How to Learn a New Language

If you have been following Kids Yoga Stories, you know that we are teaching our daughter to speak Spanish. It is an ongoing journey. The most important thing to us is that she has an enriched environment where she feels comfortable to learn Spanish. We use a variety of medium and keep the learning fun. Today, I would love to share a few ways that we are teaching our daughter Spanish.

A list of ten ways that we are introducing our toddler to the joys of learning Spanish:

Books – We fill our house with Spanish books that we have accumulated over the years and also borrow from the library.
Yoga – We incorporate Spanish language learning with movement through kids yoga poses. We read Spanish yoga books and watch a Spanish yoga video.
Story time – We take our daughter to a Spanish story time at the library every week.
Flashcards – We found a couple of packs of Spanish language cards on Amazon that we play with together.
Music – We recently purchased a CD by Jose-Luis Orozco with Spanish songs for kids.
Videos – We have one sampler children’s video that we watch together to learn basic Spanish vocabulary.
Magazines – We love the Baby Bug magazine by Cricket, and going to add the Spanish version to our Christmas wish list.
Board games – When she’s a bit older, we will be playing board games in Spanish with our daughter.
People – We have at least one person who sees our daughter every week to speak only in Spanish. She also hears Spanish speakers in the street as we live near a Latin district.
Travel – We hope to travel to a Spanish-speaking country soon with our daughter. Being immersed in the language will be hugely beneficial.

Why Learn a New Language

There are many benefits to early acquisition of a second language:

Young learners can acquire native-like fluency.
Young learners learn naturally, like they learn their mother tongue.
Young learners can hear critical differences in sounds.
Their brain is flexible – and made to learn a new language.
Young learners acquire cognitive advantages – such as critical thinking skills, creativity and flexibility in thought.
Gives children a better understanding of their native language.
Opens up the child’s sphere of friends and acquaintances
Increases marketability for colleges and beyond.

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