Homeschoolingmama

This post is about a resource that we've used for both Spanish and French. If you haven't already heard of or seen OneThirdstories, I highly recommend taking a look (website linked below). You simply sign up for the subscription box (my little one loves waiting for his post!). The subscription includes the story booklet, flash cards, an activity booklet and the audio is emailed directly to you. It is probably one of the more effective language tools we have used so far. The stories are common stories (Red Riding Hood) but with a funny twist to keep everyone entertained. The second language is slowly introduced into the context, for example the word fruit is in Spanish on first page, and gradually most of the words are in the second language by the end. The audio is brilliant, very well read, also means I can have a listen too to ensure I am pronouncing everything correctly. Language learning is fun, the activities provide the revision required but with the fun, and I...

Spanish was the first language little person wanted to learn. Now it made sense to start with this, as I had some (very basic, sort of forgotten!) knowledge. You may have heard about brain plasticity (or not, not really a term that comes up in everyday convo!), but in essence it is the brains ability to alter neuron connections in order to learn new ideas/aspects etc. As an example, when someone loses sight, the 'hearing' part of the brain eventually takes over sight as that is now important and higher functioning. Children's brains (before the age of 7) have greater plasticity. Therefore, a language is much easier to learn in childhood compared to adulthood. Yes you can learn a language, or ride a bike, but it generally takes longer as an adult due to the slower process (in the head), compared to children. Ok enough of that waffle, let's get back on track about Spanish. The first resource I'm going to write about is a website, RockAlingua (web address below)...

Languages are rich and diverse. The world is full of colourful languages, some classed as romantic and others more elegant. In this house, we truly believe in the importance of mastering at least one other language. The advantages are innumerable. Not only are you able to communicate in another language but bilinguals (more languages more benefit) have shown that their brains are wired differently enabling better memory, ability to fathom mathematical concepts quicker and for some, especially tonal languages, the ability to use the right hemisphere for language (usually associated with music/visual concepts). When little person expressed an interest to learn another language, it was as if he had asked the perfect question! Off we went, trying a variety of apps, subscription boxes, books and websites. We've delved in the learning of three languages so far, Arabic, French and Spanish. We aren't structured with our learning and leave it up to little person with how much he ...