RAR #98: Introducing Kids to Foreign Language through Reading Aloud

Many of us want to help our children learn a second language, but where do we start? And what if we only speak one language ourselves?

Anne Guarnera of Language Learning at Home is joining us today to walk us through it. Although it isn’t her first language, she speaks Spanish in her home and encourages families to learn new languages together.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How to get started learning a new language
• How learning a second language helps us with our native language
• How books are a fantastic resource (of course!)

Click the play button below:

Listener Guide

Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast:

• 2:20 Meet Anne
• 4:12 Like learning an instrument …
• 5:57 Spanish at home
• 7:36 How books can help foreign language learning
• 10:35 Broadening kids’ perspectives
• 12:45 Parenting differently
• 13:51 The Read-Aloud Family
• 15:37 Two resources
• 19:42 Order of learning
• 21:53 Help for single language learners
• 24:43 The reason to expose kids to languages
• 25:41 Tips for finding foreign language books
• 30:03 Favorite books for getting started
• 34:48 Where to find Anne
• 36:02 Let the kids speak

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Links from this episode:

• Order The Read-Aloud Family now anywhere books are sold
• Get the audio version of The Read-Aloud Family (read by Sarah Mackenzie) right here
• Get the booklist! Text BOOKS to 345345 or head to readaloudrevival.com
• Use the hashtag #readaloudfamily to share photos on social media
• Language Learning At Home
  • Anne’s Free Resource Library
  • One Tip for Finding Foreign Language Children’s Books (Buying directly from publishers)
  • Anne’s Twitter
  • Anne’s Facebook
  • Language Learning at Home Community
• RAR #83: Why Read Picture Books with Older Kids
• The International Children’s Digital Library
• RAR #65: How to Best Use and Support Your Local Library
• Anne’s post, Three Unconventional Reasons I Read Aloud to my Kids (a lot!)

Quotes to Remember:

“I want my kids to feel ‘at home’ in both languages—not so that they can check a box on college admissions paperwork or gloat over their bilingualism, but so that they can befriend people from many different cultures around the world. It is my hope that their experience of language learning and cultural education will give them a rich understanding of our beautiful, diverse world, and a humble desire to learn from and serve others.”

“In terms of language learning, reading aloud in a foreign language offers all of the same benefits that you would get from reading aloud in a child’s native language.”

“When our kids learn other languages and learn to relate to the world through other languages they’re getting access to a whole range of emotions and experiences that they otherwise wouldn’t have known if they were to remain speakers of only one language.”

(Download the transcript above for more quotes and pull-outs.)

Books from this episode:

(All links are Amazon affiliate links.)