Early Learning -
Why should a 3-year-old learn a foreign language?
In the early nineties, scientists came to the surprising conclusion that early experiences structure the brain and shape it
like plasticene. The quality and quantity of the input received in the sensitive phases are decisive in determining how
efficiently the brain will function. Within this context, it has been proved that the brain and general level of intelligence
are stimulated when a second language is learnt at an early age.
Since a child´s processing system only takes on the information it can deal with at any one time, there is no danger that
he or she will be flooded with information.
In each of the above-mentioned sensitive stages of development, children learn certain skills particularly quickly. These are
the so-called windows of opportunity, in which “information highways” are created, linking up different areas of
the brain. The more a child is encouraged at this stage, the easier and quicker learning will be for him or her later on. This
learning ability diminishes from the age of five onwards. The “windows” gradually close, and if the nerve cells are
not connected up at the right point in time, the opportunity is irrecoverably lost. The sensitive stage for learning a language
starts at birth and continues till the age of ten. The tempo of speech development is especially rapid from the age of two onwards.
At three, a child has a passive vocabulary of 3,000 words and an active vocabulary of 1,000 words. One three-year-old out of two
can form complete sentences.
As far as language learning is concerned, the little ones are far ahead of the rest of us. They could learn any of the 6,000
existing languages with amazing speed. From a scientific point of view, the ideal period for learning a second language is between
three and five. There is very little chance of learning a foreign language to the same level as one's mother tongue after the age
of ten or eleven.
The Teaching Method -
How do young children learn English with bumble-bee?
bumble-bee Englisch für Kinder helps children to learn English in the same way as they learn their mother tongue, by
hearing constant repetition of the same words and sentences. Regular, affectionate praise intensifies this learning process
considerably (motivation!).
This is how it works in practice: the children meet up once a week for a 45-minute "play lesson",
held in little groups of four to a maximum of eight children. During this lesson, the children do the same activities with
the English teacher that they enjoy doing at home too: singing, drawing, moving around, playing, making things, etc. - except
that it is all done in English.
The basis for this is provided by our bumble-bee activity books, which also have accompanying CDs or cassettes. Parallel to
the weekly lesson, the children listen for about 20 minutes once or twice a day to the corresponding CD or cassette. This
can be carried out without paying particular attention, while playing, for example. In the lesson they then learn in a play
situation the meaning of the words that they listen to at home on the CD or cassette. It is this daily listening to the CD
or cassette they are currently up to that ensures that they learn sentence structure, correct pronunciation and English intonation
automatically.
FUN plays a very important role at bumble-bee! Not only because it's more pleasurable for us to teach that way, but also because
it has been proved beyond doubt that you learn better, easier and quicker if you are having fun - and that does not only apply
to children.
Lesson Material -
The "bumble-bee English for Children" audio course
We start off with the "bumble-bee English For Children" lesson set, which we work with for
approximately eighteen months, according to age and group size. This lesson material was specially created for our English
lessons for children between the ages of three and ten (although experience has shown that older children and even adults
have a lot of fun using it).
The set consists of two activity books and a workbook for the weekly lessons, as well as a choice of two accompanying CDs or
one audio cassette to listen to at home. In the activity books there are pictures to colour in, guessing games, sticker activities,
songs and lots more besides. All the speakers and singers on the CDs and cassettes are native English speakers, so that your child
will automatically develop a perfect English accent. Adults alternate with children in the spoken texts and the lively songs, so
that listening is fun and never gets boring.
The workbook is an additional book for drawings, games and initial writing exercises, or for glueing in things that are relevant
to the themes taught in the activity books. In this way, the children have an extra English book at the end of the course that is
their very own, made all by themselves.
In "bumble-bee English For Children 1" we have chosen themes that are especially close to children's interests, as well
as themes involving their daily life and experience; the variety and interesting nature of the contents keep the children continually
motivated.
A small "extra": most of the themes we cover coincide with those prescribed for the English syllabus by the Ministry of
Education for children in the first class of Baden-Württemberg primary schools.
Follow-on material
On completion of the first lesson set after 1 - 1.5 years, the children can then go on to the follow-on set. This consists of the next two activity books and either 2 CDs or a cassette. The children can then carry on learning English playfully with bumble-bee for another year. Further material for little bumble-bees is scheduled for 2008.
Dyslexia - Does learning foreign languages help against dyslexia?
Difficulty in acquiring reading and writing skills is a disturbance which affects 8 - 14 per cent of the schoolchildren in
German-speaking countries. It also has a negative effect on the whole process of linguistic and mental development, and this
not only at an early school age.
Zoltán Samu carried out an experiment with schoolchildren in a state-supported project, within the framework of his
doctoral thesis at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. 15 children in classes 2 to 4, eight to twelve years old, had English
lessons for six months. The aim of the experiment was to determine if the acquisition of a foreign language had a positive
effect on skills in the mother language. The hypothesis proved to be correct: the fifteen children who took part in the experiment
showed a clear improvement at the end of a year in relation to 15 children in a control group. This is probably due to the fact
that in the case of the foreign language the linguistic units are worked through more slowly, permitting the brain of the dyslexic
child to distinguish the sounds more clearly from one another.
Aims - What is so good about bumble-bee English lessons?
The aim of bumble-bee lessons is primarily to transmit to children the pleasure of learning a foreign language and to sow a
seed…
Learning a foreign language in a playful environment provides a great deal of sensory stimulus. This boosts the child’s
general intelligence, which in turn has a positive influence on later school performance or learning in an autodidactic situation.
Although it may still be far off, in the long run your children will have better opportunities in all areas of life if their
English is good. It is the leading world language and plays an ever-increasing role in a united Europe and the Internet age.
At the end of the first teaching set (about 18 months), your child can…
- understand about 500 words (passive vocabulary)
- use approx. 300 words (active vocabulary)
- ask and answer simple English questions
- play games in English
- make his or her own sentences
- sing approx. 20 English songs
- speak English with a good accent
Prices - Course fees and cost of lesson material
| Monthly lesson fees: | € 39,00 for the first child |
| € 36,00 for the second child | |
| € 32,00 from the third child on | |
| Lesson material (bumble-bee English for Children): |
€ 49,00* (with music cassette) € 60,00* (with CDs) |
| € 39.00 brother or sister case with all three books, but without CDs or cassette |
* the lesson material for the first 18 months is an audio course consisting of three books (two activity books and a workbook), and either two accompanying CDs or one cassette, all in a colourful case.