Foreign Language - Help with specific languages

[tiffany]

rosetta stone korean ?

I am wondering what age you have started Foreign Language with your children? Jake will be 2nd grade next year.

Our children are adopted from Korea so I think it would be very meaningful for them to learn Korean. It is scarey to me because it is a different type of writting but I am sure they will do fine. I would even like to give it a whirl but already feel overwhelmed just thinking of it. But, I am off track here , I am just wondering if this is something a wiggly boy would sit through at 7 or if I should start later??? I look forward to your input.

I think it depends on the child. We got Rosetta this year, and my 13, 11 and 9 year olds were totally fine with it. Okay, the 9 year old is still sulking, because he wanted French instead of Spanish.

However, my 7 year old, while anxious to try it, was really put off by the voice recognition component, so we decided to wait a year. I had put it on the easiest voice setting. He requires a lot of hand holding still with his schoolwork. I'm sure some kids even younger than 7 would enjoy it. Would be interesting to hear from other moms with 7 year olds where it worked out well.

[cbollin]

My kids have used Rosetta Stone for a long time. My almost 7 year old autism wiggly hyper girl likes Rosetta Stone and anything computer. If it calls for voice stuff, she just hits the forward button. (I don't know how she figured it out. she just did!) But yeah, all kids are different.

Languages wise, my oldest is using Russian (different alphabet).

My middle girl (10 y.o) has been learning Chinese. She does very well with the demo of Chinese Rosetta Stone and we plan to get full program soon. I was surprised at how she picked up the visuals of the language so quickly. However, right now, she does Chinese in a small class at the library for kids. And is practicing the symbols in a book that grandma got her. And every once in a while we check out an audio CD by Judy Mahoney called Teach me (name of language). We've done the Russian, Chinese ones. My library has the Korean one too.
Maybe there is some program at a library near you? Or a Korean church nearby that you could visit?

But we're using Rosetta Stone in languages with other alphabets and so far, we're ok. Never in my imagination of homeschooling did I think I'd have one kid in Russian and one in Chinese and the youngest wants to do math in Spanish. I'm serious. This youngest kid of mine. autism. barely speaks her first language, watches too much Dora and now she wants to do her MFW K math in Spanish and she can do it!

don't worry, God is in control.

-crystal

[LA in Baltimore]

We have Rosetta Korean. I believe it is an earlier version, so things may have improved.
It has no workbook or keyboard component because of the different alphabet.

The children enjoy it for the auditory work. Hear the word, pick the photo feature.
By the time my oldest was going for High School Credit we decided to switch him over to Spanish.

My younger ones still enjoy Rosetta Korean, but we don't take it seriously - academically speaking. It is just for fun and just when they want to do it.

Ditto on the idea to find a Korean church in your area. Most medium to large Korean Churches have Friday night Korean language lessons. They will introduce all the phonics of Korean. Adopted children get a very warm welcome in any Korean Culture situation.

As far as wiggle worms...when used with the hear the word/phrase - choose the photo feature...even my wiggle worm seemed to like that and stay on task!

[Esther]

Hi! We just started our RS program a week ago---we're using a homeschool version 3 of Chinese Mandarin.
It is working well for our family because it has various preset lesson plans to choose from as well as tailoring
one for yourself (if you are ambitious enough to sit down and really figure it all out). This version also keeps
track of your student's progress---activities/assignments in progress/completed and his score. Our family is
having fun because we have all decided to take part in lessons---so we can see all our scores on the homeschool
progress report page! Our son is beating us!! (He has more time to enjoy his lessons!) I'd suggest that you
leave the lesson planning to RS and just tweak if you find it not working for your kids.

We have found the homeschool version to be very manageable---since our son just turned 6 years old, we
decided to choose a comprehensive course for him and to let him do the course at his own pace. He loves
it so much that he often spends more than 20 minutes on it---I allow him to enjoy his Chinese lessons during
our toddler's nap times. I just help him turn on the computer and click into his student account and then he
takes it from there.

Hope this helps,
Esther

[Julie in MN]

Anyone else tried to learn a foreign language as an adult?

We ordered Rosetta Stone Russian for our family last week. My husband, myself, and our oldest daughter are currently the ones using it. My husband is doing the Full-Year plan because he took Russian and really wants to become fluent. My DD and I are doing the speaking/listening track just to try to learn vocab and such so we can at least semi-communicate with all the Russian speaking children we interact with constantly through hosting/adoption/mission work.

