Foreign Language - Rosetta Stone age to begin? Tips for younger users

[MFW-Lucy]

Does anyone have a recommendation as to the age to begin with Rosetta Stone?

MFW recommends it to be used starting in 2nd grade. It is a program that can be gone through several times at different levels: listening, speaking, then reading. We only started this year with our 9 and 11 year old and had played around with the demo the year before. This year we will work through all the listening as suggested by MFW and then go back through those same lessons with the reading.

It really is a great program and although it seems expensive upfront you will not have to buy another program. It is the equivalent of high school Spanish per Rosetta Stone. For elementary you work through it more slowly. After using it I would say that a 7 year old could do it successfully and really enjoy it.

In Christ,
Lucy

[Rebecca in Ohio]

While at our homeschooling conference I spoke with the Rosetta Stone rep and she said that she was using it quite successfully with her ds5. They weren't using it with the workbooks or anything with him - rather just on the computer and he could navigate through the first few levels quite well and she thought it was a good introduction to the language for him.

Rebecca

[MichelleD]

I've used this for several years. I begin at about age 6 but don't activate the features that show the words written until my children are reading well.
You don't go terribly quickly when they are as young as 6 or 7, but that's OK with me, we aren't racing. :-)
Before age 6 I've had good luck with easy video approaches (Lyric Language, Bilingual Baby) to help them "hear" the words in the different language.

Michelle D.

[tlemar]

We use it teaching Chinese. We started with my 7 year old. He is Reading and listening. For my 2 year old we introduce the new words to her as we learn them.

[Marie]

I am considering a foreign language for next year. My dc will be 7 and 8/9. Should foreign language be taught if there is still a struggle in learning to read and do math?
Thank you,
Eve

Posted by Marie Hazell on 4/1/2004
Even if your child is struggling in math or reading, I think you could add foreign language. It may be a welcome relief to do something different! I would take it very easy (slow with lots of review) and be sure to make it very successful. Add "fun" -- for example, if you learn the foreign word for "apple" then serve an apple snack later in the day and use the foreign word.

[Julie in MN]

I was reading a recent thread about Rosetta Stone. I had thought about purchasing it for my 6 and 4 year olds so we don't miss that "magical" opportunity for learning languages while they are young. It sounded like a good idea until I read that it is high school level. Any comments?

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:10 pm
My thought is to look at how adept your dc are on the computer. If they are computer-savvy, and do not frustrate easily on computer nativagating, then there is a lot they will just naturally know how to do/navigate/try/find out on a CD-ROM program, even if they go at their own pace.

There are a lot of choices on the Rosetta program, such as adding sound, using words or pictures or both, etc.

And according to RosettaStone.com, it is designed for K-12!

Julie

[Renai]

Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:17 am

And just to set you at ease, there is no "magic" age opportunity for learning languages. The only benefit of early foreign language learning is opportunity of speaking without an accent. And, having been around a lot of different cultures (as have the Hazells I'm sure), accent doesn't matter. No one really cares about accent - what's important is being able to communicate :).

This is coming from a now-fluent Spanish-speaking person who started at the ripe young age of 26. (And my accent is near-native, not that it matters.)

Renai, who's really "into" bilingual education in general

[Heidi]

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:45 pm

My two oldest kids started with Learnables when they were 3 1/2 and 6 1/2 to help learn English since I had just adopted them.

This worked so well, that I then (but too late) wanted to try and save their Russian first language. I decided to switch them to Rosetta Stone because they are much more visual and kinetic than auditory learners.

They have been using Rosetta Stone, Russian level 1, going at their own pace for about 2 years averaging 3 times weekly excepting for total school breaks. They started when they were nearly 5 and nearly 8.

I had my husband take out all the reading ones for my non-reader at that time. He has since put it back in since she now reads.

My only goal at this point is to keep hearing the language in their heads and having as much exposure to it as possible. They spend no more than 20 minutes each time (using a timer) and "bail out" even if they are half way through that lesson. Usually it is more than enough time for a lesson. The program automatically records their progress.

When they get in their early teens, I will step it up a notch as to what my expectations are.

[Omma]

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:56 pm

That's really exciting, Heidi! I think you have a great plan! I've also thought it wild how fast someone can "lose" their mother tongue (when they are young). It sounds like you have a good plan for helping your dc keep theirs!

I have Rosetta Stone Korean, but we don't have the student management kit, so I can't record progress. My dc have played with it very occasionally, but have not even gotten past the first lesson. They are only 1st grade and K right now, so I hope to start them up with it in maybe another year. They are attending Korean language school on Saturdays, anyway, and they did attend a Korean church preschool.

Brenda

[peavey]

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:01 pm

We have Rosetta Stone Spanish and are using it with our 3rd grade son. He does 15 min/school day also setting a timer and quitting whenever it beeps. Some days he is having fun and continues, and a few times he has stopped short because of frustrations.

