Do you ever talk to someone and there's no response? (... yes, I'm referring to my kids here ...) So what do you do? You repeat yourself (several times) until eventually you hear a mumbling sound like: 'yeah yeah'. Well, at least you got some response, right?
In the above case, I KNOW that my children hear and understand me perfectly well. But what about your child learning a language? When you want to practise German with her and she gives you that blank look: I haven't got a clue what you just said.'
In the above case, I KNOW that my children hear and understand me perfectly well. But what about your child learning a language? When you want to practise German with her and she gives you that blank look: I haven't got a clue what you just said.'
In this situation, there are two questions you need to answer:
1. Did she just not hear me, e.g. do I just need to repeat what I said and speak
more clearly and slowly?
OR
2. Did she not understand WHAT I said, e.g. does she know the words, the
meaning, the grammatical concepts?
During my lessons the children are exposed to hearing and listening to German at various levels: We engage in activities during which I speak (almost) at the speed I would use with other native speakers. During other activities, especially when learning new vocabulary, I would enunciate every new word slowly.
Once you have established whether your child falls into category 1 (knows the words but requires the speaker to slow down) or category 2 (hasn't acquired the vocabulary and/or grammar yet) you can take action:
Category 1:
Speak to your child more often and ask open-ended questions to which your child can
respond. Use the method of giving options so that your child can pick one answer
(or come up with their own).
Read to your child and ask her questions afterwards (listening
comprehension) so that you know she's actively listening and understands what you just read.
Broaden the listening activities by using a variety of media such as songs, reading
rhymes and stories or watching children's Tv programms (online) in German .
All of these exercises use German at varying speeds and with more or less clear pronunciation, just like in real conversations. These activities can be easily repeated for revision.
Category 2:
Your child needs to build and grow her vocabulary, and maybe also her
understanding of sentence structure and other grammatical aspects.
With respect to grammar, children aged 8 and older are able to learn about
grammar by giving them examples of, for example, how to use the past tense,
and practise it with exercises (as they would at school).
Younger children learn about grammar through activities that require the use of a
specific grammatical aspect, such as conjugating verbs or using the definite
articles. Additionally, they too require listening exercises in order to learn to
understand spoken language (see category 1).
Be aware that we (the adults) often feel the need to understand every single word of what's being said or read to us. Children, especially the younger they are, are still in that place of learning new words every day anyway in their native language. They are OK with not knowing all the words and will ask if they don't understand. So if your young child needs to increase their knowledge of the language to improve their listening skills, provide a lot of activity-based input, supported by visual aids (narrate as you do something and use tools for it) so they can learn new words and make sense of them as you speak.
If your child is older (8+) or a teenager, and at beginners level of learning a language, they may, like adults, become frustrated more easily when they don't 'get' what a conversation, story or activity is about. Their language skills in their native language are very advanced and going back to basics in a new language - not understanding what someone says, not being able to talk and realising how much effort it takes to start from scratch - seems just too big a task for some. Again, find out what the problem (category 1 or 2) is when it comes to a lack of listening comprehension and put measures in place to overcome it.
What you can do today:
Let your child summarise (orally or in writing) the content of a German story
or TV episode (or parts thereof) she has listened to or watched, in her native
language at first. (I would often ask my kids to tell me what happened in an
episode they just watched to practise narrating. At the moment they're into
a Robin Hood cartoon on KIKA / tivi.de)
This is not about translating word for word but establishing the meaning first.
Read the story or watch the same episode together, usually several times (the
kids do that anyway). You can then focus on specific words and phrases, sentence
structures or idioms.
Ask your child to visualise (drawing, role play with toy figures) what she has
heard or watched to assess how much she understands.
Set a goal for your child: when she's watching a TV programm, watch it
together first, then ask her to find out, for example, what a character says in
a particular scene.
When reading to her, ask her to listen for specific details before you start
reading and tell her there'll be a quiz at the end, or after each chapter to
encourage her to actively listen.
Some of my older students (age 8+) watch episodes of Wissen macht Ah! at
home. Each episode includes experiments and stories about five questions.
The children go through the questions before watching an episode, so they
can focus on the questions as they watch it. Then we'd talk about the questions
afterwards, what they mean, learn how to ask question, and talk about which
question they found most interesting.
