In today’s globalized world, one of the most important skills for kids’ to learn is foreign languages. But mastering a foreign language is hard and even though some kids might have a natural affiliation for learning languages, it is important they continue learning after early childhood. In several countries around the world, children are routinely taught to be bilingual in their native language and English, so this idea is not so innovative outside of English-speaking countries.
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Enroll your children in a bilingual school
There are lots of bilingual schools around and most of them are highly regarded. Unfortunately, all of these institutions are private, meaning the cost of the tuition fee might be disheartening to some parents. However, if you have already enrolled your kid in private school, switching to a bilingual one might not be more expensive and it is certainly a better option.
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Enroll in after-school language classes
Another classic way to teach your kid how to be bilingual is to enroll him or her in after-school language classes, whether they are mandarin classes or German. It might even be better to let your kid experiment with different classes before. Some might be more excited to learn Japanese, for example, if they are into manga or anime, while others might want to learn Spanish if they have Latin-American friends.
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Send your kid to summer immersion language courses
Most public universities in Europe have summer immersion language courses available for foreigners. If you want your kid to be in direct contact with the language he or she is learning and if you can afford it, sending him to learn the language in the original country is the best way to guarantee your kid will become fluent. Most of these programs are available for older children and teenagers.
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Learn the language with your kid using home resources
If you cannot afford to pay for lessons or the expensive tuition of a private bilingual school, you can always just learn a language with your kid using some ‘Teach Yourself’ resources. They are available for most languages and your kid will be extra motivated if it’s a family activity, rather than a boring class. There are plenty of interesting phone or web apps that can help your kid to learn new languages, such as Memrise or Rosetta Stone.
If you can speak a different language already, the best thing is to teach that language to your kid and complement it with movies and cartoons dubbed in the language you are learning to watch together as a family.
[su_box title=”About The Author” box_color=”#777b8a”]Marina is a parenting blogger from Croatia. She is the face of Parental Journey, a simple mom blog that deals with all the up and downs of parenthood. Marina graduated with a degree in Journalism, but she decided to start her own business. She is proud work-at-home mom.[/su_box]
