Patricia Kuhl, a professor at the Center for Brain and Learning at the University of Washington, gave a TED talk: Babies' Genius Language Ability. Kuhl believes that babies are geniuses of language learning, and the key stage of language learning is before the age of 7.
Professor Kuhl confirmed through experiments:
Between 6 months and 1 year, the baby's brain will begin the first sensitive period of language learning. Although babies in this period can't understand words, they are very sensitive to phonemes. The conclusion of the experiment is that infants aged 6-8 months can learn foreign languages as well as their mother tongue. Before the age of 7, children will enter the second language sensitive period. Professor Kuhl believes that children can learn a second language quickly and fluently before the age of 7. However, with the growth of age, the ability to master a second language will become weaker and weaker, so the younger the child, the stronger the language learning ability. Know that the earlier children are exposed to foreign language enlightenment, the better. It is expensive to enroll children in English training institutions, but their English foundation is still very poor. Worried that teaching children is not enough, what should I do?
Don't worry, master the method. Parents with poor English foundation can also give their babies English enlightenment at home. I hope these three methods can help you.
Familiar with common English items
Learn English words from common things in life, such as bananas and apples. If you are familiar with common things in life in English, you will have more opportunities to speak. Children don't need to learn spelling, they can say the corresponding words as long as they see objects.
(1) Practice pronunciation repeatedly in the game of "Little Tree Growing"
Simply letting children practice the pronunciation of words repeatedly will be boring. You can encourage your baby to practice repeatedly through games. For example, in the game "Little Tree Growth", you and your baby squat down and become a small tree. Say the word once and it will grow tall until it grows into a big tree.
(2) One person gestures and one person guesses.
If you learn animal words, you can play a game of guessing animals with your children. For example, a rabbit, parents can draw the rabbit's long ears or imitate the rabbit to let the child guess, and conversely, let the child draw the parents' guess, which can exercise the baby's imitation ability.
(3) Listen to English children's songs.
Many English children's songs that teach your baby to learn words should be listened to by your baby to deepen your memory.
Have a simple daily conversation in English
It is not enough just to learn words. Communication is the most critical step in English learning. One of the two key points of language learning put forward by Professor Kuhl is communication. Let's start with simple daily conversations, such as greeting each other, seeing each other after breaking up, asking for names and ages, and so on.
Words and sentences are learned in no particular order, and their learning is complementary. Learning words can make simple sentences, and learning sentences can contact unfamiliar words.
(1) draw inferences from one instance to another.
To learn a sentence pattern, you should learn to use it flexibly. For example, if you learn "I like … (I like)", you can use it in many places, such as "I like apples". I like apples. I like bananas. I like bananas. )"
(2) Cycle practice
In the dialogue, let the father ask the child a question first, such as "what color do you like?" What color do you like? ) ",the child replied" I like ... (I like) ",and then asked the baby to ask his mother, and the mother asked his father ... to practice questions and answers in cycles.
Know letters, but you don't have to know how to recite and write.
Listening and speaking is the goal of English enlightenment. Knowing letters is preparing for writing. There is no need for children to write in all enlightenment periods. Just get to know them first. Don't force the baby to instill in advance.
Looking for word games
Prepare 26-letter cards and some word cards, and then draw out one of the letter cards, such as A, so that children can find all the cards with the letter A in the word cards, which can exercise concentration and memory at the same time. Games are an important way for preschool children to learn. We should create more interesting learning methods, so that children will be more willing to learn.