First of all, correct several concepts:
Pronunciation is really not the most important thing.
I always thought it was cool to speak standard English or American accent. After talking to my brother who came back from studying in the United States as a parent-child bilingual teacher, I found that the United States is really a melting pot full of various English accents, and all kinds of accents can be expressed. Singer johnny cash sang a bunch of Grammy-winning songs with an American Southern accent. Mr. Pi Cai, the chairman of Google, is an Indian buddy who commands the world's top technology companies with a strong Indian accent. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered the most authoritative speech, although his mother tongue is not English.
Don't worry that your accent will prejudice your child's oral English. It's okay to have an accent. In English-speaking countries, it is more important to speak English clearly so that others can understand it.
Therefore, you might as well work hard on oral clarity, speak slowly and pronounce every syllable well. If you are not sure how to pronounce a word, download a Chinese-English dictionary APP that can be pronounced, look up the phonetic symbols and read it several times.
Your English level is enough before the baby enters school.
Non-standard English doesn't mean that you can't speak English. I believe that most parents who read this article have a good English level in junior high schools, that is to say, they can speak basic words such as apple, dog and sky, and only know the rules of English spelling.
We sometimes imagine that bilingualism is too difficult for babies. In fact, the vocabulary that babies under the age of 6 need to learn is particularly basic, and parents' vocabulary can be completely hold. These basic English words can be taught to babies in parent-child reading, nursery rhymes and daily conversations. If the baby can output about 100 English words in kindergarten, it can be expressed in simple short sentences, which is a pretty good bilingual foundation.
Moreover, even if English is returned to the teacher after graduation for many years, the English level of adults can still be continuously improved, and learning and progressing with the baby is the best quality companion. For example, buy a set of English vocabulary cards, find out the words that can't be found in the picture book and stick them on the refrigerator at home to study with the baby. Parents who have lifelong learning ability and are really interested in English can create a family atmosphere that likes English. Words and deeds are the best enlightenment.
Bilingual baby is companionship, not teaching.
For bilingual enlightenment, parents' role at home is actually not a "teacher", but an active companion, that is to say, the baby's English learning is not teaching to some extent, but accompanying. Parents with limited English can listen without reading, such as listening to 15 minutes of English picture books and children's songs with their babies every day.
The picture book here is 100% investment. Turn the page with your baby while listening, and point out what is in the picture book with the audio, instead of playing with your parents' mobile phone while listening to the picture book. Children are very sophisticated, and parents can see whether they really value bilingual enlightenment.
When Tong Huashun and I listen to English children's songs, I will do my own movements and even sing it myself. When she saw her mother's participation, she was very interested in it.
Don't ask the baby "how do you say this/that?"
How do we teach our baby to use Chinese as their mother tongue? Tell the baby its name when you see anything, right? So should learning English. For example, if I take Tong Huashun to the supermarket and see bananas, I will directly say bananas. Many parents often make the mistake of asking their baby "How do you say Apple English?" "What does Sun English say?"
Don't! Will. Yes! Here! Sample! In this way, if the baby is bitter, it will be annoying. This question-and-answer method is particularly easy to mislead the baby to develop translation thinking (by Chinese literature English). Before the age of 7, the baby's brain is a critical period for establishing English thinking. The brain has the ability to learn a foreign language like a mother tongue. Just tell the baby the English names of things directly and normally.
Establish a small universe in a pure English environment
English ability can't be established only by practice or passive listening stimulation (so-called ear grinding). The baby's language ability is acquired through dialogue most of the time. Therefore, it is necessary for parents to maintain a certain degree of English communication with their babies at home.
The ideal way is that one parent speaks Chinese and the other insists on speaking English, but it is a bit difficult for families with limited English level. Another suggestion put forward by bilingual enlightenment experts is to fix a time or scene every day and develop the habit of speaking English only to your baby in this scene. For example, read several English picture books before going to bed every day, or spend half an hour after dinner every day, communicate only in English or create a pure English environment (singing children's songs, watching cartoons, reading books and playing games).
