For Young Children, Two Languages Are as Easy as One

This article was featured in the October 2009 issue of the Language Educator. There was no autor cited (page 11). Consider teaching your child early. The more education your child receives between the ages of 0-5, the more brain development you promote.

European researchers are contesting the assumption that bilin­gual toddlers have more trouble learning language skills than children who know just one language.

“While the remarkable performance of children acquiring one lan­guage is impressive, many children acquire more than one language simultaneously,” says study author Agnes Melinda Kovács, a research fellow at the International School for Advanced Studies, in Trieste, Italy. “As bilingual children presumably have to learn roughly twice as much as their monolingual peers [because they learn two languag­es instead of one], one would expect their language acquisition to be somewhat delayed. However, bilinguals pass the language develop­ment milestones at the same ages as their monolingual peers.”

The finding, which appeared in Science magazine in print and online in July (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/325/5940/ 611), resulted from a test of the responses to verbal and visual cues from 64 babies who were 12 months old. They came from monolin­gual and bilingual families, although the study did not specify which languages the families spoke. The toddlers were exposed to two sets of words that had different structural characteristics. After each word, the children viewed a special toy on either the left or right side of a screen, depending on the word’s structure. They then were pre­sented with words they had never heard before but that conformed to one of the two verbal structures. No toy followed.

Researchers determined whether the infants had learned the word structures by measuring the direction of their gaze after hearing each new word. Judging by their eye movements, the bilingual kids did better in recognizing words than their monolingual peers.

“We showed that pre-verbal, 12-month-old, bilingual infants have become more flexible at learning speech structures than monolin­guals,” says Kovacs. “When given the opportunity to simultaneously learn two different regularities, bilingual infants learned both, while monolinguals learned only one of them.”

This means, she says, that “bilinguals may acquire two languages in the time in which monolinguals acquire one because they quickly become more flexible learners.”

According to the study, the cognitive pathways developed during the learning of two languages might make bilingual children more efficient in acquiring new information.

Summer Spanish Classes for High School and Adults

High School: Habla Language Services hits the grammar books! Yes, we like to emphasize communication and manipulating the Spanish language without speaking it perfectly, but because it is summer and some kids want to get a head-start on high school, we are offering a special series this summer. We are going to do an introduction to Spanish 2. So if you have a teen who went through Spanish 1 and didn’t do so well. Or, who is entering Spanish 2 and knows s/he may not have much time to study, this is the class for your high schooler! We will cover what will mainly be covered in high school Spanish 2: preterite, imperfect, commands. Plan on meeting twice a week for 1.5 hours with homework. We will form a schedule that works for you. We are offering this class at a special rate for youth: $250 for 8 sessions that are 90 minutes. All materials are always included, but it helps if your teen has a bilingual pocket dictionary, electronic translator, or phone app for translating. Contact me now so we can get started within the next couple of weeks. (Classes are offered at my home in the Campbell area.)

Elementary: If there is enough interest, I will do a fun session for younger kids like learning through games and music! Let me know what you’d like to do!

Adults: The Spanish conversational series will be starting up again in the fall. Make sure you are ready with the basics. In order to participate in the conversational series, you need to know the following 7 competencies:

1. Numbers
2. Days of the Week
3. Months of the Year
4. Colors
5. Greetings and Niceties
6. Pronouns
7. Question words

Gear up now so you are ready to go in the fall!  I cover the 7 competencies in my basic 3-hour workshop. The first 2 people to indicate interest will get to select the date. I recommend a Saturday or Sunday because if you work a traditional work schedule, you will not want to attempt this class after a full day of work. Even though it is fun and dynamic, there is a great deal of information to learn and retain. I typically offer this workshop in my home in the Campbell area, but if there is a small group of people interested in another part of the Bay Area, we can arrange an alternate location.

You will be amazed at the innovative tools I have developed to tap into every learning modality: oral, visual, kinesthetic. My fifteen years of language teaching experience has enabled me to integrate theory into every practical application. I won’t bore you with the theory, but you will find yourself learning, speaking and understanding in a full-immersion 3-hour Spanish workshop.

Cost for the workshop is $95 and includes all materials and refreshments. You will go home with the tools needed to continue practicing at home and a full-color Spanish calendar!

Spanish available this summer for children!

Many of you have asked if I offer classes for children. Well, this summer, I have partnered with Silver Creek Academic Academy and will be offering two classes on Thursday mornings!

The 1st class will be for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at 10:30 a.m. The second class will be for 6th grade and above at 11:30 a.m. Session will be: June 18-July 16.  We will be covering the basics: numbers, colors, days of the week, and months. You’ll go home with your own Spanish calendar to continue practicing what you have learned.

Go to Silver Creek Academic Academy’s website for more information: http://web.mac.com/funlearning/iWeb/Site/2009%20Summer%20Schedule.html

Why your child should learn Spanish: Studies show that students learn better when they know a second language. Furthermore, students who know a second language have access to a greater number of career possibilities and develop a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures. Because the earlier a child is introduced to a second language, the greater the chances are that the child will become truly proficient in the language.

Sign up with Silver Creek Academic Academy today and help your child to succeed in school.