Bilingual Benefits - learn a language

Why bother to learn a language?

Ever wondered what the benefits of bilingualism might be? Why it might be useful to invest in your child's linguistic development at such an early age? Well we've taken the time to pull together some of the biggest and best minds and language experts on the matter to help you understand why it's worth the work....

• Cognitive Impact: Your child will become “smarter”. Yes that’s right - all the evidence now suggests that baby will have an enhanced ability in concept formation; creative / critical and analogical reasoning; improved memory retention and stronger perception ((Diaz & Klinger, 1991:183-184), ultimately resulting in higher academic achievement later on in life (Bialystock & Martin - Attention in Bilingual Children, Department of Psychology, York University, 2004); Bialystok - the Bilingual Advantage, 2012)
• Improves Linguistic Function: Your child will become more linguistic: bilingualism in the early years actually increases your meta-linguistic abilities i.e. it makes it easier to learn any  language (Second Language Research Institute of Canada; Sue Fernandez, Austrailia)
• Better Decision Making / Organisational skills: University of Pennsylvania's research points to the fact that bilingualism helps children learn to separate and process multiple inputs concurrently, far more so than their monolingual peers
• Better Maths: Bilingual children achieve higher maths and reading / general literacy scores than monolingual peers (Developing Literacy in Second Language Learners - August & Shanaha, 2008; Assessing the Advantages of a Bilingual Education, Golash-Boza, 2005; Portes & Hao 1998,2002, 2004; Portes & Schauffler 1994).
• Stronger Academic performance: Collier & Thomas analysed 700,000 student records in the states of monolingual and bilingually schooled students (long-term) - bilingually schooled chilren outperformed their monolingual peers in ALL SUBJECTS. School model has to focus on high academic expectations; parental involvement, support for bilingualism and multiculturalism and ned to have the quality staff specialised in bilingual teaching deliver (Howard, Sugarman & Christian, 2003)
• Arrests Cognitive Decline: Recent studies from the Annal of Neurology prove that bilingual seniors are less likely to suffer degenerative brain disease and senility (Science News)
• Progression: Mandarin is now part of the national curriculum, and so your child will be in a hugely advantageous position to take it forward at primary and secondary school levels. Imagine the gold stars he or she will get! Even our European neighbours are highlighting the importance of learning language young:  "Language competencies are part of the core of skills that every citizen needs for training, employment, cultural exchange and personal fulfilment “European Commission: Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity:  An Action Plan)
• A University of Chicago study found that bilingual speakers are better decision makers. The researchers found that "a second language provides a useful cognitive distance from automatic processes, promoting analytical thought and reducing unthinking, emotional reaction" (Kiem, 2012). It was shown that bilinguals used deliberation in making their decision, meaning they made a more rational choice. Bilinguals don't think slower, they think better.
• A study undertaken in Singapore by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Singapore Institute for Clinical Studies, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and the National University Hospital found that six-month-old infants spoken to in two languages show better learning and memory than infants exposed to one language. Babies are cognitively uniquely well positioned to take on language learning and even benefit from it.
• Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including later onset of dementia. In noisy situations, bilinguals are far superior than monolinguals at processing sounds. They were better able to tune in to the important information and block out other distracting noises. Bilingualsim makes your brain stronger. 
  
  And all this just with bilingualism in any language. Can you imagine the advantages when your baby learns to become fluent in languages of the future - Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish and French? With us, you can. Drop us a line to find out more today.