Here are some specific practice methods, from input to interactive dialogue, step by step learning:
0 1 English nursery rhymes
There are too many free resources on the Internet, such as super simple songs, Mother Goose and so on. These are also in the millet box. It is completely enough for children in the ear grinding stage, but a children's song must be listened to repeatedly, and it will be played as background music when you are free. When the melody is ripe, you will naturally hum.
English graded reading materials
There are many kinds of graded reading materials. My own family bought BEC for children in red kangaroo to learn English. There are CD-ROM picture books and point reading pens. Every book has a theme, and Tong Huashun is very willing to participate. In addition, such as Oxford potato series, Hyman series, Pearson English, Stepinto reading (that is, Langdon), Oxford Tree, etc. In fact, it is very good to choose a set that can let the baby learn. Generally, sellers will buy directly with a reading pen, so it is suitable for lazy mothers without studying and decorating their schoolbags.
Pearson has more colorful and storyline, which can be used as a small picture book. Oxford trees are generally children's favorite, and the story is novel and interesting. The only drawback is the expression of the past tense, which may confuse children, but on the whole, it is a set of books worth reading. These books have matching audio, or they can be found in the Himalayas. Old people play audio when they have nothing to do after reading books, and the effect will come out after a long time.
Generally speaking, graded reading materials are rather boring. The purpose of reading this is to accumulate vocabulary and sentence patterns, and the second is to cultivate the good habit of parent-child reading together. It is best to show each book to children with props in the form of performances, rather than sitting together and reading it. Children simply have no patience to perform reading. He thinks this is a new game invented by you and has a high degree of participation.
English animation
In the early days of enlightenment, all English was learned from Dora. Others, such as Mimi Wu Miao, Qiao Hu ABC, Jojo Rabbit and Want Want Team, all have English versions. But because our mother tongue is already deep, the baby's rejection is relatively high, and he can only look at Chinese and English. Penelope or Little Pink Pig in English is totally unacceptable.
04 offline/online mechanism
It is naive to think that putting children in institutions or bilingual kindergartens will be all right. Family education is always the best way for parents to set an example. Don't just envy those who study well, but look at how much their parents have paid behind them. Most children's IQ is within the normal distribution range, and the actual gap is opened by parents.
Speaking of offline institutions, I have heard a lot. Generally speaking, it is mainly jumping, and many of them are multimedia teaching. But if I leave this situation, my baby can't sit quietly. She likes situational interaction and can blend in. Courses are also subject-based. The way of remembering words according to ABCD is not suitable for my baby. I wrote an experience article before. For details, please see here: 2.5 -3-year-old babies listen to the report of the enlightenment organization, but she values it very much. ......
Online institutions can conduct oral interactive learning training with foreign teachers anytime and anywhere, which is obviously an effective learning method at present. The way of learning is to chat and interact with real foreign teachers one-on-one through the internet. She regards class as an interesting thing to watch cartoons and often dances happily with her teacher. While playing and communicating with foreign teachers, I unconsciously learned a set of courses. Moreover, it is not limited by the course time of offline institutions, which solves the congenital deficiency of parents in bilingual companionship and meets the high-frequency demand.
And high frequency is the key to learning English well. According to offline courses, the cost of a single class varies from 130-300 yuan, while the price of online classes is basically around 40 yuan. Comparing 1 class in 40 yuan and 130 RMB 1 class, it is obvious that the cost in 40 yuan is more likely to be high.
Moreover, online institutions can not only solve English learning problems, but also play a very good role in helping parents reduce anxiety-helping children build self-confidence and solve learning, social and emotional problems. Because through high-frequency dialogue with foreign teachers, children not only exercise their English expression ability, but also stop worrying when facing foreigners, and interpersonal communication becomes much easier.
The last thing to say is: No matter which way you choose, you should stick to it and don't always find excuses to interrupt. Some students recite the Oxford dictionary every day and eventually become great talents, so the most valuable thing is to make full use of the fragmented time and stick to it day after day!