Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Does studying a foreign language seem tedious to your children? Today on Home School Heartbeat, Mike Smith suggests some creative and entertaining ways to help your homeschooler master a foreign language.

Mike:


Languages are learned best when a student has an opportunity to speak them. Simply listening to a lecture is not as effective. So use your creativity as you provide new settings to showcase the foreign language. Interactive techniques are best, including singing, playing memory games, and role playing. Anything that helps your child have fun with the language will improve his mastery of it.


Consider hosting a missionary or exchange student who can talk with your child in everyday situations. Alternatively, you can help your child find a pen pal in another country so your student can write in his second language while the pen pal responds in English. Both children will be able to practice writing in their second language, and as they talk about themselves to their new friend, their understanding of everyday usage will improve.


To bring the application of another language into your home, try labeling everyday items in your house with index cards where you have written the foreign language equivalent of that item. Incorporate your child's other studies with their new language. For example, you might assign the child the task of translating key Bible verses into their second language. Another helpful teaching aid is to let the child tape record himself as he reads aloud. It is important that he hears how his pronunciation is different from that of the language tapes. And until next time, I'm Mike Smith