Speaking a foreign language is such a valuable skill. People who speak more than one language can strive both professionally and personally. This is why children should start learning a language other than their native, in the earliest stages of their childhood. Plus, when they’re younger, they have the power to acquire a language faster and more easily than in the later years.

1.             Memory Games

Memory games are kids’ favorite, especially when played in larger groups. And, they’re brilliant for language learning as well.

Here’s a fun memory game for a group of children in a class or a birthday party:

• everyone sits in a circle
• you decide on a topic e.g. grocery shopping
• the first person to start says: ”I need to buy eggs.”
• the next person repeats this grocery and adds one more ”I need to buy eggs and ice cream.”

This continues around the circle, with everyone adding one grocery item to the list. In case someone is unfamiliar with the vocabulary used, the game can pause for the teacher or parent to explain the meaning.

2.             Picture Storytelling

Kids have a wild imagination. Use it to make language learning productive and fun through picture storytelling.

All you need is a couple of pictures or illustrations to show the kids. Then, ask them to come up with a story behind the pictures.

For instance, give them a portrait of an old man looking at the sky and have them invent his life story. It’s fun, creative, and will boost their language learning process.

They’ll enjoy this writing assignment. Who knows, it might inspire them to become professional writers working for an  online dissertation writing service, like the ones I use to  type my essay.

Memory games are kids’ favorite, especially when played in larger groups. And, they’re brilliant for language learning as well.

3.             Body Numbers

If you’re looking for a simple beginner’s activity for kids, this may be the perfect match. Most kids enjoy activities that are designed for kinesthetic learning.

For this activity, have kids work in small groups of three or four. Go over the numbers you want to learn- first verbally or in writing. Then, start the activity:

• say a number the kids are in the process of learning
• have them shape this number using their bodies
• assign a point to a group that did the best job or was the fastest to succeed

This activity involves physical effort, teamwork, and competitiveness which is everything the kids love. You can do the same with other types of vocabulary, and have them put together a house, a cloud, or a horse!

4.             Touch Game

Touch is an icebreaker game for shy learners who need a bit more time to relax when speaking a foreign language.

The game is simple. The teacher or the activity facilitator gives commands. The command is for the student to find and touch something of a certain characteristic. Here’s a couple of examples:

• Touch something rusty.
• Touch something cold.
• Touch something made of wood.

Students need to look for the nearest object with such characteristics and touch it. Plus, if they’re not sure what the command means, they can look around and see what the others are touching.

This is a truly fun game that kids love playing. All it takes is as many different hats as you can find.

5.             Finding Something in Common

This language learning activity is great for bringing the kids closer together and encouraging them to be friends.

The goal of the game is for the kids to learn about each other. Here’s how it works:

• write down some questions on the blackboard or a piece of paper
• have everyone answer those questions individually, in writing
• have the students walk around the classroom, comparing answers, and finding something in common

The questions can vary from simple like ‘‘What’s your favorite color” to more complex like ‘‘What was your favorite summer vacation?”. It’s great for building writing and speaking skills in kids. They’ll practice simple conversations in the foreign language and even improvise while talking to each other.

6.             The Hat Game

This is a truly fun game that kids love playing. All it takes is as many different hats as you can find. Give each kid one of the hats and ask them to act like the person that’s most likely to be wearing such a hat.

For instance, a student puts on a shabby old winter hat. So, they start acting like an old lady walking slowly on a cold winter day, saying: “Back in my days, winters used to be way worse! “.

Final Thoughts

Learning language through fun games and activities is a great idea. You can teach kids a foreign language using the activities listed above and ensure they’re all participating and enjoying.

Choose your favorite activity and give it a shot today!

About the author: Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at Valuablewriters. Jessica enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.

The post How to Teach Kids a Foreign Language with Activities appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

Speaking a foreign language is such a valuable skill. People who speak more than one language can strive both professionally and personally. This is why children should start learning a language other than their native, in the earliest stages of their childhood. Plus, when they’re younger, they have the power to acquire a language faster and more easily than in the later years.

