Dear Readers,

I have answered this question more than 5 times this week, which motivated me to bring this topic to our blog.

Children who are exposed on a 30min foreign language class a week, will basically forget a lot of what was learned if the stimulus cease.

I highly encourage parents to buy cds, invest on classes, books anything that can keep the foreign language present in their lives!

Amazon offers many options of cds with songs and programs, classes as also offered nationwide and Bookstores like Barnes and Noble offer many offerings for at least 5 different languages, which can be easily downloaded to an ipad with the B&N reader, an app for ipads.

Please e-mail me privately if you wish to receive recommendation for specific materials and to receive a free sample of my spanish summer activity guide!

Enjoy the summer!

Claudia Krusch- Director of EasyLearn Language Programs

Dear Readers,

Finishing up the details of our summer camp activities, working with my interns and staff made me think about how we should bring an innovative approach to foreign language teaching, challeging the children, raising the bar for offering fun and educative activities in an outdoor environment. Those ideas and concepts took shape in a form of a resource book for summer activities to be used by teachers and parents.

After many parents have asked what they should do to bring Spanish to their children while at home with them,  the book idea seemed not only an idea but a need. I then decided to work on a easy, well designed workbook to help parents who don’t speak Spanish to bring the fun home! We included topics such as numbers, colors, family, body parts, shapes and more, suggestions on activities, coloring pages and songs and audio for each topic to allow parents to repeat the words and sing songs with children while using the book. It is done in Spanish but the activities can be applied to any language.

My personal suggestion is that no matter what, it needs to be a fun time, when mommy or daddy will play with the child and have Spanish as a background to spending time with your child.

Use summer friendly toys such as water slide for colors, water baloons for counting, chalk for reinforcing vocabulary, treasure hunting for developing a deeper understanding of the language, bug catching for vocabulary and nature exploration and more….

The book will be available next week on our membership page!

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Programs

Dear Readers,

I absolutely love new gadgets, I must confess I’m a huge fan of apple products, not quite sure if I am a bigger fan of Apple or Steve Jobs, who did to Apple, what I dream to do with my business- bring monetary value to the same level of the quality of our product.
Back to the ipad, I need to share: it is a great gadget! I immediately started experimenting and downloading children’s books in various languages….found out an app for children practicing Spanish called Salta! Now I can sing songs, read bedtime stories and play with my son using a foreign language and everything is done on the ipad! Very interesting….
My son asked tonight, mom, where is the ipad? I answered, it is charging, he said, oh no! No story time tonight???
I know parents complain that technology drive children away from real interaction, family time…I just showed you that is not true!
Whether you have an ipad or not, please consider using technology to bring your little one closer to you, especially bringing a foreign language closer to both of you. Having that in mind, I am creating a series of videos for parents who wish to do something at home related to a foreign language, but don’t feel confident enough to do so. My videos and audio files will help parents use technology to do some cool things at home with the children, as well as follow our activity guide to bring more fun and a foreign language to their summer.

Summer Activity Book and audio files will be available here on the blog, under membership category. I will let all the parents know as soon as we have it up on the site.

Saludos!
Claudia Krusch

Some Parents came to me yesterday at an event I attended and said, their children don’t even speak English…..that inspired me to write this post about the FAQs on the subject “misconceptions of foreign language being introduced in early age to children”.
On the top of the list:

1)  My child doesn’t even speak – misconception

Even if the child doesn’t speak, the foreign language will at least stimulate the brain which is already working to produce language.

2)  My child already speaks two languages, I don’t want to confuse him/her – misconception

All the studies conducted with children who had learned more than 2 languages in early age show that there are infinite ways where the brain is wired to store and process a new foreign language and there’s no limit to it. Children will sometimes, use words from different languages with bilingual parents, but the language use is a social behavior, so they usually use the languages when they are required by the parent who requires…(speaks) Later on , they will separate the language use.

3)  My child has speech impairment, therefore I will not enroll him/her in a foreign language program – misconception

I currently have two children who have speech issues, especially with consonants in English, which is normal in early age, until the brain is processing sounds. But they presented no speech impairment in Spanish, so I came to the conclusion that there are different areas of your brain for different languages and your vocal system will be wired to use its tools to communicate in different ways, for different languages.

4)  Foreign Languages should not be taught later on – misconception

I strongly believe that our brain is being formed until the age of 12, which benefits the early learning process of a foreign language or acquisition of any languages, but that doesn’t prevent any individual who is motivated to learn a second language later on. I currently have an 88 year old student!

5)  My child is too young – misconception

It is never too early to introduce a foreign language to a child, I honestly believe the younger the better. We start mommy and me classes at 14months. Children love it!

I hope that this helps parents answer their questions regarding introducing a foreign language to children. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like recommendations on software and programs in other states or countries.

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch
EasyLearn Programs powered by CK translations LLC

Dear Parents,

I very rarely endorse events on my blog, but this another is worth coming too. The JCC has organized an amazing variety of children related plays, musicals and more. Enjoy family-friendly music, theatre and dance performances as well as a host of fun and interactive activities in the FUN ZONE on the Outdoor Plaza including crafts, face painting, jugglers and more!

We will be there on Saturday, May 16th, all day, with Dora, who is coming to greet the children!

