Top 5 Video Tips to Promote Acquisition

This blog post was written as a guest post for Gus on the Go which can be viewed here. 

Videos have been a large part of my life for about a decade now. The first video I made was for an education class. I learned iMovie and have been creating videos ever since. It wasn’t until June 2011, however, that my use of video really started positively effecting my life. This was when I created my first video channel on YouTube. I have since created and uploaded hundreds (possibly thousands) of videos on my various channels. At first, this TED Talk was an inspiration to me at first, as was Sylvia Duckworth. Then I started uploading videos of my children and students and then they became my inspiration! What I found was that videos can be an engaging and motivating force in both the bilingual home and the World Language classroom. I now use video to help teach my children and students and their language acquisition is definitely benefiting!

It is important to remember that you cannot simply put a child in front of a screen and expect them to learn. Therefore, I have compiled a list of my top 5 tips for incorporating videos into the lives of children acquiring a language:

1. ENGAGE - Videos must engage the child to promote acquisition

This may seem like common sense, but sometimes I feel as a parent, I assume my children are going to like a cute animated video because I think it's fun...but that is not always the case. If the child isn't fully engaged, and interested in what they are watching, then the video has very little or no positive effect on their language acquisition. We also must remember something that is engaging for one child may not be for the next. I have learned to check with my children before creating a new educational game, story, song, app-animation, or video to share on my YouTube Channel or Teachers pay Teachers store. If neither of them like the idea, I know I have a lot of work to do!

2. PARTICIPATE - Audience participation is a bonus

Whenever a video elicits your child to participate, that is a bonus for their language acquisition. What I look to see in my children as they watch a video is for them to be so curious they want to stop and ask questions. I want to see them singing the theme song and standing up to dance along when the characters do. I want to see them participate in some manner that shows they are engaged and they comprehend what is going on. Such participation is not mandatory for acquisition to occur, but I cannot help thinking it is a very good bonus for your little linguist! Your child will find the video even more memorable if you are able to participate alongside him or her!

If you'd like some interactive French or Spanish videos that will entice your child to participate, please visit my French and Spanish Kinesthetic Video playlists on my channel! I have also created an interactive Easter egg video story where children can count along and do simple math problems. You can find it in English and Spanish in my TpT Store. I also find that predictable video stories encourage participation, such as this Halloween story (Full story on TpT).

3. INTERACT - Combine videos with human interaction

People acquire language from human interaction and not from videos. However, videos are an incredible way to supplement your child's language acquisition! Use the videos as a starting point, pausing often to discuss what just happened in the target language. If the video follows tips 1 and 2 above, then you will be at no loss to find ways to engage your child both before, during and after the video in the target language! If you are watching a video series (my children are currently watching Ontario's "Telefrançais") then you can ask questions about what they remember from the last video and ask them to predict what may happen this time. If they have never seen the video, you can show them the first few seconds and then pause it to ask them to predict what the video is about. You could even learn something from a video and then perform it with your child, recording yourselves. Then you can refer back to the video from time to time to share a fond memory of the fun learning time you had together! You could also use apps to create your own videos or animations together. As your children grow, it’ll be fun to look back at them to see how far they have come in their language skills! Here’s some examples of video souvenirs created together with children learning English and French.

4. CHALLENGE - Videos should be a little above the child's current ability

"The input hypothesis states that learners progress in their knowledge of the language when they comprehend language input that is slightly more advanced than their current level. Krashen called this level of input "i+1", where "i" is the language input and "+1" is the next stage of language acquisition." (Wikipedia)

This seems to make sense, doesn't it? Unless you are providing your child with something that has at least a little new content for them, they will not progress. It is not a good idea to have them watch videos that are way above their level of ability, unless the video is so completely and utterly engaging to your child that they just don't care whether or not they understand it. I highly recommend creating your own YouTube Channel, as I have here, even if you don't plan on uploading any videos. You can learn the basics on how to get started with YouTube by checking out this amazing document created by Sylvia Duckworth. If you are teaching your child French, be sure to check out Sylvia’s awesome channel here! She has a lot of amazing uploads both original and where she has added French subtitles, like this adorable one about “Petit-Bleu et Petit-Jaune” she also has a lot of amazing playlists!

