How to learn a foreign language

Try to learn some new words on a regular basis, then gradually learn how to build simple sentences.  Remember to look back often at what you learn to help make what you learn last a lifetime.

When you learn a foreign language it is better to learn new words in topics to make the words you learn easier to recall. The activity books in the range Cool Kids Speak French / German / Italian / Spanish / English have six topics in each book. Each topic begins with a picture page showing the words for that topic. These words are then practised and sentences are built using the words for that particular topic. Finally there is a fun word search to do. The suggested age range is 7 - 11 year olds, but the fun activities may also interest children of other ages learning a foreign language.

Colouring books

Learning your first words in a new language can be fun when you can colour as you learn.  For children who are under 7, there are five colouring books by Joanne Leyland.  The 50 lovely pictures in each book introduce young children to one new word at a time. Once completed, these books will make a great resource to refer back to. In each book there are 50 fabulous pages to colour, and the pages are single sided.

For children aged 7-11, there are the five fantastic colouring books by Joanne Leyland.  The 30 delightful pictures in each book all have borders and are single sided. On each page there are 3 or 4 new words, making a total of 100 words throughout the whole book. Once completed, these books will make a lovely book to refer back to.

Books with 40 fun word searches

With 40 exciting topics, the following books are ideal to help learn or revise useful vocabulary. Throughout each book the word searches appear in fun shapes and pictures accompany the foreign words so that each word search can be a meaningful learning activity. At the back of the book there are vocabulary lists for the 40 topics that are covered in each book, and an answer section. 

One great opportunity to speak a foreign language is to visit the country where the language is spoken, and to complete some simple challenges which involve saying certain things or asking for something. The following three books are in two sections. In the first part you can learn some useful words and phrases. This part can be completed at home, perhaps before a holiday. And in the second part there are 15 challenges to do either whilst away on holiday or through role play pretending to speak to a French person.

Games

The fantastic games in the four books below can be played to either practise individual words or whole sentences. On each page there are the foreign words you need for that game, and for each section there is a list of suggested sentences you could practise as you play the games. The games can be either played at home or in class. For class use, the games are colour coded so you can differentiate your lessons to three different levels of ability. Each section has a set of mini cards that can be photocopied, and there are instructions for 16 different types of activities you can do with the mini cards. Throughout each book you will also find a variety of games which include board game style games like snakes and ladders, three or four in a row, dominoes and co-ordinates.

It's easier to remember new words if you have fun whilst learning, so it's great to play some games to practise new vocabulary.  The five books below are printed in colour and may be photocopied for class or home use.  The fabulous games in these books include a mix of games in the style of board games, dice games, guess the word, 3 in a row and a page of mini cards to photocopy and use to play the pairs card game.

Does reading stories help you develop a foreign language?

We all love stories, and reading a story can be a great way to develop a new language further.

Author Joanne Leyland has written 3 stories which are available in either French, Spanish or Italian.  At the back of these stories is a vocabulary page and this can be used to either learn or revise the key vocabulary that appears in each story.   There is also a translation of the story in each book so you can check you have understood all the phrases.  Finally there are some lyrics that can be sung or made into a rap to further practise the vocabulary that appears in the story.

When you read a short story in a foreign language you may find it easier to just try to pick out some words you recognise the first time you read the story.   The next time you read it you could then try and understand a little more and use the translation at the back of the book to check what some sentences mean.  You could then leave it a few days before reading the story one more time.

A story about an alien:

In the story, an alien visits Earth and he meets a girl. The alien is curious why on the planet Earth there are so many things that they do not have on his planet, so the girl explains why we have various things. The storyline incorporates useful words and phrases from the topics of general conversation, clothes, weather and activities. 

A story about a monkey:

Learning a new language is fun with this delightful story about a monkey that changes colour each time he eats something of a different colour.  What colours will he turn?   Will he ever return to his usual colour?

A story about pets:

This story is all about pets!  In the story, a boy asks his friends if they have a pet.  He discovers that all his friends have a pet.  The boy though doesn’t have a pet, but one day he finds a coin and he makes a wish. Will his wish for a pet come true?

On each of the pages where the friends are asked if they have a pet, the pet can be seen hiding behind a bush. Parents/teachers could ask their little ones what the animal is called in French before turning over the page to see the animal in full and the foreign word for that pet. For each pet, there is a page giving details of the type of pet, the pet’s name, the size of the pet and the colour of the pet - If you like singing then sing each of these 4 lines twice to a made up tune - or you could try saying the words as rap.

How many new words should you learn each week?

It’s useful to think about how many new words you want to try to learn each week. You need to think about if you can set aside a few minutes each day to learn some new words, or if you would prefer to learn some new words over the week, but not every day. If you try to learn 3 words a day, then over a week that would be 21 words, and in a month of 31 days that would be 93 words! And that would be impressive! 3 words a day doesn’t sound much, but 93 words in a month certainly does!

Some people though may prefer to learn some new words over the week, but not every day. That would be fine too! For those wanting a weekly amount of new words to learn rather than learning a few new words each day, 10 new words a week would be a good number to start with, and that would be 40 new words in a 4 week month.   You can always increase or decrease your personal target of words to learn each week, depending on how hard the words are to learn or how much time you can set aside to learn some new words.

For more information about learning French go to:  https://funfrenchforkids.com

For more information about learning Spanish go to: https://funspanishforkids.com

For more information about learning Italian go to:  https://funitalianforkids.com

For more information about learning German go to:  https://fungermanforkids.com

For more information about learning English as a foreign language go to:  https://funenglishforchildren.com

Let's make learning languages fun!