Languages Action Alliance: Lingo » Japanese http://www.lingo.org.au early childhood languages education in Australia Wed, 18 May 2011 06:15:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Language Learning is a Picnic in the Park! http://www.lingo.org.au/language-learning-is-a-picnic-in-the-park/ http://www.lingo.org.au/language-learning-is-a-picnic-in-the-park/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:48:40 +0000 acsso http://www.lingo.org.au/?p=208 Following on from the successful Multilingual Picnic in Canberra in December last year, the first ever Melbourne Language Picnic attracted families associated with the following languages: Arabic, Chollo, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Swedish and Vietnamese.

While not everyone was able to come on the day, there was plenty of feedback and interest in supporting this kind of event in the future.

The presence of a Japanese exchange student provided an opportunity for the children with Japanese LOTEs to try out their skills, and prompted a similar exchange for those with Italian LOTE.  A highlight of the day was some basic formalized language activity, and it was a joy to observe the enthusiasm with which all the children joined in.

Alessandro, one of the video stars below, gave us this spontaneous vote of approval: ‘The language picnic is cool!’

Languages PicnicSome linguistic potential who could be persuaded to pose for a photo

Video clips:

Language bites in

  1. Japanese 1 &  Japanese 2
  2. Italian
  3. Greek
  4. Russian

If anyone would like to offer ideas, suggestions or become involved in organizing language-focused social events in their locality, please contact Angela or Brigitte.

]]> http://www.lingo.org.au/language-learning-is-a-picnic-in-the-park/feed/ 0 LOTE@HOME http://www.lingo.org.au/lotehome/ http://www.lingo.org.au/lotehome/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:10:27 +0000 acsso http://www.lingo.org.au/?p=158 LOTE@HOME is an innovative way for parents to participate with their kids as they all learn a second language, devised by a parent who was unable to identify an approach to learning a language other than English that focused on a home, family-based setting.

In the LOTE@HOME pack, there’s a set of 50+ laminated cards for rooms in the home. Families attach the cards to the thing they refer to – the stove, the door, the dishwasher, the cupboard, the bath, the tap and so on. There are cards for the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen.

Family members use the words on the cards, mixed in with their usual language, to make sentences. So for example, a parent could say to a child “… please close ‘la porta’ when you come in …” Gradually, everyone will absorb the Italian word for ‘door’. And so it goes with all the other cards.

Click here to go to the website

In another set of cards in the pack, it’s all about learning the names of body parts. With this set, you can play a game, like ‘Snap’ or ‘Go Fish’ but use the foreign words to do it. The pronunciation is explained too.

By using the cards, and reinforcing words around the house, kids will learn a new language in exactly the same way they learned English – by immersion and absorption.

LOTE@HOME packs are not intended to replace formal LOTE lessons, however they are intended to build an “in country environment” in the home that will support the formal learning of a second language.

Click here to go to the website

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