1.             Memory Games

Memory games are kids’ favorite, especially when played in larger groups. And, they’re brilliant for language learning as well.

Here’s a fun memory game for a group of children in a class or a birthday party:

• everyone sits in a circle
• you decide on a topic e.g. grocery shopping
• the first person to start says: ”I need to buy eggs.”
• the next person repeats this grocery and adds one more ”I need to buy eggs and ice cream.”

This continues around the circle, with everyone adding one grocery item to the list. In case someone is unfamiliar with the vocabulary used, the game can pause for the teacher or parent to explain the meaning.

2.             Picture Storytelling

Kids have a wild imagination. Use it to make language learning productive and fun through picture storytelling.

All you need is a couple of pictures or illustrations to show the kids. Then, ask them to come up with a story behind the pictures.

For instance, give them a portrait of an old man looking at the sky and have them invent his life story. It’s fun, creative, and will boost their language learning process.

They’ll enjoy this writing assignment. Who knows, it might inspire them to become professional writers working for an  online dissertation writing service, like the ones I use to  type my essay.

Memory games are kids’ favorite, especially when played in larger groups. And, they’re brilliant for language learning as well.

3.             Body Numbers

If you’re looking for a simple beginner’s activity for kids, this may be the perfect match. Most kids enjoy activities that are designed for kinesthetic learning.

For this activity, have kids work in small groups of three or four. Go over the numbers you want to learn- first verbally or in writing. Then, start the activity:

• say a number the kids are in the process of learning
• have them shape this number using their bodies
• assign a point to a group that did the best job or was the fastest to succeed

This activity involves physical effort, teamwork, and competitiveness which is everything the kids love. You can do the same with other types of vocabulary, and have them put together a house, a cloud, or a horse!

4.             Touch Game

Touch is an icebreaker game for shy learners who need a bit more time to relax when speaking a foreign language.

The game is simple. The teacher or the activity facilitator gives commands. The command is for the student to find and touch something of a certain characteristic. Here’s a couple of examples:

• Touch something rusty.
• Touch something cold.
• Touch something made of wood.

Students need to look for the nearest object with such characteristics and touch it. Plus, if they’re not sure what the command means, they can look around and see what the others are touching.

This is a truly fun game that kids love playing. All it takes is as many different hats as you can find.

5.             Finding Something in Common

This language learning activity is great for bringing the kids closer together and encouraging them to be friends.

The goal of the game is for the kids to learn about each other. Here’s how it works:

• write down some questions on the blackboard or a piece of paper
• have everyone answer those questions individually, in writing
• have the students walk around the classroom, comparing answers, and finding something in common

The questions can vary from simple like ‘‘What’s your favorite color” to more complex like ‘‘What was your favorite summer vacation?”. It’s great for building writing and speaking skills in kids. They’ll practice simple conversations in the foreign language and even improvise while talking to each other.

6.             The Hat Game

This is a truly fun game that kids love playing. All it takes is as many different hats as you can find. Give each kid one of the hats and ask them to act like the person that’s most likely to be wearing such a hat.

For instance, a student puts on a shabby old winter hat. So, they start acting like an old lady walking slowly on a cold winter day, saying: “Back in my days, winters used to be way worse! “.

Final Thoughts

Learning language through fun games and activities is a great idea. You can teach kids a foreign language using the activities listed above and ensure they’re all participating and enjoying.

Choose your favorite activity and give it a shot today!

About the author: Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at Valuablewriters. Jessica enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.

The post How to Teach Kids a Foreign Language with Activities appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

When it comes to school, common sense would say it is all about an “effort in/result out” relation, and those who can’t keep up with the rest of the class are generally labeled as lazy or dumb. Nonetheless, in order to provide us with a more plausible and elaborated point of view for things generally taken for granted as for their complexity, science has shown the existence of learning disabilities, and ways they can be treated.

