Child and foreign languages: when to start learning? When is the best time to start teaching your child foreign languages?
The love of English is for all ages. But still, many linguists and psychologists insist that it is better to learn a foreign language from childhood. Why and at what age should you start learning English with your child? We’ll tell you in more detail.
Increased interest in learning foreign languages increasingly makes many parents ask the question “At what age can you start learning English?” Someone started learning the language in first grade secondary school, some seriously took up this activity already at the institute, others decided to add English to their knowledge and skills for the sake of professional improvement. Many English language courses are starting to offer the service “English for children from 2 years old”. We have already talked about which way of learning a language is best for your child. Now let’s answer the question at what age can a child be taught English.
The age at which children can learn English is a relative concept. Everyone has their own, unambiguous answer to the question “At what age can children remember foreign languages? no and cannot be. And yet, teachers, linguists and psychologists are increasingly saying that there is an optimal age for learning English. But for every psychologist, teacher, parent and any other researcher on the issue of children learning English, this age is different. The main thing that everyone focuses on is that the child should enjoy the process of learning a language. Use fairy tales, counting rhymes in English, finger games and other interesting forms of language learning.
And yet, at what age can you take your first steps into the world of the English language?
From the first days of life
Of course, you won’t be able to send your child to an English school or course at this age. Moreover, even inviting a tutor is not too a good option. The child gets to know the world, comes into contact with it, gets to know his parents, who try to create a special atmosphere around him. It is unlikely that you will want to invite anyone into this cozy little world. Therefore, if you want to start learning English with your child from the first days of his life, count only on your level of language proficiency. Lullabies in English – great option the child's first acquaintance with a foreign language.
From 1.5 – 2 years
In this case, you have a ghostly chance that some English school will still take your tiny child to study. Some schools even enroll two-year-olds in groups. True, such classes are usually conducted in the presence of parents and have a number of other features. The main thing is to take into account the child’s wishes and use those forms of language learning that he likes.
From 3 to 5 years old
Most teachers and psychologists insist that this is the most optimal age for starting into the world of the English language. Moreover, in the process of learning a language, you can develop fine motor skills child, attention, perseverance, imagination and many other skills.
The difference in development between a three-year-old and a five-year-old child is huge. And yet there are some common age characteristics, thanks to which we united children with an age difference of two years into one group:
- this age is considered the preschool period
- the pronoun “I” appears in the child’s speech
- self-esteem develops: the child wants to meet the requirements of adults, which means he can be motivated to devote more time to classes
- children actively play in role-playing games, which can also be used in the process of language learning; the game becomes important element knowledge of the world
- At this age, children need motivation for their activities
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From 5–7 years
At this age, the child’s vocabulary of his native language is very quickly enriched, children actively communicate with peers, learn to listen to them. That is why at this age the most acceptable option for learning English is in a group. The child has a fairly large stock of knowledge about the world around him. There are no difficulties in learning new words in English if the child already has an idea about this subject or concept. The child's attention becomes more concentrated. At this age, the baby can do things of little interest to the emu for 20-25 minutes under the guidance of an adult. But this does not mean that the teacher now does not have to turn an English lesson into an exciting adventure. English for preschoolers from 5 to 7 years old should be taught in a fun, interesting, bright, colorful way.
English courses for children
If your child has already reached the age of 7 years, you can start learning English at any time. Moreover, if at an early age you could resort to the help of a tutor or English teachers at a language school only sporadically, then from the age of seven you can enroll your child in full-fledged English language courses.
You can study earlier - from the age of 3: many early childhood development centers offer such a service. But before you enroll your child in English courses for children, you should attend a trial lesson, think about whether your child can get used to an unfamiliar environment, and find out in what form the classes take place. Sometimes a child may perceive even an offer to color a picture as a task, and not as a fun game. This means that you will lose interest in the lesson in particular and in the process of learning the language in general. When should I send my child to English courses? This will depend on the nature of the courses. There are schools that offer exciting classes, workshops, master classes and drama studios in English. In such a school, even from the age of 3, a child will study with great pleasure.
