How can you introduce new English vocabulary to your children? This can be a tricky thing when English is not your strongest suit. This is why we offer the service of a bilingual babysitter for you and your children. Your babysitter will communicate with your children in an everyday manner in English. Both you and your babysitter can be part of making the learning process fun and easy for your children.

Here are a some ways to introduce new English vocabulary to your children in a fun and educating way:

Introduce “Word of the day”

Find a convenient place in your home where you can put up a note each day with your word of the day. Make it a routine to every morning, perhaps during breakfast, talk about the word; what does it mean; how can you use it; how do you put it into a sentence? This word has to be chosen according to your children’s level of English, and if you are not very strong in the English language yourself, ask your babysitter to come up with a word that they later can practice with your children. To make it even more fun, draw or print out an accompanying picture for the word, or perhaps ask your children to draw something that goes with the word?

Use word labels in the house

One of the simplest ways to learn names of items is to simply write them up. Use small notes, post-it notes are recommended as they are easy to move around, write names of everyday things in the house on each note; chair, table, wall, floor, lamp, oven etc., and place the note on each item. In this way, your children will always be reminded of the word as they walk by, use the kitchen or other. Your bilingual babysitter can easily do this as an activity, walk around the house and let the children decide what they want to focus on, choose maybe 5 or 10 to begin with, and gradually put more notes as they progress.

Use flashcards

Flashcards are very common to use when learning a language, at any level. This may require some more concentration from your children than the above mentioned ideas, but it’s a very effective way of learning words. In this link you can find several flashcards in different categories that you can simply print out for your babysitter to use when playing games or talking about new vocabulary. Each flashcard have a picture on one side and a word or a short sentence on the other side, and is intended to be used as an aid to memorize each item on the cards. Look at the pictures and guess what the word can be, or look at the words and create a sentence. Be creative in the way you use your flashcards.

Let your children create their own dictionary

What did your children learn together with their bilingual babysitter today? Make it a routine to each day go through some of the words they learnt from their babysitter today. This way, your children not only need to reflect on their day, they also have to try to use the new words in sentences, plus they get to show of their new language skills, great for encouragement! Once you have talk about 2 or 3 words, allow them to write down the words in their own dictionary. This activity further allows your children to practice their spelling and see their own progress in the English language. And it’s also a great way for you to see what your babysitter is contributing with when it comes to your children’s development in the English language.

So, whats the word you will learn today?

So, what word will you introduce today? What category of flashcards will you use today? There are so many ways of expanding your children’s vocabulary, and we are so glad to have our bilingual babysitters to assist you even further. Do you have any tips or ideas of how to introduce new vocabulary; have you tried a great method? Please share with us on our facebook page, and if you want to learn more about getting your own bilingual babysitter, visit our webpage here.