Ever wanted your children to be able to speak a foreign language? Looking for a fun way to teach them? We take a look at an imaginative new idea from One Third Stories that aims to help with doing just that
Background
I have always wanted to be able to speak a foreign language and am eternally jealous of people who seem to be able to do so effortlessly. It is just something that I have never been able to grasp. I have therefore always been keen for my children to start early on this quest, in the hope that they may be able to do better at it than I ever could.
As we have recently relocated as a family from the UK to live in Spain for a while, this need has become more pressing. Especially as the children will be attending a local Spanish speaking school. I am therefore always on the lookout for new and interesting ways for helping children to learn a language. We have had some success with language smartphone apps (see our top 5 apps for early years homeschooling), but sometimes it is nice to be able to leave those screens alone for a while.
Because of this, when approached with an offer to trial a new innovative idea based around story books for children’s language development, from One Third Stories, I jumped at the chance. Here follows a summary of how the system works, along with our experiences of it, based on our trial pack.
**In order for us to carry out this review of One Third Stories, we were kindly gifted a monthly pack for free in exchange for an honest appraisal. All opinions expressed are entirely our own. We would never take payment or free gifts in exchange for false or exaggerated reviews.
How does the One Third Stories system work?
- This language learning system for children uses a monthly subscription service, consisting of a story book accompanied by an activity pack, as well as access to an online audio book recording.
- The books are intended for children aged 4-9 years old.
- The foreign languages that are currently available to learn are French, German, Spanish and Italian.
- Each story starts in English, before slowly and progressively inserting foreign vocabulary one word at a time into the story.
- Each month is themed. For our trial month, the theme for the story and activities was based around dinosaurs.
- By the end of each book, up to 30 foreign words will have been introduced in and amongst the English words that continue to comprise the bulk of the story.
How much do One Third Stories cost?
- The One Third Stories system is based on a monthly subscription service.
- Each month you are sent a new story book, along with an activity book to help reinforce the learning.
- It also includes access to an online audio book recording.
- A subscription costs £19.99 per month. It is also possible to purchase a 12 month subscription for the reduced total price of £191.88, or 12 months with 6 additional bonus books for £241.88.
So, what did we think?
The book that we received from One Third Stories was a cheerful and colourful adventure, involving a dinosaur and his shoes. It made a good story and was easy for my 4 and 6 year old children to follow.
The accompanying activity book, as well as being great fun for the kids, really helped to reinforce (through repetition) the learning of the foreign language words that had been introduced throughout the story.
Having access to an online audio book recording of the story was a useful parental tool for helping to ensure correct pronunciation of any unknown or unsure words in the book. It was useful to be able to hear the story read aloud first, before attempting to read it with the children for the first time. I imagine that some children may also like to be able to listen to the story, while reading along with it themselves.
In Summary
The subscription packs from One Third Stories provide a useful tool for foreign language introduction and progression in young children. For anyone who, like us, finds themselves living in a foreign country with kids and wanting to kick start their language development, they could prove to be particularly worthwhile.
The story we received was fun and easy to follow. Any new foreign language words were introduced in context and very gradually into the story, ensuring that it was easy to keep track of new words learned. It never felt as if the new vocabulary was expanding at a rate faster than you are able to keep up with (as I have often found with other language learning systems).
My kids also really enjoyed doing the activities in the accompanying book, with them now quite happily able to tell me a whole range of colours and other simple words in Spanish. It always amazes me how much of a sponge for new knowledge small children can be!
I guess one thing that may be off-putting is the price of the subscription, which could be prohibitively high for some people. That is not to say that the books aren’t fun and worthwhile. I can just imagine it being a stretch too far for some. One possible idea could be to make a subscription a great gift idea for anyone looking to buy something that is a bit different and more worthwhile than just ever more ‘stuff’. If this sort of thing interests you, you may also like to see some of our other alternative gift ideas for children.
Although admittedly you may not be able to learn a new language completely just from using these books, they do still make a great complementary resource. The concept of integrating foreign words into an English language story is really innovative and should be applauded. I’ve not come across anything like it before and I think it’s a great idea.
Ultimately, in my experience, making learning fun is always the key to engaging children and bringing on their development. These books, as well as the accompanying activity packs, certainly manage to do that. I’ve always thought that learning a foreign language is a brilliant life skill – one that I’ve personally always wished I had – so encouraging this type of learning in children is definitely to be encouraged. If you agree with me and this appeals to you for your own children, be sure to check out these packs from One Third Stories. They provide a great resource for helping children to learn to speak a foreign language.
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