Foreign Language - Choosing & trying out different ones

[tiffany]

rosetta stone korean ?

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

[Lisa M]

I was all set to order French for our first foreign language choice. I had four years of it, my husband had two, our church does a lot of mission trips to Haiti (which I am interested in us eventually joining when our children become older), etc.

Well my ds 7 announced a strong desire to learn Spanish!

For those of you who have done foreign language with your children; is it most important to go with their choice, rather than mine, or what I know a little of? We do know one family who is fluent in Spanish (he is from Central America & she spent a few years there), and they are wanting their daughter to become fluent in it (a sweet neighbor girl age 2 1/2). So now I am thinking I should order the Spanish. Any thoughts?

I have a couple of thoughts on this. I do not personally know a second language (my university allowed computer programming to fulfill the foreign language requirement; I also read music very well - both are considered different languages). I have heard that, once you learn one language, it is easier to pick up the next. I chose Spanish for my kids because we sponsor a Compassion child in Peru, know missionaries that the kids may eventually serve for a time in Peru, have a home-based missionary working with Mexican immigrants, etc. Many jobs in our state request knowledge of Spanish. We have a potential use for Spanish.

At the same time, my son wants to be a missionary to China. So once he completes Rosetta Stone Spanish (5 level, now), he'll need to work at maintaining it, and will then move on to Chinese. The Asian languages are totally different from the European languages, so I doubt he'll have much of a head start - not like Spanish to French.

I'd suggest starting with the language you think your family will get the most use from now- and a next door neighbor speaking Spanish is about the best opportunity I've heard! Then, they can move on to another language.

I'll be anxious to hear from others, especially experienced foreign language teachers.

[cbollin]

Any thoughts?

hmmm... I'd go with ordering French for "study purposes".

and then considering other ways for now to fellowship with the neighbors and learn Spanish from them in a more informal, conversational way. Use first books in Spanish (you know.. the same things we got for our kids to read to them when they were little. that stuff)

I'm not an expert on any of this. I just know my story. My youngest daughter, currently age 8, has autism. She is able to juggle learning French, Spanish, Russian, and English. Well, the debate is still on about English given the autism and speech delays, but....

She knows which words go with which language. I think part of it is that she is motivated for it. Some of it just repeating it. She's not interested in Russian, but her oldest sister takes it and speaks it to her. It can be funny at times. Oldest (mfwstudent on this forum) will start talking to Youngest in Russian. Youngest will talk back to her saying in English "No Russian. Spanish is uno, no ahdeen!" (or whatever it is. Lucy... dont' show it to the hazells, I know I can't spell in Russian. shh......) and then at bedtime? She's quoting in French from Madeline.

I'm guessing that you'd want to start the languages a few months apart from each other. But I'd pray and ask God to open the windows for learning both languages. You might be blessed in ways you don't expect.

-crystal

[Julie in MN]

I was all set to order French for our first foreign language choice. I had four years of it, my husband had two, our church does a lot of mission trips to Haiti (which I am interested in us eventually joining when our children become older), etc.

Well my ds 7 announced a strong desire to learn Spanish!

Can we trade kids??? My ds wants to learn French, and I want him to learn Spanish!

Fortunately, the two have a lot in common, so that should help either way.

I decided the languages when I didn't see a strong preference -- I didn't even ask. But when there is a preference, I guess I decide to go with it. Learning a language is a lot of work and expense, and if the child isn't motivated it just doesn't seem worth it to me, plus if I choose, it gives me no negotiating power I prefer to choose battles over Bible and such

Julie

[BHelf]

No experience but I'd go with Spanish too for some of the same reasons Julie mentioned. It is possible God placed that desire for Spanish in his heart for a reason. He can always learn French later as well...

But then again, if you start with French he can always learn Spanish later. But in my house, if the child is motivated to do something, that means less arguing about it and more learning.

[sojen]

Here are my 2 cents:

I was a French minor in college. Besides the 3 weeks I spent in France my language of choice is virtually useless. I don't regret learning a foreign language and I'm glad it was French.

