Education-4Us

Maybe a lot parents hope their children could speak Chinese well, but which kind of Chinese you may want your kids to learn? The truth is that Chinese has some branches, including standard Chinese(or Mandarin), Cantonese, Minnan dialect and so on. But in China generally people use standard Chinese to communicate in case of misunderstanding if other kinds are used. But country people still prefer their own languages, but they can understand standard Chinese if you can speak it. So learning Mandarin should be a wise choice.

First, give the kids simple books to read. Books are always a fascinating stuff. But if teaching a child, you need to choose a book carefully. Most probably choose the simple Chinese books with English explanation and illustrations. Children are always have strong passion in beautiful pictures. If this is put, actually Chinese learning for children can be easy. In fact, other story books with vivid pictures should be suggested. Using small stories, children will learn Chinese quickly. Certainly it will be more wonderful if you as a parent can speak Chinese. Then you can try to read simple Chinese books to your children and explain it if necessary.

Second, choose proper audio materials to listen to. On the Internet lots of audio materials are available, why not choose one for the children? Practically it is suitable to begin with Chinese alphabet, which resembles English very much in letter, only the sounds are different. You had better learn with your kids.

At last, Rosetta Stone Chinese is a typical example for kids. This item contains basic knowledge of Chinese and it is divided into different levels. It is a natural way of learning.

Also learning other languages for kids, like Spanish or English(if you are not native English speakers). When you choose Rosetta Stone Spanish or Rosetta Stone English, you can also find its efficiency.

Certainly you can take your children to China as another good way of learning once you have time and money.

Source : www.1888articles.com 

Have you ever wondered how it is possible that you can speak your native language so easily? When you want to express something, correct phrases and sentences just come to you. Most of this process is unconscious.

Stephen Krashen, a professor at the University of Southern California and a linguistics expert, has developed a hypothesis to explain how this is possible. He used his Input Hypothesis to design what he calls a "natural approach" to learning a language.

Krashen uses "input" in this context to describe the words and sentences that you read and listen to. If you understand these sentences, they are stored in your brain. More specifically, they are stored in the part of your brain that is responsible for language.

Krashen uses his hypothesis to explain how a child learns his or her native language. The child listens to his or her parents and other people. As the child's brain collects these words and sentences, he or she gets better and better at producing sentences on his or her own. By age 5, the child can already speak quite fluently.

According to Krashen's theory, the way to learn and improve is to feed your brain with a lot of input - correct and understandable sentences, written or spoken.

Some cognitive scientists say that watching movies is one of the most natural methods of improving your language skills at any age. Learning English by watching movies is an example of "learning by input."

ReadEnt Reading Movies from SFK Media Specially For Kids Corp. apply this natural method of learning with an innovative tool called "Action Captions." As a child or adult watches the movie, each spoken word appears on the screen as text directly from the person's mouth as it is spoken.

"From the point of view of children and adults learning to read English fluently, especially if it's not their native language, these movies feed the brain with a lot of input," said Len Anthony Smith, chief executive officer of SFK Media. "They learn how to say these words and sentences naturally and, therefore, improve their pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and comprehension quickly and easily."

ReadEnt's Reading Movies are available as interactive DVD programs for use on the TV, computer, video-game console or portable DVD player. They include such classics as "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Tales of Gulliver's Travels" and "The Trojan Horse." They also come with interactive quizzes and games to make the learning experience even more enjoyable for children from kindergarten through eighth grade.


Source : www.readbud.com

In the last article; 'Anybody can learn Spanish' I talked about the different reasons why people might decide to learn Spanish. I also talked about the great sense of achievement that learning another language can bring you. In this article I am going to talk about the different things you should consider before embarking on such a crusade.

I think a lot of people believe that learning another language won't actually be that difficult. Well, maybe it won't be for some, but if like me you have never tried to learn a foreign language before then it may well turn out to be one of the most challenging things that you are ever likely to attempt. Of course I don't want to put anybody off, after all, in my last article I said that anybody can do it. Well, I absolutely believe this, but I also believe that you should realistically think about how and when learning Spanish can be achieved for you.

Of course not everyone is the same. Some of us are better at doing some things than other people are. So, it stands to reason that learning Spanish might be easier for one person than it is for another. The truth is that learning a new language can be achieved by possessing any number of different skills. There is no proven formula for learning a new language that 100% works for everybody! What you need to think about is what methods work best for you.

When I first started to think about how and when I would learn Spanish I honestly thought it was going to be easier than it actually was. I think one reason was because I was comparing myself to the millions of Europeans that fluently speak English. Anyone who has been to Germany, or Scandinavia will know that pretty much everybody can speak English. I thought if so many of them can learn a new language then it couldn't be that difficult!

Now, when I think about Europeans speaking English I realise that they are so good at it because they have been learning it practically since they started to learn their own languages. This is certainly one of the key things that you need to realise about learning Spanish. It will not happen overnight. It is a process that can literally takes years.

Some languages might be considered more difficult to learn than others but of course this is all relative. It is true however, that the structure and functionality of some languages are more similar to each other than they are to others. The structure of the French language for example more closely mimics the structure of the Spanish language than it does English.

I spent a few days on a trip to 'El salar de Uyuni' (a salt lake), in Bolivia with a French girl. Most of the time we spoke in English but we were able to have basic conversations in Spanish too. I didn't realise until the end of the trip that she had only been learning Spanish for a month and yet she was almost as good as I was!!

If you can already speak another language then perhaps learning Spanish will be easier for you. Even if it isn't then at least you will already be prepared for the learning experience that you are about to embark on.

At this stage you might well be thinking, how can I prepare myself for the learning experience that I am about to embark of if I have never tried to learn a different language before? How can I prepare myself for the challenges ahead if I don't even know what the challenges are? The reality is that your not going to know how difficult or easy learning Spanish might be until you actually get started. All I really want to emphasise at this point is that you shouldn't underestimate how difficult and frustrating it might turn out to be. Patience is the key!

Of course you should be very positive and excited about learning Spanish, after all if you don't enjoy doing it then what is the point! Learning Spanish could be one of the most amazing and fulfilling experiences that you have ever had. It certainly has been for me. Believe me, learning Spanish could open new doors in your life that you had never before thought possible.

In the next article I intend to talk about some of the first steps that I took in my path to learning Spanish. I mentioned in the previous article that one of the main reasons I wanted to learn Spanish was because I was about to embark on a long trip to Central and South America. My first steps began before this trip was about to take place. I didn't want to leave England without knowing anything!


Source : www.readbud.com