A recent study found that small children who live in neighborhoods where more than one language is spoken are more likely to learn from and interact with people from different backgrounds. This means, no matter what language is spoken at home if a child grows up in an ethnically rich neighborhood, he/she is…
Category: Language Acquisition
Language Acquisition
Do children learn languages faster than adults?
At Dino Lingo, we get this question quite often… Contrary to the common belief, children cannot acquire foreign languages in a shorter time span compared with older learners. This is just a myth since most people compare kids from immigrant families with their parents without keeping in mind that these children experience a…
Language Acquisition
How to Teach Toddlers and Infants a Language
Creating Good Language Learning Environments for Very Young Children (Ages 0–2) (p. 63) • Direct lots of rich, meaningful speech toward your child from birth. • Encourage friends, relatives, babysitters, siblings, and other visitors to speak and play with your child in the second language. • Engage in interactions that pique your child’s interests—for…
Bilingualism
What to do when children reject to speak in the 2nd language
What to do when children reject to speak in the 2nd language (e.g. Spanish) Cases that worked (from Bilingual Edge p. 244-245) “• Anna (mother of Javier, age five): “We’ve had the most success using reverse psychology. Javier is super strong-willed and it’s actually helped at times to say to him something like…
Language Acquisition
How to Create a Good Language Learning Environments
How to Create a Good Language Learning Environments for Preschoolers • Have fun integrating the language as a part of your daily routines. For example, sing morning songs in the language, play alphabet, and counting games, guessing games, and have a word of the day. • Read stories to your child in the…
Language Acquisition
What to do when a child does not want to speak
What to do when a younger child does not want to speak the 2nd language “Whenever possible, try to spend at least a little one-on-one time with each child. This can be something as simple as reading a quick story, playing a game, or taking a trip to the grocery store together. Make…
Language Acquisition
Language Development and Delayed Speech
Bilingual Babies and Late Talker Syndrome & Apraxia Babies are usually expected to talk (utter 40-80 words) around the age of 1.5. Some parents might panic if their 18 months don’t say even one word. The reality is, if a baby doesn’t talk at this stage, that does not mean there’s a problem…
Language Acquisition
Which language teaching method is the best?
Up to date, a number of academic studies have investigated the relationship between applied linguistics and language pedagogy. While –among the two most popular techniques–grammar-translation has been regarded as outdated, immersion only programs are also the target of some harsh criticisms. At Dino Lingo, we reviewed both of the methods and summarized the…