

Teacher's Discovery
1-800-TEACHER: Excellent source of fun materials including videos, software, books, songs, educational games and incentive materials in Spanish, French and German. www.teachersdiscovery.com

Applause
1-800-APPLAUSE: This elementary educational supplier is another excellent source for books, songs, multimedia teaching programs, games, videos and software in seven languages including Latin, Russian and Japanese. www.applauselearning.com

Tralco-Lingo Fun
1-800-745-8258: Lots of software, games and other materials available in 12 different languages, including Arabic, Hebrew and Norwegian. www.lingofun.com

Agora Language Market Place
1-888-487-2526: Best one-stop site. Alphabetical directory of more than 100 publishers specializing in language materials. Includes links to the web sites. www.agoralang.com

E-Pals
Make friends from around the world! Look for individual E-Pals from 95 different countries. Largest online source for student-safe e-mail. www.epals.com


Virginia Zeuli is the World Language Specialist for the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. She holds a master's degree in curriculum & instruction and has 30 years of experience as an educator.