We have only been using it for 11 weeks now -I am not really sure if he has learned enough to use it much at this point, but am trusting he will soon. He does enjoy it and I definitely think it is appropriate for his age level.

I have been "playing" along with him to keep up in case he has questions. I had 2 years of Spanish in high school and, although I have forgotten most of the words, I remember most of the "rules" and am able to move through the lessons quickly.

It was a big purchase, but we like to follow MFW recommendations since we couldn't possibly "try out" the many different curriculums like they do to find the best. We have neighbors w/ children who speak Spanish, so we are excited for the communication we can develop there.

Hope that helps!

[cbollin]

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:15 pm

We're sorta using it with 2nd grader. But I really want to talk about my 4.5 year old who is using it. This is my severely language delayed child with autism spectrum disorders. We've used RS English to supplement her speech and language therapy. But, for some reason she has taken a liking to playing with the demo disc. She's learning Russian right now.

She went from randomly clicking on the images to knowing the right ones. She is repeating the words with the computer and surprised all of us today by using both the English and Russian word for cat while looking at our cat! Not bad for a kid who struggles to speak and understand anything. She's also getting it right with the higher up phrases in lesson 1 (the horse is jumping, the boy is jumping... etc) She's just playing computer and having fun.

I don't speak Russian. I think I better start playing a bit more with the demo disc myself. :)

--crystal

[Lucy]

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:50 pm

Just adding that when you first begin using it with younger kids you may not even want to use the student management system. We used the page that is given in the MFW appendix to record where our kids had finished each day (actually, they record it). We only did listening and reading that first year. We are now up to writing (which my kids find very challenging) and after Christmas we will add speaking. If you use the management system you can have them just skip through, say, the writing parts, but I think using it manually works well too.

Lucy

[Cyndi (AZ)]

For those of you that have Rosetta Stone, what age can a child start that? How does a basic lesson work?

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:10 pm
My dd was fine with Rosetta Stone at age 5. I sat right next to her, but it was pretty easy for her to do on her own. We didn't go through the lessons, just played around with it, exposing her to new words and listening to the accent.

I never found anything that I thought was "good" for a toddler. I checked out one dvd from the library and was really disappointed. It wasn't really on track; for instance, they would show a picture of a cat and say, "gato" instead of "el gato" over and over. Listening to songs is always a fun thing to do. I actually reserved a kid's songs CD in Spanish after reading through this thread! (And Dora, Diego and Handy Manny are good sources, too! Handy Manny is our favorite. :-)

[705emily]

I need some feedback from those of you who have 3rd graders or older sweeties. Did you choose to begin a foreign language at 3rd grade? Why or why not? Jamie and I are trying to decide, and I would appreciate so much hearing your stories. Thanks a bunch!

We actually started Rosetta Stone German in grade 1--my dd is now 8 and loves it and 6 yo ds is starting it as well! We did it because we felt she needed the extra challenge--chose German because of our family heritage and background, and it's really something she can do on her own on the computer. I think is a great program--and it doesn't take a huge amount of time--at least early on.

Blessings!

[tiffany]

We started RS last summer when my kids were entering 8th, 6th, 4th and 2nd grade. I was concerned about starting my daughter late, but she has made great progress and seems to have better retention than the youngers. I even think her accent sounds great, but what do I know--I don't speak Spanish.

My 2nd grader was too intimidated by the software to begin, but he is unusually strong in the "fear of failure" department. I plan to work with him a week or two before he starts 3rd grade in the Fall, just to help him feel comfortable.

I always wanted to start earlier, per MFW's recommendations, but we felt the Lord was having us wait to purchase. I don't think you need to start it in 3rd grade if there are reasons you would rather wait.

[cbollin]

We are having trouble again with my little perfectionist. She she is doing a little better overall but cries almost every time she does Spanish (Rosetta Stone). I suggested to her to go back and start over again or at least review, but that idea just makes her cry even more. Any other suggestions?

Is there any other curriculum that would be a good intro maybe just for the rest of 2nd grade for her? Thanks,
Jessica

I'm sure there's lots of good stuff out there to use based on the goals of language with 2nd grader...
you might just consider turning on the Spanish audio/subtitles of all of her favorite DVD's (and/or TV shows) and call it good enough for 2nd grade.
see if your library has some children's books on Spanish audio and just listen to them and "read" along
what about just some fun kids music in spanish
or something like Teach Me Spanish -- by Judy Mahoney (that's a CD with a book to listen to. you'll get numbers, songs, few phrases and such)

***
just checking the basic list here for using RS with youngest students.....

do you have all of the settings on the easiest setting in Rosetta Stone? and have you shown her how to "skip" a frame if she doesn't want to try talking with the mic? My oldest gets waaaaaaaay too frustrated at herself with some of the settings in Russian, and we found that when we set the speech to easy, and then put least restrictions on the writing part. well, ok a 2nd grader doesn't have to do the writing assignments, but I mentioned it b/c my kid does. She's doing RS Russian at high school credit level. Also, let her reset the score and do it again and practice the same things over and over again that she learned. She doesn't have to advance far in the program, so she can do it over and over with parts that are easier instead of "having" to go to the next level. Remember that the grammar lessons may cause difficulty and we, as parents, can pass over those lessons by going to next activity on the Speaking/listening curriculum path.

