IWTYAL 154: How to teach languages to children

Chen asks: “How can I teach my child a foreign language without a native environment?”

In this episode:

• Studies comparing school education systems don't find any benefits to starting school tuition before the age of 11. However, this is an indictment of the education system more than anything
• It is possible to teach children many languages at the same time

It's always good to follow the child's interests, but since children change their tastes so frequently, I would pick the language you want him/her to learn, and focus on that over the long-term

The ideal scenario is as follows:

• Set aside one hour a day for the language
• If possible, bring in an au-pair or nanny to interact with the child for that time (“One Person One Language”)
• If that is not possible, learn the language yourself, and teach him/her as you go
• Use the same teaching methods you would use in your mother tongue – songs, games, cartoons
• Be VERY patient, and don't expect quick results

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Tetsu Yung on the Actual Fluency Podcast – raising multilingual children
• Olly Richards' Fluency Mastermind – join the FREE Facebook group!

Start speaking today

I’d like to thank iTalki for supporting the show. iTalki is the best place online to connect with affordable and effective native speakers teachers and tutors.

To claim your free lesson and start speaking today, simply visit:https://storylearning.com//italkishownotes

Do you have a question?

Ask me your language learning questions by clicking here, and I’ll do my best to feature it on the show!

Also, please subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the podcast!

If you’ve got any comments about the show then please leave them in the “comments” section below!

If you’d like to help me out, then I’d love it if you could…

• Share the episode using the social media buttons around you
• Leave an honest review and rating of the podcast on iTunes (click here to do that)

iTunes reviews in particular really help the rankings of the podcast and help me to reach other aspiring language learners out there!

See you in the next episode of the I Will Teach You A Language podcast!

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.