How to Teach Spanish as a Second Language to Kids
The American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) says teaching children a foreign language during the early years of their education can have a beneficial effect on their entire education. Research seems to indicate that teaching children a foreign language at an early age improves standardized test scores and IQ test results as well. The increasing prevalence of the Spanish usage in the United States makes it a logical choice as a second language to teach kids.
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Instructions
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Schedule time for foreign language study. The ACTFL recommends a minimum of 75 minutes per week in foreign language study, with classes meeting every other day. This guideline works well for teaching Spanish to kids who tend to absorb languages at an early age much easier than later in life.
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Incorporate a holistic method to teach the language. Mary Lynn Redmond, director of foreign language education at Wake Forest University, says this aids in the process of learning a foreign language and also proves helpful for students with different learning styles.
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Determine how intense the program will be. The intensity of a program is related the level of proficiency you want your students to develop. Learning Spanish or any other foreign language can be done at different intensity levels. The ACTFL notes three different intensity levels. The least intense and the least effective is the exploratory program known as a Foreign Language Experience (FLEX) program. Students are introduced to basic elements of the language. Greater proficiency comes from the FLES, or Foreign Language in the Elementary School programs, which allow students to learn material sequentially. The most intense level of study comes from the immersion programs that incorporate the study of Spanish or any other language into the school's other curriculum programs.
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Evaluate and choose instructional materials. Regardless of the intensity level of the program, it should incorporate a variety of teaching and learning methods that focus on reading, writing and conversational aspects of the language.
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Promote reinforcement of the learning material. Kids learning Spanish will be naturally curious about the cultures associated with the language itself. Incorporating different reinforcement activities into the learning curriculum can be instrumental to long-term retention of the language. Students will learn and retain material better if their curriculum involves the use of whole-brain activities such as singing, artwork and the like. Avoid too much rote memorization and instead reinforce the material through creative activities that are meaningful to the students.
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