The success of teaching a foreign language is determined by many factors - the child’s innate abilities, his interest in the subject, and the skill of the teacher. Timely familiarization of the child with a new language also plays an important role. The debate over the optimal age for learning a foreign language has been going on for quite some time. Three main approaches can be distinguished: progressive (the earlier the better), methodically verified (5-6 years old) and conscious (the decision to learn a foreign language should be a conscious choice of the child). Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Foreign language from the cradle
Early learning theory is based on children's imitative behavior. Even without understanding the meaning of the proposed language units and structures, the baby will unconsciously repeat them, then remember them and associate them with certain objects and actions. Supporters of this progressive approach consider it possible to become familiar with foreign speech as early as one year of age. It should be admitted that the first results of early learning can be simply amazing - due to the minimal load on the baby’s memory, he can easily remember words and even whole sentences. Having heard the baby's first foreign babble, parents, as a rule, fall into insane delight - but they should not delude themselves. You need to be aware that at this stage, memorizing language structures is unconscious, and their reproduction is often unconscious and automatic. In addition, the acquired knowledge will be fragile if the child is not given the opportunity to apply it in practice. To create the environment necessary for immersion in the language, you will have to hire a governess, send the child to a specialized kindergarten or periodically organize family evenings of communication in a foreign language. Otherwise, the knowledge gained in periodic (2-3 times a week) classes will disappear as quickly as it appeared.
The process of teaching a foreign language to a child under four years old must certainly be continuous. Parents who decide to experiment with early learning should definitely ask the teacher about the material studied in class and practice it with the child at home (absolutely any interested parent can master the minimum language knowledge necessary for the child). Stock up on audio recordings and educational cartoons for children. Listening to an English song or rhyme can be a separate activity - in this case, the audio material must be supported by visual images, demonstration of pictures or toys. It is also good to include songs in a foreign language as a background to your child's daily activities and games. Do not demand good perseverance from your child - the duration of a foreign language lesson with a child under 4 years old should not exceed 20 minutes, and for a 1-2 year old great achievement There will even be a 10-minute focused session. As soon as your child begins to lose interest, stop the lesson. And remember that at such an early age, foreign language classes are more about familiarization with the subject than its conscious study.
Immersion in foreign language speech too early may pose a certain danger for the baby’s developing speech - the child may confuse similar sounds of his native and foreign languages (for example, pronounce the Russian sound “k” with the characteristic English phonetics aspirated).
Sensitive period
The time most favorable for mastering certain knowledge is called the sensitive period. Psychologists and teachers consider the period from 4 to 6 years to be the most favorable age for a child to learn a foreign language. By the age of four, most children already have an understanding of the structure of their native language and pronounce all sounds correctly. They can concentrate for 30-40 minutes. Optimal quantity classes during this period - 2-3 times a week. However, there is no need to expect a deep understanding of the language from a child and it makes no sense; the maximum result of learning at this stage can be recognition by ear of the simplest lexical units and grammatical structures, reaction to them, as well as mastery of elementary formulas everyday communication(greeting, introduction, some information about yourself).
A preschooler can acquire basic knowledge of a foreign language only if the material is presented correctly. That is why the choice of a teacher or development studio should be approached very carefully. The leading type of activity for children aged 4-6 years is still play, so classes should be built in a relaxed manner. game form. The very attempt to explain any rules and grammatical laws to a child of this age can be considered a manifestation of unprofessionalism, especially if this is done with fingers or with the help of diagrams. It is also advisable to postpone familiarization with the alphabet until the first grade. Teaching young children is unthinkable without the use of bright and colorful visual supports - pictures and toys, so do not hesitate to ask whether the teacher (development school) has such materials. The active games of children and their movement around the classroom during foreign language classes may seem strange to some parents, but nevertheless this approach is very productive - being mostly kinesthetic, young children perceive information well through movement, touch and even smell. Another sensitive and extremely finely tuned analyzer is the child’s hearing, and in order not to spoil this wonderful learning mechanism, the teacher’s pronunciation must be impeccable. Correcting incorrectly placed sounds of foreign speech can be much more difficult than mastering new ones.
