Fun Languages Blog

Using regular and repetitive methods to expose children to a language is a great way to teach them the language and music is a great way to do that!  Our LCF songs each tell a story - perfect for young ears to learn and get used to the story which in turn helps them remember the language.  And ... you can now access some of our funky animated songs in French and Spanish online for FREE!

"The neurological links between language and music are vast but the basic thing to remember is that music activates more parts of the brain than language does, on both the right and left sides of the brain. So if you remember something to a tune, you are more likely to recall the information than if you just read it or heard it spoken.  Have you ever heard a song on the radio that you haven’t heard in a decade and you surprise yourself by singing all the lyrics?  Music and catchy jingles can stick in our minds for years while names of people, places,  verb conjugation charts and memorized data disappear." (source /www.everydaylanguagelearner.com)

Kids love hearing a favourite song and will listen to it again and again, and each time they do, they learn a little more of the target language.  The LCF Fun Languages CDs for our French, Spanish and Mandarin for Kids club members are another way for your child to keep learning.  

Read more: Music is Key in Learning Languages

Cognitive flexibility, or as it's more commonly known, 'task-switching', is the ability that allows people to quickly and efficiently swap between different tasks and adapt to different situations, for example being able to shift your attention from the steering wheel to the gear stick when driving or switching between offense and defense in a team sport.

Studies of language and cognition have investigated how bilingualism might enhance crucial task-switching skills in young adults and found that bilinguals were much faster than monolinguals on trials that required task-switching. A growing body of evidence suggests that bilinguals enjoy enhanced executive control compared to monolinguals. Executive control, one of the most important aspects of brain function, refers to a combination of cognitive abilities—including task-switching—that help you make decisions, control impulses, and plan thoughtfully.

Read more: Add multitasking to the list of cognitive advantages of being bilingual!

by Christina Bosemark, founder of the Multilingual Children's Association

Most toddlers think that they are complete superheros -- and when it comes to language acquisition, it's actually true!   However, as easy as acquiring multiple languages is for small children, the single most important factor in language learning is the quantity of spoken language addressed to the child. So, if you worry that you aren't providing enough, here are a few tricks to boost your superhero's inherent powers.

Read more: 10 Tips for Boosting the Minority Language

Despite its provocative title, this engaging (and humourous) talk is more about how exposing your kids to dangerous things teaches them the necessary precautions, and how we hinder their development and impose limits on their learning by being over-protective.

(image source: tmagicworld.com http://bit.ly/XwOGGC )

All babies are born with the innate ability to acquire language and because of this ability do so at a rapid rate.  Children are able to hear and understand reasonably complex structure or patterns without ever having a direct lesson in grammar or speech.  

However, it's commonly believed that there's a certain period of "linguistic plasticity" that extends only to a certain age (before the age of 8 years at the outside) after which language learning becomes much more difficult and less successful.  Studies of so-called "wolf children" who, for various reasons, were not exposed to language before the age of 8, have shown that these children have very limited success in acquiring language thereafter - especially grammar. 

Read more: Fun Languages helps put the world in the palm of their hands

"Bilingualism is a personal enrichment and a passport to other cultures. At the very least ... it certainly allows you to say more than “merci beaucoup” when interacting with someone of another language. One never regrets knowing several languages but one can certainly regret not knowing enough."

We wanted to share this excellent infographic with you that we found on MultilingualLiving.com.  It does a great job of visually communicating the common myths & misconceptions about bilingualism.  Download the pdf file here. 

We also came across this great article on what bilingualism is NOT from the point of view of an Emeritus Professor of psycholinguistics from Neuchâtel University in Switzerland, Professor François Grosjean. A really interesting read, the article outlines the professor's perspective for understanding what bilingualism is, and is not, while also addressing ongoing misconceptions about bilingualism, such as: bilingualism is a rare phenomenon; real bilinguals do not have an accent in their different languages and all bilinguals are bicultural.

Read the full article.

Questions from our children about stories they may have been exposed to in the News is something that confronts all parents at some point, and in light of the latest tragic school shooting in Connecticut, USA we thought it would be timely and helpful to share this article about strategies on how to deal with them.  The article offers helpful tips for talking and listening to our children about stories on topics that are, more often than not, very upsetting - even for adults to process. What is the best way to approach the more difficult questions this "news" may elicit from our children? And how do we best set their minds to rest when a story is particularly disturnbing?

Read the article here.

This article, in a recent issue of the NZ Herald, asks why French children seem to be so much better behaved than some of their contemporaries around the world and offers a fascinating insight into the possible reasons.  Key among them appears to be the ability to delay gratification which imbues children with a calmness and resilience not often seen in many encounters with younger offspring! 

"French parents ...... know that initial frustration (not getting what they want when they want it) teaches children resilience, adaptability and all the other good virtues that a well-adjusted adult exhibits ...  I regularly see what amounts to a minor miracle: adults in the company of small children at home, having entire cups of coffee and full-length adult conversations. Waiting is even part of the parenting vernacular. Instead of saying "quiet" or "stop" to rowdy kids, French parents often just issue a sharp "attend", which means "wait".'

Although our main rule in our many "French for Kids" clubs is to have FUN, our "little linguists" are actively encouraged to be respectful of others, raise their hands to gain attention and, when necessary, reminded that they need to wait their turn. The controlled lesson structure, with a beginning, middle and end, also helps overcome any discipline issues by setting boundaries. This approach not only benefits the children but allows us to focus on having fun with them and makes for a much more enjoyable and productive lesson.

Read the full article here

"Amid China's tumultuous dash to become rich, one man's photographs of families posing with their worldly goods will soon seem like records from a distant era.

Huang Qingjun has spent nearly a decade travelling to remote parts of China to persuade people who have sometimes never been photographed to carry outside all their household possessions and pose for him.

The results offer glimpses of the utilitarian lives of millions of ordinary Chinese who, at first glance, appear not to have been swept up by the same modernisation that has seen hundreds of millions of others leave for the cities.

But seen more closely, they also show the enormous social change that has come in a generation. So the photo of an elderly couple of farmers outside their mud house reveals a satellite dish, DVD player and phone." (Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

See the photos and read the full article here