If your child is given opportunities to regularly hear and listen to German she will
start to get used to the language to a level when she'll start to hear new words and ways
to say something all by herself. I have experienced this with my kids and had parents
share this achievement of their children who attend my lessons. It always puts a smile
on my face when I hear these stories; same for the parent's, needless to say!
1. Did she just not hear me, e.g. do I just need to repeat what I said and speak
more clearly and slowly?
OR
2. Did she not understand WHAT I said, e.g. does she know the words, the
meaning, the grammatical concepts?
During my lessons the children are exposed to hearing and listening to German at various levels: We engage in activities during which I speak (almost) at the speed I would use with other native speakers. During other activities, especially when learning new vocabulary, I would enunciate every new word slowly.
Once you have established whether your child falls into category 1 (knows the words but requires the speaker to slow down) or category 2 (hasn't acquired the vocabulary and/or grammar yet) you can take action:
Category 1:
Speak to your child more often and ask open-ended questions to which your child can
respond. Use the method of giving options so that your child can pick one answer
(or come up with their own).
Read to your child and ask her questions afterwards (listening
comprehension) so that you know she's actively listening and understands what you just read.
Broaden the listening activities by using a variety of media such as songs, reading
rhymes and stories or watching children's Tv programms (online) in German .
All of these exercises use German at varying speeds and with more or less clear pronunciation, just like in real conversations. These activities can be easily repeated for revision.
Category 2:
Your child needs to build and grow her vocabulary, and maybe also her
understanding of sentence structure and other grammatical aspects.
With respect to grammar, children aged 8 and older are able to learn about
grammar by giving them examples of, for example, how to use the past tense,
and practise it with exercises (as they would at school).
Younger children learn about grammar through activities that require the use of a
specific grammatical aspect, such as conjugating verbs or using the definite
articles. Additionally, they too require listening exercises in order to learn to
understand spoken language (see category 1).
Be aware that we (the adults) often feel the need to understand every single word of what's being said or read to us. Children, especially the younger they are, are still in that place of learning new words every day anyway in their native language. They are OK with not knowing all the words and will ask if they don't understand. So if your young child needs to increase their knowledge of the language to improve their listening skills, provide a lot of activity-based input, supported by visual aids (narrate as you do something and use tools for it) so they can learn new words and make sense of them as you speak.
If your child is older (8+) or a teenager, and at beginners level of learning a language, they may, like adults, become frustrated more easily when they don't 'get' what a conversation, story or activity is about. Their language skills in their native language are very advanced and going back to basics in a new language - not understanding what someone says, not being able to talk and realising how much effort it takes to start from scratch - seems just too big a task for some. Again, find out what the problem (category 1 or 2) is when it comes to a lack of listening comprehension and put measures in place to overcome it.
What you can do today:
Let your child summarise (orally or in writing) the content of a German story
or TV episode (or parts thereof) she has listened to or watched, in her native
language at first. (I would often ask my kids to tell me what happened in an
episode they just watched to practise narrating. At the moment they're into
a Robin Hood cartoon on KIKA / tivi.de)
This is not about translating word for word but establishing the meaning first.
Read the story or watch the same episode together, usually several times (the
kids do that anyway). You can then focus on specific words and phrases, sentence
structures or idioms.
Ask your child to visualise (drawing, role play with toy figures) what she has
heard or watched to assess how much she understands.
Set a goal for your child: when she's watching a TV programm, watch it
together first, then ask her to find out, for example, what a character says in
a particular scene.
When reading to her, ask her to listen for specific details before you start
reading and tell her there'll be a quiz at the end, or after each chapter to
encourage her to actively listen.
Some of my older students (age 8+) watch episodes of Wissen macht Ah! at
home. Each episode includes experiments and stories about five questions.
The children go through the questions before watching an episode, so they
can focus on the questions as they watch it. Then we'd talk about the questions
afterwards, what they mean, learn how to ask question, and talk about which
question they found most interesting.
If your child is given opportunities to regularly hear and listen to German she will
start to get used to the language to a level when she'll start to hear new words and ways
to say something all by herself. I have experienced this with my kids and had parents
share this achievement of their children who attend my lessons. It always puts a smile
on my face when I hear these stories; same for the parent's, needless to say!
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