UNPOPULAR OPINION: Learning the Spanish Alphabet is a detriment

I know. Every one wants to know the letters in Spanish. And I think that's a normal desire.

 

But I say SKIP IT.  Spending time looking at, studying the sounds, memorizing and practicing the letters in the Spanish alphabet is not only NOT useful, but it's a detriment to learning how to speak. Truly!

Here are a few reasons I've heard from other curriculum writers:

"Letters are the building blocks of a language."
"Knowing the sounds of a new language is the stepping stone to sound native."
"Being confident in the written word translates to being confident in speaking."

The thing is, your four year old was speaking BEAUTIFULLY and she did NOT know how to read or write, and probably didn't know a T from a Q! Right? RIGHT.

Your brain has already done this thing you're trying to do again! You have already learned a language. Fairly easily, actually. AND... you've already TAUGHT a language to some humans. Also, fairly easily. So. Think about that process and do it again!

See an item, say the item. Can you you imagine trying to teach a toddler a new word.... let's say you want the 2 year old to learn the word "slug."

I'm smiling as I type, because I bet the conjured up a picture in your brain. And was that picture including four letters.... S. L. U. G?
Would you pull the sweet little girl into your lap and get a piece of paper and write out the letter S? Even if it's a fun color, maybe it the S has a happy face, or it's even a SLUG drawing, in the SHAPE of an S? Then say S.L.U.G, explaning the phonetics?

Of course not. You would point at a slug and say "slug." You might ask some questions. Do you like the slug? What color is the slug? Is the slug on the leaf? Do you think the slug is hungry? 

You'd give the new word some meaning, help the child to remember the word with meaningful conversation. If we focus on the letters, the immediate problem is that the learner then uss the LETTERS to learn new words, rather than the item and sound. And this pattern of learning creates time consuming obstacles. Not only are you not learning the word effectively, but you're doing it in a way that causes you to be slower to speak, slower to memorize, and probably to mispronounce half of your new vocabulary. It's a faulty pattern that needs correction. Skip the alphabet. In 8 months or so.... sure. Look at the sounds, the names, and be aware. But do NOT use the alphabet to learn a new language. Learn the alphabet after you know how to communicate.

Here's the correct way to learn! See it and Say it!

The SLUG. No reading required! (Want to recreate this with more commonly used words? Check out See it and Say it - take the short cut!)

  

Another way to understand this concept is here on our youtube channel: 


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