Believe it or not, it is much easier to teach children a second language than it is to teach adults. Not only is it easier learning a language during childhood, but it may also benefit a child's cognitive development, according to an article by Betty Birner, writing for the Linguistic Society of America. Apart from having both parents speak to their child in different languages, there are several strategies you can take to help your child effectively learn English as a second language.

Use picture association. Since children tend to be visual, use picture books or illustrations in helping them to associate English words with pictures. For example, show them a picture of a cat or a tree and refer to them by their English names, colors, size and so forth. After reviewing the pictures, hold up the images one at a time and ask the child to describe the contents of the picture in English.

Have a race. Many children are competitive, so devise a game in which children can compete with correct answers. One example would be to draw a start and finish line with chalk on a paved area. Have the children take their places at the start line. Ask them each different basic questions to which they must respond correctly in English. For each correct answer, the child gets to move either one or two steps forward. The first one to the finish line is the winner. You can even reward them with small prizes, or create your own ribbons.

Create a scavenger hunt. Give each child a list of objects written in English that they must find and collect. For instance, your list might include a rock, green paper, a toy, etc. The child who correctly collects the most objects wins.

Read aloud a story. For children who may be more intermediate with English skills, read a simple children's story out loud in English. Following each sentence or paragraph, quiz the children on what occurred in the story. To make it more challenging, ask them to try answering in English.

Role-play by having children act out different scenarios. One approach you can take is to tell the children to create a mock phone conversation in English with one another, or to act out a scene from the supermarket, describing the people there and the foods that are being sold.