Learning a foreign language (& after school activities in general)

[The Nappy Lady]

Hi all,

My 6 year old currently has a 1 hour Spanish lesson each week after school with a group of other children (mixed ages and abilities I believe). I'm not convinced that I'm spending my money wisely, based on her progress. However, I am really keen for her to learn some basic Spanish, and it is tricky as her father and I only speak a few words, picked up on our annual 3 week holiday to Mallorca.

I'm wondering about 1-1 lessons, no idea what they cost, or whether I would see better results.....or am I wasting my time and money, and should I just be waiting until she is older? If only I could afford a Spanish Au Pair!!

Hmmmm, if anyone can recommend anyone, or share their experiences of teaching a child of this age a language (without daily exposure to it) I'd be interested.

Re after school clubs and activities in general. I'm finding it really difficult to know where to spend the money these days, with so many choices. Her school (Ivydale) offers fantastic opportunities music wise, for now we've plumped for Guitar, but I keep wondering if that's the right decision. Apart from that she does Beaver Scouts on a Monday (brilliant and only ?1 a week...phew), gymnastics on a Tuesday at ?6 a pop, and then the Spanish....and it all adds up. I'm torn between thinking I must give her access to this stuff in order to help her work out what she really wants to pursue, and thinking I'm crazy to be spending so much money on it all.

Am I alone? :-S

Confused as always....Molly

[BeccaL]

No you're not Molly! My daughter is 5 and in yr 1 at Goodrich. Last year she did French on Weds after school and I was not convinced she was getting much out of it - lots of drawing! Wondered whether to drop it this year but she's got a new teacher who seems to be teaching them something! She also does gym on tues. School just introduced spanish which we'd probably rather she did than french, but I think at that age 2 after school things is enough, especially with occasional film club on thursdays. Also no time for chilling at home or playing with friends either. I figure there's time for that when she's a bit older!

[Pickle]

I'm dreading my kids getting to that age and having a whole new set of decisions to make!

On the music side of things, do they offer recorder? From a musician's point of view, albeit the classical side of things, I would say it's a more "useful" instrument to start out on in that it provides quite a natural progression to wind instruments - so that if, in a few years, she decides that flute/clarinet/oboe/saxaphone etc. are for her she will already have a good grounding. She's also more likely to learn to read music by learning recorder, whereas guitar (depending on how it's being taught) may limit her to reading chord charts rather than music on the stave.

Hope I haven't confused you more :)

P x

[The Nappy Lady]

Thanks Pickle, they all get the chance to learn recorder in Year 3 (I think it is), so next year! Good to know that can be a lead into wind instruments, I will certainly be encouraging her to take the lessons next year.

I think I need to ask about sitting in on a couple of these lessons, so I can get a feel for what is actually going on.

I'm glad I'm not alone. At least by the time C starts school O may have 'settled' into 1 or 2 activities, as then it is going to get REALLY expensive, with two of them doing stuff.

[Narnia]

I suspect you or Dad will have to decide to learn it too to make a difference. I'm no expert but without regular exposure to the language I doubt much will stick at such a young age. My teenager is fluent but his mum is Spanish and he spent every summer with his Spanish family. You might think of getting childrens songs in Spanish on CD or cartoons in Spanish on DVD. I remember Muzzy was popular with my one, years ago. I don't know if Muzzy still lives though. SKY used to broadcast TVE but not anymore unfortunately.

[curlykaren]

have a look online and see if any of the spanish tv stations run a similar service to the BBC i player, then you will be able to put on some spanish cartoons/word games etc.

[Polly D]

This cartoon is very popular in Spain currently, and although it's probably aimed at little ones younger than your oldest, it might just suit her as it's for language learning (I mean for her language learning, it's not intended for that). And maybe your youngest will pick something up too.

http://www.pocoyo.com/

I've got a DVD of it if you want to borrow and see whether she's interested. Send me a PM if you want to borrow it.

You could also see whether there's anything of interest here:

http://www.grantandcutler.com/

I used to work there and they have a great range of things for kids: stickers, flashcards, nursery rhymes etc.

Unless she doesn't seem interested full stop I don't think attempting to learn a language can ever be a waste of time/money, although 1-1 classes at her age might be excessive.

[redjam]

Molly, where does your daughter do beaver scouts? Is there a group in East Dulwich - or Brownies or whatever the younger equivalent is called (my daughter is nearly six)? I used to love Brownies as a kid but I've not met anyone whose kids go to it round here so I rather assumed there were no local groups.

And what's the difference between beaver scouts and Brownies or are they pretty much the same thing?

[candj]

I think you'd be better off with an au pair Molly! Sell the Miele as she could wash the clothes! ;-)

Our two take weekly Mandarin lessons (1 hour) to keep up with whatever they learned from living in Shanghai and the progress is slow but steady. I practice occasionally with them but resort to English 98% of the time. Surprisingly it's the youngest that has learned the most despite her not being in school in China. The problem I now have with the eldest is that she is doing French 4 days a week during school so I think it gets a bit much for her. This is in addition to the after school activities which include club, ballet and violin during school (her choice not mine).

I would do as everyone else says and use Spanish cartoons/tv, take her to Spanish playgroups (if O has any friends that speak spanish invite them over), songs and of course keep up with the yearly sojourns to Mallorca. Aside from living in Spain and having a native Spanish speaker in your house it would be the next best thing.

Hope that helps. -C x

[Patri414]

Hello

My name is Patricia, I am from Mallorca and I am available for spanish lessons.

I live in forest Hill and I am happy to give 1-1 lessons or groups lessons (3kids max-similar age)

If anyone is interested please let me know 07917788370, I could also babysit with the class, if the mum needs to go out to do some shopping etc...

thanks

Patricia