For more information, tickets, please log on:
www.katzjcc.org

I look forward to seeing you there!

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

Director

Dear members,

Some parents asked about our summer camps and how to invest on bringing the best of a foreign language program to summer fun, so we decided to post our summer camps schedule on the blog for a week, after that, we will have it on our site. Enrolment has started. Come and Splash en español this summer!

                                                                                  Spanish Splashing Summer Camps

                                                                                                  EasyLearn Programs

West Deptford

July 26^th-30^th    August 16^th-20^th

10-12 am 2 hours of pure fun! Outdoor activities, sports, nature exploration at the park besides the office, water games, summer vocabulary, basic Spanish concepts and more!! Snack is included.

Cost: $ 60.00 per week / Ages 3-5 and 5-7.

Cherry Hill

August 2-6^th

10-12 am 2 hours of pure fun! Outdoor activities, sports, nature exploration at the playground area, water games, basic Spanish concepts and more!! Snack is provided.

Cost: $ 50.00 per week / Ages 3-6.

Lumberton

August 9-13^th

10-12 am 2 hours of pure fun! Outdoor activities, sports, nature exploration at the playground area, water games and more!! Snack is provided.

Cost: $ 99.00 per week / Ages 3-8.

Fox

All summer, every Friday in July and August, two hours per Friday, 10-12pm! Outdoor activities, sports, nature exploration at the playground area, water games and more!! Snack is provided.

Cost: $ 50.00 per month / Ages 3-6

Mullica Hill

July 19-23rd, afternoon times per age.  Outdoor activities, sports, nature exploration at the playground area, water games and more!!

                                                                            For more information, call 856-848-8870

Dear Members,

This time of the year brings the best memories of my childhood. When my mom used to stay hours in the kitchen preparing the seafood dishes for Easter! My dad would spend hours stirring Vatapá, Camarão, arroz branco, farofinha…..makes my mouth water. Those sounds and smells still surround me when Easter times come, so I try to make this a special time for my son as well…bringing some of the traditions like purchasing the one pound Easter Egg at the Brazilian store….making sea food on good Friday and working on a two hour sweet bread which allows me to share some of my memories with him.

If you wish to share some traditions with your child or use some interesting materials in the classroom, I would suggest:

Use bunny songs which can be found in YouTube:

De olhos vermelhos or Coelhinho da Páscoa, words for the songs can also be found online

Memory game with Easter vocabulary like, coelho, cesta, ovos, chocolate, colorante, páscoa

Print easter egg from online free coloring pages and cut them in three parts, have the children put pieces of the eggs together, this can also be used to review colors on the eggs.

I hope my ideas help you share Easter traditions!

Feliz Páscoa!

Claudia Krusch

Director of EasyLearn Languages Programs

Dear Readers,

March is Dr. Seuss month and talking to another teacher, I heard the sentence, Dr.Seuss books were meant to be read in English! I disagree, I honestly believe, children will take a advantage of any opportunity to learn a foreign language, especially if it is connected to their own experiences, something they can relate to….

The collection was published in Spanish and I worked on my own version for Portuguese. The children immediately connect with the book and a subject they are also seeing in school.

So we decided to use Dr. Seuss books translated to Spanish this month in our classes and offer a free event to celebrate the author and his legacy at our office in West Deptford, on March 19rh 5pm. Story time, refreshments and a craft, a free event for Dr. Seuss lovers!

Come and join us or puchase the book and share with your child!

Claudia Krusch

CK Translations and EasyLearn Director

I had a parent call this week and the parent wanted to find out how we used LEGOS in our classes? Well, I decided to share my conversation with other parents in order to inform them of the benefit of using LEGOS in the child’s play time.

There’s a theory developed which defends that LEGOS can be used to treat children with autism, they improve brain function, accelerate reasoning thinking, increase attention and the tactile experience brings an amazing feeling of empowerment not shown with other toys.

We jumped on the idea and developed a program which took the same concept to bring a fun and educational experience to little ones! We teach basic Spanish vocabulary through building and manipulating the blocks.

There are some things you can do at home, such as depending on the age, use megablocks or LEGOS and have them identify colors, number counting, building a house, a car, a boat….take pictures, show it to everybody! Your child will be motivated to accomplish more! Contact us for a list of words you can use while playing with the LEGOS.

If you are interested in having your child join a group, our first sets of classes proved to be a huge success! We will be offering two new sets starting in March. Log on our website for more information:www.easylearnlanguages.com

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

Director

Dear Readers,

This is a question I often have to answer. Parents are worried about children who don’t speak English yet, who have speech delay, can’t differentiate colors after 24 months and other concerns……they are afraid a foreign language will make the situation worse or will bring a problem to their children.

NNELL and our website: www.easylearnlanguages.com lists thousands of articles which defend the early introduction of a foreign language to a child, proven  not to be only beneficial but instrumental in early reading, math, reasoning and other skills which were more developed in children exposed to foreign languages in early age.

My students, we currently have 150 enrolled in our programs have demonstrated those studies to be true and their learning process to say the least, have brought a joyful and educational experience to them.

Next time you decide to give a gift certificate to a child on their birthday, think of that!

For more information on classes and programs, please visit our site or a school in your area.

Claudia Krusch

Director of EasyLearn Programs