I took spanish in high school and college. Russian is like a whole different ball game. It has sounds that my mouth/tongue just can't seem to make and ones that my ears just can't seem to hear. The very first word in Lesson 2 is seemingly impossible for me to hear/say!!! Does anyone have any tips for me on being able to hear/say words that are difficult for me? I am tempted to just give up and let my husband and DD do all the translating for me...I sort of feel like it's hopeless since I didn't learn it as a child.

Brooke

Brooke,
I wonder if you searched online for a visual to show you how to form your lips and tongue when saying those sounds?

I've worked with a couple of adults from India, who speak English but use some different sounds (and want to have an American accent). We spend a lot of time on mouth shapes. They might "hear" the sound I make as being the same as the sound they make, so hearing doesn't always help. For example, they think they are saying an American /w/ but I am hearing /v/ because they are putting their upper lip downwards. So I ask them to pucker up, exaggerating "like you are kissing you grandma!" Then they can't help but produce a sound that resembles an American /w/.

Maybe you're already doing the mouth shapes, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Julie

[BHelf]

Thanks, Julie. That may help. When my husband isn't working, I know I'm going to have him help me with it. He knows all the Level 1 stuff already so maybe he can help me with that. I have no idea if my mouth is making the right shape or not.

[cbollin]

Yes, I've been learning Russian and Spanish with RS.... I'm terrible at Russian. Don't even try to hear me say "hello" in the formal setting. Just laugh at yourself instead of crying. It's ok. really (((hugs))

There are ways to use RS with the "show me how to say this" part of it.... I forget which screen.

just last night I showed my husband the section of the RS program where you can hear and practice just the alphabet sounds.

fun memory here. When I worked at physics department at a university that is located in Chicago, we had several graduate students from China. They learned English in school as students and then found that they struggled the first couple of weeks with things. We were patient with them and worked on it together. no big deal. I'll never forgot one student who kept asking where some thing was. Finally, my brain clicked and I realized she was trying to say Champaign, Urbana as one word. LOL. she wanted to get on amtrack and go visit a friend.

anyway, a couple of years ago, when my oldest took a class in Russian, the teacher there was so kind and loving and helped me with small stuff like that.

Postby cbollin » Tue Mar 01, 2011
My daughter said she'll help you if you aren't sure of the picture.
set the speaking option to easiest.
and once upon a time, RS had the English script for the program in the SEM cd. hmmm
don't worry.... keep practicing.
(((hugs)))

Postby cbollin » Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:50 am
another side of the learning Russian as an adult...

at my local pharmacy, one of the cashiers is Russian. She struggles with speaking English easily with customers. Her English is fine. Anyway, her name tag is in both English and Russian (Cyrillic alphabet) so, I was brave one day and attempted both formal and informal hello with her. Honestly her heart jumped to hear it. She didn't care too much on my attempt. It was music to her to have someone just try to say hello and my name is
I told her my daughter is learning Russian in our homeschool and that I'm trying as well.
She broke American social rules (giggle) and gave me a huge Russian hug right there in the store.

or the lady at the library the one day "you children, please help me" (giggle... I know I'm short, but it was so cute to be thought of as that young.) Her Russian accent was thick. Again, even my feeble attempts with Russian were blessed and God used it. and I got another hug out of it. She just needed help carrying her bags of books.

don't get too worried on it... keep trying. be encouraged. also, remember in the top corner of the screen is a place to practice alphabet sounds.

-crystal

[BHelf]

Okay, Crystal,
Well you made me feel a little better because that formal hello was the word that got me all upset yesterday. Lol.
Of course I tried to keep going in lesson 2 last night and that one moves faster. After i turned it off, though, my hubby and I had some good laughs about it all though.

or the lady at the library the one day "you children, please help me" (giggle... I know I'm short, but it was so cute to be thought of as that young.) Her Russian accent was thick. Again, even my feeble attempts with Russian were blessed and God used it. and I got another hug out of it. She just needed help carrying her bags of books.

Hehehe!
Thanks for the encouragement. I did find out this morning that the 2 Latvian children that will be here with us for 5 weeks this summer speak Russian so now I have extra incentive to learn! Cause they don't speak English!

Brooke