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When to start teaching? Posted by on May 12, 2009 in Esperanto Language

Most Esperantists will tell you, if they’ve studied other languages, that Esperanto is one of the easiest lingvoj to learn. Its vocabulary isn’t necessarily easier – there are still a whole lot of words out there! – but its logical verb conjugation and complete lack of irregulars makes remembering the grammar rules clean and simple. So, it’s easy to start learning it at any age…But when would it be best to learn it?

From my experiences as a student of other languages, I think it would be helpful if kids learned Esperanto as early as elementary school. By introducing them early on in their lives to foreign languages, and doing so with a simple (and thus less intimidating or discouraging!) language, it might be possible to foster better language understanding. As a result, studying other languages like Spanish or French later on in life will be considerably easier for them, having already built both confidence and language skills by means of studying Esperanto.

Audience, what do you think? When would be the optimal time to teach Esperanto to someone?

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Comments:

  1. A young Floridian:

    For a short while, I had began speaking Esperanto to my little brothers, 5,3 and 9 months. But I stopped after I had to put my study of Esperanto on the back burner in order to better work on my Vocational school.

    I’m still a mere komencanto. I haven’t read, studied or practiced in weeks now so I’m forgetting the few words and phrases that I knew. :(…

    I’m almost finished with my school though. I’ll be taking a short vacation this summer and plan to use that time studying!

    My dream is to be able to teach Esperanto to my own children from birth 🙂

  2. Karem:

    I think that is the best way to learn and teach Esperanto with the family and kids. I´m still learning and I teach my kids.It is a great experience.

  3. marianas:

    The comparison I’ve hear most often is of learning to play the recorder in music class in elementary school. Few people go on to become excellent recorder players and many people forget how to play and instrument altogether (I’m in that category), but it is still taught because it’s an easy instrument to learn the basics on and having that background makes learning how to play another instrument easier.

    I’m not sure I approve of the idea, however. I think that if it were taught in elementary school with the explicit purpose of being a stepping stone for learning another language it would only further the idea that Esperanto isn’t a “real” language worth becoming fluent in.