Teach Me a Language: Songs for Teaching Kids Foreign Languages

Posted by Diane

July 12, 2008

If you’re looking for a fun way to introduce your child to a foreign language, start with a little music. There’s a great little product called Teach Me Tapes. Well, they were tapes back in the ’80′s when they were first produced. My tapes have been replaced with CD’s for quite some time, of course, but I’m still using these gems years and years later.

The Teach Me CD’s have cute bilingual songs performed by professional musicians. Most tracks are introduced with a short narration by a native-speaking child. The songs are classic, traditional songs from both English and the target culture. My Teach Me French CD is invaluable as I teach French to 3-6 year olds this summer. The kids really like bilingual versions of The More We Get Together, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Kids learn basic vocabulary and phrases with the Teach Me music. Things like greetings, family, weather, alphabet, etc. It’s not a language program in itself, but it’s perfect for introducing kids to language for the first time and for enriching a language program. It’s such a staple of my teaching, it’s hard to imagine life without it.

The original Teach Me CD’s are available in ten languages: English (ESL), French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese, Italian, and Russian.

For additional reading, check out these articles:

How Music Helps Language Learning

Foreign Language Learning Materials for Kids

Want to order Teach Me CDs? Visit the . . .

Foreign Language Fun Store

Chinese, Foreign Language Fun, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Songs, Spanish

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