Anyone successfully taught a second language to young child?

[Beentherelivedthat]

Hi, wondering if there is anyone out there who has successfully started to teach a second language to a young child and can recommend any YouTube channels or fun learning resources? My 3.5yo is half Italian and a very good talker (in English), she’s very interested in that side of her culture but we just didn’t have it in us to do the whole one parent speaks one language, other parent speaks the other. My husband is the Italian one but was raised in the UK and while he has learned the language to fluency, he never spoke it at home with his family and it doesn’t come naturally to him to speak it all the time IYSWIM. We’ve started with some basic sayings like hello and good night, please and thank you, numbers 1-10 and some basic objects but I don’t really know where to go from here. I don’t want to be a pushy parent and force it on her but she does seem to have an early aptitude for language and enjoys learning. Ideally would love to find something like Alphablocks or Miss Rachel, something fun and entertaining we can introduce for her to have a bit more exposure without any pressure. Just to build a foundation with some enjoyment that might help her to learn it more fully in future if she chooses to. Thanks in advance for any ideas 🙏🏻

We used https://www.dinolingo.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopX_b7qfQIisrCRsOizRIdcSp7etKEJ7lzCm-uR4IKwVtY5Gyp5 and they have Italian as an option.

we started our daughter on this just before her 3rd birthday

She also watched 30 mins a day of cartoons in the target languages- lots of free ones on YouTube

Cartoons in Italian isn't a bad idea, but there's really no substitute for speaking Italian to her/immersing her in Italian. Do you have family over there you could visit regularly? Is there a local Italian community/child who she could have play dates with? Could dad make a proper effort to speak to her in Italian regularly? Otherwise it's going to be just like any other kid learning a language manually from textbooks etc. Which is not the same. Really try to capitalise on the fact that one parent can speak Italian is my advice.

I agree with there being no substitute for speaking the language with someone. Myself and DDs dad do one parent one language and my 1.5 year old 'speaks' (toddler speech lol) mostly English but understands both languages. So, if you your husband can start speaking it that's great. It will feel awkward for him at first. Maybe he can do like an Italian hour once a day where he just speaks Italian to her for an hour.

I totally agree we did one parent one language for our daughter but OP said her husband didn’t feel comfortable with it.

There was some research done - I will try and find it and they let children watch an hour of Albanian cartoons a day - and by age 3 the kids had a good knowledge of Albanian. I think they choose that language so no chance of them hearing it in any other context.

Language acquisition is fascinating stuff.

I would work on your OP to try and engage her in Italian - if that doesn't work some friends hired a nanny who only communicated with their son in Russian - he is now almost fluent as a teen - mind you she stayed with them for years but it worked. Good luck.

my husband has always found it awkward speaking his first language at home as I don’t speak it. We have always only used the tv in this language and our nearly three year old understands a lot. If we stay with friends or family abroad she can understand most things and speaks a little bit. So thank you peppa pig!

It’s going to be a pretty dry exercise if there’s nobody for the child to engage with in the language.
Is there wider family that speaks Italian (cousins, grandparents) you can visit or that can stay with you?

This creates a “passive knowledge” of the language, a common attribute in second generation speakers, When they find themselves in a monolingual situation, like a holiday with the grandparents or an Italian playground with children their own age, that knowledge has to be put into practice.

Getting your DH on board with OPOL is an important step you’re missing here. Yes, the mother’s language is the most important one, but bilingualism is so good for brain development. And it’s a sliding scale. We were successful with OPOL and now I’d say my adult kids are 70/30 (26yo) and 60/40 (18yo still at home) Italian to English, living in Italy all their lives.

I agree about the dry experience.

We lived in a country at the time with a different language to what either my husband or I spoke. We just left school to teach her and the moment she realised how useful this language was to her in terms of friends - her language skills sky rocketed.

kids are very practical and efficient with language - kids need a reason to speak it.

Just to offer another perspective, how will the child use the other language when older? By all means try I say, as a second language is great. I was bilingual due to my grandmother living with us, but I have found with language it is a 'use it or lose it' type situation. While it is my native tongue, everyone speaks English so once I stopped speaking it I became very rusty and struggle to have a proper conversation as an adult now. I still understand it and can probably even speak it in my head, but actually having a conversation is quite difficult. Although if I went back to that country I suspect I would pick it up again.

Book a holiday to Italy.

You can get bilingual children's books.

Watch kids TV in Italian via YouTube. Would it be an idea for you to learn as well? You have said you can't do OPOL but some families use a different language on different days.

Are her Italian grandparents around?

Can you get an Italian Au pair or baby sitter?

I remember reading about a family who had no idea their child could speak Spanish until she had a conversation with a waiter entirely in Spanish. Her babysitter was Spanish speaking.

Tbh OP if your partner won't speak Italian even for a few minutes a week to a three year old because he feels "too awkward" then I guess he really doesn't care enough about her learning it!

Any reason to book a holiday to Italy 😂

Yes you need to use it 100%