Blog: Language Education for Kids

The Social Advantages of Exposure to Other Languages

Recent studies show that “multilingual exposure improves not only children’s cognitive skills but also their social abilities” (“The Superior Social Skills of Bilinguals”, The New York Times, March 11, 2016). Whilst I’m wary of sound bites that may mistakenly encourage us to think that people are ‘superior’ simply by virtue of speaking more than one […]

Why Should Children Learn a Second Language At an Early Age?

Many high schools and colleges in the United States require students to learn a second language. But typically when they graduate, they can hardly remember anything from their classes. So, how do you guarantee your child will become bilingual? Teach them early. There are proven reasons why young kids are better equipped to learn a

Benefits of Bilingualism

Have you ever wondered what benefits your child could receive by learning a second language while they are still young? There are some surprising and wonderful benefits of bilingualism. We have gathered 15 of them for you to consider. A child’s brain is better equipped to learn a new language. They have a higher number

What Are the Best Methods to Learn a Second Language?

Most high schools and colleges require students to take foreign language classes. But, only 20 percent of United States citizens can converse in two or more languages, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Obviously, these statistics show the classes are not working. So how does someone learn a second language? We listed some fun and

Will Learning a New Language Cause a Speech Delay for My Child?

Every child learns at a different pace. For some, learning a new language is a breeze. But for many others, it can be challenging. Will learning a new language cause a speech delay for your child? Possibly, but they will catch up. What would this “delay” may look like? When a child learns two languages

How To Raise a Bilingual Child

DinoLingo tells multicultural families how to raise their children as bilingual. We have tips to help parents teach their children two languages as they grow.

Is It Okay for My Child to Learn Two or More Languages at the Same Time?

Can your child learn two or more languages at the same time? The answer is yes. It’s easier for kids to become bilingual when they learn languages at the same time, rather than learning later in life. However, their development may look a little different than a child learning only one language. The American Speech-Language-Hearing

Top language learning websites and apps 2021

Hello, there are hundreds of language learning websites and apps around the world. We have created the list below by using Google Seo tools & Wikipedia. (USA – Feb 2021). It is not complete. Please feel free to email us your favorite language learning website or app for this page. “x” means the information should

Language learning websites and apps

There are hundreds of different language learning websites and apps around the world besides DinoLingo. The majority of them teach only English since it’s the most popular language to learn. It’s common that different language companies have different methodologies and use different approaches; like the immersion vs. bilingual, gaming vs. memorization, or speaking the language vs.

What Are the Easiest and Hardest Languages to Learn?

There are thousands of languages and dialects used in the world. Some are easier for English speakers to pick up than others. Which languages are the easiest and hardest for English speakers to learn? We answered that question for you below. Easiest: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian are the easiest languages to learn as an English native

How Much Time Should My Child Spend Learning a New Language Online?

Learning a new language takes time. Even for adults, it can be difficult to retain new information about a language. So, how long should children spend learning a new language online? We have some important information for you to consider before deciding what works for your child and family. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends

What Language Should My Child Learn?

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a second language for your child to learn. A second language could help with schooling, future jobs, or could even change their life completely. We put a list together of potential languages your child could learn, and describe why they’re important in today’s world. Spanish:

What Are the Top Ten Endangered and Extinct Languages?

While many languages are thriving in today’s society, others are dying. UNESCO reports that around 43% of the world’s languages are endangered. UNESCO measures how endangered a language is by this scale: Vulnerable: When most people speak the language, but it is used mostly at home and not out in public. Definitely Endangered: When kids

Why DinoLingo is a Great Language Learning Program For Kids

There are dozens of language learning platforms out there for kids. It is important to know which will teach your child correctly, but also keep them engaged. DinoLingo wants kids to enjoy their experience and help them develop a love for their new language. Here are 5 reasons why DinoLingo is a great language learning

The Fastest Way to Learn a Second Language

Constant Practice Practice truly does make perfect. This is reflected in the popular adage from Malcolm Gladwell about the 10,000-hour rule: the idea that it takes approximately 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. When it comes to language learning, the principle holds true. Consistent and smart practice can significantly shorten the

Developing Reading Fluency with Children

In some of our previous blogs, we’ve talked about Enjoying Reading with your Child and Making Reading a Routine Reality. But how about helping children to become independent readers?  Author, teacher trainer, and owner of her own language school in Japan, Mari Nakamura, has developed a Three-Stage Literacy Program at her school, English Square. In

Making Reading a Routine Reality

  1. Make books part of your family life – Always have books around so that you and your children are ready to read whenever there’s a chance. We have a few low bookshelves dedicated to our kids and they’ve always enjoyed being able to access them freely (even if it sometimes drove us to distraction

Best Language methods to learn how to teach kids

Online lessons for kids: dinolingo.com Get fairy tales and storybooks in online or from your local library Children love shared reading time and regardless of language acquisition they will always remember the time they spent with you reading books.Try to find books with good illustrations. Look at the pictures with your child, point to things

