I'd like to integrate some foreign language teaching into our home school curriculum. I'm looking for something with multimedia where they can be taught by/listen to native language speakers.

I'm looking for a combined approach which works to help with reading and conversational speaking.

Languages: Italian to start. Later, possibly Mandarin or Modern Standard Arabic.

Thank you for your help.

What works for us is having a Babu (aka grandmother) that offers freshly baked goods in Russian

Immersion is the key....it worked for me, when I am in the UA it takes about 10 days and I am speaking and understanding much more.

My wife who speaks Russian, Ukrainian, English and Japanese says that translating does not work....they need to use pictures and learn the actual words....Rosetta stone does this

Duolingo. Free app. Starting at the basics. With pictures, etc.

I'd say try a few options. Progeny-san had good luck with Rosetta Stone. The kids of friends have had good luck with Babel.

There are some great suggestions, thank you.

I personally use both Rosetta Stone and Babbel. Rosetta Stone immerses you into the language, but I sometimes can find myself spacing out after a long lesson. I use Babbel when I have a few minutes and want to squeeze in a lesson. It's convenient because Babbel is more "smartphone" based allowing me to use it anywhere. Rosetta Stone I only have on my laptop.

As far as my daughter...well, she's not even three yet and is already conversing in French. In fact, she speaks French a lot more right now than she does English, though she understands both equally as well. Her advantage of course is that my wife only speaks French to her while she gets English from everyone else. That and she recently spent six straight weeks in France. Point being, immersion is the key for young children.

My wife has run into a few kids around our town who attend French immersion school, and she was very impressed with how well they speak French. Bear in mind that their parents don't speak a lick of French, yet their children have excelled due to their French immersion. If you're really interested in your kids speaking another language fluently, look into immersion schools if you have them.

Until I saw home school, I would have said immersion school. My son is in immersion, and has done quite nicely so far.
I do know there is a girl in his school who attends for only a half day instead of the full day (not the norm). It may be that your local programs will allow a homeschool portion? A couple family members homeschool, and they have their kids attend specific classes or components of classes in our area. Perhaps something to consider.

A school in southwest MO (Nixa) is using Rosetta Stone for their students. I can't remember if they started in 1st or 2nd grade. I learned about it at a statewide school board conference 2 years ago. My best friend lives there and his kids go to that school. They told me it is very effective.

Our district has immersion classes, but they are all day, IIRC. The immersion classes themselves are limited in capacity. In the past our district has indicated their disdain for home schooling students. They act as if we are hurting them in some way. Perhaps in terms of numbers, but we pay full school taxes and get nothing back for our kids. They won't even let us borrow textbooks. It's not a tremendous loss, given their State academic ratings were generally in the "C" range before the State removed letter grades from schools this year.

I'm focused on providing opportunities for my kids.

It is good to have formal lessons and also catch opportunities for learning with mobile devices. Most of the time a hybrid approach works best.

I will check to see if I can get in touch with whoever coordinates the district's immersion program. They should have contacts for native speakers I might be able to utilize as tutors in the future.

Muzzy has been around a long time and is focused at kids, might be just the ticket. I'm not sure Italian would be the most effective choice but they are your kids.

As noted above, immersion.

My two youngest kids had the opportunity to be enrolled in a French immersion program which the ex and I took advantage of. The basic rule was the language was not spoken in the home.

From kindergarten through seventh grade my son (youngest of the two) spoke only French in school with two hours of English per week. Per a coupe friends at the time, when he was in sixth grade my son didn't have a discernable accent and his English skills were outstanding (though he does wire like a doctor filling out a script).

I took three years of Spanish in high school. Did very well. Couldn't speak or understand a word until I was compelled by immersion in Spanish culture. Teach the basics of grammar. Have them read it aloud for pronunciation, vocabulary and structure and have them speak the language exclusively for weeks at a time without cheating. I learned in six months what would have taken decades by doing that and living in the culture. At some point I began to think in Spanish rather than in English and translating in my mind. When that happened my progress became exponential. Within a year I was fluent and fluid.

Do your kids watch TV?
If so, are the shows dubbed in a foreign language? Is the closed captioning/subtitles on? If not, you're are missing an opportunity.