Conscious choice
The well-known truth is that it is never too late to learn. This is what parents follow when they are in no hurry to introduce their child to a foreign language. Their main argument is the child’s conscious desire to learn a new language, which contributes to more successful mastery of the material. To help “late realizers” there are all sorts of intensive courses that use the technique of immersion in foreign speech. According to student reviews, such classes can be very effective, and within a year or two the child will be able to communicate reasonably well in the target language at an everyday level. The only danger is impermanence children's interest in the absence of understanding of the “importance of proficiency in a foreign language in modern society" But you can change this by explaining to your child that if he knows the language, he will be able to go to other countries or universities, and therefore his life will be interesting and rich - because he will be able to communicate with people from different countries and see the world.
When a child is born into a family, parents immediately begin to make plans for his future. In their dreams, the baby will grow up to be an extraordinary person, but for this he needs to be given the best education..Many are ready to start immediately: learning to swim, draw, dance, read, write and speak a foreign language. Of course, nowadays you can’t live without English, German or French. However, is a child ready to perceive someone else’s speech without yet knowing his native language? Perhaps it's better to wait?
Not so long ago, people began to study English in the fifth grade, that is, from the age of 11. Now - from the first grade. And parents are happy to additionally pay for English or French classes while their child is attending kindergarten.
At what age should a child learn English?
- Modern researchers have come to the conclusion that learning English in the early and early preschool age not only possible, but also necessary. Children who, from childhood, began to learn a language unfamiliar to them, later develop better and perceive information, and learn the material faster. And later, during school years, it is easier for them to study, and they show better results. And not only in learning languages, but also in communication. Such children are better socialized and have easier surgery. mathematical concepts, they even draw better and the like. According to classical teachers, two years of teaching a child a foreign language in preschool age gives better results than seven years of studying it during school years. Therefore, it can be argued that mastering the basics of a foreign language in the preschool period is useful. The biggest debate is about at what age should a child start teaching another language or languages?
There are several opinions on this, but the main ones are two polar theories. According to the first, you can start learning English only when the child has more or less mastered his native language. That is, she not only talks, but fully understands and thinks in native language, she has practically no mistakes in pronunciation. If we talk about age, it is about 5 years.
According to another theory, the earlier you start English classes, the better the results will be. Early learning of a foreign language will even prevent the occurrence of an accent in pronunciation. I belong to the specialists who share this idea, since practice confirms this.
Doesn't this mean that the child is overloaded from an early age?
In no case. If you approach classes correctly (through play, give your baby interesting tasks), then there will be no overload. On the contrary, the child will grow up with a greater thirst for knowledge. She will want to know, see and experience. Therefore, the sooner you have the opportunity to start learning a foreign language, the better. It is possible from the age of six months.
What might such activities look like?
It is advisable to simply introduce a foreign language into a child’s life and do it in an interesting way. For example, include children's songs in a foreign language, special educational programs for children, cartoons, and the like. You will see that children will become interested and will hear something new. And it doesn’t matter that at first she won’t understand anything. The main thing is that the child will hear and perceive a foreign language. In addition, the mother can tell the child in a foreign language the names of toys and surrounding objects, give commands in English or another language: “come”, “bring ...”, “draw ...”, “give me a thing of a certain color.” If a child hears a foreign language from an early age, he will subconsciously get used to the idea that it is part of life, and not something that needs to be learned and remembered.
Parents, perhaps, would like to try, but there is a fear that in the child’s head there will be a mess of relatives and foreign words.
Yes, it just seems. In fact, children are very smart and cunning. In childhood, they primarily use words that are easier (in short, with which there are no problems in pronunciation) or those that immediately came to mind. This is the easiest way. It happens that a child simply liked a certain command or words. This creates the illusion that only they are stuck in the child’s head. In fact, at the physiological level, in the heads of babies, each language fits into a separate “box”. And when the accumulation of words and experience occurs, when the child is more conscious of communication, then she can consciously open one or another “box”.
