11 Plus Exams Forum

Does anybody have any tips for learning a language?

My DS is finding it quite difficult to learn two new languages at the same time. The two he is doing are very similar and he keeps getting muddled up. He did very little French at primary school so this is a new skill he is trying to learn. I have told him to do little and often but thought others may have some other tips that he/we might find useful.

Try combining visuals while listening to the language as much as possible, so that he associates new words directly with pictures or video rather than English words. There are websites that help you do this. The BBC website, in particular, has some good resources with the advantage that you can listen to the examples as well as reading them. What's more, the ability to listen to a native speaker means that you are learning from a perfect model. The BBC's KS2 "Roller" site http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryfrench/ has lots of games and other fun stuff for learning the basics in French. He could also move on to http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/french/ to practice individual topics as they are covered in class.

Songs are also a good way of memorizing words and practising pronunciation, though probably better in a group situation - unless your DC is happy to sing along to his PC!

I sympathize with having to learn two similar languages - I could never get on with Spanish after studying Italian for a year!

Thanks for your tips I will try them out. Looking forward to the singing

He is actually learning Spanish and Italian and has no prior knowledge of either. I mentioned French because that is what most primary schools teach however at his primary school it was to a very basic level.

Spanish and Italian together from scratch - yikes! No wonder the poor lad is confused.

I've never heard of these two being taught together before. Is there any way he could swap one of them for something completely different - e.g. German?

One consolation might be that he almost certainly won't be the only one mixing up his "sempres" with his "siempres"!

What a super question for a thread!! We are experiencing something similar too at the moment...
Ed has just started German and Latin. He is also doing French (he has done it since playgroup but never managed to really retain anything!).
At a recent parents evening we were asked whether we (his parents) can speak French as he particularly struggles with this language. I then had to sheepishly confess just how many years he has been exposed to it and the fact that I am the MFL co-ordinator at school specialising in teaching French...The trouble is, he HATES to learn anything from me at all!!
Oh the shame!!!