At what age is the best age for children to learn English?

1. Why is the earlier the better for English enlightenment? 1. It is better to start early than later, and seize the \”critical period of language learning\” 1) Regarding language learning, let me first talk to you about a very famous theory called the \”critical period hypothesis.\” This is proposed by neurophysiologists Penfield and Roberts from the perspective of brain plasticity. They proposed that the best age for learning language is before the age of ten. Free video download for children learning English [KIDs ABC full 24 episodes 4.2G] In addition, David Lenneberg, professor of psychology at Harvard University, also showed from medical clinical research that there is a critical period for people’s language learning, and language learning during this period is more difficult than at any other period. easier. Before the brain\’s peripheralization is completed, people use the whole brain to learn language. Around the age of 11-19, the brain will complete edge processing. After that, people rely on the left brain to learn languages. Language learning is most effective during the whole-brain learning period. Therefore, before the age of 10 is the so-called \”critical period for language learning.\” The example of the wolf boy is often used as evidence of the critical period of language. \”Wolf Child\” Kamala was discovered when she was seven or eight years old and returned to live among the people. Researchers conducted long-term language recovery training for her. Eight years later, she only learned 45 words, and she did not really learn to speak until she died at the age of 16. The learning efficiency of wolf children who have missed the critical period of language is far lower than that of young children. 2) Regarding the critical period of language, today I would like to introduce to you Patricia Kuhl, deputy director of the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences and professor of speech and hearing science at the University of Washington. In her famous TED speech \”The linguistic genius of babies\” (the genius language ability of babies), and put forward some new ideas. She believes that the critical period for children\’s language is between the ages of 0 and 7. Babies before the age of 7 are fully capable of acquiring two languages ​​at the same time. After the age of 7, the language learning efficiency begins to decline. After the age of 17, language learning efficiency becomes very low. When adults learn English, they rely more on conscious learning and deliberate rote memorization. When children learn English, they rely more on unconscious acquisition. It is absorbed naturally through a lot of language exposure in daily life, just like we learn our mother tongue. Facts have proved that the effect of acquisition is far better than learning. Therefore, by seizing the critical period of English enlightenment, the learning effect can be doubled with half the effort. 2. If you learn a foreign language early, will multiple languages ​​interfere with each other? 1) The language ability of infants and young children may be beyond imagination. Research shows that infants have strong statistical abilities. They will listen to adults silently, conduct statistical analysis in their brains, and build a language database. [Golden Baby English] Toddler Learning English Video Download [580MB] Every baby is a citizen of the world, able to distinguish all pronunciations of all languages, and has the potential to master any language. In a multilingual environment, babies can distinguish the nuances of various accents, but if they only receive a single language stimulus, they may have difficulty distinguishing the nuances of foreign language pronunciation when they grow up. After the age of two, children will slowly lose the ability to distinguish sounds that are not in their native language. 2) Will multiple languages ​​cause language problems for children?Confused? Professor Kuhl believes that whether children grow up in a single language or multiple language environment, the number of languages ​​itself neither increases nor reduces the probability that they will develop language disorders or delays. In other words, parallel learning of multiple languages ​​will not cause children to \”speak late\” or \”language confusion\”. Because children learn language, they learn a whole set of ways to interact with the environment, including language. In other words, children naturally understand which language to use in what situation, and switch between their native language and foreign language very quickly without confusion. For example, if there is an elderly person at home who speaks a dialect, the child can communicate with the elderly person in dialect and with his or her parents in Mandarin, and the switch will be natural in the process. Key points: Babies can learn foreign languages ​​as early as possible, and there is no problem of mutual interference between different languages. On the contrary, you can seize the \”innate\” advantages of the critical period and better carry out bilingual learning. Of course, if you miss the critical language period, it does not mean that you will not be able to learn a foreign language well, it just requires more effort. 3. What is the most effective way to teach English? 1. Immersive learning. Playing and memorizing is worse than memorizing. 