If your kids are watching Dora the Explorer or Pokemon, why not a) watch it in Japanese/Chinese/Korean/French/Spanish, and b) why not let them read along?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Aeteocles,

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Do your kids watch TV?
If so, are the shows dubbed in a foreign language? Is the closed captioning/subtitles on? If not, your are missing an opportunity.

If your kids are watching Dora the Explorer or Pokemon, why not a) watch it in Japanese/Chinese/Korean/French/Spanish, and b) why not let them read along?

From personal experience, I can tell you that most 2/3-y/o kids don't read English, let alone foreign language sub-titles...

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Within a year I was fluent and fluid.

Ultimately, immersion is likely the only way to be fluent. I took four years of Italian in high school, and a semester or two as an undergrad, IIRC. I managed to get straight A's in all of it, but I was still not conversational because most of it was book learning. I did manage to get to the point of thinking in Italian, however, and I still think in Italian from time to time.

The dialects spoken by my relatives from Calabria and Sicily are different from the "high Italian" spoken in Rome, as my Grandmother used to call it, but it will be a good starting point.

Lately my kids have been watching me search Sicilian vital records online as part of my family history research. They want to help me. Reading Italian hand writing takes some practice. The handwriting varies greatly from town to town and clerk to clerk. In our family's case, the search is made more challenging because of the damage to the archival records done by the earthquake, fires, and tsunami which occurred in Messina on 28 December 1908. My Grandmother lost a brother and a sister there on that day.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Do your kids watch TV?
If so, are the shows dubbed in a foreign language? Is the closed captioning/subtitles on? If not, you're are missing an opportunity.

If your kids are watching Dora the Explorer or Pokemon, why not a) watch it in Japanese/Chinese/Korean/French/Spanish, and b) why not let them read along?

From personal experience, I can tell you that most 2/3-y/o kids don't read English, let alone foreign language sub-titles...

Kids can't read, until one day they can. If you wait until a child can read and write in a primary language before you introduce them to a second language, then they'll have auch harder time learning the new language.

I will say that my immersion kid is reading and writing in both languages at this point, and discussing with me a word or verb choice (I spoke enough to get by comfortably in a foreign country, at one point). Deep ocean, push your local immersion programs. I’m betting that they are looking for immersion students because so many are still afraid of compicating kindergarten lives, and if they can count your kid as a student, even part time, it’s a bonus for you both.. I bet the teachers, at least, want to help..where I live, the schools have started working with homeschoolers and getting some portion of a credit for each student involved. It’s pretty cool.

I agree you have to start young. We do not watch much tv, because we took the cable out years ago. There are many options for shows to use along the lines of the suggestions here.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Then, motivation can start the whole process.

As a kid, I was an avid reader. Used to read every comic I could get my hands on. When I ran out of comics in Spanish I turned to comics in English at home or Portuguese if vacationing in Brazil. Magazines led me to pocket books and so on. Immersion came much later when I had already acquired enough vocabulary not to feel excluded or limited. Had two years of basic Italian at school but much later enjoyed reading Sturm Troopers, an Italian cartoon. After school I moved to a French speaking city to attend the University. Had to catch up real quick since I had no previous knowledge of French. My large vocabulary in Spanish, and my basic understanding of Portuguese and Italian came to my help and the task was easier.
While living in Belgium I watched Dutch and Flemish TV with English subtitles. I had some german pushed down my throat a few years before so understanding some Dutch wasn't so difficult extrapolating from English and German...

Motivation is the key.

Find some common interest for your kids and give them the tools and let then figure out the way to explore that interest.

I heard that local chess players picked up basic Russian writing by looking at the Masters chess matches looking at Russian newspaper articles.

Once during my early teens I read a full Asterix book in German and understood everything but the key word: Angst

I used to visit the US once a year always for less than 10 days. I'd say my immersion has been poor. I know my English, while not perfect, is extremely good. Don't you agree?

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Nothing beats immersion. But practical use or need makes the stuff stick, otherwise it fades away quick.

May I suggest Spanish instead of Italian. Lots of advantages and no serious disadvantage. Adding Italian at a later date should present little or no trouble.

Great idea putting Mandarin and Japanese on the list. Tried both, Japanese as a teenager and Chinese as an adult, couldn't concentrate on them enough to continue. They're still on my to do list.

As you can see, I have it easy with languages. My maths suck.

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