Creating a channel allows you to make playlists, and there's no limit to how many you can make. So if your child is really interested in dinosaurs and trains this year, and s/he is just beginning to learn a second language, you could create a dinosaur and train playlist for beginners in the language. As your child progresses, you can make a new playlist for their new level of ability or add videos onto any playlist at any time. Creating playlists also provides parents with the chance to preview videos and then share the videos with your child knowing full well that they are appropriate for their language level and interests. I create playlists on my iPad’s YouTube app, then use my Google Chromecast to allow my children to watch the playlists on the television.

A good place for you to start finding videos for your young child in English, French, or Spanish may be these three playlists I've put together over the years: French for young learners, English for young learners, and Spanish for young learners.

5. RELIVE - We've watched some videos...Now what?

After the video is watched and the content is learned, be sure to use what you've learned in your day-to-day life with your child. The real-life interaction with the language is what will allow children to acquire the language and keep it with them for the rest of their lives. If the video teaches a certain skill like counting or colors or food, then make it a point to incorporate those words into your daily life, even if it means learning along with your child. Whatever you do, spend some fun quality time together as that will be more important to your child's acquisition than the video itself.

Additionally, it is also a good idea to REPEAT the videos your child enjoys most. I know that when my children find one they adore, they can watch it a dozen times! This is a wonderful thing for language acquisition as it provides a healthy amount of pleasant repetition which is necessary for acquisition to occur.

Above and beyond everything else, remember to have fun with language with your little ones and those good feelings will do a world of good for your child's language acquisition!

Proud Mommy Moments

Written October 19th: At a birthday party today, my six-year-old daughter started teaching some French to one of the other kids there. One of the adults was asking her to share some of the French she knew and then she opted to begin teaching one of the children some simple phrases and vocabulary. I didn't witness this, but the adults came to tell me. In fact, the parent of the child being taught was the one who happily reported it.

November 6, 2013
Tonight during our bedtime ritual, there were two precious moments that I wish I could bottle up and relive down the road when the kids grow up. First, after my daughter read her English book from school, she asked if she could read one of the French books we had chosen. It was this adorable book called "Bonne nuit, je t'aime" by Caroline Church:

This is a very familiar book, however, it has several very difficult words. Nevertheless, she insisted she must read it, and with some help, she got through it! It definitely helped that we have read it dozens of times!

Secondly, tonight my 4-year-old son had a major break through. He joined me in singing this French lullaby that I've been singing to him for over half a year now. In this video, you will hear my daughter's voice, not my son's...perhaps he will let me record him singing with me sometime soon?!

This wouldn't really be a break through except that my son has gone through a lot in terms of his hearing and has even gone through phases where he didn't want lullabies. He was very sensitive to the sounds of singing. But lately he has been allowing me and requesting that I sing him lullabies. He hasn't ever really sung a lullaby with me before, so to hear him utter those words with me in song was incredibly touching. The fact that it was in the language he rarely produces was simply amazing.

It was a good night! 

Chantons avec Boowa et Kwala

Boowa et Kwala have filled our lives with the joy of singing and dancing in our target language! Thanks to UpToTen.com, the "Sunny Earth Kids," Soleil and Géo, go around the house joyfully singing and dancing in French! I end up singing a lot of their songs and I often change the words to fit whatever is going on at that moment. I find that narrating our life, sometimes through singing, is one way I can keep the language input at a maximum without sounding like a narrator.

For anyone wanting fun, free resources for French or English, then UpToTen's Boowa & Kwala may be for you. It is geared toward young children and is available in English by clicking on the little flag that is found between the "Chercher" and the "Parents" icons at the top of the page. Depending on where you are in the site, the option to change the language may vary:

You can purchase the premium version that offers an ad-free version. There is also a version for schools!

The children are really enjoying the games section. I will write a future blog post about the games. When the kids were too young to play the awesome games, we used to listen to "les chansons non-stop" which has over 90 adorable songs with fun animations. We listened to these songs so many times that I have memorized several of the tunes and some of the lyrics. These are the songs that I change the words to in order to narrate our daily life and to create some fun kinesthetic moments in French. Here's an example of a favorite song that came to mind as we checked out our "new dance floor" which now is our living room:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/J5GBTw5Qujo]

Check out the adorable animation the above song came from. I can remember when the kids were younger, we used to play "La danse des bouées" and the children would follow the lead of Boowa et Kwala, falling dizzily to the floor at the end in hysterics! Sometimes they'd get me to join them. Writing this now is making me want to remind them of these times and see if they want to try it again! It is so perfect for language learning since they are actually acting out what they're singing.

