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Speaking a Second Language
Tips to Help Kids Become Bilingual and Univision (Saturday morning cartoons) are great tools for creating a multilingual baby.
9. Expose your child to people from varied language and cultural backgrounds. You may want to tune into a radio station and listen to music in the foreign language.
10. So how can parents help their kids become bilingual? For starters bilingual parents should not be reluctant (as some are) to speak in their native language around the house. The kids will pick up English through day-to-day exposure. Sometimes parents think that speaking both languages will confuse a child. It will not. If neither parent is proficient in a second language then they should consider hiring a bilingual housekeeper or nanny.
11. Visit the native country. A child under the age of 13 will learn to speak the language in about three months' time. In a one-hour class a 5-year-old will learn one word and no grammar. Yet, an adult will learn 30 words and some simple sentences. But, at the end of the hour the one word the child learns may well sound more authentic without a trace of accent.
12. Enroll your child in a foreign language program. Check out opportunities for formal language instruction beginning as early as "Mommy and Me" preschool. Many public schools now introduce foreign language learning as early as kindergarten. It is the greatest gift parents can give their children. Indeed, the potential benefits of speaking more than one language are enormous. Not only will it broaden a child's understanding and acceptance of other cultures, but it will also improve comprehension skills in English. What makes A Magical Garden special and different than all other programs available is that we are including the parents in the process and at a much earlier age than what is already out there.