Learning disabilities are able to interfere with learning basic skills such as reading, writing and math, or also higher level skills such as organization, time planning, abstract reasoning, long or short term memory and attention. Therefore, they can have consequences in an individual’s life beyond academics and can even affect relationships with family, friends and in the workplace.

Yet it can be neither cured nor fixed, the lifelong challenge of learning disabilities, as long as if treated with appropriate support and intervention, can give way to success in school, at work, in relationships, and in the community.

Pay attention to the early warning signs

Yet the signs and symptoms of learning disabilities are most often found during school years, once it is the period more likely for difficulties with reading, writing or math to be recognized, some children do without an evaluation until much later in their education, or until becoming adults in the workforce. Others may never even get an evaluation and spend life not knowing why difficulties with academics or problems in their jobs or in relationships with family and friends exist.

Once it is a genetic issue or caused by the exposition to toxins like lead while in the womb, a learning disorder cannot be prevented, but treated. This way, observing clues which could show up in preschool is an efficient way, yet easy to overlook, once children learn at their own pace and go through many phases. Even so, common symptoms of LDs are difficulty rhyming words, pronouncing new words or remembering everyday routines, like how to zip a jacket.

LD’s are not a question of smartness

Yet being unfairly labeled as stupid or lazy, many kids with LD’s are really smart. The thing is that their brains work differently, getting in the way of their ability to learn, says Lois Kam Heymann, director of the Auditory Processing Center at the Center for Hearing and Communication in New York City.

For instance, due to brain scans it is known that dyslexic kids mainly use the right side of their brains to read rather than the left, which is the part responsible for language and analysis. Therefore, when decoding words, the information has to travel farther (from right to left) before it can be understood by kids. Dyslexic kids are slower readers partly to that. For many people with dyslexia, words can blend together “” or the spaces between them can disappear. Some dyslexic kids can whiz through big words but struggle with little ones like “at” or “for.”

Brain differences can affect another kind of LD known as auditory processing disorder (APD). A child with APD is able to hear perfectly well, but not accurately interpret the sounds heard, like “I picked an apple from the tree” may sound as “I picked an ample frog tree.”  For these kids, especially when the classroom turns noisy, even the simplest instructions are difficult to be deciphered.

The effects of LD’s involve life in “” and out of “” the classroom

If a child has trouble staying organized in class, the same applies for when they get off the bus: LD kids may find it hard to accomplish day to day actions, like tying one’s shoes. That’s why some parents give their children a “to-do” list for the next morning that includes things most kids do automatically, including “put on your shoes.”, breaking down tasks step by step, having the children repeat each step back before they do it, and reinforcing the list with a chart, allowing them to do these things by themselves.

Therefore, it is important for parents to have realistic expectations when dealing with the areas that a kid finds challenging. But set high expectations where kids show strengths and can stand on their own two feet. That’s another way to help boost self-confidence.

Don’t worry, kids with LDs have bright futures

Yet parents may feel anxious, angry, or crushed as soon as their child gets diagnosed, with the right tools, kids can excel and be successful. According to doctor Eichenstein, “Kids with learning disorders have the potential to change the world because of their creative, out-of-the-box thinking. The challenge is keeping their self-esteem strong and helping them find their unique talents.”

First, finding the right kind of help is utmostly important. Take a look at the International Dyslexia Association (Interdys.org) and try locating a learning center.

Learning Disorder X Trouble Learning

There is a big difference between struggle and difficulty. To get things clearer, Rita Eichenstein, Ph.D., a pediatric neuropsychologist tells more about what differs between them.

It’s probably NOTt an LD if your child”¦

• Used to do fine in school. Divorce, death, family problems, dealing with bullies, or getting used to a new school can all cause setbacks or cause a good student to suddenly fall behind.
• Benefits from short-term help. Extra attention from the teacher or weekly meetings with a tutor can get many kids over the hump.
• Is able to follow instructions. Even if kids forget a step now and then, they mostly know what to do when parents or teachers tell or show them.

