Kids Are Sponges: Natural Foreign Language Acquisition in Children
While playing at the park this evening, my five year old surprised me by spontaneously counting the numbers 15-19 in French: quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf! He’s had the numbers 1-10 mastered for quite some time. Since I always seem to be teaching him along with other children who are French newbies, he hears those basics over and over.
But 11-20 are brand spankin’ new. Twice this week, we counted numbers on a calendar. Just like that, he’s got it! Then after French at the park, both of my boys piped up with a few words of Swahili for the ride home in the car.
As a mommy, I must say that my children are brilliant, charming, and cool beyond their years. But it seems that every day when I step into the daycare where I teach, equally brilliant kids are blurting out French words or phrases. Parents are telling me stories of the French they are hearing pop up at home. Am I an incredibly talented and amazing teacher? Well, maybe . . . but the truth is that children are at a natural stage of language development.
I know this. I’ve studied this. I’ve preached this. One day soon I’ll post fascinating facts and findings about brain research and open windows of readiness. But still, it’s cool to personally experience just how kids—especially my own kids—are foreign language sponges. Remember, I’m not raising my children in a bilingual home. Some days we have long blocks of immersion French, but mostly I’m just having a blast exposing them to as many new sounds, languages, and cultures as I can in a natural, no pressure way. Every day, I am in awe.
My regular teaching gig at the moment is at a high school. Adolescents . . . gotta love ‘em. And I do, and they accomplish wonderful things. But most of my typical American teenage students are learning a second language for the very first time, and it can be a struggle sometimes. Sponges? Not any more. That window is closed. They can and will become proficient in foreign languages, but never with the ease of young children.
Some people think I push my children with foreign language “study”. Nah . . . we’re just having fun by doing what comes naturally.
Feel free to leave a comment bragging about how your brilliant little sponges are soaking up language and culture, too.
Photo Credit: by sideshowmom http://morguefile.com/archive/?display=54667&
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