Thus, words from different languages do not actually mix. However, it is important for parents to reinforce their use. This could be, for example, a person in the family who communicates with the child on specific language. Then the child distinguishes for himself: with dad or grandmother I speak, say, English language, and with my mother - in Ukrainian. This will help set restrictions between languages. The child will quickly stop mixing words from different languages.
How many languages can a child be introduced to at the same time?
- If one of the parents speaks, say, English (that is, they have the opportunity to regularly communicate in this language with the child), and the grandfather speaks German at a sufficient level (and wants to engage with the child in a way that would be interesting to her ), then there may be two foreign languages, in addition to the native one. If there is a grandmother who speaks Russian and regularly comes to the kids, then let there be a fourth one. This will be a natural communication situation for the child. However, if parents want their son or daughter to learn three languages and hire three teachers for this, then there will be no point. Actually, this option threatens the child with overload and loss of interest in the new language in general, because there cannot be several artificial language environments. In addition, you need to study with teachers for a certain time and complete assignments.What advice would you give to parents who want their child to learn one or more foreign languages?
The main thing is to make the child feel like a winner. Set tasks that allow him to overpower himself somewhat, to do a little more difficult work than he usually does. Then the child will have a lot of positive emotions and, accordingly, will happily accept any next task. Don't forget that all tasks should be in the form of a game; play is the key to success.
We need to surround the child more in English words. For example, offer food, put the bear cub to sleep, show a flower, count the clouds, and the like. It is important that the child constantly hears foreign words, then later for her a foreign language will not be a subject of study, but will become a means of communication.
At what age should a child start teaching English?
It has long been no news to anyone that learning foreign languages is much easier for children than for adults. Some experts believe that the best age to start learning a foreign language is from 4 to 8 years, others are sure that from 1.5 to 7, and still others recommend starting before 3 years. Be that as it may, many parents are thinking about how to teach their child English - one of the most common languages in the world.
As practice shows, at 3-4 years old it is quite possible to begin to immerse a child in the world of foreign words. There is no need to be afraid that at this age children do not pronounce some sounds: after all, during this period the emphasis should be placed not on the purity of speech, but on getting used to a foreign language and accumulating material.
What and how to teach?
Teaching English is built on four pillars: listening (listening), speaking, reading and writing. While the child cannot yet read in his native language, you should not confuse him and study with him english alphabet. There may be confusion in his head.
At this age, the first two aspects are most important - listening/hearing and speaking. Such learning of English will be similar to mastering their native language: children hear their native speech around them and gradually master it. This is what happens with English. This is called oral advance.
The more foreign speech a child hears, even in the background, the better for him. For example, you regularly play a disc with English songs in the car or turn on cartoons and programs in English. The child plays and goes about his business, but at this time passive learning methods work.
It has been proven that listening and hearing foreign speech guarantees a child better academic performance in the future. Use foreign phrases in everyday speech, show children cartoons in the original language, listen to songs in a foreign language with them.
Children need to learn English through play. Children also love to repeat, especially 3-4 year olds. The lesson should be based on this desire to repeat. At the same time, there is a constant change of activities: songs, rhymes, games, competitions - everything so that children’s attention does not escape us.
What results can you expect from preschoolers?
Here, a lot depends on the personal characteristics of the child. Someone will hear a phrase twice and already begin to repeat it, while others need to hear a word twenty, thirty times to pronounce it. It happens that a child sits quietly in class and does not want to repeat the rhyme along with everyone else. But his interest does not disappear: he listens, but for now he is simply silent. This means that you need to give him time so that he can relax. Some children watch passively at first and only then begin to speak with pleasure.
How long should one lesson last?
For 3-4 years old, 20 minutes of classes 3 times a week is enough. At 5-6 years old - 25 minutes 3 times a week. At 6-7 years old - 30 minutes 2-3 times a week. At the same time, if you choose the “two lessons per week” format, be sure to turn on a disc with the material covered at home so that the children hear again what was covered in the lesson. It is believed that without practice, the material covered is forgotten after 36 hours.
