"Look, we need to talk. Or rather, you do" - Language learning among children
Having set out on a mission to teach English to children in a natural and spontaneous way, I decided I would explore how other educators approach this matter.
Of course I had to stumble upon one of the worlds leading and most inspiring educators: Sir Ken Robinson (check out his TED talk about schools killing creativity), who absolutely nailed the notion of children's "language learning":
"In ordinary circumstances, by the time they are 2 or 3 years old, most children learn to speak with remarkable fluency. If you are a parent, you know you don't teach your children how to speak. You couldn't. You don't have the time and they wouldn't have the patience. Young children absorb language just by being exposed to it. You may correct, encourage and congratulate them along the way, but you don't reach a point where you sit them down and say, "Look, we need to talk. Or more specifically, you do". This is not how it works." (source: Robinson K., 2015, Creative Schools)
Any language that is introduced to a child in the early stages of life is not learnt in a static class-room environment kind of way. Children experience the language with all their senses, with their imagination and creativity. It's never to early to expose your child to foreign "language learning".
And no, contrary to what I have been hearing from so many parents: you are not over-burdening nor over-stimulating your child when you sign them up for classes. You are doing them a favor by exposing them to a wonderful new world of limitless possibilities.
Let the magic begin!
