Studies have shown that students benefit from learning foreign languages at a young age (it has been shown to increase IQ score, same with learning how to play an instrument). There are numerous programs available to teach learners a new language, but one of the best that I have found is Duolingo.
All of my kids get an account on Duolingo once they are old enough to read the words being presented to them. One of the really nice things about it is it can be used as competitive play while kids are learning. My kids are very competitive and love trying to beat one another’s scores. This platform allows them to score points for each lesson they’ve completed and, if you’re friends with someone on Duolingo, it shows you their score on a leader board. My kids will frequently work on this and talk about who they are planning on passing and will continue working on their lessons until they are able to pass that individual (they compete against siblings, parents and cousins).
This platform allows you to learn multiple languages at once, including fictional languages like Klingon. That is another thing that gets my kids learning, is one of mine is interested in Star Trek so wanted to learn Klingon, in order to be allowed to work on those lessons, we have a requirement that the French score (also learning French) is higher than the Klingon one.
Even better, it is free to use (unless you want to pay for things in app), and can be used on a computer or on an iPhone (we haven’t tried it on a tablet, but I’d imagine that is compatible too.
Have you used Duolingo? What languages do you/your students like to learn?
Babbling Brook Homeschool 