HOW TO TEACH KIDS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

  Start Simple Start with some simple greetings and every day words.E.g. good morning/ how are you? Be consistent, use the words or phrases you have chosen every day.  Items in your environment that you see or use every day can be used repeatedly and naturally in the 2nd language.Here you are/thank you, good morning/goodnight,Ball,

The most common 1000 words in every language

At DinoLingo, we do everything possible to make sure the corpus (word list) we present reflects not only English but is inclusive of all languages we offer. Below are the top 2000 words from the corpora of TASA, American Literacy Council, GSL Brown, and Webascorpus versus the word list we have prepared in consultation with

Your Neighbourhood can Determine How Open Minded Your Child is

A recent study found that small children who live in neighborhoods where more than one language is spoken are more likely to learn from and interact with people from different backgrounds. This means, no matter what language is spoken at home if a child grows up in an ethnically rich neighborhood, he/she is more likely

What is the Most Popular 2nd Language around the World?

It is well known that English is the most common foreign language in all around the world but did you know that Tagalog is the most common foreign language in Saudi Arabia and Polish is a language that is very familiar to the British? What is more surprising is Argentinians hear more Italian than Spanish

Trying harder makes language learning more difficult

A recent study conducted at MIT showed that adults’ understanding of grammar decreases if they actively pay attention to grammar and try to decode unfamiliar grammatical structures. The study which made the subjects listen to an artificial language for 10 minutes either passively or actively concluded that listening while focusing on grammar actually reduced the

It is not only about the words

When individuals study foreign languages they tend to focus on expanding their vocabulary as fast as they can without paying attention to paralanguage that is “how” people say things versus “what” people say. During these days where everybody is talking about soccer/football, one can see how much variation there is when it comes to saying

Speaking Two Languages Strengthens the Mind

It has been already proven that speaking two languages delays dementia. A research team from Scotland provided further evidence to this fact by conducting another study with 835 subjects where they controlled the early childhood IQ. They measured the cognitive abilities of the participants when they were 11 and after they reach their 70’s. The findings indicated

INFOGRAPHIC Most Spoken Languages on Twitter

Our research shows us that: English is the most used language on Twitter. However, this is lower than the popularity of English on other platforms: e.g.  more than 50% of websites all around the world are in English. Japanese is the 2nd most popular language on Twitter despite the fact that it is the 9th

What to do when bilingual kids mix languages

What to do when bilingual kids mix languages (code-switching, a.k.a. code-mixing)• Don’t worry if your child mixes languages—language mixing is a common (and typically short-lived) phase of bilingual development.• Trust your child is not confused—she may not know (or be able to explain) that she’s using two languages, but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest

Can Language DVDs teach Babies? A Closer look

The short answer is yes, simply because language DVDs make babies process audio information coupled with visual information either passively or actively. This process in turn influences the phoneme differentiation (which naturally deteriorates after 8 months of age) and increases familiarity with different sounds. When children pay attention to the material, they acquire receptive or expressive

Bilingual Kids Differentiate Languages

According to Kansas University psychologist Michael Vivevitch, bilinguals do not confuse the languages they speak mostly because each language has a unique sound neighboring system. In other words, just like human DNA where A, T, G, C have an identifying order, the sounds that follow each other in Spanish and English are different. Thus, bilinguals

Language learning process of children

Birth: Early crying, babies’ attempt to communicate 5 months: Cooing, making sounds like ga-ga, gu-gu 1st birthday: a few words like doggie, milk, dada 18 months~24 months: 2-word phrases such as eat now or baby cry 2 years~: Acquisition of  about 200 new words a month 2.5 years: 3-word sentences such as no want carrots

Do Baby Signs Programs (Sign Language) Make Smarter Babies?

To investigate the question of whether baby signs programs help children acquire language earlier or advance their cognitive development, in 2003 researchers J. C. Johnston and colleagues examined seventeen recent studies of baby signing. Johnston found that the studies did not support the big claims made by the infancy industry, that baby signs help make

Do children learn languages faster than adults?

At Dino Lingo, we get this question quite often… Contrary to the common belief, children cannot acquire foreign languages in a shorter time span compared with older learners. This is just a myth since most people compare kids from immigrant families with their parents without keeping in mind that these children experience a higher level

How to Teach Toddlers and Infants a Language

Creating Good Language Learning Environments for Very Young Children (Ages 0–2) (p. 63) • Direct lots of rich, meaningful speech toward your child from birth. • Encourage friends, relatives, babysitters, siblings, and other visitors to speak and play with your child in the second language. • Engage in interactions that pique your child’s interests—for example, by

What to do when children reject to speak in the 2nd language

What to do when children reject to speak in the 2nd language (e.g. Spanish) Cases that worked (from Bilingual Edge p. 244-245) “• Anna (mother of Javier, age five): “We’ve had the most success using reverse psychology. Javier is super strong-willed and it’s actually helped at times to say to him something like ‘Spanish is

How to Raise a Bilingual Child: The Key to a Happy Bilingual Family

So far there has been quite amount of literature on second language acquisition in bilingual families. In the past there was a widely held belief that learning a second language during very early childhood might cause speech delay or cause some mental impairments. After hundreds of scientific studies these both notions were proved to be