It probably is a learning disorder if your child”¦

• Has had trouble with classwork from day one. A kid with an LD struggles with key academic skills, from reading comprehension to figuring out math problems.
• Can’t keep up with tutoring. These kids need frequent sessions with specialized teachers and effective methods to stay on track.
• Can’t get through a set of instructions. Kids find it difficult to remember all the steps they need to follow directions

How to help your child

All public schools must evaluate kids for free. Therefore, you should follow these steps: Make copies of your child’s report cards and tests, along with teacher comments and your observations. Then, state the reason your child needs to be evaluated in a letter or e-mail and send it to school officials. Once you do that, a team of education pros will interview you and your child, observe her in the classroom, review her history, and administer tests. Afterward, they should explain the results and diagnosis to you.

Kids diagnosed with an LD are entitled to an individualized education plan (IEP) that spells out special services (say, speech therapy) provided by the school free of charge. If your child doesn’t get an IEP, ask for a 504 plan, which gives kids with learning issues special accommodations, like extra time to finish tests.

Every district has different requirements for IEP and 504 plans. If you disagree with the evaluation results or services, you have the right to another screening. You can also pay out of pocket for a third-party expert. To find one, go to Parentcenternetwork.org.

The post Learning Disabilities: What is it and How to Help Your Child appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

For years, doctors assumed that babies were born without any knowledge about the outside world. However, recent research is questioning this assumption, offering clues to what babies comprehend in utero, what they remember after they are born, and how that information prepares them for the world outside the womb. Today, doctors realize that babies begin to engage many of their senses and learn about the world around them during the last trimester of pregnancy and maybe even before.

By the time they are born, babies can actually recognize their mother’s voice. In one study, doctors gave day-old infants pacifiers that were connected to tape recorders. Depending on the babies’ sucking patterns, the pacifiers either turned on a tape of their mother’s voice or that of an unfamiliar woman’s voice. Within 10 to 20 minutes, the babies learned to adjust their sucking rate on the pacifier to turn on their own mother’s voice. Research also reveals that babies had their first lessons in their native language while still in womb. They sucked more vigorously to turn on tape recordings of people speaking in the language of their mothers, rather than in a foreign tongue.

Moreover, a well-known study conducted at the University of South Carolina additionally proves the existence of prenatal learning. Mothers were instructed to read Dr. Seuss out loud while they were pregnant. When the babies were born, researchers tested to see if they recognized Dr. Seuss against other stories, and their mother’s voice against other readers. In both cases, the infants were able to pick up on the vocal patterns they’d become familiar with in utero.

But it’s not only the sounds baby hears in the womb that she is likely to remember later. By seven months of gestation the fetus’s taste buds are fully developed. The flavors of the food a pregnant woman eats find their way into the amniotic fluid, which is continuously swallowed by the fetus. Babies remember, and prefer, these familiar tastes once they are out in the world. The unborn child reacts strongly to his mother’s movements as well. Most moms notice that when they touch their belly, the baby kicks back or responds in some way.

It seems that fetuses are taking signals from the intrauterine environment and tailoring their physiology accordingly. They adjust their metabolism and other physiological processes in anticipation of the world that awaits them. Much of what a pregnant woman encounters in her daily life, the air she breathes, the food and drink she consumes, the chemicals she is exposed to, even the emotions she feels are shared in some fashion with her fetus. The fetus incorporates these offerings into its own body and treats these maternal contributions as information crucial to its future survival.

Human fetus is an active participant in its own development and is picking up information from the outside world important for life after birth. It is preparing for life based on messages the mom is providing. When we hold our babies for the first time, we visualize them clean and new, unmarked by life. However, there is ample evidence that they have already been shaped both by the world and us. Therefore, as parents and consequently the first educators in our children’s life, we should teach them well from the very beginning. Learning is one of the most important activities in which humans engage, and it begins earlier than we ever imagine, in the womb.

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