Learning foreign languages

Our Methods for Teaching English

While going through picture books that have English words under the pictures, we often pronounce the words for the objects in the pictures. We encourage the child to repeat after us.

While drawing, we tell the child the English word for the object they are drawing.

Frequent listening and repeating of short songs in English related to the current topic helps the child eventually learn the lyrics.

When we are covering a certain topic from the curriculum, we also teach the children some expressions in English.

During daily activities, we casually repeat already familiar English expressions, e.g., repeating English words for animals we see during a walk, or repeating words for food during a meal, etc.

The child learns everything through play, including language. During English lessons, we reinforce vocabulary and learn new words through various games (e.g., memory game, movement games) and educational tools (e.g., puppet, flashcards).

How Can We Help Children Acquire Foreign Language Knowledge?

Children have innate abilities for learning both their native and foreign languages. When they are young, they have plenty of time and are ready to embrace learning foreign languages. Learning at this age is fun because it happens in the form of play and various activities. Just like in Slovenian, children also listen to foreign words first, then they start speaking them, and only after some time do they begin forming sentences. Young children do not focus on grammar; instead, they use the expressions they hear. Some words and sentences they forget, others they remember.

If we guide them correctly, they are not at all embarrassed when learning foreign languages. Parents can help their children learn English if they:

don’t tell them that English is difficult,

don’t force them to understand grammar,

engage them in interesting games while learning the foreign language,

understand that at the beginning of learning, children only listen, then they speak, and only later do they read and write (so they don’t force the child to participate in conversations or repeat words),

are patient and understand that the child initially doesn’t understand everything they hear, but just a few words, which they soon connect with the situation and form a rough conclusion about the meaning,

understand that children might be somewhat frustrated because they cannot express their thoughts quickly in a foreign language,

don’t correct their mistakes (children, just like in Slovenian, will soon recognize the mistake on their own and correct it),

are aware that there are differences between boys and girls when it comes to learning and don’t compare boys to girls.

Can Parents Teach Their Children English?

Parents can help their children learn a foreign language, even if they are not English teachers and even if they think their knowledge and pronunciation of English are poor. If you are teaching your children English, you don’t need any special course, just basic knowledge and a few expressions and sentences that you can try to pass on to the children. The learning time should be short: 10 to 20 minutes, once to three times a week. Repetition is very important in language learning, but it is not necessary for the child to understand grammar.

When teaching children a foreign language, it is very important not to mock them if they mispronounce a word. Never tell them they don’t have a talent for foreign languages. Encourage them if they don’t immediately remember words (this is a completely normal phenomenon). Also, don’t compare them with other children, saying that others already speak English brilliantly.

How to Teach Children English Casually

Parents have many opportunities to casually teach their children expressions and sentences in foreign languages: while waiting at the doctor’s, at the dentist’s, in the store, while going for a walk, cooking or playing with them, visiting the zoo, or going to the seaside.

To inspire the child and show them how great it is to understand a foreign language and how soon they will be able to talk to someone from another country, or read an English book, or watch a cartoon, you can, for example, say while cooking lunch: “Do you know how to say soup in English? Soup. And how about bread? Bread. Can you repeat? Soup, soup, soup. Bread, bread, bread.” Then motivate the child to repeat the new words as much as possible. Later, you can ask them several times if they remember the English words for soup and bread.

When walking down the street and hearing someone speaking English, you can ask the child: “Do you hear them speaking English? Do you know how you could greet them if they came to us?” You could say: Hello or Good morning. Then maybe someone would ask you what your name is, and you could answer: “I am Lili.” or “My name is Lili.”