Howdy!
Is there any good method and/or textbook with grammar that one can use with your kid at home (11 years), without the aid of a teacher? I’m from Brazil, and the English taught on school here isn’t very good. I don’t know if some homeschool material used in America would be of help, cause both me and my daughter aren’t (obviously) fluent on speech, and I don’t have much grammar knowledge (but nothing that I couldn’t learn too on the process).
Thanks in advance!
Am I getting it right, that you want to learn Latin or Classic Greek using textbooks written in English?
You can use Hans Ørberg’s “Lingua Latina per se Illustrata”. It’s a monolingual course, so you will learn Latin and read all explanations in Latin. No need to know English. It’s designed for independent learners.
Sorry! I didn’t make myself clear enough. What I’m looking for is a good textbook that I can use to teach English to my daughter. I have the Essential Grammar in Use (Beginner and Intermediate), but I wonder if there’s a material that focus more on texts rather than sectioned grammar topics.
Thanks anyway!
It may be difficult to find a teacher of English language on this forum, it is more about Classic Greek and Latin.
If you want to focus more on texts, then the course of Arthur Jensen may be fitting your goals. I’m not familiar with this textbook, but it is designed similarly to Ørberg’s LLPSI, and I read a story of one man who studied English with this book when he was very young, and he praised this method.
English By The Nature Method
You can find more information about this method on the Language learners’ forum. They also mention a book “English by the Nature Method for Children” written by Jensen’s daughter.
P.S. The story of young Svorken is here, starting with “It was the autumn of 1949”. It’s really amusing.
hi there,
I taught ESL to children and adults for several years.
A couple of things:
children learn through doing and immersion, not through studying grammar texts. The best thing you can do for her is get her watching English videos and movies. They’re free on youtube. You can monitor them for age-appropriate content. Let her choose what she likes and have her watching some every day. She will absorb naturally and it will be interesting and fun for her. Add in English story books, a little bit of reading every day. Stories, not textbooks. It needs to be fun and interesting.
I taught SO many adults from places like Brazil, Turkiye, Japan, China, etc. In these countries people learn English grammar in school for years and never actually practice speaking and listening; you only learn grammar, over and over again. This just doesn’t work. There’s zero point in studying grammar if you’re not going to practice speaking and listening. So that needs to be the priority, both for the kids and adults.
Just my two cents, as a former ESL teacher! Have fun and good luck!
I really appreciate the help! I know this is a latin and greek forum, but since I came through some topics on French, Italian, and German methods with really good tips and indications, I thought that maybe I could find some help with English too.
Will, I just found out that Jensen’s books were recently published here in Brazil. I’ll take a look at it. Thanks!
“klewis”, I think you’re right, and I’ll do what you said. Yeah, one of the problems here in Brazilian schools regarding English learning is the lack of immersive experience and the eternal loop on primary grammar rules (every new year I’d be taught the “verb to be” from scratch…). Thanks!