Good evening everyone. I hope you had a lovely half term. I was actually sad to see my little ones go to school on Monday.
Have you seen the Community Page that was added on Sophia’s Diary yesterday. I hope you find this beneficial and informative. I have also added more fantastic local businesses to Sophia’s Diary too. Please take a look at the A-Z of businesses on the site.
My 5 year old has just started learning Greek. I often wonder if this will be too much for him, or if it is better for kids to learn at a young age. I was eager to get expert advice and share this with my users too. Read our specialists, Eleni and Petra’s opinions about this…
My name is Petra and I teach ‘Fun Spanish for kids’.
It is never too early for a child to start learning a language.
Pupils who learn a foreign language outscore their non-foreign language learning peers in verbal and maths standardised tests. Learning additional languages increases critical thinking skills, creativity and flexibility of the mind in young children.
The brain, like any muscle, functions better with exercise. Learning a language involves memorising rules and vocabulary, which helps strengthen that mental muscle.
So why should younger children learn a foreign language? These are the reasons:
• Children have fewer inhibitions at an early age and constantly copy the sounds they hear
• The innate ability to absorb and reproduce sounds is sharper
• Younger children learn through play, without realising it, just by having fun
Your children will enjoy my ‘Fun Spanish for kids’ sessions. They will be engaged by nursery rhymes, hand puppets, musical instruments, and much more. By singing, playing games, role-play, counting, and learning new things about Spanish culture, they will gain self-confidence while they make new friends.
Learning ought to be fun and that’s how children learn best.
Hi my name is Eleni and I run Asterakia.
The idea of creating a fun musical class in Greek came to me after the birth of my first daughter Ariana. Before her birth I was very confident that she will be fluent in Greek as both I and my husband are native Greek speakers. When she was around 14 months, I realised that she could understand the Greek language but was responding in English as she was attending nursery from the age of six months. It was then that I realised the difficulty of raising a child in a bilingual environment. For that reason I tried to find different ways of teaching her the Greek language through fun games, nursery rhymes, and traditional tales with puppets.
In December 2015, as part of my New Year’s resolution, I started putting everything on paper and I created the structure and the first unit. In mind I had the fact that so many parents in our community are facing the same issue and they want their children to learn the Greek language from early age. The name “Asterakia” is the Greek word for ‘little stars’ and is inspired by my very own little stars Ariana and Lydia. Music is always a lovely way of engaging with my two daughters and spending constructive and educational time together. Ariana’s favourite song is To Gourounaki (Little Pig) and Lydia’s I Koukouvagia (The Owl).
Asterakia is a 30 minute fun music and movement class which enables each child to learn the Greek language and culture. Themes are carefully selected in order to reinforce all of the above. The themes are designed to provide every young learner with a holistic learning experience: visual, aural and kinesthetic. For example when we learned about the owl (Koukouvagia) all the children enjoyed learning the words, actions and melody of the song, flying like an owl in a roll play based activity, making sounds like an owl and recognizing the image of an owl. Asterakia is suitable for 0-6 years old. It’s never too late – or too early – to introduce your child to a second language. Learning a second language is easier for children under 10, and even easier for children under 5.
Here are the contact details of both groups:
Fun Spanish for Kids
https://www.sophias-diary.com/spanish-for-kids-saturday www.facebook.com/SpanishtasticPetraN
Asterakia
http://www.asterakia.co.uk/en/
https://www.sophias-diary.com/asterakia-monday-
