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July-August 2007 Selected Content
Don't Quake Conjugate! Teaching a Foreign Language - Danielle L. Schultz
Homeschool parents are a confident bunch, but a lot of us quake when we think about teaching a foreign language. After all, most of us don't speak another language ourselves, even if we put in time during our own school years. Even if we've managed to avoid foreign languages, maybe our child has developed a passionate interest in French food, or German uniforms, or Japanese manga, and is desperate to learn a new language.
No doubt: the best way to learn a foreign language is to move to a country where it's spoken and immerse yourself. For most of us, that's just not possible. Maybe sometime in the future, but what if you want to get started right now? I knew from my own efforts at learning languages that you can't learn one in a week while riding around in the car. Like all worthwhile studies, I knew it would take work before my daughter could read a French cookbook or a German novel.
So I thought carefully about what my aims were for our homeschool. Was this to be a fun supplement--preparation for a trip? Then I should focus on spoken language. But eventually, I wanted her to acquire high school credit and be competent on exams. So grammar study was important. Taking into account her age, interest level and learning style, here's what Niki and I discovered that works well.
I wanted my daughter to be able to enjoy books, magazines, movies and television programs; speak the language with native speakers; and have a good grasp of the structure of the language. Although I reviewed a dozen or more language programs, none of them met all my criteria. So, I developed a three pronged approach.
As a first step I bought several book-and-tape/CD combinations. They kept her busy for a while, but as she progressed, we moved to a "great books" approach. At first, these were the simplest foreign language picture books I could find. At least one day a week, we would work our way from page to page, trying to understand the captions or narrative. If we owned the book, she underlined any unknown word. If it was a library book, she added the word to her notebook list. We would talk about the pictures (in English), trying to figure out from the context what the word meant. If the meaning was still not clear, she would look it up or (very rarely) I would tell her the meaning. As time went on, if she missed the same word, she either wrote it, with the meaning, three times or made a flashcard (her option). Later, we discovered a great computer flashcard program (V-train).
Many of the expressions in children's books are idiomatic or involve fairy tale terms that I didn't learn in my college language classes. However, that's the very reason reading "great books" is valuable--vocabulary building, learning meaning in context and learning language the way it's really used. Even better were books with accompanying audio versions--first, we'd listen to the audio. I'd ask what the story was about, and have her tell me as much as she could of what was happening. Then we'd repeat listening, opening the book and using its visual cues. Finally, we'd go over anything she had not understood.
After about a year, Niki's reading ability progressed dramatically, and we moved on to children's magazines and chapter books. She also began writing a two- or three-sentence summary of a chapter to prove she understood what was going on and to make her think in the language. Sometimes I would think up an "essay," such as "Why I Like My Cat;" "What My House Looks Like;" and "What I Wear in the Morning." These little compositions were much harder for her than reading, but gave her a grammar and vocabulary workout.
Even if a student is beginning language study in junior high or high school (or even as an adult), I still think this is an excellent method--the books will be "babyish," but the simple grammar and sentences are excellent practice. Getting out of language "kindergarten" really motivated my daughter. After a year or two, I tried to find magazines for kids her age. If I'd had an older student, I would have sought out books or magazines on topics of interest. Fashion magazines, news magazines, science, Harry Potter--they'll all be difficult, but the interesting information will keep her reading.
Besides finding books, we enjoy exploring websites, ordering tourist brochures and looking at a map with the names printed in the target language. (Many kids are surprised that the Japanese call Japan something different and Germans don't say Munich.) We eat at restaurants that serve the cuisine, cook recipes, get menus in the target language and "order" from them (many restaurants now post menus on the web). I'd have hung posters if we had any wall space left. I keep an eye on our local paper for international news and try to talk about the governments of countries where our language is spoken--this has led to some interesting discussions about colonialism, for example. I've searched for biographies (in English) of important historical figures. For us, much of the value in learning a foreign language is the window it opens to other ways of thinking, believing and organizing life. This kind of cultural study is a bit easier for modern languages, but we've also been able to dig up plenty to enhance our study of Latin.
The second part of my approach was looking for programs that would help her practice hearing and speaking. A child will get at least some practice speaking in a classroom, or with a teacher who is a native speaker. I couldn't provide either of those, but I wasn't going to give up. First, we tried the Rosetta Stone program, but it was not a good fit for my then-fifth grader. The style of repetition drove her crazy, she hated the time spent waiting for the program to open and her typing skills weren't up to the program's demands, but I think this program might work quite well for another child.
Next, I tried another program which I had enjoyed using myself, Pimsleur. This is an exclusively audio program that begins with simple conversations, but requires the student to respond rapidly and recall phrases he has heard several minutes before. Pimsleur is not cheap, but it's less expensive and easier to locate than a tutor. Since it's designed for adults, some content was a little old for her, but by fifth grade she was able to adapt. Pimsleur is entirely self-instructional (giving me a free half hour!) and gave her a great accent. There's very little written material to accompany the audio, so the student learns to reproduce only what he hears. However, the method had the unexpected advantage of making my daughter want to see how the words were spelled, and this motivated her in studying grammar and reading.
As we've progressed, I've begun seeking out popular music CDs, as long as they come with a lyrics sheet, and some operas and classical songs. Many CDs are available for modern languages; we also used Lingua Angelica, from Memoria Press, for Latin. We memorized the lyrics, even if we didn't yet know what they meant, confident that we would understand eventually.
The third component of our program is grammar study, which is missing in most texts aimed at young children. Most aural/oral programs do not provide much work in this area, either. My daughter was quite happy with these "grammar lite" programs in third grade but by the beginning of fourth grade, she asked, "But, Mom, why does that word change like that? What if something is going to happen, or happened yesterday--how do you say that?" Voila, it was time for grammar!
Homeschool publishers offer programs in some languages with a solid grammar focus, and these have been the easiest for us to use. For Latin, Memoria Press's Latina Christiana worked well for us. However, I could not find what I wanted for our other language, French, and ended up writing a program myself for Memoria.
Where do we go from here? My daughter is seventh-grade age this year, with about four years of language study under her belt. What would I do if I were just beginning with an older child? In both cases, the answer would be the same. For modern languages, we plan to use the excellent programs available through the Annenberg/CPB project which has three language programs available at their site: Destinos (Spanish); Fokus Deutsch (German); and French in Action. All are well tested, frequently used in distance-learning and engaging. If French in Action (the one we'll use first) proves too difficult, I'll return to using my grammar spine, Pimsleur, and our reading program.
I'm looking forward to the next phase. After all, I've learned a bit of one new language with her (Latin), and dramatically improved another (French). We've both figured out how to learn just about any language, and she's making noises about learning Japanese. Well, maybe I am quaking again!
[Editor's note: See Rebecca Rupp's review of Rosetta Stone and Auralog's Tell Me More foreign language software in the May/June 07 issue of HEM.]
© 2007, Danielle L. Schultz
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