How to make Hindi not so BLAH! Get kids to like and LOVE Hindi
This is it — you’re jazzed to start teaching your kid Hindi.
You think of all the possibilities and are SO excited just at the thought of them being able to talk to your family or visit India.
Great! Ok now, let me give you two scenarios.
Scenario 1
You are pumped to get your child to speak Hindi. You get materials, ideas etc. (though you are slightly overwhelmed by the colossal task of teaching a whole new language) sit down at the dining table after 9 hours at work …and your child is mopey, refuses to learn and dreads Hindi time. IS class done yet?
Scenario 2
You are pumped to get your child to speak Hindi, and your kids are excited too! It takes you 10 minutes to prep and you have material to work with. In fact you actually have fun doing it — in fact, your kid even asks to do it. They think its funny, silly, special and engaging.
I’m assuming you want S2. I want that for you too!
P.S. I actually know so many families that have tried and tried to teach their child Hindi. They have materials (often made up, because there is so little material out there), some vocab and an alphabet book. But the moment it’s time to actually do the work, their child bursts into tears, makes up excuses and throws a tantrum.
What’s the problem here?
First impressions stick. If kids get it stuck in their heads early on that Hindi is boring, dull, for old people, or will make them stand out in a bad way – then it will be an uphill battle from here on out.
You can try and try but it will take so much effort to just sit down, that actually teaching is just exhausting. You’re human and you are busy and this turns into a constant struggle you don’t need.
I don’t want that to happen to you. No joke, I’m really, really personally passionate about this NOT happening to you.
So here’s what you should do.
1. First thing – Make Hindi Fun. You know, play games, sing songs, get creative.
Do what INTERESTS them in Hindi. If your child likes art, teach them origami in Hindi. Look at my post HERE, where I describe how “Actions” can be a great Hindi ice-breaker.
Remember, if you are getting bored, they definitely are getting bored.
In my course, I have classes based on likes and dislikes, games, songs and more to make Hindi fun. I teach it so you don’t have to.
Don’t get me wrong — there will always be boring aspects of teaching a language – i.e. vocabulary words, sentence structure to say the least. But always know that the actual teaching part is short, and the reinforcing part can always be fun.
Example:
Vocab: kutta, bulli, aadmi, aurat
Activity: tell a story about the Kutta billi, aadmi aurat.
2. Be happy and positive about Hindi yourself. Watch what you say about Hindi, Indian accents, Hindi movies, etc. and make sure they actually believe that you like the language.
Make Hindi cool (if your child is 8 or 9, “cool” means a lot). And if you can’t do that yourself, find older, “cool” kids who speak Hindi in your community.
Be positive and the kids will follow suit. In my classes people always say “you’re so upbeat” “You must love teaching, you’re so happy all the time.” Yes I do love teaching, but I’m not a crazy person constantly excited. I do that because kids respond to upbeat, happy, creativity and plain fun.
Ready to get started? Go to the free resources section and check out some fun activities you can do with your kids.