Available in English Magic word- drill. Literally - “drilling, drilling.” But in language learning it means practice, practice, training. So, practicing what you have learned is the most important thing. Only 2% of the teacher’s time is spent on explaining the material, the remaining 98% is drill.
For some reason, everyone says that children learn quickly and grasp everything on the fly. And that supposedly therefore it is necessary to start giving children all sorts of useful knowledge as early as possible. I don't understand why people still believe this. It seems to me that it is impossible not to notice that compared to adults, children learn incredibly, hellishly slowly. Some people I know started learning Spanish three months ago and already know how to use the five tenses. In Spanish, for a reason. And my mother, we still don’t understand why, unexpectedly for everyone, started drawing four months ago, and she already draws so well that it’s hard for me to believe that she’s actually doing it. With children it never works out that way, but with a second language you still have to start at some point, so it’s good to understand when is the best time to do it.
I will talk about what science says, and then about what considerations guided me when I decided to start teaching my daughter English.
General Considerations
- Older children find learning a foreign language easier than younger children.
- Learning a foreign language is easier for adults than for children.
- Children of migrants who start learning the language of the host country earlier achieve greater success in it than those who start learning it later.
At first glance, these data contradict each other. But they relate to two different situations of learning a foreign language:
A). traditional foreign language learning,
b). learning a foreign language by immersion (as if it were a native language).
Everything about early foreign language learning makes sense as long as it is immersion learning.
"English from the cradle"
One of the most popular topics regarding teaching foreign languages is bilingualism. Most often, children become bilingual or in families in which parents speak English. different languages, or in migrant families who continue to speak their native language at home.
But now more and more people are writing about bilinguals “by choice”. This is when parents make efforts to create conditions for their child from an early age in which he can learn a second language in much the same way as the first - through immersion. This could be, for example, an English-speaking nanny, family tradition speaking German every night at dinner, or even a parent's decision to speak a foreign language to their child. Later, this approach is complemented by children's immersion groups led by native speakers, trips to countries where the language is spoken, and possibly training in a bilingual school.
!!!Important!!! If you decide to teach your child a foreign language from the cradle, remember that watching cartoons and TV shows in a foreign language at such a young age is the worst thing you can do. In order for a child up to one and a half to two years to perceive a language (no matter the first or second), he needs live interaction. That is, you need to talk to him regularly (you, a nanny or a guest teacher can do this), read books, comment on pictures.
Sounds complicated? In my opinion, it sounds good if parents want their child to speak a foreign language as well as his native one. There is evidence that bilingualism contributes to overall mental development, By the way. Not too much, but there is such an effect too. Here we probably need to remind everyone about Nabokov. I remind you.
If your goal is bilingualism, then you need to start as soon as possible and practice as often as possible. In studies of migrants in America, it was shown that only those who came to the country before the age of seven showed about the same level of English proficiency as adults as those who were born in America. One of the shortcomings of such studies is that they do not take into account the effort that individual children and their parents put into learning the language, because they took into account the results of all children from different age groups- both those who tried and those who were lazy.
This suggests that, in principle, the prospects for those who begin to learn a foreign language later are not so vague if they learn according to a good methodology, with good teachers and they themselves are quite smart and motivated. Simply put, parents can relax a little.
Which is great, because most parents I know want to get by on a more modest scale.
Late start of foreign language learning
Everything, of course, is relative, but among scientists, a “late” start is generally considered to be the beginning of learning a first foreign language in late adolescence or adulthood. Such students have a much higher chance of achieving success than children of any age. short term. But - oops! - much Less likely to end up speaking a foreign language like a native speaker. Those who begin to study a foreign language after 15 years of age, as a rule, have poor pronunciation.
But in general, in general, if you do not have the opportunity to provide your child with a high-quality language education, but there is an opportunity to provide only English in a regular kindergarten or primary school, it is quite possible to wait until there is an opportunity to sign up for more effective classes.
