to think language school on Saturday is too much for a 4 year old!

[letsflyaway]

Our son has a second language that we try to speak at home most of the time. My DH would like him to attend a language school in central London every Saturday morning for several hours. He is 4! I know it's important to develop language skills early on but I can't help feeling this is over the top.

We both work full time and I see the week ends as precious family time, not another day for school type activities/education which will cut down on time we can be out having fun.

Does anyone have young children that give up a large chunk of their week ends for a similar reason? Be it language school or perhaps coaching for a certain sport or similar. If so how do they cope with it?

do you do OPOL ?

Yes, only one parent is fluent in the second language.

What is OPOL?

We have the same dilemma. My husband is a fluent Portuguese speaker and he tries to speak it with DSs [3 & 1 yr old] as much as possible.

We were also wondering if there was a way to reinforce this learning without making them attend classes at this age.

Is it a fun class/ play group or an actual books and lessons class?

One parent, one language.

We're thinking of only allowing TV time in the second language but I am not convinced this would work!

Books, lessons, rather old fashioned.

Ooh, I wouldn't be keen on that, YANBU.

I would do it. My son has a second language and he has to go 2 evenings a week to language school (13 miles away). It is an absolute pain for me, but I have been doing it for years because I can see the great advantage. We speak the second language at home, but going to school as well with other children in the same situation, has helped him appreciate his second language and has helped him with reading/writing. Sometimes he complaints, of course, but I am sure that in a few years time he'll be thankful for all our efforts.

I would definately have gone for this if it had been available (still would if it becomes available). It is very likely going to be done in a child friendly environment full of games and fun.

Dunno the ins and outs of this for your family, but it is a very normal situation. My latvian friend in the 1980s did latvian school on saturdays. My ex collegues primary age kids do/did arabic school (not a Koran based madrassar but including religious bits).

The OP's DS is 4!! I have 5 bilingual kids and I never sent them to formal classes age 4- that's how to turn them against the second language IMO.

i was sent to a dancing school on Sat from 8.30 - 5 from 4yo till 13yo and i still really resent it. My parents and i had no interest in dancing, but it was a way of getting me out of their hair because the both worked full time and wanted time alone/to catch up on housework.

Obv that's not the same reason with you, but i missed out on family time, was very tired, never got to go to parties of school friends, etc.

How long would you do it for?

i have a close friend who went to greek school every weekend. i don't know what age she started at but i can ask her.

greek school was VERY important to her and her greek identity (greek cypriot) as a teenager and into adulthood... all her greek friends were through greek school and all her cousins went.

I also had to do it as a child and really didn't enjoy it. It will be very old fashioned, it's a cultural thing. Singing the national anthem, they probably still use the cane!

It would be something long term if we start it, so until early teenage years I would say.

As an adult who missed out on learning her Fathers first language, I'd say do it!

I am regretful so frequently that I can't speak the other language I should be able to. I have friends who speak two languages fluently but don't read or write their second language (and it's in Arabic writing) and without fail, all of them wish they could read and write it.

The idea of several hours on a Saturday doesn't sound fun tbh, is this class your only option? I'd have a look around if you think there may be something else available that does a simelar thing.

My 3 year old goes to Chinese school every saturday morning for a few hours. My husband is Chinese and speaks Cantonese and I dont. She enjoys it and asks to go. It seems to be quite common among parents of children with two languages.
But it's down to whether you all agree, and whether your son would enjoy it. If my dd said she didn't want to go anymore, I wouldn't force her. As it is, I force myself out of bed for us both to take her lol.

Well,I am bilingual. When I was tiny, I learned what is now my second language first, from my mother and English from my father. We used to go to her country for holidays twice a year and I would play with my cousins and talk to relatives. I taught myself to read and write because I would run out of English books when away and have to produce thank you letters etc.

I think how difficult writing is to learn depends on the language and the alphabet used eg German would be easier than mandarin

Are there friends you could meet up with regularly so the children could play together or can you take holidays where he is immersed in the language. This works quite quickly when children are young? I would probably concentrate on the spoken language, songs and stories until he is about 6. Then the language school would probably be a great idea. If in doubt, take him because I think it is so sad when children don't learn their second language and can't speak to their relatives.

Our DCs go to Farsi school every Saturday from 1-5pm. They are 4 and nearly 7. My DH is Iranian. The school runs in a secondary school and has classes from nursery to A Level. It follows the Iranian language curriculum which is language and culture and has no religion within it.

It's a lot for them, but because I am English, not much Farsi is spoken at home. DH should have spoken in Farsi to them from birth really but didn't.

Unfortunately they are well behind their peers who have both parents speaking farsi at home. They moan a little about it but always come out laughing and joking and both of them really like singing songs in Farsi and I can sense that they are starting to feel that it's quite a thing to speak another language.
We will see how it goes. They have been going since September.

Hillbilly I have a feeling our situation will be similar to yours. I do want them to have another language but wonder if a private tutor at home (more one on one teaching but less time) might be better.

no i wouldn't do this, think a 4year old needs time to just unwind at the weekend, we expect so much of children and think it is wrong to cram after school and weekends with endless organised activities

Can he go for a few weeks on a trial basis and then maybe leave it a year or two if it turns out that it's not the right time?

My neighbors send their adopted kids to language schools to learn their native language. Its only a couple hours on Saturday with culture info thrown in. They love it.

I know quite a lot of people who do this with their kids. Our family is also bilingual but we resisted Saturday school for similar reasons to the ones that you have outlined, OP. I have always believed that weekends should be for fun!

But now that dd is getting older, I'm starting to question our decision. She isn't as confident in her father's language as we'd like her to be, and she can't read or write it at all. I still think that weekends should be for fun, but I sometimes wonder if she'll thank us for this later, or if she'll blame us for not having invested more effort in helping her to perfect her second language. Only time will tell.

I'm not sure if there's a right answer to this one OP - maybe depends on the child, the language, the other alternatives to practise and how else you might spend that time on a Saturday! Good luck!

It gets harder when they are older. I don't think it's too much for a four year old but no more than two or three hours. What language is she learning? Could you also get her to do an audio course in the car?

I'd say do it. My three are also Bilingual and it is so hard to get the balance right. We live in Turkey so they attend school in Turkish and at home we speak English but they do gymnastics at the weekend (just because we don't have the option to do it during the week). It is a right old faff but mostly because it is saturday and sunday so we littereally don't have a day off all together. But at least in your case you would get sunday. What ever you decide to do good luck with it.