Best educational resources for your child

Children who can speak more than one language have the gift of cognitive, social, and professional benefits. However, it can be challenging to encourage children to keep up their learning, especially if they’re using English at school, at home, and on the playground (or digital world!) For a younger child, the benefits of slogging through grammar and pronunciation aren’t apparent until later on. Luckily, the internet is now flush with some great resources to promote language learning. Here are five tips for integrating a second (or third) language into everyday life:

1. Switch Between Languages

If you speak the target language, try to accompany English words with their counterpart when possible. For example, if you’re explaining weekend plans, try to explain them in both languages!

2. Movies

Take advantage of the translation options on your child’s favourite movies! For instance, if you have a Disney+ account, the platform supports 14 different languages. They are English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Cantonese, Dansk, Portuguese, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, and Polish. You could turn on the subtitles in a different language, or even set the speech to be in the target language, with English subtitles if your child is frustrated because they can’t fully understand the movie. Learn how to switch the language on Disney+ here.

3. Books

Find books and other media in the target language. For example, the Fraser  Valley Regional Library (FVRL) Overdrive library of e-books has an entire collection of books in French, as does the Vancouver Public Library. There are also collections in many other languages, including Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Italian, Korean, and more! For non-readers, Audible Discovery, a sample of Audible’s e-books available for free right now, has audiobooks in a variety of languages. 

4. Library Resources

Building off that, most libraries will have a host of resources available for cardholders. Here’s a small sample from the FVRL and Vancouver Public Library:

• Vancouver Public Library: Mango Language Learning (for older students, a collection of over 70 self-paced language courses and  Muzzy (language learning through animated videos)

• FVRL: Learning Section (includes Mango Language Learning and more general-purpose sites) and the World Languages Collection

5. Find Other Speakers

Find other people who speak the target language! Especially if you’re able to find another child of the same/similar age, they will likely learn from each other. Your child will not only absorb more vocabulary in a natural way but will also gain more insight into the culture associated with the language they’re learning.