One Czech study surveyed more than five hundred applicants taking the English exam for admission to the Department of Linguistics to understand whether those who started learning English earlier actually do better on the exam. It turned out that the exam grade has nothing to do with the age at which the applicant started learning English(and there were those who started learning English in kindergarten, and those who did not learn it until high school). The scientists themselves write that the problem is the low level of teaching foreign languages in ordinary Czech schools. I assume that in ordinary Russian schools it is unlikely to be higher.
Where is the golden mean?
It all depends on what goals you set for yourself.
3-5 years
This option will do you if you travel frequently, communicate with people who speak a foreign language, or are thinking about moving to another country. At this age, the child’s parents (or nanny) should be directly involved in his education.
- You should not expect quick results from your child - at this age the language is forgotten very quickly, and you will most likely need to teach him the same words again
- Exercise more often, let it be 5-15 minutes a day, but “classes” should be completed 5-6 times a week
- “Classes” should have elements of the immersion method: daily everyday dialogues in a foreign language, understandable for a child, cartoons, at least partially understandable for a child (at this age - yes to educational cartoons!), very simple books in a foreign language for children 1-3 years, etc.
- Keep in mind that the child is already familiar with his native language - explanations in Russian will speed up the process of mastering an as yet unfamiliar language
- At this age, group lessons are also possible, not necessarily only in a foreign language - in some cases it is better if the teacher speaks Russian
6-9 years
This is the age when you can already learn a language “like an adult.” The progress won't be stunning at first either (though certainly more impressive than that of a three-year-old). Given that High Quality teaching, the child has every chance to master a foreign language very well high level. At this age, it is still good to start learning a foreign language if parents do not speak it well and cannot qualitatively supplement classroom lessons with activities in life.
- Regularity of classes is no longer so important - they write that to achieve results it is enough to study 75 minutes a week, distributing them over three lessons - just like for adults
- At this age, children will be given basic knowledge of grammar ( accessible language, but still)
- A godsend for parents - cartoons in a foreign language, for which you can print subtitles so that the child can read them (he does not have to understand EVERYTHING)
- In the same piggy bank - a variety of applications for the iPad, which require the child to be able to read
10-14 years
- Few people can learn a foreign language well without group classes - at least 2-3 times a week!
- At this age - hooray! - children can use adult aids that imitate the immersion method, such as, for example, the ingenious, from my point of view, Rosetta Stone
- Songs, songs, songs - at this age, a love of music can be a great way to stimulate language learning; you just need to translate and learn the lyrics of your favorite songs: this way it’s much easier to learn basic grammatical and lexical structures without cramming
- And finally, don't forget about summer Kid `s camp for learning foreign languages
What did I choose for my daughter?
I started studying with her when she was 3.5 years old.
Why not earlier:
- Before Zoe turned three, I relied more on her own pace and did not want to interfere with the natural course of development
- I like it when she realizes that she has learned something and is not just studying
- She started speaking a little later than her peers, so I wanted to wait for the moment when it would be clear that she speaks Russian at the level of her age.
Why not later:
- I take learning foreign languages incredibly seriously, so in this matter I wanted to start as soon as I realized that my daughter was ready
- My daughter gets very upset when something doesn't work out for her. He can easily stop doing something altogether if it doesn’t work out once. Therefore, it is important for me that by the time language becomes a school subject, she does better than other children. Then she will be more willing to do it.
- This is such a cute get-together between us and her, a tradition. We go to kindergarten, say hello to the cats, count them, name their colors, and remember some other words appropriate to the situation. To be honest, this is more interesting to me than hearing about the same gray cats in Russian.
- we are travelling. Children really like it when they are understood, so those 10-50 words with which they can explain at least something to people who do not speak Russian turn out to be such a source of joy in the child’s mouth, that in general, so what, what for that In order for him to remember them, he had to patiently introduce them over several months.
As you can see, my set of reasons for starting when we did is completely sub-active. The only thing that seems indisputable to me is that sooner or later, you need to learn foreign languages. What are your reasons for starting or not starting to study foreign languages with children?
*Pictures by Nina Twin and bye someone who tried very hard to understand the geography of Antiterra.