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We are looking at the possiblity of having the kids take a summer language course. What language would you suggest and why? Here our elementary kids take an hour of spanish a week.

Great Question and one I have been in some discussions recently with other moms in the area. My DD will be in a Spanish Immersion program this summer. I choose Spanish b/c I live in Texas and she will have more opportunities to use the language but I also know I want her to learn more then 1 language so it is a starting point.

When the conversation turns to her taking Spanish Immersion this opens up the gates and I have heard numerous times how they would have their child learn either Spanish or Chinese but not French, French is dead in their eyes. I am in total shock by such comments.

Here is my take on languages: If your child is going in a more academic world then they will need to know French, German and Latin. If they are specializing in a certain niche such as Latin America or Russia then it is apparent that they will need to know Spanish and Russian.

For our economical world: Chinese is key.

For my child: We will teach her Spanish and/or French and then Chinese while she is young and let her decide where she wants to take it.

Sorry I was Sooooo long winded on that answer. Really has been a hot topic of conversation around me here lately.

Ds6 takes French at his school as part of the curriculum -- I liked that it's a little more challenging than Spanish, where the phonics are almost identical to English. The French provides a bit more challenge for him.

Plus, the French class is much smaller than the Spanish class -- more individualized instruction, more time for each time. You might want to look at enrollment in the classes and find one with fairly low enrollment -- that allows for more time for speaking per child.

What languages are you considering?

Mr W speaks Spanish only during the day. Then English at night and on the weekends.

We'll start Greek and Russian when he is three, then he can go into the Chinese program when he gets into grade school.

We will add summers abroad when he gets a bit older so he can have months in that FL to build total fluency.

Latin when he is in his teens.

I asked this same question on an online forum with many international and multilingual members when I was deciding how to rank the language immersion choices for our magnet school lottery. Most of the responders said that ANY second language would be a gift and that English is so widely understood, the other language could really be chosen for reasons other than its usefulness out in the world. Many of them recommended Chinese because it is more difficult to learn later in life. Some recommended French for various reasons (language of the arts historically; easier to pronounce correctly if you learn it young; like Spanish it's spoken on this continent); and I still wonder whether I should have ranked French higher. Most of the Americans recommended Spanish, which we ended up ranking first in the lottery (we didn't get it). Interestingly, although there are lots of Germans on that forum -- it's the second most common language there after English -- nobody at all recommended German. Still, German is what we drew, so that's what DS will be learning in kindergarten. (I took German in college so that's OK with me.) I want him to learn Spanish too, though, so in time we will see about getting him lessons in that. Perhaps French someday as well.

My husband actually voted for Japanese. (Choices here are Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Japanese.) He doesn't speak it but he's visited the country. But since he let me have final say I ranked the languages that I thought I'd be able to decipher on the homework assignments. Still... the Japanese class will be very small, there's still time to switch to that (just until tomorrow, eek), it would probably be a great challenge for a kid who reads English at a 5th grade level already... (I do a lot of second guessing, you can tell.)

I was also considering a second language this summer with DD11 to help keep her occupied. We have the weekly hour of Spanish here as well, which started in K. She is frustrated with the Spanish because they move at a snail's pace.

Are there any languages that stand out as part of your genealogical background? It may be fun to learn to speak what great-great-great grandpa spoke, and maybe learn about the country too.

Since its just for fun I'm going to find a few with good resources (books, online) and let her choose.

Maybe this would solve my question.

http://www.powerspeak.com/Summer_Sampler_1.html

It is also offered for the middle school grades. Otherwise I was looking at a one semester class for summer. One of my sisters speaks five languages fluently. It was her minor in college and she spent the years before her daughter was born setting up language classes overseas for the government. I had French in high school and remember almost nil this many years later without use. I just think that waiting until high school is counterproductive from everything I have read.

I use the Muzzy program and bought it in Spanish for DD awhile back. She loves it and just recently I got an email for a deal from them: level 1 and 2 for five languages (Spanish, French, German,Italian & English)for the price I paid for the level 1 Spanish edition. I wish they included the Chinese one in the mix but having 4 additional languages is nice. So I am waiting for that in the mail and will be looking to sell my Spanish one on ebay.

Katelyn'sM om,

Is there a special code for this deal?

I found it on my weekly email from homeschoolbuyersco-op.org, which is free. It is listed under Deals of the Month on their site and is offered as a summer class from K12, who then directs you to powerspeak. I believe you can also order it completely on your own directly from K12, either online or over the phone with the number provided.