Faultless Spanish Learning for Kids

"10 Common Spanish-Language Mistakes That English Speakers Make". That's the title of one of our most popular blog posts ever. Penned by guest writer Paul Mains of Language Trainers, the post has been shared on social media over 1000 times.

Paul's piece got me thinking - not for the first time - about children learning Spanish as opposed to adults learning Spanish. Do children also make those mistakes Paul talks about when they are learning Spanish as a second language?

Sponges!

Last year I wrote a post in which I pointed out that as language learners children benefit from:

• No preconceived ideas
• Few distractions
• An expanding brain capacity
• Implicit language learning skills (learning without conscious thought)

While I also argued that adults have the ability to be 'natural' language learners too, it's true that we refer to children, rather than to adults, as 'sponges'; they simply 'soak up' what they see and hear and they don't compare one language with another.

All of which means they can learn faultless Spanish. For adults, on the other hand, language learning tends to be much harder (Why? See list above).

How your child will learn faultless Spanish with Speekee:

• Simply Watch, Listen and Learn. So easy!

You'll already know that the basis for learning Spanish with Speekee is video content. Our videos feature real Spanish children, as well as animation, puppets, familiar locations and familiar daily routines.

We know from years of feedback from satisfied customers - parents and teachers - that so many children simply watch and listen, committing everything to memory. Songs, especially, are very 'sticky'!

All of which makes Speekee TV an obvious choice: all 41 Speekee videos, plain and simple!

• Repetition, repetition!

We paid serious attention to language content when devising the two Speekee series, carefully considering which are the most important words in Spanish for any child to learn, and ensuring those words would be heard time and again across the episodes.

• Beyond Repetition

Learning Spanish with Speekee is not just about memorising new language, as I explain in another post about the importance of teaching children to think. In that piece I say: "For us at Speekee, teaching Spanish is not simply about getting students to memorise words and phrases. Sure enough, the language itself must be carefully chosen to reflect a child's linguistic needs in real-life settings, and memorisation forms a part of the learning, but it's more important to cultivate the learner's ability to be flexible with the Spanish learned." That's why we decided to bring in Speekee Play: a virtual world of videos, games, puzzles and more. It's the ideal way to practice and develop the Spanish learned through the videos.

• You can help

One of the earlier extensions to our product range was Speekee FastTrack. Designed with homeschoolers in mind, and this 40-week curriculum has been a big hit over the years. You don't have to be a homeschooler to use it; you just have to want to get involved with your child's Spanish learning. Oh, and if you have a child aged 8+ and want to help them progress in Spanish, then please stay patient a little longer. Our forthcoming Speekee Accelerate program is coming soon! For a preview click here.

• Kids have the advantage over us adults!

As our guest writer Paul says, there are a number of common mistakes which are made by native English speakers when they are learning Spanish. The good news is that when kids learn Spanish it's a different story. They are the lucky ones because they have a sponge-like ability for learning andthey have no linguistic obstacles in their way.

Kids simply copy to learn. How about that?!

Until next time readers,

Jim