I think there's a huge difference between a 14 year old and an 8 year old.
Also there's a bit of cultural assumption going on here. Based on the amount of comments, the poster's child is probably a native English speaker. My nephew is not, and has only begun learning English in school.
If the goal is "Let's make something for my child" that's cool and needs no change. If the goal is "Let's make something to help children learn programming", a more difficult and noble goal, then removing barriers such as English fluency, is a way to do that.
the poster's child is probably a native English speaker
She is not, but started learning english when she was 5 or 6 by watching netflix peppa pig in english and with english subtitles, now she is almost 11 and watches anime in japanese with english subtitles.
What pushed me to do that years ago was Stephetn Fry's turn on the subtitles video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-zISnJ-oao (I cant actually find the one I watched at the time, but was the same content)
Comments
yeah my 14 yr old son says the same thing about scratch and the other similar targeted languages.
not surprising really he's taught himself c# to make games in unity.
I think there's a huge difference between a 14 year old and an 8 year old.
Also there's a bit of cultural assumption going on here. Based on the amount of comments, the poster's child is probably a native English speaker. My nephew is not, and has only begun learning English in school.
If the goal is "Let's make something for my child" that's cool and needs no change. If the goal is "Let's make something to help children learn programming", a more difficult and noble goal, then removing barriers such as English fluency, is a way to do that.
She is not, but started learning english when she was 5 or 6 by watching netflix peppa pig in english and with english subtitles, now she is almost 11 and watches anime in japanese with english subtitles.
What pushed me to do that years ago was Stephetn Fry's turn on the subtitles video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-zISnJ-oao (I cant actually find the one I watched at the time, but was the same content)
Good on you for that.
This is my nephew, so I don't have a lot of control. My wife learned English around your daughter's age and she's at native level.
Nonetheless, human languages are a barrier :)
that's hugely impressive, learning to program in a language you dont speak.
actually given how messed up english can be at times i wonder if that actually helps :-P
Yeah, Scratch is is IMHO more an option for half that age.