What happens when you roll language, music, movement, play and fun all together? You get Music Lingua, a growing language learning movement for kids set to “change the world one language at a time.” Music Lingua, based in the U.S, is a language learning company for kids from zero to eight that provides group courses in thematic units. And they do not only offer lessons in German! French and Spanish is taught as well from the over thirty-five Music Lingua teachers spread across the U.S. and Canada.
Fun While Learning
Music Lingua’s mission is to provide high-quality, engaging language lessons through music, movement, story-telling, art and drama to children. There are no grammar structures, memorization or written homework assignments to do. Instead, the lessons are aimed at tapping children’s natural ability to learn any language when young, based upon current, leading language learning research such as Dr. Tulare’s Facilitative Approach, Dr. Asher’s Total Physical Response., to name just a few. Further, many classes are parent-child classes, so parents learn along side as well and can engage in the learned dialogue with their children during the week.
Each thematic course includes learning to count, greet, name colors, and season-specific vocabulary and phrases that deal with weather, seasons, or clothing. Added to that is the unit’s target conversational phrases that is built upon previous courses. In light of that, there is no need for children to follow a sequence of courses. All vocabulary in each lesson is previewed and reviewed multiple times so that a child that has taken just one course can follow along just as much as the child that has taken several courses.
According to testimonials on Music Lingua’s website, the children pick up the phrases at a quick rate, with good pronunciation and remember them easily, due in part to homework activities they can do at home as well.
Each thematic course includes learning to count, greet, name colors, and season-specific vocabulary and phrases that deal with weather, seasons, or clothing. Added to that is the unit’s target conversational phrases that is built upon previous courses. In light of that, there is no need for children to follow a sequence of courses. All vocabulary in each lesson is previewed and reviewed multiple times so that a child that has taken just one course can follow along just as much as the child that has taken several courses.
According to testimonials on Music Lingua’s website, the children pick up the phrases at a quick rate, with good pronunciation and remember them easily, due in part to homework activities they can do at home as well.
More than Just Lessons
Upon registration in a course, Music Lingua students receive an activity package in a nifty, recyclable canvas bag. This kit includes: a thematic music CD of the songs sung in class, a bilingual music activity booklet and a bilingual storybook (with CD) plus a plush animal. The parents are encouraged to play the CDs as much as possible out of class to reinforce what the children have already learned.
I received the kit and tested it out on my own children. They were singing and bopping along in no time. That might seem obvious, but some advantages that Music Lingua’s CDs offer over a regular German CD for children are the following:
Before each song there is a short German dialogue with English translation introducing the target phrases and words of the upcoming song. The song’s language is simpler and more repetitive than a regular German children’s song. The songs serve to reinforce target vocabulary that was learned during class and is reviewed in the storybook and activity booklet.
Out of curiosity, I counted how many target phrases and vocabulary was in one of my daughter’s favourite songs, Guten Morgen from Eine Safari in Afrika CD – over ten phrases in just one song! Some of the phrases reviewed in this song are the following: Wie geht’s Dir? Es geht mir gut. Wie heißt du? Es freut mich. Ich liebe dich.; Schlaf schön.
They are all sung to the beloved tune of Are You Sleeping?
In addition to animal words in the Safari themed music CD, descriptive adjectives, action verbs and even a few phrases that contain the past tense are reviewed. Most of the songs learned at Music Lingua contain both traditional German and English folk songs, sung by different people, to which the words have been changed to suit the specific language needs.
I received the kit and tested it out on my own children. They were singing and bopping along in no time. That might seem obvious, but some advantages that Music Lingua’s CDs offer over a regular German CD for children are the following:
Out of curiosity, I counted how many target phrases and vocabulary was in one of my daughter’s favourite songs, Guten Morgen from Eine Safari in Afrika CD – over ten phrases in just one song! Some of the phrases reviewed in this song are the following: Wie geht’s Dir? Es geht mir gut. Wie heißt du? Es freut mich. Ich liebe dich.; Schlaf schön.
They are all sung to the beloved tune of Are You Sleeping?
In addition to animal words in the Safari themed music CD, descriptive adjectives, action verbs and even a few phrases that contain the past tense are reviewed. Most of the songs learned at Music Lingua contain both traditional German and English folk songs, sung by different people, to which the words have been changed to suit the specific language needs.
Why Should Your Child Learn a Second Language?
You probably wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t interested in learning foreign languages and knew of the benefits associated therefrom. With young children however, the benefits are even greater. Infants are born with a brain prewired for learning anything and could learn several languages if taught in a systematic and engaging manner. Scientists have confirmed that exposing a child to a second language early on in life creates neuron connections that otherwise would not be formed. If these connections are not “programmed” by age eight, they fade and language learning starts to become difficult. Research has shown, that one of the advantages of learning a second language is an increased ability in mathematics and logic.
Become A Music Lingua Teacher:
If you enjoy kids, speak conversational German and have a good pronunciation, then Music Lingua is looking for you. The training is done at home at your convenience with a DVD and other materials that are provided through mail. They also send you all the lesson materials you require to teach a course, so that there is minimal lesson preparation at your end.
