One person, Two languages and LR/LM

[lelask]

I am teaching my daughter English and Slovak language.We use LR/LM in english becouse we speak slovak only when daddy is at home or someone else with us. I am not worried about her not understanding slovak,she understands and speaks both languages ,is is just that she will probably know how to read english and not slovak if I don't find the system anytime soon. I don't want to confuse her. How do other parents use LR/LM using two languages?

[c4andy20]

Hi Lelask

We speak English and Spanish at home. They don't have a Spanish curriculum in Little Reader, but I wish they did because I would buy it a heartbeat. That being said, Little reader and Little Math make it really easy to make my own curriculum in Spanish. I bought a really cheap microphone. I think it cost $6, but it was on sale normally it's $9. Then I make my own categories like science, art, music, things in the home, food, sports, geography etc...  I even use LR/LM to homeschool my 8 year old. She does reading, science, geography, music theory, art history and some math.

First, I come up with a list of words I want to put in each category. Then I find pictures to represent each word on the internet. Finally, I type the words, add the picture, and record my voice saying the word. That is why I love LR/LM. It is so easy to use and customize. I have not found a program as customizable as LR. I am not very computer savvy, so at first this was very intimidating. But once I got into it and started seeing the results, I became very enthusiastic. Which made learning how to create the categories/words/make recordings, a lot easier. It's really easy for me now and I have been making a lot of things.

I also download (from the LR foreign language library) some Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and French as those are the languages I would like my kids know. But, I don't recall seeing a Slovak section. So I think you may have to just make your own. Or you could also ask any of the parents on here who speak Slovak, if they have made anything for LR/LM. If so, I am sure they would be willing to share or collaborate with you.

[lelask]

Thank you for your reply and I admire you for teaching that many languages  .The problem I have is not making flashcards or work with LR and LM but more when to use what language to revent confusion. My daughter is used to speak with me english when we are alone so I am worried I will confuse her if I start mixing languages when we are alone. Do you speak different language different day?

[MummyRoo]

Hi there.
We use English, Chinese and Russian LR. Usually we start with Chinese, as that is his favourite and he asks for it. At the beginning, I say 'Let's watch your Chinese' or similar. After Chinese is finished, I ask 'Do you want your Russian?' and then state 'Let's watch Russian!' (in Russian). Same with English. Chinese we watch, since I don't speak it. We interact in the relevant language for Russian/English as I speak both.

We usually do all three languages and maths in one sitting, as he LOVES both LR and LM. I just make sure to be clear which language we're watching - he knows, too as he will ask for Chinese or respond in Russian etc. Just make sure you are clear - watch LR in English then switch languages and ask if she wants to watch Slovak now, or do both languages at different times, whichever works for you. As long as you state clearly which language it is each time, I don't think there will be a problem.

[Ella87]

Hi mummyroo,

Does he understand the 3 different language?

I mean 3 languages in same time seems confusing, doesn't it?

Can he speak now? I heard some babies start mixing the languages in their speaking!!!

[lelask]

Hi , what I did was that I showed her physical flashcards of Slovak words and math in the morning while still in bed and used LR and LM only for english. She loves flashcards but then it became a hard work to make them. Now we are using it the same way but on my little netbook . This way it works best for us as she doesn't like sitting in front of PC for the lessons.

And regarding mixing languages - we use only two at home and I don't think she mixes them as she always finishes the thought in one language or the other or she says the same thing in both languages so I guess she understands the difference.

I would love to add more languages but need to work out how 

[MummyRoo]

Hi Ella.

I know he understands two languages, English and Russian, because these are the ones we use at home. He speaks a lot more English, being the one he hears most, but he uses several Russian words and definitely understands a lot more (I always get a reaction when offering his favourite toys/snacks in Russian without seeing it - he'll crawl off and wait in the kitchen for food etc). I've found using LR in Russian is a big help for reinforcing vocabulary words together, as there is a lot of repetition and pictures. Although I speak some Russian every day, I didn't repeat the same word ten times a day for a week - I wouldn't have remembered to if I tried. Since starting LR in Russian, his vocabulary has expanded a lot and he is trying to speak a lot more Russian words. I would say the words he uses have more than doubled in a week, due to sheer repetition!

As for Chinese, he knows dog and cat, and uses the chinese word exclusively to refer to dogs. I am sure he knows more, but there is much less interaction as I don't speak Chinese. This is by far his favourite, though. He would rather watch Chinese than anything!

I have no idea if he is reading, though. He shows no interest if I try to test him - if I show two word cards, he will grab both simultaneously - but I consider early reading to be an added extra rather than the main goal of LR, since having fun and increasing vocabulary and understanding are far more important at the moment!

[Ella87]

Mommyroo,

May I ask how old is he? My LO is 10 mo and she speaks limited words and sounds. Her reaction to "no" is laughing  ( I don't know why, because I say no seriously to her!!)
I want to start LR this week as I'm new here and didn't know it before!
I think I start with English and after few months add another language ( as you and some other moms say it's not confusing for babies )

Thank you mommyroo and lelask for sharing your experiments 

[MummyRoo]

He is 22 months. We started LR at about 12m but he didn't like it so we took a break and started again a couple of months ago. We did LR in English for a couple of weeks (while I started putting together the Russian files!) and then introduced Chinese and Russian within about a week of each other. I was going to wait to get the Chinese, since we have the Wink to Learn DVDs which he loves, as well as Pim, but I foolishly downloaded the free trial and then he was hooked and I had to buy it!

I would say his English ability is at the high end for his age - he is starting to use 3-4 word sentences - though his pronunciation isn't always clear. His Russian is very poor for a monolingual child, but would possibly still be considered within the 'normal range' (I think 6 words at 18m is the target  ) He only says single words, and only sometimes. However, we've been doing LR Russian for two weeks and his understanding and vocabulary have increased loads. He has only seen about 40 reading words, but the constant repetition and my new focus on about 50% of our conversations being repetition and revision play, rather than lots of new words and conversations which I may or may not repeat that week, means that he repeats most of them after me and spontaneously says new Russian words every day!

[ydolem]

Wow thank you all for this thread. My DS is 18months nad I have been doing LR and LM for a month now but would like to teach him to read Shona (Zimbabwean language) as I speak that with him. His dad is english so he also hears english from him.

Many thanks

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