Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission or compensation if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. We stand behind every product we recommend!
Are you ready for your child to learn another language? Do you have questions and concerns, such as: How can I help them? What if I don’t speak the language?
In today’s world, parents are eager to raise multilingual children because they have seen the research that illustrates the numerous benefits of multilingualism, especially when it begins in childhood. (Want to learn more about these benefits? Come back soon for a new post about this topic!). While we parents understand and value language learning, many of us are just not equipped to bring another language into the home. In this post we will review 5 tips that you can do to support and encourage language learning in your own house, even if you don’t speak the language yourself. At the bottom of the post, download a FREE game to practice colors in any language!
5 Tips to Support Language Learning at Home
1. Read Books
Reading helps a child learn their primary language, so it stands to reason that it also helps support second language acquisition. Build a multilingual library at home– creating a text rich environment allows your child to SEE and experience the second language in addition to just listening to it.
You can read ANY type of books in your target language: old favorites, new titles, picture books, board books, chapter books, even audiobooks! Just start reading! Try mixing it up with a few different types of books. We like to introduce a new book in Spanish regularly (weekly if possible) as well as snuggle up with some of our favorite books in Spanish before bed.
Audiobooks are an amazing opportunity for your child to listen to a native speaker. This can be even more important if you don’t speak the language. You can get an audiobook to go along with a hard copy of a book to support your learning. Have you heard of Epic!? Epic has thousands of books, including over 2,500 books in Spanish or Spanish/English. We love using Epic to find ‘Read-to-Me’ books in Spanish so that my children can hear a native speaker read a book to them! We have a paid plan for Epic Unlimited, but there are plenty of books on the free version as well.
Want to try Epic Unlimited for FREE? Use this link and you will receive 1 month for free! https://referral.getepic.com/mQpQxbb
2. Listen to Music
Singing and dancing are so much fun for kids (and adults!) We know that our children learn through songs, so incorporating music in another language is an exciting and engaging way for kids to learn without even realizing it. How quickly do your children pick up on songs from the world around them? From movies, shows, school, or church? They absorb the language and repeat it, using the rhythm and beat to mirror the native speakers, mimicking their cadence, inflection, and accents.
I highly recommend that you start with music that is somewhat familiar– nursery rhymes, learning songs, and traditional folksongs are great for beginners and children. We like to incorporate nursery rhymes and traditional children’s songs into our homeschool lessons and daily life, but you should choose music that suits your child’s age and preference!
3. Movies & Shows
Depending on your family’s comfort level with screen-time, television and movies can be a good place to experience another language as well. Amazon Prime and Netflix offer a lot of children’s programming in Spanish (and many other languages).
We try to limit screen-time for a variety of reasons, but we do have a rule in our house. The first TV show of the day is allowed to be in English, but then any TV or movies after that first show must be in Spanish. This give me a little bit of flexibility and less mom-guilt. I know that they are at least learning vocabulary and experiencing the language if I have to get something done and they end up watching a second TV show.
4. Visual Cues
As I mentioned before, creating a text-rich environment is extremely important for language learners. Visual cues serve as prompts for speaking the target language as well as encouraging the student to begin associating letters (or characters) with sounds to create words. Because our neighborhood is in an area that is primarily English-speaking, we have to get creative with our visual cues in our immediate vicinity. Since we just started homeschooling, I created a daily routine/morning meeting area about the calendar, days of the week, months, numbers, weather, colors, shapes, and more … all in Spanish! You can order posters for these types of reference materials online. As a former classroom teacher, I already had my own, but here are a few that I like: Early Learner Spanish Poster Set from Carson Dellosa, 12 Poster Set – I have this one!, Another 12 Poster Set
Since I didn’t want to restrict our language learning to just one area of our home, we labeled various parts of our house in Spanish as well. Again, I already had many of these labels, but you can order them online. I highly recommend that you use labels that ONLY feature your target language and do not include English. Children will retain the vocabulary better if they associate the image or item with the word in the target language directly, rather than image -> English -> target language. https://www.carsondellosa.com/106067-ec–spanish-early-learning-poster-set-grade-pk-5-106067-ec/
5. Fun Activities and Games!
This is my favorite part! If we as parents can support our children and their learning by creating interesting, engaging, hands-on learning experiences, the students will acquire the new language more easily and oftentimes without even realizing they are learning. That’s our goal here at Amigo Mío — to help families build language skills together through fun, interactive activities without the hassle of having to plan it alone.
Kids are constantly making memories and language connections with the outside world in their native language, so it is extremely important that they interact with their target language in a meaningful way. Whatever your child’s interests are — sports, art, dress up, board games, etc. — integrate the language learning into those interests! It can be as simple as incorporating vocabulary terms about colors into a craft project, clothing vocabulary terms during dress up time, or numbers while playing a board game. Don’t overcomplicate it and use the language in a natural way.
Do you need more support and more resources to provide meaningful, engaging activities in Spanish? Amigo Mío’s monthly subscription boxes are designed to do just that! We deliver new, innovative and exciting activities directly to your door each month, along with a guide for parents AND video lessons from a certified Spanish teacher. Each month, we create our lessons and activities based around a bilingual book that you get to keep. Want to try out a game for free? Download our board game below! This game is based on an an adaptation of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. To play, all you need is a numbered die or a spinner and some pieces. The instructions are included in the download. Click below for a truly FREE download — no email address required!
Interested in more? Join our mailing list for more freebies, tips, and a discount on our boxes!
¡Gracias, amigo mío! ¡Hasta luego!
