How To Create A Language Learning Schedule
Last Updated on August 4, 2025 by Reina Victoria
Welcome back to my four part series “How To Teach Your Child A Second Language: A Quick Start Guide”!
In the first part of this series I addressed the best time to start teaching your child a second language. Now that you’ve got a good idea that you want to start now (or maybe you’ve already started!) I want to show you how to create a schedule.
When my daughter was born, I knew I wanted her to grow up bilingual — even though I’m not a native Spanish speaker. At the time, I hadn’t taken a Spanish class in years, and I was just sprinkling in random words throughout the day, hoping it would be enough.
Spoiler: it wasn’t.
After a few months, I realized my Spanish hadn’t improved much at all — and my daughter wasn’t hearing enough of it to make a difference. That’s when it hit me: I didn’t just need good intentions. I needed a language learning schedule.
Creating a simple, flexible plan for Spanish learning helped me stay consistent and confident. I didn’t need to clear hours from my calendar or become a full-time language teacher. I just needed to embed learning a new language into the routines we were already doing — mealtime, car rides, playtime.
In this post, I’ll show you how to build a language learning schedule that fits your real life — especially if you’re a busy parent trying to raise bilingual kids without a background in teaching or native fluency. You’ve got this, and I’m here to help.
Don’t forget to tune in next Monday for part three of this four part series!
Table of Contents
Part 2: How To Create A Language Learning Schedule
The 1-Hour-a-Day Goal (and Why It Works)
When I first read that kids need about an hour a day of exposure to a second language to truly acquire it, I felt overwhelmed. An hour? Every day? Where was that hour supposed to come from?
But here’s what I’ve learned: it doesn’t have to be a full, uninterrupted hour. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Just like kids learn their first language in small, everyday moments — snack time, playtime, bedtime — they can learn a second language the same way.
The key is consistency. A language learning schedule that totals around one hour of meaningful input each day can make a real difference. Whether it’s through conversations, songs, stories, or podcasts, spreading that hour out keeps the minority language active and relevant — without adding pressure or screen time.
If you already speak the target language fluently, this can be as simple as choosing certain parts of your day to go all-in on the minority language. For example, you might use only Spanish from breakfast until school drop-off, or during storytime in the evening.
But if you’re like me — still learning a new language yourself — creating a plan becomes even more important. Without structure, it’s too easy to skip a day… then a week… and before you know it, Spanish is back to being “that thing we meant to do.”
The good news? You don’t need a blank hour in your schedule. You just need a strategy to weave Spanish learning into what you’re already doing — the routines that are already happening, whether you’re in the car, folding laundry, or making lunch.
In the next section, I’ll walk you through how I do exactly that — using everyday moments to hit that one-hour target in a way that feels natural, not forced.
Language learning should be interactive
The best way for you to teach your child another language is to make language learning interactive.
When you’re making your schedule, it’s important to look for times in your day where you can be engaged and interact with your child. Studies show that children learn languages best when they acquire it naturally as opposed to an out of context experience like flash cards.
There are so many ways to make language learning interactive, even if you don’t speak it. One way is to look for intentional times in your day where you can plan for interactive language work.
How to Build a Real-Life Language Learning Schedule
One of the best ways to start building a language learning schedule is by looking at what your family already does on a typical day. You don’t need to invent new routines — just tweak the ones that already exist.
Ask yourself:
- What does your morning look like?
- Do you drive your child to daycare or school?
- What’s your after-work routine?
- What’s your child’s bedtime flow?
Once you’ve mapped out your family’s daily schedule, the next step is to identify which parts can be converted into Spanish learning time — and who in the family will be responsible for speaking the target language during those moments.
Some families take a “one parent, one language” approach — for example, one adult always speaks English while the other uses the minority language. Other families, especially when neither parent is fluent, choose to dedicate specific parts of the day to learning a new language together.
🛠 Example: A Monolingual Family Builds Their Language Plan
Let’s look at a real-life example.
This is a bilingual journey for a monolingual family: two working parents who don’t speak Spanish fluently but want their 5-year-old to begin Spanish learning at home.
They decide to aim for one hour of Spanish exposure per day — but their evenings are already packed. So instead of carving out extra time, they repurpose the time they already spend together.
Here’s their typical afternoon and evening:
Daily Afternoon Schedule
- Drive home from work/daycare
- Dinner
- TV/play/family time
- Bath/shower
- Bedtime routine
There’s no extra hour lying around. But there are hidden opportunities for language learning:
🎧 Car Ride – 10 minutes
Switch the car ride from daycare into a Spanish-only zone. They listen to Spanish music or use basic phrases like “¿Cómo estuvo tu día?” and “¿Qué ves por la ventana?”
📺 Spanish Show – 20 minutes
They don’t eliminate screen time — they just change the language. A familiar show with Spanish audio becomes 20 minutes of fun, passive exposure.
🛁 Bath & Bedtime – 15 minutes
They add simple Spanish phrases during the bath: “¿Dónde está el jabón?” “¡Mira las burbujas!” and continue through the bedtime routine with a Spanish lullaby or short story.
Total Spanish Time = 45 minutes
They didn’t rearrange their schedule or buy a curriculum — they simply converted existing moments into Spanish learning opportunities.
💡 Tip: Find the “Spanish Switch” in Your Routine
When you’re building your own language learning schedule, think creatively. You don’t have to speak Spanish all day — just look for pockets where switching to the minority language feels natural.
Here are a few easy wins:
- Use Spanish commands during clean-up time
- Narrate simple tasks: “Estamos cocinando arroz.”
- Choose one meal a day to use only Spanish vocabulary
- Switch your bedtime story to a bilingual book or Spanish read-aloud
Looking for some Spanish toys to add to your child’s playtime? Check out the toys that my daughter uses and see how they can help add Spanish to your already busy schedule!
The goal isn’t perfection — it’s consistency. These small shifts add up to meaningful exposure and can make a huge impact on your child’s journey to becoming bilingual.
Make the schedule consistent
It’s easier to plan for language learning when you’re working with a consistent schedule and you’re using it at the same points each day.
If you decide that you want to work on language learning with your child in the car on the way to daycare, but you drive them one day, your mother-in-law drives them one day, and they take the bus three of the days, it might not be a good place to insert language learning.
The results that you get are going to be a direct result of the time and consistency put into your language learning schedule. The best way for your brain to store a new language in your long term memory is to practice it daily without breaks.
Regardless of the amount of time you are able to fit into your day, it is important to include some time with the target language every single day.
Working with the target language allows your child’s brain to build more connections. According to one great article found on BBC news,
“without a consistent schedule the brain fails to engage in any deep cognitive processes, like making connections between new knowledge and your previous learning”.
If you want to learn more about the importance of spending an hour a day learning a new language, I recommend this great BBC article here:
How To Learn A Language In An Hour A Day
Stay tuned!!
Next Monday I will release part 3 in the series, “How To Find Resources To Maximize Your Language Time”.
The third part will take a look at how you can find resources to fit the parts of your day where you’d like to incorporate language learning, whether that be in the car, at bedtime, or watching TV.
Finding good materials is essential for bilingual parents who want to create a language rich environment for their child! I’ll share some resources that you can use to get started and how to find resources that fit your schedule.
Here are links to the other parts in this series!
Part 1: What Is The Best Age To Teach Your Child A Second Language?
Part 3: How To Find Resources That Maximize Your Language Learning Time
Part 4: You Can Do It! – Motivation For Bilingual Parenting
Happy Learning!
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