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Preschool Spanish
Why an EarlyAGE 2nd Language? Research indicates that from ages 1 through 8 is the best time to introduce a new language to a child. If the 2nd language is introduced early in life children will learn it faster and retain it longer. Being exposed to a 2nd language offers numerous benefits to young children including an improved ability to communicate, better cognitive development, richer cultural awareness, improved academic performance, superior educational opportunities and, ultimately, better jobs. The earlier a child is exposed to a 2nd language the more likely they will speak it with native pronunciation. One recent study found that bilingual children learn to read sooner than their single language counterparts, have increased creative skills and become proficient problem solvers. Another study indicated that bilingual children also performed better on math and verbal sections of standardized tests than single language children. Perhaps these are just a few of the reasons that teaching Spanish is becoming popular in many childcare centers and preschools. Why Spanish? Spanish is the most widely requested 2nd language for the following reasons: · Over 27 million homes in the United States have Spanish as their 1st language · There are over 42 million Hispanic people living in the United States · Many companies are seeking bilingual (English/Spanish) employees · Learning Spanish allows communication with over 300 million people worldwide · Spanish is closely related to the English language and is relatively easy to learn How to Get Started? Here are two excellent contacts for preschool Spanish education: · www.bocabeth.com A great source for colorful flashcards, CD's, DVD's and more methods to introduce the preschooler to Spanish. · www.spanishfun.net A Franchisor providing EarlyAGE 2nd language activities introducing preschoolers to Spanish basics including numbers, colors and everyday words. Robert Lasseter is the Founder Of SpanishFUN and previously founded a preschool computer education company with over 210 locations in 40 States. He is a CPA (inactive) with over 15 years experience in providing quality education activities to preschool age children. His most recent venture, SpanishFUN, is a franchisor providing EarlyAGE 2 language activities introducing preschoolers to Spanish basics including numbers. colors and everyday words. NO TEACHING OR 2ND LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE REQUIRED. The franchise includes an exclusive territory, computer, teaching aids and 3 days in-your-home training. Also offered is a unique "Try for 90 Days Risk Free" trial period. Visit the web site at http://www.spanishfun.net or call 1-877-SPANFUN (772-6386)
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Mother-Tongue Conflict The associations your brain will create between Japanese words written in Romaji and English words (or those of your mother tongue) greatly increases the risk of mispronunciation. Japanese symbols will have none of these associations for you. The very fact that they are completely alien helps you to start your language learning experience from a blank sheet. Your chances of being able to gain the correct pronunciation soar. 2. Show Me The Romaji Your textbook may be in Romaji, but you will be very hard-pressed to find any real examples in Japan. Of course, you can see a fair amount of reasonably understandable English, but not Romaji. And watch what happens when write some Japanese in Romaji and show it to your native speaker friend: They have a really hard time deciphering it, because Japanese people just don't it. 3. Today's Crutch Becomes Tomorrow's Burden If you decide to continue your studies in Japanese, you will eventually need to start to grapple with the characters themselves anyway. In my opinion, it is harder to leave the crutch of Romaji behind than it is to bite the character bullet at the beginning of your studies. As you can see, there are serious problems with using Romaji when you start to learn Japanese. So what is my advice to learners? Well, it really depends on your motivation and needs: 1. The Serious Student This could be a person who is going to be living in Japan for a period of time, whether as a teacher or a businessperson, or someone who travels regularly to Japan for meetings. If you are in this group, you should first master hiragana and katakana before you even start with any other aspect of the language. Then, when you do begin, you can dive right into a "proper" Japanese textbook. Hiragana and katakana are not at all difficult to learn. I learned them part-time in a couple of weeks. Even kanji can be learned fairly rapidly by a motivated and well-organized student with the right tools. 2. The Hobbyist Perhaps you don't have a burning need to learn Japanese. You are doing it for pleasure, or because you are planning on visiting Japan. If this is you, then your options are more varied. However, even in your situation, I would not suggest starting with a Romaji textbook. Instead, I would recommend you begin with the spoken language. If you are wondering how you can do this if you are not in Japan, check out the Pimsleur method. Sure, it is a little expensive even second-hand. The point is that you will be able to speak and understand enough for a short trip. Once you have completed the course, you can then decide whether you wish to stop there, or continue studying in a more serious manner - in which case you then follow the Serious Student method I mentioned before. Learning to speak and listen will keep your language-learning fun, whilst not undermining any future serious study by getting you used to the Romaji crutch. So whatever your motivations are and whatever your needs, if you can avoid the Romaji crutch, you will pick up the language better and be well-placed to make rapid progress in the future. Preschool Spanish Why an EarlyAGE 2nd Language? Learn to Speak Basic Chinese (Mandarin) Words and Phrases The Chinese Language and dialects
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