Teaching English as a second language to baby

Hello everybody,
I’d like to teach English to my baby as a second language. He is still 2 months old. When do u think he is ready? What are the expressions or phrases that I should mostly use to teach him English? Any links that help with this?
Thanks :slight_smile:

hi tagy, my suggestion is u can start with baby stimulation flashcard and introduce the family members to her,mom,daddy,nanny,her pets(if any),or her favourite toys. :slight_smile:

thanks a lot but any idea on how to use stimulation cards? Do I have to name the objects or just let my son observe? Any techniques?

Hi Tagy

what do you mean by “2nd language” for English. Do you mean you will teach English less than another language, or only selected words?

From all the right brain methods I have known, your mother tongue language is a foreign language to your baby as much as other languages. Your baby also can absorb anything in any amount that you can present to her/him. So I don’t think you have to limit what to teach in english.

May I suggest that you plan to teach English the same way you plan to teach your mother tongue? You can introduce English in the same sequence/pattern. Say if you plan to teach your baby about family first then colour then shapes etc, then do the same with English lessons.

Saying that, your baby is still 2 months old. I agree with Qisdhi mom that stimulation cards are the way to go. and they are pictures, not words.

You can get ideas on how to present the cards with Doman books (available on amazon.com or IAHP website if you don’t have them already). These books are worth keeping.

I have lent some of my doman books to a friend. will see if the books I’ve got right now telling anything about infant stimulation. If yes I will tell you. My baby started much later so I did not actually do stimulation cards.

Kathy

Ok tagy

I found a fountain of instructions in How smart is your baby. There is so much in there that no way I can cover them all here. And it tells you not just the visual stimulation but mobile, audio etc…

Just give you an example of visual stimulation (page 97):

Contrasting environment:

for every waking moments
10" by 10" black and white checherboard squares
needs a well lighted room or corner of a room. Lighting on checherboard area should be twice the normal ambient light. Light should never in babies’ eyes but directed towards the checkerboard area.

Take 2 large pieces of foam core boards, 30" by 40". Use black construction paper of black poster board to make 10" by 10" black squares. The foam core boards are white so there is no need to make white squares. Make a checkerboard out of these materials.`

If baby is on the floor, the 2 pieces of foam core boards should be placed near to him at right angles, creating a kind of corner (they are against the walls in a corner of the room in the picture). The point is that your baby must be able to see the checkerboard wherever he/she goes. So carry them with you, and place them where your baby can see.

Ok here is another example

Outline bit of intelligence cards

example: square shape - black shape on white background

frequency: 10 daily
intensity: black images on white 11’ by 11’’ posterboard
duration: 5 to 10 seconds
content: 1 to 3 bit of intelligence cards
environment: well lighted room with extra light shining on the cards as they are shown

cradle your baby gently in your arms or place him in a comfortable position on his back on a bed or on the floor. hold the card 12" to 18" from his face and say “square”.

Now wait and give him time to find the card. This may take several seconds. When he finds the card repeat in a loud, clear voice “square”.
now give him a hug and tell him how good he is. at first do only one card per session so not to tire him out.

repeat this 10 times during the day. at the end of the day, retire the square card and choose another simple image like “circle”.

at the end of the week come back to the square card and cycl through these same 7 cards again, one each day.

do this for 3 weeks. now you are ready to move on and start adding new outline cards.

Tagy that’s enough typing for me right now. Hope it helps.

Kathy

Thanks a lot Kathy. This was really helpful. Sorry for replying too late, but I was very busy. What u wrote is really helpful but I still feel confused because I downloaded many cards that have happy,sad…faces and animals and some objects.
Do I have to name all these to my baby? or i just let him look at them (they are stimulation cards, that is black and white). Thanks very much indeed.
Tagy

Hi Tagy,
seems like you ‘pretty blur’ about stimulates cards.hehe.It’s ok dear, if you had downloaded the printout flashcard or power point slide, or maybe using the LR, you can find the instruction to use it:

  • Arrange your flashcards into a pile, in the reverse order with which you want to show the cards to your baby.
  • With your baby near you, simple show the cards one by one, using about 10-15 seconds for each side of the cards.
  • Allow your child to study the patterns and adjust her eyes to the images.

Hope its help u, and don’t wasting so much time on stimulate card,keep it up with others section.so much much much work to do,quick dear! :smiley:

I´ve just joined to the community and when I read this forum, I had some doubts. First: I have a three-year-old baby she doesn´t know to read yet; our first language is portuguese. Should I start teaching her to read in Portuguese or English? or both at the same time? if so, how could it be? thanks a lot.

Thanks again Kathy!

I’d like to ask: When can I start teaching my baby colors by flashcards or do i have to start with something else? My baby is 3 months old now, can anybody help me on what to start with and how? As u can notice i’m a new mother and it’s my first baby. Thanks a lot indeed.

To marimari,
From what i’ve read about raising a bilingual child, u can teach her both at the same time especially if u already speak to her in both languages. hope this helps.

Ok Tagy, thanks a lot. Another help if u can… Do I start using Doman´s method in letters and no picture or Do I use paper A4 with image and words?

From what I have read, there is no reason not to start introducing a second language from birth. Our neighbors’ daughter understood just about everything her father said to her in French at 2 years old – basically had similar comprehension in English and French (the mother speaks to her in English, the father in French – he is fluent though not a native speaker). The mother speaks no French so the child only hears French in the evenings and weekends. I have read that kids growing up in bilingual households may become verbal a little later on average because they are processing everything, but end up being able to better learn foreign languages in the future because their brains get “wired” to learn multiple languages.

There is a great book series by Therese Slevin Pirz, the Bilingual Kids Series. The books are entitled “Kids Stuff German”, “Kids Stuff French” and so on. For ESL learners, I see two listed on the Barnes and Noble site – for Russian speakers and Spanish speakers. I didn’t see you mention your native language so I’m not sure if it will be helpful. The books are basically phrase books with phrases to use in everyday activities with your children (i.e. playing, eating, manners, bath time, etc).

Is it possible to buy used YBCR by here? Is there anybody who can help me on it? I´d like to buy but I don´t have enough money, I looked for in amazon.com but I got fear, any help? thanks a lot.

Marimari,
check this if it’s not too late
http://forum.brillkids.com/coffee-corner-general-chat/cheap-your-baby-can-read-set/msg0/?topicseen#new

Interesting post!
I am also teaching 2 languages to my baby, he is learning Portuguese from me and English from his father from birth…he is 8 months old and understand us both :slight_smile:

thanks a lot Nikolett.