Teaching Kids Second Language

I know my situation is different from yours, but you can use some of the things we do to get started. We live in the French speaking part of Switzerland. My 3yo goes to a french school and already speaks more french than I do. My 2yo will start at the same school next week and she already understands a lot of what her sister says in french. It is amazing how quickly they pick it up! We started out by just buying a lot of french books and reading them whenever we can. We also have a lot of DVD's that we watch in french. I'm pregnant with my third and I am so exhausted, but I don't feel quite so bad when I put on a french dvd because I feel like at least it's helping them with the language. Mostly Dora or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There is also Sesame Street in other languages which would be amazing for learning languages. The french one is called Rue 5 Sesame, but I can't find it in Switzerland. You could also take lessons (if that's possible) so you could speak to your kids too. My husband has had to learn for work and he speaks with the girls often and it has really helped. I'm doing my best to learn and sometimes I also try and speak with them. Simple things like "it's time to brush your teeth" or when we are doing baths, using french for body parts and such. Good luck! :)

In our area it is not easy, but luckily we have a small French population affiliated with a university here, and we have been diligent the last few years. My kids are 5, 4 and 2, and here's what I have done. My French is EXTREMELY limited, and no one in our family speaks it, but I have good pronunciation, so I can read stuff out loud.

1) I ordered up a huge load of French Children's books form Ebay Canada and have made a point to read them to the kids since infancy. --I noticed that now Amazon has quite a few French books (didn't used to), and just got some Dr Suess ones.

2) We Have Muzzy 1 and 2 and have watched it a million times, and also are now guiding more seriously with the books.

3) I found a French tutor (young French wife of university professor who was looking for nanny jobs) who has been coming once a week for 2 hours, and I work daily on what she teaches each week, that has been for a few months now and going GREAT.

4) A brand new French Language center opened up near by (YAY) and I'm talking to the owner begging her to start some young kid classes-currently it's just for older kids and adults.

5) I usually watch French movies on Netflix, or at least have them on in the background so the kids hear the language frequently.

My kids know more French than me now, and we are saving and dreaming of spending a year in France in the next couple of years while they're still young enough to absorb.

Search for language speakers around you, and get creative!
It's a complete disgrace that American schools don't ALL require second languages in first few years of school like most other developed nations do. My kids have made some French friends of parents here teaching at the university, which is great, but those 5 and 6 year olds like speaking English to my kids and are already learning third and fourth languages.

Spanish is probably much easier to find to create your own study program and social group. We have some Puerto Rican kids learning French with us and the tutor. (they already speak English and Spanish fluently), I like my kids to hear them speaking Spanish. I'm soooo jealous of kids who already know other languages!!!

***Also, I just noticed that Rosetta Stone has a Homeschooling Edition for younger kids. I haven't gotten it yet, but plan to.

I was told by a friend whose child was fluent that someone needs to speak to the child in that language only & constantly for it to really stick. For instance my husband only speaks French to my daughter & we also have a nanny that only speaks French to her as well. She's only 2.5, she has an amazing grasp on the language.

You can teach your kids little by little.

My son was a preemie and his occupational therapists had us teach him sign asap - like at 6 months. I would verbalize the word along w/the sign. At about a year, I got a Spanish kid's dictionary and would verbalize each sign in English and Spanish. As he got older, I started learning common phrases in sign and Spanish, like "we need to change your diaper" or "let's go upstairs" or "Daddy is coming home" or "where is the red ball. Early on, we probably did a common phrase a week.

If you want to go that route, instead of formal training/language school, I suggest investing in a good sign language or Spanish book. I went to a used book store and bought a huge sign book for $5 and it has about 1000 signs and phrases. I already had Spanish dictionareis laying around. My kid has a friend who has been in a Spanish emersion language school for a year and my kid probably knows the same amount of Spanish as the language school friend, only my kid's learning was free, and the language school kid's parents are paying $6K a semester.

My kids don't but my cousins did. My Aunt and Uncle spoke mostly Spanish to them at home. English away form home. That's it.

My daughter learned Spanish from my step mother when she was learning to speak English (until age 5). Super easy and she passed me up. We didn't keep up and she lost most of it by age 9 or 10. She took four years of French in high school and does very well with it.