Where do I start? What I did to start teaching my kids Korean.
If you're reading this you might be like I was 2 years ago. I wanted to teach my kids a foreign language. I wanted them to start learning while their brains are young and sponge-like and ready to absorb new information easily.
I had been thinking about this foreign language learning thing for a few years but was plagued with my fantastic ability to overthink and over-analyze everything. Which language should I choose? One that I know or something more commonly heard in America like Spanish? Is it too late? Should I teach them myself or hire a tutor? Should I use YouTube videos or books or buy a big expensive program? What if they hate it? How can I make them love it? Do I have time? Heck, do I have the energy to add one more thing to our days? What if I get bored with making them learn a new language? Will they ever actually use the language? Why am I trying to answer all of these questions? Why can't I just START?!
'START' seemed too easy and too simple. Learning a language takes years with lots of complicated grammar rules to learn and subtle nuances of conversation to digest, so how can I just start? I searched the web for programs or books that would help me teach my kids myself - I'm cheap to the core and figured I knew enough Korean to get them started, right? Buuuut I never sat them down and taught them anything. After realizing this and scouring the internet for beginning Korean lessons of some sort I found 'Little Pim' videos for very small children. My kids were 5 and 10 at the time and after hemming and hawing (very technical terms for my fantastic ability to over-analyze everything), I decided that's where I would start. Luckily, the site had a half price sale going so the 3 videos were only $20 including tax. I'll give a full review of these videos in the future but suffice it to say that it was beginner enough and easy enough to just turn on to consider this a good start.
I watched the videos with my kids and had them repeat the words after the characters. It was working! They were learning a few words and showed enough interest that I was motivated to move on to the next step. Whatever that was.
Hmmm...now what? These videos worked great for car rides and sit down snuggle time on the couch but clearly was just the beginning. Life happened and I didn't really get back to answering my question but kept it flickering in the back of my mind. That summer, we made our way to Utah to visit family and I was introduced to Duolingo by my nephew who was learning Spanish. An app! Yes, an app is a great idea! My 10 year old could handle that but the 5 year old may not be ready for it yet. I tried it myself first for awhile. "Wow, I remember Korean!" and also "Good grief, did I even learn this language?". Good eye-opener. FYI, if you don't practice a language for months or years, it can kind of trickle way down into your brain and not want to come out of hiding. It's still there and you know it's there, it's just ignoring you like you ignored it. More on Duolingo later but I like it.
What I learned about starting is something probably pretty obvious to all of you: doing SOMETHING is waaaaay better than just thinking about it (or over-analyzing it). If you're not sure where to begin, start with YouTube videos, other simple and entertaining kid videos, or even just an app like Duolingo. They're free and if nothing else, just listening to a foreign language will help you and/or your kids start recognizing that it's Spanish, Korean, Chinese or Russian - or whatever your little heart(s) desire.
열씸히 해 !
Sarah
POST Notes:
1- Links are NOT Sponsored but I like them enough to pass along.
2 -Little Pim: https://www.littlepim.com/
3 -Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/
4 -Why I started teaching my kids Korean: https://imteachingmykidskorean.blogspot.com/2019/11/hello-to-my-kids-from-your-semi-tiger.html
5 -Translation: 열씸히 해 ! (yul shim hi hay) is an expression that means 'work hard, be diligent'. It's in lower form and basically something you could tell your friends as a form of 'goodbye'.
I had been thinking about this foreign language learning thing for a few years but was plagued with my fantastic ability to overthink and over-analyze everything. Which language should I choose? One that I know or something more commonly heard in America like Spanish? Is it too late? Should I teach them myself or hire a tutor? Should I use YouTube videos or books or buy a big expensive program? What if they hate it? How can I make them love it? Do I have time? Heck, do I have the energy to add one more thing to our days? What if I get bored with making them learn a new language? Will they ever actually use the language? Why am I trying to answer all of these questions? Why can't I just START?!
'START' seemed too easy and too simple. Learning a language takes years with lots of complicated grammar rules to learn and subtle nuances of conversation to digest, so how can I just start? I searched the web for programs or books that would help me teach my kids myself - I'm cheap to the core and figured I knew enough Korean to get them started, right? Buuuut I never sat them down and taught them anything. After realizing this and scouring the internet for beginning Korean lessons of some sort I found 'Little Pim' videos for very small children. My kids were 5 and 10 at the time and after hemming and hawing (very technical terms for my fantastic ability to over-analyze everything), I decided that's where I would start. Luckily, the site had a half price sale going so the 3 videos were only $20 including tax. I'll give a full review of these videos in the future but suffice it to say that it was beginner enough and easy enough to just turn on to consider this a good start.
I watched the videos with my kids and had them repeat the words after the characters. It was working! They were learning a few words and showed enough interest that I was motivated to move on to the next step. Whatever that was.
Hmmm...now what? These videos worked great for car rides and sit down snuggle time on the couch but clearly was just the beginning. Life happened and I didn't really get back to answering my question but kept it flickering in the back of my mind. That summer, we made our way to Utah to visit family and I was introduced to Duolingo by my nephew who was learning Spanish. An app! Yes, an app is a great idea! My 10 year old could handle that but the 5 year old may not be ready for it yet. I tried it myself first for awhile. "Wow, I remember Korean!" and also "Good grief, did I even learn this language?". Good eye-opener. FYI, if you don't practice a language for months or years, it can kind of trickle way down into your brain and not want to come out of hiding. It's still there and you know it's there, it's just ignoring you like you ignored it. More on Duolingo later but I like it.
What I learned about starting is something probably pretty obvious to all of you: doing SOMETHING is waaaaay better than just thinking about it (or over-analyzing it). If you're not sure where to begin, start with YouTube videos, other simple and entertaining kid videos, or even just an app like Duolingo. They're free and if nothing else, just listening to a foreign language will help you and/or your kids start recognizing that it's Spanish, Korean, Chinese or Russian - or whatever your little heart(s) desire.
열씸히 해 !
Sarah
POST Notes:
1- Links are NOT Sponsored but I like them enough to pass along.
2 -Little Pim: https://www.littlepim.com/
3 -Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/
4 -Why I started teaching my kids Korean: https://imteachingmykidskorean.blogspot.com/2019/11/hello-to-my-kids-from-your-semi-tiger.html
5 -Translation: 열씸히 해 ! (yul shim hi hay) is an expression that means 'work hard, be diligent'. It's in lower form and basically something you could tell your friends as a form of 'goodbye'.
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