Foreign Language Immersion and Homeschooling
Friday, July 7th, 2006By Mimi Rothschild
It is becoming more common for parents who homeschool to think about teaching or helping their children learn a foreign language. At the same time, many homeschoolers are interested in learning another language. Parents want their children to learn another language for a myriad of reasons. Learning another language can open doors culturally, socially, economically, educationally and employment-wise for the homeschooler. It also increases a learner’s communication skills, vocabulary and problem-solving skills. The problem is that many homeschool parents aren’t sure how to introduce another language to their children in their homeschool environment.
Homeschool families have something that families in the public education system don’t: flexibility. If you’re a homeschool parent, you have the ability to participate in your child’s learning and teaching him or her on an ongoing, as-it-comes, wherever-you-are basis. You’re not restricted to the daytime classroom or even your kitchen table.
This flexible, creative, learn through the world around you learning approach is one of homeschooling’s many positive attributes, and can be great for language learning. However, parents who are interested in helping their children learn another language aren’t always exactly sure how to apply that same learning approach and teaching philosophy into foreign language study. This is especially true for homeschool families where the parents are not fluent in or don’t even know the target language themselves.
One fun, different, interesting and effective option to help your child learn another language—even if you can’t speak it—is foreign language immersion. Linguists agree that the most effective way to learn another language, especially for a child, is through complete immersion. Foreign language immersion is a great way for even entire homeschool families to learn another language.
Homeschooling is great in this regard because parents who know the language have the ability to create an immersion-like language learning environment. If you don’t know the language, you can generally find local immersion programs for your homeschooler or even the whole family to participate in. However, many experts recommend homeschool families learning a foreign language in a native-speaking country, because then not only do you get to experience authentic immersion of the language, you also get to experience culture and daily life together as a family.
Total foreign language immersion in a new culture and country is not something every homeschool family will be able to practically embark on, but it definitely is a worthwhile and one-of-a-kind experience for parents and their homeschoolers alike. Foreign language immersion will allow the target language to actually become a part of your family’s life and your lifelong learning experiences together.