*This is a collaborative post
Most schools in the UK provide students with modern foreign language lessons and you may be looking for ways you can help your child. It can be quite daunting, particularly if you don’t speak the language yourself, but there are still lots of ways you can help. Here are some tips from a boarding school in Wiltshire…
Use Flash Cards
To help your child learn certain words and phrases, ask them to prepare some flash cards with the English translation on one side and the foreign translation on the other. Once the cards a ready, you can help them study by holding up the cards so that they can see one side and you can see the opposite side. Ask them to translate the card and let them know if they were right and wrong. Keep practising until they have perfectly all of the cards, and then create some new ones!
Label Everything
Another way to help your child with their vocabulary is to allow them to label frequently used items around your home, like the microwave, TV, and dining table etc. Encourage them to read the words aloud each time they spot them, and eventually they will become ingrained in their memory.
Watch Foreign Movies
Help your child with their studying by opting to watch a foreign film together rather than an English one. Of course, you can put the subtitles on, but doing so will help your child become more familiar with the language in a more conversational manner. You could also encourage them to put together a playlist of foreign music that you can play on your car journeys. The idea is to help immerse your child in the language as much as possible.
Use Apps
There are plenty of smartphone/tablet apps that help the user learn a new language and the great thing about it is that they can be used anywhere. So, when your child is waiting for the bus, they can just tap into the app and spend five minutes practising their language.