1) Choose immersion learning instead of cramming. Research has found that if a language is exposed for more than 30% of the time, it is possible to acquire it as a mother tongue. Let children be exposed to a bilingual environment as early as possible and absorb foreign languages ​​naturally like learning their mother tongue. This is called immersion learning. This is much more effective than memorizing words and memorizing grammar when you grow up. 2) Selected English resources to hone children\’s English ears through a large amount of \”input\”. Selected resources should be based on classics and guided by combining children\’s interests. For example, if a child likes fruits, start learning from fruit resources; if a child likes cars, start learning from car resources. Start from the point of interest and then slowly extend to other content. The things you are interested in will take the least effort to learn. Through selected English resources, listen to English songs, watch original English cartoons, read English picture books, and interact with your children in situations. 3) The interaction between parents and children is the best way to learn. Research has found that the most effective way to learn a language is face-to-face communication with real people, and the most effective way to learn English is through parent-child interaction. In Professor Kuhl\’s study, two groups of infants were asked to learn Mandarin. The results showed that the learning effect of television, audio, and text was basically ineffective, and only real-person communication was effective. Therefore, the best way to learn English is for parents to take their children to learn English through play. 2. How to learn foreign languages ​​by \”playing\” with your children? 1) Learn in context and find ways to talk to children in English anytime and anywhere. Use recurring daily activities, such as eating, going to the bathroom, going to bed, and getting up, to speak English to your child. Strengthen and consolidate children\’s memory in a large number of repeated scenes. For example, when I asked Dingdang to wake up, I said \”Get up\” to him; when I interacted with him and said hello, I said \”good morning\”; when I brushed his teeth and washed his face with him, I said \”Brush my teeth, Wash my face\”; when I called him to eat, I said \”\”let\’s go to eat\”; say \”Let\’s go home\” when going home. A large number of repeated words can be found in daily life, such as food, fruit, toys, etc. Use these daily words that have the most contact with children and are most interesting to them. Teach children in different ways. For example: \”Baby loves to eat fruits, apple banana grape strawberry.\” When you say a certain word, point to the corresponding fruit and repeat it several times. The child will easily understand and remember it. The English name of fruit. Toddlers learn English video download with Teletubbies [Chinese version 9.96G] The important thing is that in this process, try to let the conversation happen naturally without any obvious traces of \”teaching\”. 2) Accompany the child Sing and dance together while listening to children\’s songs. Children learn best when they are happy. Children\’s songs are the most popular way of language enlightenment in recent years, and can be said to be the golden key to English enlightenment. One or two minutes of English children\’s songs, With the cheerful rhythm and various exaggerated movements, it will greatly stimulate children\’s enthusiasm for learning and complete an English learning. Parents can sing it, move it, and interact with the lyrics. For example, when listening to the children\’s song \”One Little\” with Ding Dong \”Finger\”, I pointed out the nose, eyes and other parts along with the lyrics while singing, so that he could understand the specific meaning of the words, have intuitive understanding, and have interesting interactions. In the process, he slowly followed the dance. He often has a lot of fun when he comes up with words and follows me to learn the movements. In this process, it is not important to understand the words. What is important is to let him experience the rhythm and rhythm of English and cultivate his sense of English language. 3) Combine picture books and cartoons , movies, etc., and play some role-playing games. When the child has a certain amount of input, actively encourage the child to output. For example, let the child sing along with English nursery rhymes, or play some role-playing games combined with picture books and cartoons. This kind of This method is much more fun than reading picture books directly to him. (I have introduced various related resource articles at the end of the article) Key points: The most important thing for English enlightenment is to stimulate children’s interest. Make more use of resources, combine them with life scenes, and start Try to \”play\” with your children as much as possible. The process of sharpening ears is not for children to understand, but to cultivate children\’s sense of language. This is a process of accumulation. Of course, if financial conditions permit, offline English teaching can Provide children with more foreign language environments to promote learning. Because children are more likely to make progress when learning with peers. But you cannot just throw your children into an English training class and think you are done. English training provided once or twice a week The situation is still limited. The most important thing for learning English is the creation of a family language environment. Parents lead their children to acquire it naturally in life through interesting parent-child interactions. This kind of enlightenment effect is the best.