Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Why is Foreign Language So Difficult?

I don't post often about teaching foreign language. Actually, have I ever posted about teaching foreign language? I might not have. That's odd considering how big a focus it has been for us.

The Kid seems to have her dad's aptitude for languages. She certainly didn't get it from me. She has requested to learn Spanish, French, and any language with a non-Western alphabet (a squiggly language, in her words). We've been focusing on Spanish with a bit of French thrown in here and there.

If you ask about beginning Spanish material for young kids, you can get several resources - Salsa Spanish, Little Pim, a variety of vocabulary board books, Song School Spanish, The Fun Spanish...  So once you get through those, where's the list of intermediate/advancing beginner resources? I've researched, asked, begged, and so far the crickets are chirping in response. Nothing.

It's even worse for French, when even the suggestions for beginner level materials are scarce. I'm glad we decided to wait on anything else, as I doubt Arabic or Mandarin would yield better results.

This is really just a little mini-rant. I'll come back in the next few weeks and post what we have done and are doing for Spanish, just in case it is helpful to anyone else. If anyone wants to write a good foreign language program that starts around kindy level and progresses through fluency, I'll buy it. I don't even care what language it teaches.

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