But when it came to my own children I thought Spanish would be much more useful. My daughter is a ballerina and dying to learn French, but I have her working on Spanish. We know so many Spanish speakers in our area. And that is something to consider. In the South the demographic is quite different from areas near the Canadian border. On a mission trip there is usually an interpreter, so you may want to consider your permanent geographic area in addition to future mission trips.

[gratitude]

These are all great answers, and many of them gave me a big smile!

We are 10 miles from the Canadian border, but Spanish is still the dominant second language in the area due to workers from Mexico. It doesn't show up a lot, but definitely some. I haven't personally been drawn towards the Spanish language, but I can see its usefulness in America. Part of my ds interest I think comes from having heard it spoken on occasion around him. I think though it might be on his heart too, tied into his hearts desire of building houses; this is what he tells me anyways. All in God's will & timing...

P.S. We just did the Rosetta Stone demos and he is on to Italian. hmmm...

Bottom line I guess is I always choose our curriculum, but with foreign language for some reason I have wanted to consider his interests. My kids are so young. I think I may be over thinking this one. I will keep praying. The insights on here though have been fabulous on both of my foreign language threads!

[RachelT]

Hi! We are just starting out with Rosetta Stone this week. We also have church teams that go to Haiti and we sponsor a child there, but we are using Latin American Spanish. I took Latin and my husband took Spanish. However, we are having the children learn Spanish because we now have a large group of people living in our area whose first language is Spanish. This wasn't the case when I was growing up here, but our small, Midwestern town is much more multi-cultural. My husband comes into contact in his work with people who are trying to learn English, but it really helps when he can speak to them in their native language, even if it is not quite fluent.

I hope they could learn French too, eventually, so that we can go on a mission trip to Haiti sometime. My dd also is in ballet and would like to go to Paris. We will see!

[momtogc]

I wish I could remember where I read a tidbit about French, that it has a higher "tone", if that was the way the article worded it. Supposedly, learning French first makes it easier to learn lower "tone" languages (Spanish being one of them). I don't know if this is truth or myth but it sounded good to me. : ) I'm planning to teach French to my dd first for this reason, and because once when I was trying to find my way in Italy, I asked for help of a local. His English was not that good so he asked me "How's your German? How's your French?" Of course this doesn't apply to you, but if you live near Canada, French is a logical choice for you since English and French are both official languages of that country. I guess it depends on who your child will mostly likely need to communicate with. Any chance that he would ever live/work in Canada?

Also, you might be interested in reading this article: http://hubpages.com/hub/Why-learn-French

Sorry, it's late and I'm rambling. Best wishes!

[gratitude]

Also, you might be interested in reading this article: http://hubpages.com/hub/Why-learn-French

I found your article on reasons to speak French interesting. It inspired me to do a little research (very little). Did you know that Chinese, Spanish, English, Arabic, Russian, & French are the six official languages of the UN? I didn't. I also thought it was interesting, from your article, that French is the first official language of the Olympic games.

There seems to be good reasons to study either French or Spanish.

French has many native speakers, and is taught world wide as a second language. Spanish has more native speakers, and is becoming Americans second language.

I do know from experience though that coming from some knowledge of French made learning a little Italian when I spent a month in Italy very easy.

Well I will keep thinking & praying. Thanks for the input!

[Julie in MN]

I'm wavering between Spanish and Latin for the upcoming year. I know the arguments for studying a modern language, such as Spanish over Latin, but I studied them both throughout my education and I see both sides of the coin clearly.

That said ... I don't foresee the option of me teaching two languages to four children, one of whom will not speak English natively. I was thinking of teaching Song School Latin this year ... sort of a precursor to LATIN. My oldest will be in second, Adv, and my middle two will be in K, though one of them will have just arrived home to us from Ethiopia, so it would be more for the music and rhythm than anything right now. My other inclination is Spanish. Thinking out loud here ... maybe Song School Latin and an introduction to English/Latin Roots in second grade, moving to Spanish in third and beyond?

Love your thoughts! Thank you.

The Hazells have a lot of experience with kids learning a foreign language, and they recommend Rosetta Stone. I trust their recommendations due to their experience. I think I've heard that second grade or earlier is best, but my memory is foggy on that.

