How Kids Learn First Turkish Words Through Stories

Word lists are useful, but children rarely remember a word because it was on a list. They remember a word because something happened to someone they care about. A girl forgot the word she wanted to say to her grandmother. A dinosaur was too shy to say his words in class. A ten-year-old wrote eight words in a notebook because English could not hold them. This guide shows how to use stories to help your child learn first Turkish words, and how to keep those words alive at home.

Why a story works better than a word list

A story gives a word three things that a list cannot: a reason, a feeling and a repeat. The reason is the plot: a character needs the word. The feeling is what makes it stay: the word belongs to a happy, funny or sad moment. And the repeat comes naturally, because children ask for the same story again and again. Each time, the word comes back in the same place, and your child starts to wait for it.

Stories also take away the pressure. Your child is not "studying Turkish". They are finding out what happens next.

Ela and the Lost Word: one word on every page

In Ela and the Lost Word / Ela ve Kayıp Kelime, six-year-old Ela calls her grandmother every morning. Today she wants to say a special word, but she has forgotten it. Her friends try to help, and each one brings a word:

• Giray starts with the easiest one: merhaba (hello).
• Eylül opens her notebook at her favorite word: gökkuşağı (rainbow), and Filiz paints one across the sky.
• Pingucan arrives with warm simit, and Filiz hides for a game of saklambaç (hide and seek).
• Dino counts the yıldız (stars): bir, iki, üç.
• Ahmet has a bilmece (riddle) in his pocket, and Defne sings a şarkı (song).
• When Giray misses the ball, Gazi shouts "Haydi, bir daha!" (Come on, once more!), and Giray tries again.

We will not give away the lost word here, but it is one that many children abroad want to say to a grandparent. The book comes with an English version of the story and a Turkish listen-and-repeat version that leaves pauses for your child to say the words out loud.

Eylül's Notebook: the words that do not translate

Some Turkish words have no simple English partner. Eylül's Notebook is built around them. Eylül is ten, she has two languages, and she keeps a notebook of Turkish words that English never quite gave her. In the first chapter she collects eight: sıla, gurbet, hüzün, gönül, çay, sofra, nazar and kolay gelsin. Then she leaves a page for a ninth word of her own.

The chapters are told in English, with each Turkish word, its pronunciation and a short sentence to say out loud. This makes them a good choice for older children who understand English best, and for parents who are learning Turkish themselves.

Start your child's own word notebook

Eylül's idea is easy to copy at home. You need a small notebook and five minutes a week.

1. Let your child choose the notebook. A notebook they like is a notebook they will open.
2. One word per page. Write the Turkish word big. Write the English meaning small, underneath.
3. Add a drawing. Ask your child to draw where the word lives: the kitchen, the park, Grandma's balcony.
4. Add one sentence to say. For example, "Babaanne, seni özledim." (Grandma, I missed you.)
5. Write the date. In a few years, this page will show how your family's two languages sounded at this time.
6. Leave room for their own words. When your child invents a mixed word, such as a Turkish verb with an English ending, write that down too. It is part of their story.

Five habits that help new words stay

• Use the word on the same day. If the story had simit, buy or bake one, or draw one.
• Connect the word to a person. Words for family and feelings stay longer when your child says them to someone real, for example on a call with Babaanne or Dede.
• Repeat the word back; do not correct it. If your child says a word the wrong way, say the sentence back the right way, with a smile, and move on.
• Keep mistakes safe. In The Colour of My Tongue / Dilimin Rengi, Dino stops saying his Turkish words in class after a child laughs at him. Ela helps him see that every word has its own color, and that trying is what matters. The story is a gentle way to talk with a shy child about speaking.
• Come back to old words. Once a week, open the notebook at a random page and use that word at dinner.

Which words should come first?

Start with words your child can use every day and with the people they love: family names such as anne, baba, babaanne, anneanne and dede; polite words such as teşekkür ederim (thank you) and lütfen (please); and words for feelings, such as özledim (I missed you). For a longer list, read 15 Turkish words every kid should hear before age 8. If your child does not want to speak Turkish at all at the moment, these five ideas may help.

Every product page in our audio collection has a short free demo, so you can listen to the start of a story with your child before you choose. You can find all our bilingual books and audio stories in the E-Books & Audio Stories collection.