Too late to teach second language?

[mummymermaid]

Hi all

My DD is nearly 4 years old now, I tried speaking to her in my native language but her speech was delayed and when she finally started talking it was English (my DH's first language). Since then she just refused to listen or try my language and only recently she's wanted to learn. Is it too late now? I'm trying to teach her but she keeps saying it's too difficult, I've bought her films that she watches but obviously she doesn't understand anything at all. How do I help her to learn? How can I teach her so that it would be easier for her? Or have I left it too late now?

It's never too late!

Saying that if you go full on speaking to her in your first language she may well rebell against it.

Obviously you have to judge the situation and apply what you think is best, but I would recommend trying the following, in your first language:

You tube language songs for this age- I would try and watch some of these with her, sing them with her and try and use the words from the songs in real life situations. Also, I have found this is good to do in the car when she doesn't have many other alternatives.

Background music in your house- play this as much as possible: when she is getting dressed, in the bath, getting ready for bed. "Would you like to go to bed now or stay up late and learn to sing a song with me?"

Speaking to other members of your family, and letting her hear this, in your first language.

Cartoons- if they are interesting enough I guess she would want to watch them.

Play groups in your language

Obviously visiting the country if this is an option.

I would think that after, say 100 hours of the above, she will start to learn.

Thanks! I shall start trying harder! She's been very reluctant to learn every time I've tried but recently she's finally started showing some interest. Luckily I have a one year old too and I only speak to him with my native language (I learned my lesson!) so my hope is that my DD would start joining in! I just wish I hadn't given up back when she was little...

Not too late!! Just talk to her in your language.
Let her watch the films. She will work it out. After all, i bet if you put an English film infront of her, she wouldn't understand all of it!!

I've watched lots of kids pick up English as a second language over the past 2 years. It's amazing to watch. Just expose her to as much of the language you want her to learn as possible.

Never too late! But you need to sell it to her by making sure that it is associated with fun activities which she can only access in that language.

just remember that her enjoying it and picking up some is better than none, and the more she can pick up the better. Don't beat yourself up about it and do make it fun as others have said - books and DVDs if you can, teach her songs, teach her rhymes. I have the same with my DDs and figure that some competence in the language is way better than none; that way if it catches her imagination she can carry on learning it herself later to close the gap if you see what I mean?

Peppa pig and diner films in your native language.
And a few songs.
My kid was so impressed with being allowed to watch tv she went with it.
Peppa pig is super simple language so a good start.

What language is your language? It is definitely not too late. I started on a mission to teach my kids French and I speak only English and never learned french myself! Until now that is. I decided on French as there are a lot of clubs and classes in our area. The fact I was able to teach her, at the age of four over 200 hundred words/phrases and not being a native speaker myself, shows you can do it and much easier as a native speaker. The way to learn and teach is through repetition. I started with the basics - Hello, goodbye, please, thank you, I would like, lets go, compere, tidy up. All the fruits, animals, meats, vegetables, colours, counting in french. I also signed my daughter up to french clubs 3 times a week, and then we were able to get her into a french bilingual school after a few months. We still have a long way to go until she is fluent. But after talking to other parents with no background in French at the school, they say it takes the kids average two years to become fluent in french. It takes a lot of effort, but you need to just stick with it. After starting out teaching her the basics so she understands the easy key words that you use a lot....such as come here, please, lets go, tidy up etc. Tell her the word first in english and then repeat in your language and have her repeat and then ask her "How do you say please in my language?" Until she remembers it and then always use the word and when she says in english, remind her "In XX language." It takes A LOT of effort and most parents give up. I also made flash cards by cutting out magazine pics because we had already gone through all the kids french flash cards you can buy online.

Do not give up. This age she can still learn and she will be so thankful later in life. Another thing you could do is get an au pair, sign her up for clubs, find other parents/kids that speak the language etc.

My kids learned DH'S language when they were 4, 8 and 10. They are fluent with no accent now at 7, 11 and 13 but we live in his country.

The best way to get her to learn is use visual clues. So when she's getting ready to eat or get dressed you're showing her the object and naming it. Slowly you can put the objects into sentences. You could try the sandwich method, you say a sentence in your language, then in English and then again in your language. Eventually you drop the English.

It's never too late!

I like the sandwich method idea. Except I repeated certain words and phrases more often and would ask my daughter to tell me a few times. to make sure she actually learned it and soaked it in.

Thanks for your replies everyone! Sorry it took me a while to respond!
Well it's been just over a week and I've been teaching her the basics: animals, colours etc and she's been picking it up so fast! She's also picked up some Finnish (my native language) from watching the DVD's I bought her, she hears a word and asks me what it means. She's even picked up short sentences asking me what they mean! She keeps asking me to talk to her in Finnish, it's great, I'm so happy! Also I've been telling her simple things in Finnish then repeat in English then repeat in Finnish again, things like "are you hungry" or "would you like a drink" etc. Now I've noticed that if I ask her a simple question in Finnish she will respond in English (meaning she understands the question!). Maybe some of the language skills were already there I just didn't realise...

How lovely !!! She is enjoying it. See, not too late at all !

Yes, if she responds in english, it means she understands and she was learning the language with out you realising. It takes time. First step is for them to understand it all and then speak it. But make sure once she starts learning, the words you know she knows, ask her to speak it or she will just learn to understand it but not speak it.

It's not too late! We only started teaching German to my DC this year (4) and they're almost fluent now (although we spent 3 months in Germany with them in German Kindergarten at the beginning of this year). Immersion is the best form of teaching languages, so the more you can speak to her in your language the better (if she finds this difficult, try saying things in both languages, or just throwing the odd word in at the beginning). Try to find other children who speak your language and arrange a play date. Children pick these things up much easier than you think!