They also recommend Greek and Latin roots, which are scheduled in CTG and RTR using English From the Roots Up. Because of their passion for Bible translation, they speak about learning a modern language rather than an ancient language. I've heard David Hazell speak about why the Greeks learned Greek -- because they spoke it And later folks Latin because their neighbors spoke Latin, or much of their libraries were full of literature in Latin. I think that's something good to ponder.

But starting with songs sounds like a great plan for all your little ones to enjoy together.
Julie

[erin.kate]

Thanks, Julie. I'm leaning toward Spanish or Italian since I have the most comfort with those languages ... maybe this year I will start with Rosetta (they have it at our library which is awesome) and add Song School Latin next year along with Rosetta (then all three older kids can have more fun with the Latin), and the following year continue with Rosetta and work on the roots already being studied in CTG and see where that leads.

Many thanks!
Erin Kate

[cbollin]

So starting with a modern language rather then a foreign language? What would those be? I thought about starting latin with my 7 yr old next year in 2nd grade.

Studying Foreign Languages can fall into 2 very broad categories: Modern, and "ancient"

Modern would be anything as it is currently spoken in daily use in the world. Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese (and there are various dialects of that), German, Avar, Nenets, Farsi and a whole bunch of things. But usually people study the big ones: English, Spanish, French, German and so forth.

Ancients: "biblical greek" (which is not what is spoken in modern day Greece), Latin (no longer really spoken as a language.) maybe a few other "ancient" things out there of course, but those are the biggies in homeschool and classical ed circles. Ancient Hebrew, modern Hebrew?

My family has chosen to not do Latin and/or Greek as a full study language. We do "roots approach" instead.

our story of which languages and when.....

When they were younger, we did intro to foreign languages in very casual ways. Children's songs on audio CD, tv subtitles/audio tracks. stuff like that. Also, back a long long long time ago Rosetta Stone version 2 had a demo disk with about 30 language options. We played with those. It came into help when we were at the library in our old city. Plenty of international graduate level students attended the university and some brought their young families with them. It was nice to know a few smiles and hellos in several modern languages. I can remember the looks on the women's faces trying to navigate in a strange culture with their children and checking out books. My children were never scared to try to say hello. Sometimes my children mixed up a Korean with a Japanese or Chinese person, but it never mattered because we were being welcoming.

Originally doing years of "intro to foreign languages" was to buy us time to select between Spanish (which we weren't interested in, but see the importance of it), and/or French (husband has a minor in it in college). I took French in high school and Italian in college. However, plans change......

Then, as my oldest daughter hit around 5th grade, she told us one day "I want to study Russian because I just read in book basket that Catherine the Great had to learn it."

sigh.... so Russian for her. God opened huge paths for all of that. I don't have the energy right now to tell all of that. Again, one story involved just helping a few immigrants who were struggling with a few words in English. I just love how Russian moms hug us in public. ok, I have time for quick story..... I was picking up medicines at local walgreens and the cashier forgot a few English words. We just smiled and said in Russian (because her accent was so obvious and her name tag was printed in our alphabet and Cyrillic) a few words of greeting and name exchanges and smiles. It made her day. And then, at library, this older woman was struggling carrying her bags of books to donate to the book sale. she calls from across the parking lots "You 2 children, help carry" (I'm a very short adult standing with my oldest who is taller). Kate, my oldest, answers her in Russian that Yes, we will help you." We shared in English why we study Russian and got a big warm hug from this lady.

modern language bridge cultures and give us time to talk about loving God.

Middle gal -- reads book basket and prays for people groups while studying MFW.... Mommy, I want to learn Chinese so I can tell the Chinese Muslims that Jesus really loves them. Chinese for her - and it fits. She so clicks with the whole picture language.

Youngest (age 8 ) - Dora the Explorer in Espanol! Calliou in Francois, Madeline - in french subtitles/audio track of course. Oh yeah, I forgot, she has language delays in English due to autism.

then, of all things, my husband and oldest daughter have to take a "crash course" from now until mid June in Spanish in order to be able to at least follow some directions while on a church youth group missions project this summer in Mexico city suburb.

I know we "should" fork over the money for RS Spanish, but I thought we'd try another product (due to arrive from Rainbow Resource today...) that claims it will help with our goals of quick acquisition for missions. (The Easy Spanish or something like that), and we plan to have a friend of ours talk on the phone to at least have some practice before the trip.