(((hugs))). glad to hear she is doing a little better (((((hang in there, mom))))
-crystal

[kerby]

Call me crazy, and this may go against some people's thoughts, but why don't you just drop it? If you still want to do something w/ her, then find some books at the library. I would look for the ones that have things labeled, and then use those terms in everyday life. She's still young and if she's struggling in other areas, this isn't that important.

[tiffany]

My 3rd grader was not ready for Rosetta either at 2nd grade. I plan to try again after Christmas, and we'll see how it goes. For him, it is because of fear of failure with the voice recognition. You can make it easier, so the program will always pass them through. I think he just feels too self conscious to say the words out loud in Spanish.
I would definitely drop it for now.

My other kids were fine with the age recommendations. But God made us all unique didn't he? In general, you will be able to use MFW as is, but please feel free to tailor it to your family or child, without worrying about ruining something.

[jtcarter14]

Thanks! Lots of good responses to reply to.

We have the voice recognition turned off. When we did have it on, it was set to easy. It quite often didn't recognize either of my kids' voices. I called RS about it, and they said there's nothing else that could be done except wait for their voices to mature.

You can make it easier, so the program will always pass them through.

Tiffany, do you mean the voice recognition? How do you do that? I would like at least my 3rd grader (who likes RS) to be able to try the voice recognition. He was pretty good at it. It just didn't always recognize it.

As of now Katelyn (the 2nd grader) refuses to go back and try it again b/c she says most of it is easy. I think she does need to go back and start all over at the beginning, but I think she's more likely to cooperate (without tears) if I let her do something more laid back the rest of 2nd grade and then start RS again next year.

have you shown her how to "skip" a frame

Crystal, is there a certain way to "skip" a frame, or do you just miss that one? They pay a lot of attention to the percentage they get right, and my son always chooses to do it over and over again until he gets 100%. How do you put restrictions on the writing part? Is that the case, diacritic and punctuation sensitive?

Thanks!
Jessica

[cbollin]

Crystal, is there a certain way to "skip" a frame, or do you just miss that one? They pay a lot of attention to the percentage they get right, and my son always chooses to do it over and over again until he gets 100%. How do you put restrictions on the writing part? Is that the case, diacritic and punctuation sensitive?
Jessica

skipping frames:
there are buttons and click places to advance the screen. I'm just not good at typing about it. I don't know right off how it affects the percentages. I know when you use the Dashboard (and at the individual screens) it will show percentages in each lesson --- but even then you can tell your children that certain parts can be "extra credit" in your house and not part of their grade. (well, remember though, I'm saying that with my oldest who is doing the high school credit version --- so adjust and ignore for 3rd and 2nd grader)

I eased the writing part by the things you mentioned. also, when you get in unit 2 and all of that -- it still shows the answer if you hit the answer button. My oldest does that to see the answer and try to copy it. Also, we've printed out part of the Script from the Supplemental Educational Materials CD*** so she can have the written form in front of her if needed. i don't' think any of that is required for elementary kids....

***my oldest just reminded me.... the scripts are also on the program itself if you go to the top right icons, click on ? icon and go for Course Content. It is in the target language, but follows the screen numbers too. Also, on the ? icon -- let your younger kids just play with the Alphabet features. They get some practice putting syllables together in the reading/grammar/writing sections of RS, but for a step back from that to learn letter sounds -- you have to use that feature via that icon.

(for those who might be reading this and wondering how to find the icons to ease the writing restrictions......
at the top right of the RS screen, you'll see 3 icons (the one of the left of that set of 3 is a ? for help.) choose the middle icon. go to Set preferences, Click on Course Settings.
you'll get there and play with the settings. the less sensitive you make the typing, easier for younger kids. But it is not essential for students to spell proficiently in Spanish at this stage of learning. The grammar can be skipped too for this age.

however, with all of that said:
I have a set of MFW's lesson plans for Rosetta Stone for high school credit, and would encourage anyone with children younger than 7th grade, to call MFW and ask them for their recommendations in how to use and how not to use Rosetta Stone with those kids younger than high school credit. That is a page of their lesson plans I'm not sure I should type over here or not. So, uhm...

