More on bilingual education
Why choose a bilingual education ?
Making the choice of bilingualism will be of great benefit to your child. Specific research in the neuroscience field, has proved the following: Choosing English language for French speaking students is of paramount importance in today’s international world. We can also argue that a child who has already learned a second language will have a strong ability to study a third, which opens interesting horizons.
It is for this reason that during the first year, our Middle School offers the choice of a third language, and students will be able to study a fourth language when they finish Middle or High school to expand their language skills.
The benefits of studying in a bilingual environment
Bilingualism has a positive impact on the intellectual development of the brain. Researches have highlighted more complex connections in the brain with bilingualism.
-Bilingualism provides a greater development of abstract understanding translating into better performance in math and logic skills.
-Bilingual education leaves students with more flexibility in thinking, creates a creative, imaginative and divergent “out of the box” thinking process.
-Bilingualism gives children a greater ability to process sensory information and a better ear for listening.
-It Improves a child’s understanding of his/her native language and builds a wider range of vocabulary leading to a broader set of associations, expanded vision and more comprehensive understanding.
–A stepping-stone to plurilingualism
Bilingualism can serve as an effective stepping-stone to plurilingualism ; when you learn early enough to listen and talk to others using two different languages, you develop the ability to study a third or fourth one by the end of the compulsory education.
-Values of development: tolerance and opening out to the world
Learning different languages makes you face plurality, diverse perspectives, and gives you open-mindedness which will allow you to shape your own identity, “decentring” in a sociological approach.
For the majority of students, studying a second language will not interfere with the study of their own mother tongue. On the contrary, at the end of their bilingual schooling, the French results are most of the time as good, and often better than at the end of a monolingual education. -Communication is the first step to appreciating and understanding other cultures. The bilinguals being able to talk to different people using various languages develop more self-esteem.
-It gives a student a head start in language requirements for college.
-Offers an increase in job opportunities in many careers where knowing another language is a real asset.
Books, publications and websites:
- «Pour une éducation bilingue», Guide de survie à l’usage des petits européens by Anna Lietti, Editions Payot. Translation of the book’s summary, based on www.evene.fr: In these times of European mobility, it is necessary to help our children learn a second language. However language teaching in the public system is rarely very efficient and real bilingual schools, where languages are taught are still scarce. Is it because bilingualism is scary? Is there an age when to start learning a second language? Does one have to be “gifted”?
- «L’enfant aux deux langues»by Claude Hagège, Editions Odile Jacob. Translation of the book’s summary, based on www.alapage.com: What is the suitable age to start learning a second language ? What intellectual skills are sustained by bilingualism? How does the efficiency of early age learning compare with learning as an adult? In which case can one of the languages be forgotten, in particular the mother language? French people are convinced they are not gifted for languages but anyone can become perfectly bilingual if the right conditions are set.
- The Bilingual Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Why, When and How
By Kendall King PhD, Alison Mackey, PhD
- You can check out official statistics about immersion programsin Canada since the 70’s (English or French).
- Also worth reading: articles by the National Association for language developmenton stages of early bilingual learning.
- Find out more with this article by Guichet du Savoir: When should one start learning languages? For instance should a French baby learn English? Would it not impair its learning of the French language?
- The Bilingual Advantage (New York Times – 2011)
- Why Bilinguals Are Smarter (New York Times – March 2012)
- Preschool is the best time to learn languages!
Toddler brain scan gives language insight.
- Citizens of the World: The Multilingual Child and Adult:
Dr. Edwin Gerard at TEDxCulverCity (Published July 2013)
- Learning languages ‘boosts brain’
BBC news (October 13, 2014)
- Bilingualism good for the brain, researchers say
By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times (February 2011)
- The Benefits of a Bilingual Brain
How knowing more than one language can actually change the way your brain looks and works. Ted-Education