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.