-crystal

[cbollin]

During all of this time while I was typing about RS, my youngest (the one with autism...) decided to get on Russian Rosetta Stone. She's only 7. (she's on a different computer right now obviously.)
So I have some fun ideas to share about using RS with a 7 year old:

*remember at this stage, it should be fun and encouraging them to enjoy another language
*let the younger one act out the screen. I just watched my 7 year old hear the phrase "they are swimming" (in russian) and then on her own, she got out of her chair and pretended to swim on the carpet.

so make it more active and less seat work for elementary kids. Instead of everyone having an individual seat work account, set up a Tester/Fun user account as one of your 5 accounts on homeschool edition. then, as parent, log in on tester and play with it. Set the mic for you and you say it for them after they say it out loud to you. Encourage use of the screen as a time to act the words on the screen while just saying it out loud to each other. Use favorite favorite toys to be the other players.
let everyone try to act together during those times -- and then click the right answer.

Make it fun and save the academic side of RS for a while later.

-crystal

Posted Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:05 pm by cbollin

2nd and 3rd graders: select Speaking and Listening Course.
This allows students to interact without needing to type or read. All prompts are through audio, with text appearing. If students needs to hear something again, they can click the audio link button and it will repeat. Special Considerations: The grammar lessons may cause difficulty at this level, but can be easily passed over by the parent by selecting the next activity. These (grammar lessons) require the student to read and select from several pop up items on a list with a corresponding picture. The grammar lessons are the only activities in this course that do not include a spoken prompt.

-crystal

[jtcarter14]

Thank you! These tips will help my 3rd grader for the rest of this year and my 2nd grader next year. I talked to her about it, and even knowing she can look at the answers and all that, she wants to wait until 3rd grade to do more RS. So maybe we'll get the Mahoney books just for fun or something.

Thanks!

[MFW-Lucy]

Hi Jessica,
I may have missed this, but what version of RS are you using, 2 or 3 ?

Homeschool version 3.

You have had some great help here. Some of what I give you may be a repeat. I know you have decided to stop it with your 2nd grader but if you decide to try again after Christmas or if others are having some of the same struggles here are some ideas.

First of all with this age you will only want to use the Speak and Listen track (version 3).

You can completely cut out the speech recognition. Here is what you will do.
1.Once a user is logged in from home look at the icons in the up right of the screen.
2. Click the icon with bullet points and lines (to the right of the ?).
3. Uncheck the following boxes: continue to next screen and use speech recognition
4. Leave this screen
5. Click icon next to the bullet point to make it full screen (This should allow you to see all of the activities at the bottom of the screen)
6. Begin using the selected track.

First of all because the "continue to next screen" has been unchecked after each activity the student will need to move manually to the next activity by choosing it at the bottom of the screen. So why choose this option?

1. Now when the student gets to the section where voice recognition was required it will only say the word, phrase, or sentence with each picture. At this point instruct the student to listen to each one again and then repeat it aloud. 2.This allows them more practice in hearing and practice in saying it without the correction of voice recognition.

Once finished with each screen move on to the next activity by choosing it from the bottom of the screen.

The other option is to keep the "continue to next screen" checked and just let students listen each time. It will advance to the next screen not giving time for them to stop and repeat.

I hope this makes sense. If not please ask so that I can clarify.

Lucy

[jtcarter14]

Thank you! That's a very good idea. I will do that for my son now and for my daughter when she starts back with RS.

[705emily]

We are going to start Spanish this year. DS will be 8 in Aug (and depending on what we do, DS5 will want to try to join in).

If we use Rosetta Stone this year.....will it just keep lasting us forever? I know we will add levels, etc. Or will we keep doing the same level repeatedly multiple times? I know there are benefits to starting young, but I'm pretty sure we have to keep at it for all those years if he is going to retain it. So......we'll just keep doing RS for all that time?

We are contemplating getting a young-kids DVD-type class so we can all participate together at first and have fun with it. Though that will just end up being "extra" as we will end up with RS eventually. <sigh> I don't know. Balancing cost, ease of use, time needed, etc, is not proving to be easy. Dh would love for the whole family to learn together so it can be practiced. That sounds more difficult with RS.

I'm not sure exactly what my question is - but please share anything about your experiences. Has anyone used RS for a long time?

We have used RS German for 2 years. It has worked well for us! Dd is 8 now--but she started using it a year ago. She is able to get on the computer and do it all by herself. Ds, 7 will start it next year. We are finishing Level 1 of version 3. We did Level 1 of Version 2 last year, but when Version 3 came out, RS recommended we go with Level 1 again. I'm glad we did--as the third version is updated and more relevant to her. She is learning conversational German, and is able to use some of it with family relatives. She has a great aunt in Germany who e-mails her in German and she is learning to respond! I like the fact that it tracks her progress. The RS program now also comes with audio CDs that you can play in the car--or wherever.

Hope this is helpful!
Blessings!