We have never needed yet to do Latin as a full study language. My husband holds a phd in chemistry and never needed it. His brother is an attorney and never needed Latin as a full course either. They learned the vocab important to their occupations. We do roots for the vocabulary. We do English grammar with English grammar. We do logic in Math. So lots of homeschoolers do full Latin study. That's ok, nothing bad.

David Hazell has a workshop on Classical Approaches in 21st century. check out that part of the website.
http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/105/0/0/1

My oldest will be in second, Adv, and my middle two will be in K, though one of them will have just arrived home to us from Ethiopia, so it would be more for the music and rhythm than anything right now.

I wonder out loud..... Perhaps you should just do English when your child arrives from Ethiopia? That will be a foreign language for him. RS does come in US English. I'm not seeing a lot of benefits to him learning Latin even in music and rhythm right now. Maybe Spanish for other children, and even let them learn some of their new sibling's native tongue as well?

Blessings to each family as you follow the leading that God has planned for you to speak in more than just English.
-crystal

[erin.kate]

I agree that there is great value in Latin being a foundation of the Romance languages. Of course one doesn't need to learn Latin to learn Spanish or Italian, etc., but it can make it feel more natural if there is a prior base. There is no right or wrong, no one needs to learn Latin, or Greek, or Spanish, but they do all have their merits. I guess it's just personal preference and ultimately what your hopes are for learning the new language in the first place ... say, missions work in Mexico so Spanish is clearly the desire.

Since I don't yet know where my children might be led in terms of language ... and I can't say that I even know which language to choose, for now.

As a college English major/Philosophy minor, Editor, and then school teacher I know how much Latin can help with understanding English grammar. When I was studying Latin in college I had to carefully read each word and carefully choose each word for writing. It is a thoughtful subject. I think that naturally improved my English reading and writing abilities as I was more conscientious of the language and of its complexities. It created a sort of discipline in habit that made me an even better thinker and writer. Just my thoughts there.

There is value beyond measure in learning a modern language, but I believe that learning Spanish or Italian, etc. may be facilitated by having a foundation in Latin. We intend on learning Spanish or Italian, maybe something else down the way (Mandarin is intriguing), but I'm also leaning toward starting with Latin to lay the framework ... I also have a level of fluency in Latin, which eases my ability to teach it.

I think that language is a very personal decision ... people choose what they want to learn based on heritage, usefulness, interest, passion, curiosity. Perhaps I need to begin by providing a foundation for learning language with Latin while creating opportunity for exposure to other cultures and languages to see where that leads ... maybe that will arise when we are in ECC.

Simply by nature of Shaw being with us and part of the family he will absorb what he wants, hear what he wants, and enjoy it for what it is worth. He will be learning English first and foremost, but I would not deny him the benefits, whatever they may be, of joining in the learning with the whole family ... whether it is language, history stories, coloring pages, read alouds, art, etc. Sort of along the same lines as our youngest, Sullivan. He will be with us and take what he will. Maybe nothing, maybe something, but always opportunity.

[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

[Julie in MN]

How do you decide what language to teach? I suppose I should teach Spanish because it is the only foreign language that is used around me. But, if you chose a language other than Spanish, why?

The only child I homeschooled in the elementary years was my youngest, and we studied Spanish because mom said that was one of the classes We also had a year's exposure to French in a co-op class we had, because we happened to have a fluent dad to teach it.

Then at high school, I let my kids decide. Since foreign language is a lot of work at the high school level, I didn't want to push my kids through something they didn't want. But if they hadn't expressed a preference, I would have had them learn Spanish, both because of its usefulness and because of my own familiarity with it.

Oldest (public school) chose German because he wanted to connect with his roots or something, and the school didn't offer Irish Gaelic And I've been interested to learn more recently that German is most similar to English. Anyways, middle dd (mix of public and homeschool for foreign language) chose French, probably because that's what the other girls from our Girl Scout troop were doing. Youngest also chose French, ack, after all that exposure to Spanish, I was not happy, but he just didn't want to go on with Spanish, and he had had a little in co-op.

