[szarlotka]

I've taught 4 year olds and know how hard it is to teach children who don't speak your language, are pre-literate and not used to a school environment. I still remember with horror singing the 'Hallo' song solo, to a group of sobbing children who were supposed to get the message instantly (being at an age to acquire language easily) and wave hallo back (according to the book).

I think my biggest mistake was excluding parents - as they can use their logic to understand you, they can help their babies understand and then practice with them at home. They can then see results which you're unlikely to achieve within a 40 minute lesson.

I now take my 9 month old to a group music class. She might not understand at the moment, but she has fun and as a parent that makes me happy and prepared to pay for the next semester. Get the parents to sing in English, dance with their child while you all sing - and teach them words like zig-zag, jump, weave, run, swing, rock so they can give their child the kinaesthetic experience of these things before they can say them, or give baby massage while you teach them parts of the body. Try teaching the children the names of objects (flowers, leaves, newspaper) which they can shred, show them actions parents can help them do (waving to each other/ clapping to each other/ bouncing to each other), smacking instruments which they can learn the names of (drums, triangles, pots etc). Try books like 'That's Not My Penguin' to read them - where they can feel the different textures - babies love that. My daughter loves us throwing a blanket over her and then pulling it back - we imagine it's teaching her 'Where's...'/ 'There's...'. Get them to say each other's names quietly and LOUDLY - or you can say them quietly and LOUDLY, while they hear a word they're familiar with but get the idea of different sounds. Try building blocks with colours - put them all facing the same way (all red) except one and get the children to identify the blue one and turn it round. Otherwise, they can just have fun knocking them down while you tell them the colours. Try teaching them words like hot/ cold and soft/ hard - easy to illustrate using objects and gives them something to touch and feel even though they might not be interacting. Before I had my baby I didn't have a clue what to do with infants but these are all things she enjoys and I presume she is picking up language.