Become Bilingual at School and at Home with Tips from Smile and Learn!
The benefits of learning a second language are numerous and applicable outside school. Some teachers and parents may worry that learning multiple languages will slow or deviate a child’s development, but evidence supports the opposite. Many academic papers have demonstrated that bilingualism actually improves child cognition and social sensitivity.
Brigham Young University has found bilingual children are more perceptive of nonverbal communication, develop concrete understanding of the world more quickly, and have higher self-esteem. Clearly, bilingual learning has a place in all classrooms. Below are tips to teach Spanish and English side by side both in the classroom and at home.
- Hold Spanish Group Discussions with Bilingual Parents: Parents may have a specific dialect or accent for the Spanish they want their children to learn. By inviting them to come to class, parents can teach those specifications themselves and expose other students to it. Even if there’s a Spanish teacher who’s a native speaker, having other perspectives and teaching techniques is always a good idea.
- Speak Spanish at Home: Heritage speakers may feel pressured to give up Spanish by peers who only speak English or make fun of Spanish speaking children. Parents must persist in speaking Spanish or their children will lose it. Fears that hispanic children may not learn English are unwarranted, as social pressures will make acquiring the host language easy. For example, only speaking Spanish during mealtimes, pointing out the Spanish names of favorite items, and rewarding children with treats or free time for using Spanish for an extended period are all great ways to keep Spanish alive at home.
- Teach Spanish Independently of English: For example, don’t tell children that “watermelon” is “sandía” in Spanish. Instead, bring a watermelon and point to it while saying, “sandía.” This way you teach children to understand Spanish on its own, rather than through the lens of English. Encourage parents to do the same at home.
- Partner Up Heritage Speakers and In-Class Learners: Organize the children to complete activities together while only speaking Spanish. Have the group write a paragraph in Spanish if they’re struggling to remember or stay consistent speaking it. Use the group activities as an opportunity for the children to form friendships within the group. Encourage parents to organize play dates outside of school where the group plays together in Spanish. If you’re looking for more ideas, CLICK HERE (link: blogs) to see our other blogs!
- Use Hispanic Cultural Products to Generate Interest in Learning Spanish: Have students listen to popular Spanish songs, read simple Spanish articles, and view famous paintings by hispanic painters. This is a fun way to get students pumped to learn Spanish, and they’ll learn about hispanic cultures, too. Have parents mirror at home what you’re doing in the classroom.
- Use Digital Resources to Learn Spanish: Online videos, games, and activities in Spanish are a great way to keep students engaged in learning Spanish. They also remove the hassle of physical materials and planners. Smile and Learn has a catalog of thousands of activities students can experience in Spanish or English!
Being able to speak a foreign language is a superpower. It’s telepathy, the ability to read minds and hearts. As Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head, if you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart,” meaning speaking someone’s native language promotes intimate relationships. Fluency in a language as common as Spanish opens up the ability to speak, help, and work with a billion people, literally. Raising the next generation to be bilingual is a teacher’s most important task, and we can’t wait to see you put these tips into action.
Looking for more Spanish group activities or ways to teach Spanish? Smile and Learn has exactly what you’re looking for! Spanish group trivia and family challenges, interactive videos and activities, the Smile and Learn app has it all.