Every song in this section has a little "P" by the control buttons at the bottom left corner. The "P" stands for "paroles," so by clicking the lyrics will pop up. I love this feature. Sometimes I needed that visual of the lyrics to be able to sing fast enough to keep up in French. I am not a native-speaker, after all, and I've been teaching Spanish for 15 years! I really appreciate this little "P"!!!!

Here are some examples of other songs that we listened to over and over that include something interactive and/or repetitious to boost  children's language acquisition.

Les grenouilles: Song that teaches how to count up to six, and we always like to croak like frogs at the appropriate moment! CROA! As a lover of puns, I loved the play on the words "quoi" and "croa"! :)

Bisou, câlin et doudou: I have sung Boowa's part as a lullaby for my little loves.

Dodo Boowa et Kwala: Another lullaby that we just love.

Moi je t'aime et toi tu m'aimes: A sweet song about friendship.

Dans ma potion: It doesn't have to be October for us to still seek this silly song out. The children are both really good about saying "Non merci" and I believe I have this song to thank! One of their all time favorite games actually goes along with this song. It's called "La potion de Boowa" and it's one of the games they still need my help with. I think they will keep at it until they don't need me anymore, though, since they think it's hilarious.

Quelle couleur avons-nous?: Love the art lesson included in this song.

L'expérience donne l'expérience: I love the message this song provides!

Peux-tu marcher comme un canard: This is another great song that packs a punch of language learning! We just followed Boowa's lead by copying Kwala and voilà! The kids internalized the meaning of the verbs "marcher," "nager," "voler," and "parler."

Il pleut, ça mouille: This is a very popular song...especially since we live where it rains quite a bit! It may be grey and rainy out when we sing it, but for some reason this song always makes us smile!

Noël est déjà là: Another pleasantly repetitious ditty. I am certain that Soleil and Géo understand the future tense and the verb "gâter" thanks to this song!

Même pas peur: This is another popular song in our household. The words have been changed up for the appropriate situation, but the "même pas peur" part is always the same. The children enjoy this song as it makes them feel brave in a painful situation.

J'aime te câlins: We sing the "câlins tout doux" part of this all the time.

Souris, fais cheese: Love the silly rhymes and especially "Truc qui finit en ise" that Boowa sings! LOL

Picnic: I don't know why, but this little tune is probably my all time favorite from Boowa et Kwala. It's really hard to choose just one, but I'd have to say this is it. Maybe it's because of the pure joy that dear little Kwala exudes by singing this song and doing her little happy dance. We do the happy dance with her as she sings! Sometimes I find myself singing this song, but most of the time we're not going on a picnic, so I'll change up the words to fit the fun occasion.

I could keep going on and on about the adorable songs and animations! Why don't you check them out for yourself! Here's a handy spot to choose by monthly themes. It's called "Events" and is one of our favorite go-to spots for some interactive fun with Boowa et Kwala.

Finally, another great thing about this website is that they seem to have something for many of the holidays we celebrate. For instance, check out this cute musical gift a child can create for their mom on Mother's Day! Fun stuff like this can be found on the Events page I just mentioned above.

We are so grateful to the creators of UpToTen.com. It is all around good, clean, engaging fun! The website states that it's geared towards 0-10 year olds, but I am definitely out of that range by a few decades and sometimes I find myself taking my own turn after the kids! The music fills our heads and we use it in our daily life. Being the only person my children hear French from, and a non-native speaker at that, websites like this are so appreciated! They are helping us provide fun with French to our children and that is the best gift we could ask for! So we'd like to say "Merci beaucoup", Up To Ten!!! You rock our Sunny Earth!

Reading for Multiliteracy

Every other night, it's my turn to read to the children. My husband reads to them in English and on my nights, we have a large selection of books from Scholastic Canada that the kids choose from. They know that the top level of their bookshelves are en français and the lower level is in English.

Tonight, we chose an all-time favorite: "Max et les maximonstres"!!! (by Maurice Sendak)

The kids tend to be a little hesitant on French nights...they really prefer the comfort of English as they hear it from everyone else in their world...and even from me as it is the only language my husband understands and it is also my native language. When it's my turn to read, they often ask if I can read in English, but they know the answer will always be "non." Tonight my daughter said "I like it when mommy reads to us but I wish it were in English." I am on a mission to change this! So tonight, we chose a favorite and the kids were able to participate a little more than usual. I read the familiar phrases, leaving out a word or two on every page for them to fill in. Even little brother, who is speech-delayed, was able to be successful at this en français! Every month when I get the Scholastic Canada flyer, I want to buy more and more books, but I'm thinking I need to slow down a little, and allow the children the pleasant repetition of some favorites. Then they can start helping mommy read like tonight!

