LEARNING A SECOND/THIRD LANGUAGE AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL

LEARNING A SECOND/THIRD LANGUAGE AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL

ESL = English as a second language.

EFL = English as a foreign language.

EARLY BILINGUALISM

Simultaneous Acquisition = This is the earliest possible chance to learn multiple languages which starts at birth.

Children Learn A Second Language Naturally

Exposing your child to a second language while young allows him or her to optimize his or her learning potential, helping to shape the brain at its most flexible stage. Young children are uniquely suited to learning a second language. Learning a second language at a young age is cognitively as easy as learning a first language.

Linguistic Benefits

Young language learners can acquire native-like fluency as easily as they learned to walk, in contrast to an adult language learner.

the young learner learns naturally, absorbing the sounds, structures, intonation patterns and rules of a second language intuitively, as they did their mother tongue. The young brain is inherently flexible, uniquely hard-wired to acquire language naturally.

Younger learners benefit from flexible ear and speech muscles that can still hear the critical differences between the sounds of a second language, as well as reproduce them with native-like quality.

Cognitive Benefits

"Learning another language actually enhances a child's overall verbal development," says Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Ph.D., author of How Babies Talk.

The research goes on to show a number of additional cognitive benefits to learning a second language at an early age. Children who study foreign language show higher cognitive performance in overall basic skills in elementary school. According to the College Entrance Examination Board, they go on to score higher on SATs. Children who learn a foreign language at a young age also exhibit better problem-solving skills, enhanced spatial relations, and heightened creativity. Learning a second language early on encourages flexible thinking and communication skills, helping children consider issues from more than one perspective.

Additionally, research shows that multilinguals have enhanced memory, planning, and multi-tasking skills. When learning multiple languages young, the brain is trained to attend to salient information and to disregard non-pertinent information, a skill that later supports better focus, memory, planning and multitasking abilities. Research shows that multilinguals use more of their brains than monolinguals and outperform monolinguals on creativity tests.