5 Language Learning Tips by Imogen from Nudgies Flashcards #Top5LanguageLearningTips #Toptiptuesday

During the month of February I will be focussing on a blog feature called ‘Top 5 Language Learning Tips’.

I feel that it is important to not just promote your own ideas but to also look at your mentors and peers to see what advice and tips that they can also offer.

When starting on a language learning journey it is extremely important to do your research and see what other families, experts etc are also performing in order to achieve their goals.

With this in mind I have contacted a number of experts, homeschooling families and bilingual parents to give their ‘Top 5 Language Learning Tips’ to feature as guest Bloggers during the month of February. This will also help you to gather advice in order to support your language journey.

This week we are hearing from Imogen from @Nudgiesflashcards

Meet Imogen

Imogen has always been involved in teaching, one way or another, and started her teaching journey abroad as a TEFL teacher in Spain, Italy and China – a world away from England! She then trained as a primary teacher, specialising in German, and taught inner-city London children for many years, and led the German provision of her school.

Imogen always knew that she wanted her own children to have German as their second language, and her mother (who is from Germany) has instilled a love of the language and country within her.

Luckily her husband also speaks German, having been raised in a diplomat’s family in and out of Germany, so they are very lucky to both have knowledge of the minority language, and speak it as often as possible with their two boys.

Imogen incorporates German into her childrens play set-ups, eats German food, celebrates German festivals and speaks with her extended family in Germany.

She has also set-up a local play-date group for like-minded German-speaking families and they meet regularly and also celebrate festivals together.

Combining her experience in teaching and her desire to give her children the gift of languages, she started making her own learning resources and Nudgies Flashcards was born! It started with German resources and now includes French and Spanish cards too, on a range of topics.

Imogens Top 5 Language Learning Tips

1) Make it Fun

If you are a confident speaker, make it fun and casual – input the language in any situation, everyday, to give the language a place in several contexts.

2) Learn Together

If you are new to the language yourself, choose interests that excite your child and start there, and learn together!

3) Music and Singing

Sing together! Music is powerful and vocabulary is often much easier to remember when in song-form.

4) Don’t Worry

If you miss a few days or lose momentum don’t worry. You can pick-up again from where you left off!

5) Local Families

Try to find other local families who speak the same language to set up play-dates or meet-ups. It’s amazing how much children can pick up from hearing adults speaking another language together, and it will help them to see it as a more useful and ‘normal’ thing to do outside of your immediate family.

Huge thanks to Imogen for sharing her top tips with us. Check out her company Nudgies Flashcards:  it provides learning resources designed by Imogen, in German, French and Spanish. They are based on themes of play, and are intended to be used in every-day situations, at home or out-and-about.

All cards can be found at Nudgies Flashcards Shop

You can also connect with Imogen on Instagram @Nudgiesflashcards or on Facebook NudgiesFlashcards Facebook Page

Look out for our next Guest Feature Blog with another 5 Top Language Learning Tips on Tuesday next week!

In the meantime if you are looking to start a new language and need some support with planning and implementing a new langauge into your home or homeschooling routine here is a link to my course Start Your Language Journey . It is bilingual in English and German and although the starter pack is in those langauges the course can help you plan whatever language you wish to introduce.

Rachel x