Berlitz Kids Instruction

Berlitz Languages for Kids

What is Berlitz Languages For Kids (LFK)?

Berlitz Languages For Kids (LFK) is a sequential, five-level conversational language instruction program written specifically for the elementary school age group. It is available for teaching Spanish, French, Italian, German or Japanese. LFK may be used successfully by any classroom teacher or foreign language professional, and provides particular flexibility for entry of new students.

Benefits of Using Berlitz LFK at Your School

The Berlitz Languages For Kids program was developed by a team of language experts and early childhood teachers with the primary objective of producing a fun and engaging program relevant to the students everyday conversation, easy for the teacher to use, and practical for a district to implement. This program provides a flexible and cost-effective solution to the problems faced by elementary schools that want to implement world language learning in their classrooms.

Consider the following when developing a successful elementary language program:

Funding and Personnel

Ideally, a language specialist would manage your world language program. However, we know that a variety of factors can make this prohibitive, such as difficulty finding a qualified teacher or lack of funding for an additional salary. For schools that face such challenges, but still want to give their students the opportunity to learn a second language, LFK is the solution. It is an effective program that can be used successfully by ANY classroom teacher.

Curriculum
LFK offers a thorough, creative, and sequential curriculum that is easy for the teacher to implement and motivational for the student.

Choice of Languages
Five levels of Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese are available.

Uniformity
The materials and progression for each LFK program are the same, facilitating effective teaching and learning of any of the five offered languages.

Flexibility
The LFK program is designed to accommodate newly entering students and does not depend on a childs reading and writing skills or previous language experience for success.

Scheduling
LFK fits into any classroom schedule and remains effective even when shuffled to different days and time slots.

Reinforcement at Home
LFK encourages after-school study through take-home worksheets and hotline tapes.

By addressing the curriculum, personnel, scheduling and funding problems inherent in offering foreign language learning at the elementary school level, Berlitz Languages For Kids makes it possible for foreign language instruction to be treated like a regular subject on a permanent basis.

How to Implement A Program

The Berlitz Languages For Kids program is being used in elementary and intermediate schools in more than 25 states.

With a foreign language teacher
Some schools opt to use a certified foreign language teacher to provide initial instruction each week, and then have the classroom teacher reinforce the lessons using LFK workbook activities. This affords the language teacher enough time to cover many classes in a number of schools, give workshops, manage scheduling, model lessons, and expand the curriculum horizontally for regular classroom teachers. By participating in the language instruction, the classroom teacher can integrate the second language into other subjects and daily activities naturally.

Without a foreign language teacher
Some schools simply cannot afford a foreign language teacher, while others have difficulty finding a qualified individual. LFK is the solution because any classroom teacher can administer its curriculum. Teachers will find the LFK methodology familiar and straightforward. The accompanying Teacher Package is easy to use, and provides all the necessary support for teachers with little or no background in a target language. Schools and districts benefit from LFKs sequential, consistent program, flexible scheduling, and affordability. Students receive language training that otherwise would have been inaccessible to them. Parents are happy to see their children getting a well-rounded education from an early age. With LFK, everyone wins.

Curriculum

For each language there is a five-level program; each level is comprised of nine thematic units. Standard materials for each level include a Teacher Plan Book and Picture Pack, an Audio Learning Cassette, and a Student Workbook. There are optional items available as well, including language hotline answering machine tapes and a Songbook with cassette featuring five songs in the target language.

The Berlitz Languages For Kids program covers these topics:

Level 1
Greetings, families, numbers, ages, household objects, colors, body parts, questions and answers, and a birthday song.

Level 2
Community workers, songs, everyday objects, colors, rooms in a house, questions and answers.

Level 3
Numbers, adding and subtracting, animals, adjectives, songs, body parts, extended family members, possessives, questions and answers.

Level 4
Table objects, food, commands, daily activities, time, places, days of the week, extended sentences using prepositional phrases, questions and answers.

Level 5
Parts of the day, daily activities, more numbers and colors, nature, clothes, weather, transportation, questions and answers.

Topics are reviewed using different games and activities upon reaching each new level.

Materials

The LFK Teacher Package contains all necessary materials to implement a successful language program, including a plan book, picture pack, audiocassette, and reference copy of the student workbook. The plan book for each level contains nine new lessons. Level 1 is for beginners; each succeeding level carefully increases in content and complexity. It is important to note that the material for each new lesson does not depend on knowledge of the previous lesson. This enables a child who is new to a class to learn the new lessons without a disadvantage. He/she will pick up previously taught material through the reinforcement exercises included as a review in each lesson.

For Spanish, French and Japanese, there is one audio learning cassette for each level. One side of the cassette is instructional and the other for review.

Each student gets a workbook that contains exercises, hands-on reinforcement games, and puppets that can even be personalized! The first few pages of the workbook are perforated gold sheets for use by parents.

Scheduling

Berlitz Languages For Kids is totally conversational and does not require reading or writing skills. Any class beginning the program should start with Level 1 and work upwards. The number of levels used in each grade depends on the intensity of the program and progress of the class.

We recommend that each lesson be mastered before the next is introduced, and that previously covered material is constantly reviewed to maximize retention. Games reinforcing each lesson and level are incorporated throughout the LFK program.

We suggest a minimum of two formal language lessons per week. Lessons can range from 20 to 50 minutes depending on the students ages and classroom scheduling needs. Additional informal practice inside and outside the classroom is greatly encouraged. The hotline is a good source for student review and will help parents learn proper pronunciation too!

Why use Berlitz LFK?

Berlitz Languages For Kids is educational, practical, and fun. Students overcome fear, enjoy the feeling of success, and become more receptive to in-depth language study in their later school years.

Teachers expand their skills and get the satisfaction of providing interesting, relevant, and motivating lessons in a new subject. Schools and districts benefit from LFKs sequential, consistent program, flexible scheduling, and affordability. Parents are happy to see their children getting a well-rounded education from an early age. With LFK, everyone wins.