What is the Best Way for Kids to Learn Spanish? FabuLingua!

1. Maximizing Comprehensible Input

The FabuLingua method is rooted in modern language learning science. In particular, the work of thought-leader and researcher in the field of second language acquisition, Dr. Stephen Krashen of the University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Krashen’s work shows that the amount of comprehensible input a person is exposed to is the single most important factor in new-language acquisition. (Comprehensible Input is new-language input that can be comprehended by listeners despite them not understanding all the words.)

Basically, input-oriented activities like reading and listening (so long as they are ‘comprehensible’ and generally understood) are a much more effective way of acquiring new languages than grammar-oriented or output-oriented activities.

2. Affective Filter

Most existing ways to learn Spanish have a traditional grammar-based approach that focuses on memorization and testing of vocabulary lists and grammar rules. This routine generates stress and raises what Dr. Krashen refers to as an ‘affective filter’ in the brain which impairs the ability to acquire a second language.

Essentially, anything that negatively impacts your mood or disposition (like stress or low motivation) has been shown to limit a person’s capacity to learn a second language.

Colorful children’s stories have always been one of the best ways for kids to learn Spanish, and are well known for reducing their stress. In FabuLingua’s interactive format set in a game-like environment, stories are more delightful and exciting than ever, eliminating any issues with a child’s ‘affective filter’ when learning a second language.

3. Magical Window

Dr. Maria Montessori identified several ‘sensitive periods’ in a child’s development. Her research suggests that children have an absorbent mind, most primed at birth to six years old for language acquisition.

Language acquisition is particularly effective during what we call this ‘magical window’ of early childhood, when the plasticity of the brain means it wires much more readily to languages to which it is exposed.

This means that one of the best ways for kids to learn Spanish is simply by starting young. More recent studies have shown that to become completely fluent, you should start learning a language by the age of 10.

4. Compelling Comprehensible Input

Krashen eventually fine tuned his Comprehensible Input Hypothesis and insisted that the best way for kids to learn Spanish and other languages is if this input is not only interesting but also compelling.

“To make sure that language acquirers pay attention to the input, it should be interesting. But interest may be not enough for optimal language acquisition. It may be the case that input needs to be not just interesting but compelling…Compelling input appears to eliminate the need for motivation, a conscious desire to improve. When you get compelling input, you acquire [language] whether you are interested in improving or not.”

Dr. Krashen argues that compelling comprehensible input is essential to language learning. “It is possible that compelling input is not just optimal: It may be the only way we truly acquire language.”

It stands to reason that what a child finds compelling is not going to be what an adult finds compelling. Children have found illustrated children’s stories compelling ever since Winnie-the-Pooh burst into our hearts nearly 100 years ago. So let’s leverage children’s stories to teach kids a new language!

5. The Power of Storytime on Language Development

Humans have found stories compelling since the dawn of time, and children have long found illustrated children’s stories compelling. Krashen points to how reading stories puts us in a state of ‘flow’ which he says is the best way for kids to learn new languages.

Research shows that reading stories to children has beneficial effects on their development. It not only increases their language skills and vocabulary, it stimulates their imagination, broadens their minds, and increases their capacity for empathy.

Kids that are read to in early childhood go on to become significantly more proficient in their native tongue than children who are not. That same logic also applies to second language acquisition. Extensive early-childhood reading can develop proficiency in the second language (so long as it's comprehensible).

FabuLingua creates an exposure program that uses the compelling power of reading stories to create highly effective comprehensible input to learn a new language!

6. The Compelling Nature of Mobile Games

Games have also been a compelling leisure activity for humans since the dawn of man. Since dice first appeared in ancient Egypt, games have evolved with societies and their technologies. Today video and mobile games form some of the most compelling games that children naturally gravitate to.

Research has shown that video games can be a very effective way for kids to learn Spanish and other new languages, and articles have been written about how their compelling power has been leveraged by Brazilian video gamers to learn English.

The dopamine-triggering, rewards-based nature of mobile games has been written about extensively, but many parents are frustrated that they don’t get used for constructive purposes.

At FabuLingua we know that mobile games, like good stories, can put us in the state of ‘flow’ Krashen says is so beneficial for language learning, and their very compelling nature can be leveraged for the beneficial purpose of learning a new language.