Top Ten Reasons Why Speaking Two Languages Is so Cool

Top Ten Reasons Why Speaking Two Languages Is Cool 10. I can have private conversations in my second language. 9. When I told (friend, teacher, neighbor) that I speak two languages, s/he was thrilled/very impressed. 8. I can meet more people from around the world (list of potential places where your child can meet people

Types of bilingual education

TYPES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION “Maintenance bilingual education: These programs are to help children become both and biliterate. In the United States, students in such programs typically speak a language other than English at home. Transitional bilingual education: These programs aim to help children transition from their native language for example, Spanish, Cambodian, Portuguese, Arabic) to

30+ Reasons Learning a Second Language is Good

1 A child’s brain has a higher number of synapses (compared with an adult brain) and greater plasticity. This means children naturally can learn languages better than adults.2 A study which assessed math and language scores of 2 groups (1 group studied 30 minutes of Spanish for 1 semester and the other comparable group did

How to Create a Good Language Learning Environments

How to Create a Good Language Learning Environments for Preschoolers • Have fun integrating the language as a part of your daily routines. For example, sing morning songs in the language, play alphabet, and counting games, guessing games, and have a word of the day.• Read stories to your child in the language. Keep these

Marry a foreigner: Why or why not

Since many activities in marriage are joint, such as the raising of children, the purchase of a house and other consumer durables, and the spending of leisure time, dissimilarity in taste would complicate these shared activities. People prefer to marry someone who has similar cultural resources because this enables them to develop a common life-

Bilinguals see the world in a different way

ScienceDaily (2011-03-15) — Scientists have found that regularly speaking in a second language makes you literally see the world in a different way. Color perception is an ideal way of testing bilingual concepts because there is a huge variation between where different languages place boundaries on the color spectrum.  Online lessons for kids: dinolingo.com

Does it help to talking seriously with children?

How adults talk to children aged 3 to 6 years during conversations has a major influence on their language acquisition. Those who address children as fully-fledged conversation partners lay an early basis for the development of ‘academic language’, says a Dutch researcher.   Online lessons for kids: dinolingo.com

What are the top ten most widely spoken languages?

TOP TEN MOST WIDELY SPOKEN LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD (PERCENT OF WORLD POPULATION) (CIA world fact book ) 1. Mandarin Chinese – 882 million 2. Spanish – 325 million 3. English – 312-380 million 4. Arabic – 206-422 million 5. Hindi – 181 million 6. Portuguese – 178 million 7. Bengali – 173 million 8. Russian

Bilingual Edge: Book Review

Bilingual Edge: Why, When and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language by Kendall King, PhD  & Alison Mackey, PhD BOOK REVIEW Source: King, K., & Mackey, A. (2007). The bilingual edge: Why, when, and how to teach your child a second language. New York: Collins In the first chapter, King and Mackey list dozens if

Who is truly bilingual Anyways?

According to the book “bilingual edge” balanced biliguals are the ones who 1. Read a newspaper article in both languages equally quickly and with equal understanding? 2. Tell a joke or give a toast that was equally funny in both languages? 3. Explain to their child in both languages why it is not okay to,

What is the most difficult language to learn? Chinese!!!

What is the most difficult language to learn in the world? Have you ever wondered? I always thought the language I was studying was the most difficult one to learn:))) It turns out The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the US Department of State did a research to find out how long it takes to learn

What to do when a child does not want to speak another language

Whenever possible, try to spend at least a little one-on-one time with each child. This can be something as simple as reading a quick story, playing a game, or taking a trip to the grocery store together. Make this a special time to practice language skills. When older children go to school, make the alone

Language Development and Delayed Speech

Bilingual Babies and Late Talker Syndrome & Apraxia Babies are usually expected to talk (utter 40-80 words) around the age of 1.5. Some parents might panic if their 18 months don’t say even one word. The reality is, if a baby doesn’t talk at this stage, that does not mean there’s a problem with the

Can DVDs Teach Kids Languages?

The short answer is yes simply because language DVDs make babies process audio information coupled with visual information passively or actively which influence the phoneme differentiation and increase familiarity with the sounds. When children pay attention to the material, they acquire receptive or expressive vocabulary as explained below. If they don’t pay attention to the program they

Quotations about Knowing more than 1 language

“All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.” Gordie Howe “Just learning to think in another language allows you to see your own culture in a better viewpoint.” Gates McFadden “He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.”

Is Online Instruction Better than Offline Instruction?

A recent study indicates that  online learning is as effective as, if not more, than traditional face to face instruction. According to a meta-analysis conducted by Barbara Means, Yukie Toyama, Robert Murphy, Marianne Bakia and Karla Jones from the Center for Technology in Learning which analyzed 99 studies by comparing on-line and off-line education between

Which language teaching method is the best?

Up to date, a number of academic studies have investigated the relationship between applied linguistics and language pedagogy. While –among the two most popular techniques–grammar-translation has been regarded as outdated, immersion only programs are also the target of some harsh criticisms. At Dino Lingo, we reviewed both of the methods and summarized the pros and

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