Online English lessons for children in Montenegro: regular spelling, little words and more time to talk

When do children in Montenegro start English at school?

English is taught in schools in Montenegro, usually from primary school. The starting year, the number of lessons a week and what each year covers can differ, so your child's school is the best source for what their class is doing now and how it is marked.

Whatever the timetable, a classroom has one teacher and many children, so each child gets only a little time to speak English out loud. Listening and copying from the board are useful, but confidence comes from saying things, making mistakes and trying again. That is the part a short lesson at home can add, without taking anything away from school.

How does speaking Montenegrin at home shape a child's English?

Montenegrin is closely related to Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, and it is written in both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets. Its spelling is regular, so once a child knows the letters they can read most words just as they are written. English works differently, and a few things will feel new:

• **The little words a and the.** Montenegrin has no articles, so a child may say I have dog or Close door for a long time. Hearing a dog and the door again and again is what fixes it, far more than a grammar rule.
• Spelling with more than one answer. English spelling is less regular: the letter a sounds different in cat, car and cake. A child used to reading every word as written may need time to accept this.
• Lots of vowel sounds. English has many vowel sounds, so pairs such as ship and sheep or full and fool need careful listening.
• Small endings with big meanings. In English, -s and -ed change the meaning: one cat, two cats; I walk, I walked. These endings are easy to drop when speaking fast.

None of this is a problem; it is simply what learning English looks like for a child who speaks Montenegrin. Mistakes like these show your child is building their own English, step by step.

Does knowing two alphabets help a child read English?

It can. Because Montenegrin is written in both Latin and Cyrillic, your child may already know that letters are a code and that the same shape can stand for different sounds in different alphabets. That idea is useful in English, where one letter can make several sounds and two letters together, such as sh or ch, can make one new sound.

Keep reading in Montenegrin going too: strong reading in one language supports reading in another. For English, phonics teaches the links between sounds and letters in a clear order, so a child can sound out new words instead of guessing. You can see how a phonics course is built on our Phonics Starter page.

What should English lessons look like for a child of four, seven or ten?

Children aged 4 to 12 can all enjoy English when the lesson fits their stage. What changes is the balance between play, reading and conversation.

• Around four to six. Songs, pictures, puppets and moving about. The goal is to enjoy hearing English and to answer with single words and short phrases.
• Around six to eight. As your child learns to read Montenegrin, English phonics can start alongside it: letter sounds, blending short words and reading simple sentences. Our guide to English at 6 and 7 explains what is typical.
• Around eight to twelve. Older children can talk about school, hobbies and favourite games, read short books and write a few sentences of their own.

How can I tell whether an online English lesson is good?

• Your child talks for much of the lesson, rather than mostly listening.
• The teacher is live, notices mistakes and helps your child put them right kindly.
• The lesson changes activity often enough to hold a young child's attention.
• You know your child's level and what they are working towards next.
• You hear from the teacher after lessons, so you know what to practise.
• Teachers are checked and lessons stay on the provider's own platform.

A 25-minute lesson once or twice a week is easier to keep up than a long one, and regular practice matters more than length. Watching a first lesson with your child is the quickest way to judge all of the above.

What if my child is too shy to speak English?

Many children understand far more English than they are willing to say, especially at first. A quiet start is normal, and one-to-one lessons are often easier for a shy child than speaking up in class, because nobody else is listening.

• Let your child sit near you for the first lessons, then step back once they settle.
• Praise trying, not only getting it right.
• Ask your child to show you one new word or song after each lesson.
• Give it a few weeks before deciding how it is going.

Our guide on helping a child who is shy to speak English has more ideas.

How would CurioKids lessons work for a family in Montenegro?

CurioKids gives children aged 4 to 12 live, 1-to-1 online English lessons with a real teacher, 25 minutes each, in the CurioKids online classroom with video, an interactive whiteboard, lesson slides and games. Most children start with Phonics Starter; a child who already reads can be placed straight into a CEFR-based level after the free first lesson. Phonics Starter is our 52-lesson reading course, from letter sounds to reading sentences. Teachers can't teach until our team has confirmed a background check and they have signed our teaching agreement. Lessons happen only inside the CurioKids classroom, and your child's teacher gives feedback after lessons. See our levels and safety pages for more.

For a child used to the regular spelling of Montenegrin, Phonics Starter goes from letter sounds to reading sentences in small steps, so English spelling patterns make sense one at a time.

Visit our Montenegro page to see how lessons work, what your child will learn and how we keep children safe. If lessons for families in Montenegro haven't opened yet, the page has a waitlist: leave your details and we'll let you know when you can book your child's free first lesson. Plans for families in Montenegro are priced in euros: see the prices for Montenegro.