Teaching your Child a Second Language: Make it Fun!

It is never too soon to introduce your child to a new language. Even if you only know a few words yourself, get a book and begin the process with basic words. You will learn along with your child. But your child will only look forward to the lessons if they are fun and stimulating.
Parents are sometimes concerned that learning a second language at the same time a child is learning the first language would confuse them, but there is no evidence of long term confusion. Even if your child does not become fluent in another language, by hearing the sounds and becoming sensitized to the phonetics of other languages, it develops their brains in ways that will make them more receptive to learning new languages later in life.
Children learn their native language by saying words as they point to objects. Their brains do not have to translate from one word to another. They learn simply by attaching the new word to an object. Teaching young children another language is similar. I recently taught my granddaughters, aged 4 and 6, the French words for body parts. To make the lesson fun, I used washable markers and wrote the French word for feet on their feet, their legs on their legs, etc. The hit of the day was tummy because it tickles to write on it and derriere for obvious reasons.
To get started, here are some words:

Head – la tete Hair – les cheveux Bottom - derriere
Mouth – la bouche Hand – le main Tummy – le ventre
Eyes – les yeux Leg – la jambe Arm – le bras
Ears – les Oreilles Feet – les pieds
Nose – le nez Toes – les orteils

Bonjour!