The Most Enchanting Way to Teach Languages
Everyone knows that gut-wrenching sensation, the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling of first-day jitters.
Now imagine that you are a first-time teacher, about to start your very first day of your very first language immersion class.
You’ve got a group of small, expectant faces looking up at you. (And that’s if you are lucky to have the attention of the class!)
And then you think… Now what? [Read more…]
Last week I sent out a survey to my mailing list, to find out about their experiences teaching language to young children — such as what challenges they face finding activities, getting customers, and how my team can help support them in these challenges.
We didn’t know what kind of response to expect, but we were gratified and happy to see so many replies!
I’ve had the honor of knowing Ana Lomba for more than a year, and she asked me to tell you about my experience with foreign language teaching in the home, classroom & homeschool and my biggest challenge.
After I had two children and stayed home, I never imagined myself teaching children in a classroom setting or in a homeschooling setting, but I’ve done both. My struggle with finding great curriculum (my biggest challenge), though, began several years before this when I wanted to teach Spanish to my children at home. [Read more…]
This month of October marks my 15th anniversary as a language entrepreneur. Back when I started, everybody thought I was crazy to put my Princeton University Ph.D. degree on hold to start a program to teach Spanish to young children.
Fifteen years ago, nobody in the U.S. cared about young children learning foreign languages.
In fact, many people thought that it was a BAD idea to teach young children a foreign language.
One of the most exciting areas of brain research today deals with the effects of bilingualism on cognition.
Studies have shown that speaking two or more languages produces a kind of intelligence that goes beyond language.
In fact, speaking two languages fluently transforms the most important operations of the brain in quite ingenious ways. The result is a sharper and more flexible brain. [Read more…]