WHY CHILDREN SHOULD LEARN LANGUAGES AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE?

I found this fascinating article which explain 6  reasons why children should be introduced to languages as early as possible. If you are interested to read the entire article visit: Language Lizard Blog.

1. Accent: It has already been established that children who learn a language when they are very young have a much better chance of not having a “foreign” accent when speaking another language. When we get older it is harder to pick up additional languages with native-like pronunciation.

2. 10,000 hours: Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers argues that to learn something well, it takes at least 10,000 hours of time on task (based on a study by K. Anders Ericsson) as well as the opportunity to learn the given task. Starting children early with language learning gives them this “leg up” that will help them succeed in mastering a language.

3. Enjoyment: Young children enjoy learning. They don’t care if an activity will improve their cognitive ability or motor skills.

4. Undaunted: The wonderful thing about young children is that they will give things a try without necessarily worrying if it is correct or not. They learn  without worrying about mistakes. 

5. Support network: Young children have the opportunity for exposure and input from many different influences: parents, teachers, companions, and extended family.Moreover, young children don’t have to deal with the difficulties of self-motivation that high school students or adults face when trying to learn a new language!

6.Unexceptional: Introducing children to languages when they are young helps them accept the fact that bilingualism and multilingualism are normal in our world.

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies

Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another by listening to the humans around them and "taking statistics" on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world. (Filmed at TEDxRainier). You have the possibility to choose subtitles in 44 languages.

When did you learn a second language? Did you find it hard?

LEARNING SPANISH IN ENGLAND

A lot of colleges in England run evening courses which are aimed towards mature learners (18 years old plus). These can range from languages courses through to flower arranging, law courses, photography and even how to decorate your bathroom.

In 2012 I carried out a beginner’s level course in Spanish at my local college. Although every teacher and education establishment has different methods of teaching, I got a good insight into how foreign languages are taught to adults in England.

The structure of the beginner’s course I took followed the layout of the course material, which was the Pasos 1: Spanish Beginner’s Coursebook (shown below). This book started off focusing on meeting and greeting people, then works its way through to family and food and drink, with many other subjects in-between. I found the book very clear and the accompanying CD was appreciated. This is a great book for beginners and really helps with learning the basics quickly.

The Pasos 1 Spanish Beginner's Book

I found the way the Spanish class was taught was good, although there was probably too much of a focus on the book. What could have improved the course would have been if more time spent interacting with one another through role playing scenarios.