I receive a few emails a week asking about my secret to foreign language teaching-

You will be able to read my article in full on music and foreign language nationally (fingers crossed)...but there is an influx of people who bought Phase I that are really wanting to know the background information in depth. This part I will blog here will not be in the article..but maybe of some interest to some of you eclectics out there.

I use English sign language with all foreign language because it works like a glue base-like the egg in flour-however, because sign language is different in other countries, I have not made this secret weapon I use known-but now the interest is such that I will explain it.

First of all, I didn't use ESL in the DVD for the music program because we were singing and using the pentatonic instruments, but I think in the next one I will include a separate sign video that goes along on the same DVD. Secondly, ESL is there in the video, you just can't see it, I am actually signing to the kids while they sing and play the instruments.

Here is a list of how I teach foreign language:

1) vocab, singing and signs

2) verbs-with singing and signs

3)small sentences with singing and signs-basically taking songs apart,

Songs that they already now know and are accustomed to and taking them apart-

As the knowledge increases the songs change-from folk songs and nursery rhymes,

to Opera's and famous songs....

like we only started Spanish last year-so we are still on the second part-

we are working on the songs De Colores, La Granja and L'Arana pequenita-

You can see the all of the different folk songs in Phase I (available through my website).

With French we just finished la Vie en Rose and Le Facteur,

and started Bizet's Habanera....(These will be part of Phase II)

In German-Bruderchen and Freude-from Beethoven's Ninth,

I taught them the chorus, that is probably the video you saw before-

but now they are taking it apart in signs. In fact, in those videos you see of the kids,

I am signing to them while they sing......

In Spanish-they do very little writing and reading-but in French and German they are doing vocabulary and sentence work-those workbooks I got from the Muzzy program and NTC

Wir Schreiben auf Deutsch and Ecrirons en Francais-

There is an awesome little Foreign language book-you can get it in, I think any language-

it is a reader and it is about a Brother and Sister and their dog and the funny things they do on a daily basis-the Brother and Sister are teenagers-this is something that I use alot-Let me look it up for you,

it is a GREAT book and small and the lessons build on eachother, I am hoping soon the kids will be able to read it themselves....(could be hoping for too much.... : )

But I have it in French and German and it is by NTC-I have it put away right now (somewhere?) because it is Spanish month.... It is called the "Beginner German Reader" and it is the same in French "The Beginner French Reader"