Homeschooling families are often asked “What about foreign languages?” Luckily, there are online learning resources for learning a language, foreign language tutoring websites, language learning software and language education websites to choose from. Additionally, with an increased global economy, homeschool kids can often find local resources for language learning help.
Finally, homeschoolers aren't limited to Spanish and French, the languages taught most commonly in American high schools. They can learn Korean or Japanese, and increase their earnings potential in adulthood by being able to communicate in a language that their public schooled peers weren't exposed to.
Finding Local Foreign Language Learning Resources
Locating people in your community, or even telephone or webcam contacts that you can make in order to help with conversational feedback or to answer quick questions is an important factor if the child wishes to learn a language no one in the home uses. Some ideas for places in the community to find a casual foreign language coach are ethnic restaurants, businesses owners who are available during shop hours, heritage-based social clubs, ethnic markets and grocery stores.
Be creative. The goal here is to find people who speak the language, for a casual real-life tutoring relationship. Don't be shy; tell them you're interested in learning their language and ask specific questions, or just keep them handy for whenever a question arises.
Foreign Language Learning
There are several education websites devoted to teaching foreign languages. You can often download free information, tests or worksheets. For younger students, you can often download coloring pages. If you're learning an Asian language or anything else with a different alphabet, be sure to program your browser to recognize that language and be aware that you might need to download new fonts, and even special order a keyboard with foreign symbols and letters in order to communicate in that language. Tutoring websites are also a great place to look.
Foreign Language Learning Software
You've all heard the commercial for the popular language education software that states “It's so popular even the military uses it.” It's true, the software that's available for learning a new language really tends to be easy for even adults to use. Instead of focusing on written bookwork, like the old high school Spanish text, they start lessons with speaking. Students can load lessons into their iPod and listen during a jog, or even while doing the dishes. Libraries often have copies of the software available for checkout.
Don't let homeschooling prevent you from learning a foreign language. The truth is that you probably have access to a community that's rich and diverse, whether it's online or in your home town. You have more resources available for learning a language and you can choose to devote more of your time to learning how to speak and write in another language. Make use of the people in your community and be open to technological advances in language learning. And most of all, have fun!
