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WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME for my child to start LEARNING ENGLISH

Updated: Nov 2, 2019


O tom, ako som naivne verila, že na malé deti sa angličtina v tomto veku nenalepí. A ako môj pohľad zmenila moja dcérka Johanna. Článok v angličtine s 3 tipmi, čo robím s deťmi ja. Vypočujte si ako moja dcéra čítala v 6 rokoch anglicky na konci článku.

When I was younger I absolutely DID NOT believe that taking kids, aged 6 months to classes where English is spoken can be beneficial for them. I was sceptical, I thought these people were just taking money from some poor parents. And do you know what???

I WAS ABSOLUTELY WRONG.WHY?

It wasn't until I had my own kids that I understood that the sooner they start listening to English the better it is for them.

I will explain.

You are probably aware of the fact that little kids are like little sponges. What is the first and most important thing they will learn? CORRECT PRONUNCIATION.

In schools, pronunciation is so underestimated. A lot of English teachers, especially in primary schools, DO NOT HAVE PROPER PRONUNCIATION, neither they train their pupils to pronounce English words correctly.

WHY PRONUNCIATION iIS THE KEY BUILDING BLOCK?

Answer yourself this question:

Do you have difficulties to understand some foreigners when they speak English? YES?

It is normal. Why? Because they cannot pronounce some speech sounds of the alphabet correctly.

So, when our kids do not pronounce words correctly they will highly likely have problems with understanding English and with LISTENINGS at school.

Or, at least this is my life experience.

SO, IF I WERE YOU, I would definitely take the kids to classes with English NATIVES.

You will be surprised HOW QUICKLY THEY WILL PICK UP THE ACCENT of their teacher.

And here are my TIPS:

TIP no 1:

If you have the opportunity to take your kids somewhere, where a native speaker can play with them and speak with them, JUST DO IT. Even 30 minutes per week is great and sufficient.

My kids like songs and I was absolutely shocked the other day, when I was desperately trying to find some nice English songs on youtube.

It was pretty difficult. Lots of songs, I have to admit, but...many of them are not sung by NATIVE SPEAKERS. As the result, you can hear mistakes and wrong pronunciation. We don't want that for kids, do we? I just want you to be aware of that.

TIP no 2:

There are many stories for children on youtube (and again, just be careful TO choose the ones that are spoken by NATIVE SPEAKERS).

Let them watch these stories and fairy tales. My kids like Teletubbies, In the Night Garden, Sarah and Duck, Charlie and Lola and of course, Peppa Pig.

When our daughter was still in my belly, my husband used to read to her from the book. Then, when she was born, we continued and she still loves this book, even though she is 7. Now, she can read this book very easily.

TIP no 3:

Buy a nice English story book and read for them every night.

You can read 2 stories a night, 1 in your own language and 1 in English. How can your kids benefit from this?

There is a great benefit, especially when they start going to school. Instead of using SLABIKAR or other English books for them to start reading, let them read the stories THEY ALREADY KNOW, the ones you have been reading them every night.

Our daughter Johanna knew letters when she was 5 (which is very common these days ), and she herself started reading the stories she already knew. Here, I have to confess, I underestimated the power of stories in Slovak language, so funnily enough, her English reading is much better than Slovak.

Listen to my daughter, reading the book she loves, when she was 6 here.

I wish all our kids could start reading something what they like and know, so from there they could progress like a rocket :)


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