The second book we read tonight included a pleasant surprise. The children love playing with Mimi la souris, created by +nathalie bonneau and available on her website. Well, the second book had a character named "Mimi la souris" and they just got a hoot out of that. We had read this same book ("Le printemps de Martin lapin") several months ago, but had not read it since so this was like a new-found treasure.

Now I'm brainstorming more ideas of how to keep this momentum going...how to change my children's attitudes towards French story time and French in general. One thing I did this summer seemed to help. I hosted a French summer camp in our home. I hope to do more of that sort of thing soon in my community! The kids seemed to really enjoy being leaders and helping me teach other French.

I think it may be time to start using AIM Language Learning with my husband and kids together. I have a 50 hour unit of instruction, an AIM "kit," called "La poule Maboule" that is perfect for my children's ages. It's just finding the time while also trying to fully implement the revolutionary methodology which has thrown me a bit of a learning curve this year. I know that in time, it'l all come more naturally. I think that daddy will be more motivated closer to our big trip to France which is not for a few years. We will definitely need to teach "La poule Maboule" to him by then!

What else can I do?
I find this blog post to be very helpful...but what do you think? What are your ideas for raising children in more than one langauge?

Au Revoir, Leisurely Life of Summer!

My level of French around the home with my children is at an all-time low. Ce n'est pas bien!!! Not good! If I were to blame it on something, then I'd blame summer...and it's relaxing, restful, vacation-style living one is afforded when both parents are teachers. But really, let's be real. It's my laziness! French is not my native language and by not being at school teaching languages (Spanish/French) these days, I have let my brain turn to English for this leisurely life of summer!

Well, it's time to get back into the swing of things. I start work tomorrow and my husband starts next Tuesday. Time to jump back into "pas d'anglais" (no English) with my children! It'll be a perfect year for this as I am able to finally fully implement AIM this year!

The good news is that I have kept up with story time every other night in French throughout the summer. My husband reads to them in English on the other days. I have also been speaking some French throughout the day, but it has been a lot of mish-mashed franglais, to be honest. Whenever we watch a movie together (and there's no monolingual friends around) we will put on the French audio track and add the English subtitles for daddy. We have hosted 4 "Sunny Earth Camps" in French, which have been amazing for my kids! (Future blog post required!) Plus I ran a week long camp for my town's summer rec program and the kids were able to participate in that. So, maybe I'm being too hard on myself? "Lazy"? Am I? Well, perhaps not, but I definitely could have made a more concerted effort to keep en français during our daily routines around the home.

Today was the turning point...my last day of summer vacation! I spent the day at work, meeting my new students at orientation and arranging my classroom just so...so the turning point didn't actually start until about an hour ago. We made the kids go to bed early tonight as they've had a very eventful long weekend and we need to start working their hours back to the normal work-hours that will start next Tuesday. Neither child could fall asleep. This was a perfect opportunity for extra snuggle time and a little number game en français to help unwind their minds. Well, it worked! They are both quiet now as I write this! Here's how the game went with my speech-delayed four year-old. 

I have not been asking my son to speak French that much as he has had issues articulating English. I still speak to him in French and most times he'll answer me in French when I give him a couple choices, so that's how I played the game. To read more about my son's speech, check out his blog Geo's World of Words.

The game is basically like this, in case you don't speak French:
What's the number that is bigger? 1 or 2? 2 or 4? 10 or 5? etc.

After playing with my son, then my daughter was up saying she couldn't sleep. With her, I extended the game into higher numbers and also asked the opposite question...which number is smaller? Here's how she did:



So, if you are French or a French teacher, perhaps you'll notice some errors? I noticed I used "c'est quoi..." instead of "Quel est..." and I'm not even sure if that's proper...the thing is, I could go crazy double guessing every word out of my mouth. When I learned French in France, mainly, I acquired it. I didn't learn it. I acquired it by completely surrounding myself with French people and by being a social butterfly. When I speak French, I speak without thinking...but when I stop and listen back, like I did tonight, I start wondering how many errors I could possibly be teaching them. This has been one thing that has made me question my efforts. Luckily, for my classroom, I have AIM. That'll help me stay on track with my French!

What do you think? Am I doing the right thing raising my children in my non-native French? Would you ever consider this? If not, why not? If yes, why?