By the way, I have two nieces who specialized in foreign languages in college. One minored in Spanish and it's helped her a little with jobs but not really as much as I would have thought. I expect there are a lot of native Spanish speakers who are also fluent in English now, so not as much needed in the hiring world? (Although I still think it might be useful to the employee.) The other niece took a lot of Japanese, and then joined the Army and they assigned her to interpret Russian, of all things. So my impression is that the more uncommon languages must be just as valuable these days as Spanish? Just based on a very small sample, I know. And of course learning any language probably puts you in a better position to pick up others.

Julie

[Yodergoat]

In public high school back in the mid nineties, our options were Latin, Spanish or French. My husband took Latin, thinking he might go into a biology type field if he went to college. But after graduation he was done with school, didn't accept his scholarships, chose to get married at 19 and has been working as a meat department manager in a grocery ever since. Not much Latin going on in there, but ironically I get into it to some extent as I teach wildlife classes at our co-op. My husband, I am sure, wishes he had learned Greek!

I chose French because I have French ancestry, and I took three years. I would have chosen German if it had been offered, after having exposure to it from our German-born English teacher in junior high. But alas, no German. I can read French haltingly now, but can barely speak it and never get to do so. I can't listen and comprehend it unless it is spoken so slowly as to be ridiculous, and I certainly can't make out the French audio in movies. So I am left with being able to halfway read French... which is practically useless.
At least it has helped me to get more familiar with Latin in a back-door sort of way and it has helped me learn Spanish here and there.
I picked up a little Spanish in adulthood and it is sort of sticking... it comes much more naturally to me than the French ever did. Why oh why did i choose French?

I think we will choose to teach Gail Spanish, just because it has more chance where I live of being used. Unlike, let's say, um... French. Also, and i must admit, selfishly, I want to learn more Spanish and would feel more comfortable helping to teach it. Gail had some very basic exposure at 4 years old in our co-op, but has forgotten it. I think she has picked up more than she learned anywhere else by listening to the character "Javier" in the film Courageous as we read the subtitled translation to her!

Every now and again, some Spanish-speaking families visit our church. Although the children know English as well as Spanish, it would be nice to be able to communicate a little more clearly with them. I can see that as a bonus. As of yet, no French speaking families have visited our church. But one day, mayhap, a French speaker will come. And that person might pass me a note... and I will be able to read it. Sort of. Maybe.

[cbollin]

so far at our church..
Japanese visitors
Polish visitors
Spanish..
oh yeah,,,

and a little boy who came here for medical treatment spoke no English, but did speak French, and Haitian Creole. ... (arrived days before the big earthquake in Haiti... )

you just never know.. He was a neat kid. couldn't understand a word in English, but you know... smiles and handshakes crossed lots of language barriers. My husband was able to say hello and introduce himself. A church of a 1000, and that Sunday, the host family and that child sat near us.....
Just the look on the child's face hearing a few words made him smile bigger. Can you even imagine sending your child to another country and just having to trust in all of that? He was here without his parents.. some medical international missions group paid for it...

so... yeah... look around your community. what's your church involved in that you might go with them, or what's around your city? to whom are you connected internationally that you might go visit? any homeschool families on mission field and you might be visiting them or taking school supplies...

(ooh.. I feel a commercial for God's Word for the Nations coming on here....... )

[Julie in MN]

My family is really interested in taking a trip to Israel in the future, has anyone studied Hebrew in their homeschool?
I would love to hear about any travels to the Holy Land with young children.

While you wait for experienced answers, there are two posts on this thread: http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 208#p47207

I also think of the Bluedorns as experts on teaching the Biblical languages in homeschools, so I might check out their recommendations. Two of their boys are the authors of the Logic books that MFW recommends in high school.

I haven't heard conversation about travel to Israel with children, but what a wonderful thing that would be. I've see magazine articles about families who do a vacation archaeological dig, and I've seen older teens on the video tours in That The World May Know series, but haven't known anyone personally (or virtually). Oh, maybe the Drive Thru History/Holy Land tours would be a good prep for kids You can watch the first episode or two on YouTube, to see if his goofy style works for your family (my son loved all his videos!).

HTH,
Julie