Does being bilingual make you smarter? Language teacher and researcher Miguel Angel Muñoz explains the latest research on how being bilingual affects your brain, ahead of a British Council seminar in Cardiff on whether learning a foreign language makes you smarter. You can watch the live-streamed seminar on Tuesday, 3 June. More than half the world's population uses two or more languages every day It is hard to estimate the exact number of bilingual people in the world, as there is a lack of reliable statistics . But in 2012, a Eurobarometer survey established that 'just over half of Europeans (54%)' are bilingual, and other studies hypothesise that more than half of the world’s population is bilingual. So what about you? Being bilingual isn't black-and-white To answer that question, first we need to establish what being bilingual means. I, for example, am -- or used to be -- proficient in German, but I have not used my German regularly for a very long time. What are the costs of being bilingual? Don’t worry. 1. 2. 3.
How can young children best learn languages? The British Council's Tracey Chapelton explains how parents of young children can lay the foundations for success. Children's brains are highly active Your child is unique, but what all children have in common is natural curiosity and an innate ability to learn. Kuhl states that babies and young children are geniuses at acquiring a second language. 'Babies', she says, 'can discriminate all the sounds of all languages... and that's remarkable because you and I can't do that. By exposing children to other languages at an early age, you are giving them the opportunity to tap into their natural ability to hear and distinguish the sounds of other languages, and their capacity to make sense of what they are hearing. Children make language-learning look easy Communication is something that children do to help them achieve something else, and they are blissfully unaware of the enormous amount of learning taking place. Children's emotional environment is important for learning
A few more myths about speakers of multiple languages Does multilingualism cause language delays and identity problems? The British Council's Nayr Ibrahim busts a few more myths about speakers of multiple languages. Myth: Multilingualism causes language delay Raising children bilingually is sometimes believed to cause language delay. Decades of research into bi- and multilingualism has shown that there is no causal relationship between bilingualism and language delay. Myth: Multilinguals should develop literacy in one language first When children are surrounded by multiple languages, they will inevitably have access to multiple literacies. The reality is that children can learn to read and write in multiple languages. Furthermore, once children have gained literacy skills in one language, literacy in the other language comes quite easily. Myth: Multilingualism causes identity problems Bi- or multilingualism was once seen to cause emotional instability, split personalities and even schizophrenia. You can read this article in French.
6 Types of Play: How Children's Play Becomes More Social Play is a serious business. The pioneering developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky thought that, in the preschool years, play is the leading source of development. Through play children learn and practice many basic social skills. They develop a sense of self, learn to interact with other children, how to make friends, how to lie and how to role-play. The classic study of how play develops in children was carried out by Mildred Parten in the late 1920s at the Institute of Child Development in Minnesota. She closely observed children between the ages of 2 and 5 years and categorised the types of play. Parten collected data by systematically sampling the children’s behaviour. The thing to notice is that the first four types of play don’t involve much interaction with others, while the last two do. Unoccupied play: the child is relatively stationary and appears to be performing random movements with no apparent purpose. » This is part of a series on 10 crucial child psychology studies. Reference
Earlychildhood NEWS - Article Reading Center When we first brought our daughter home from the hospital I was inexperienced. Mother came to help and in her always wise and gentle way said, "Honey, you need to talk to that baby." What wonderful advice! Mother's counsel paid great dividends and I remembered it when our granddaughter was born. As the nurse measured and cleaned and dressed that brand new soul, I talked to her...and she paid attention. She was interested in this talking thing. Kenzie is one year old now, and she is already an expert at communicating her wants and needs. How Do Children Learn Language? Nativist TheoryNativists argue that children have an inborn desire to make sense of the world. Waddington (1957) explains that certain behaviors are learned easily or canalized by members of a species. Noam Chomsky (1972) took the nativist explanation a bit further. When children are born they have the ability to differentiate any sound in any language system (Werker & Lalonde, 1988). What happened? Infants Toddlers Lust, B.
Tips on Learning to Talk Learning to talk is a process that starts at birth, when your baby experiences how voices can sound. By 2 years old, most babies have a large vocabulary and can put words together to express their needs and ideas. Let’s see how this process unfolds and what you can do to encourage your baby’s ability to communicate. From Birth to 3 Months Your baby listens to your voice. Sing to your baby. From 3 to 6 Months Your baby is learning how people talk to each other. Hold your baby close so he will look in your eyes.Talk to him and smile.When your baby babbles, imitate the sounds.If he tries to make the same sound you do, say the word again. From 6 to 9 Months Your baby will play with sounds. Play games like Peek-a-Boo or Pat-a-Cake. From 9 to 12 Months Your baby will begin to understand simple words. From 12 to 15 Months Babies begin to use words. Talk about the things you use, like “cup,” “juice,” “doll.” From 15 to 18 Months Tell her “Show me your nose.” From 18 Months to 2 Years From 2 to 3 Years
Ten ways to support your child’s English-learning at home As the British Council opens a new Learning Time with Shaun & Timmy centre in Mexico for two- to six-year-olds, senior teacher Sarah Reid offers some useful tips for supporting your child’s learning at home. More and more parents want their children to learn English from a young age. I often meet parents of children as young as two or three who say that proficiency in speaking English will help their child 'get ahead in a globalised world'. The single most important factor in a child’s success with English is their parents' interest and encouragement, no matter what their child’s age. 1. To build a positive attitude towards learning, and towards English as a language, the best place to start is with yourself. The British Council recently polled 2,000 adults from the UK and found that 40 per cent of them were nervous about speaking in a foreign language when on holiday. 2. Children will naturally learn everything around them without any adult intervention. 3. 4. 5. 6. ‘Thank you’ 7. 8.
The Power of Evening Routines The word “structure” can evoke less than positive associations. It suggests constraints, which are never a good thing, right? Wrong. As beneficial as routines are for artists and centenarians, they are even more essential for children. Not surprisingly, children from unstructured homes often struggle in school. In order to support families of school-aged children, I surveyed best practices in child development and operationalized them in a two-hour school night routine, which I call “prime-time parenting” (which is also the title of my recent book). 6 p.m. – The Huddle: Check in with your children; spend five to 10 minutes discussing their day and yours, have them take out their homework, guide them in making a list of assignments, and ensure they have the supplies necessary to complete them. 6:30 p.m. – The Dinner Half-Hour: Enjoy a nutritious dinner as a family. 7 p.m. – The Homework Hustle: Sit with your children as they complete their remaining assignments.
Getting the right balance between adult-led and child-initiated learning | Optimus Education Blog As an early years practitioner you will know the importance of creating the right balance between adult-led and child-initiated learning. Help all children learn and develop with this guide. Adult-led activities are based on our own professional understanding of what we should teach young children and what experiences they should have. Through adult-led activities we can introduce children to new ideas, provide opportunities for them to develop their skills and ensure that they experience all areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). During adult-led learning we can feel that we are in control of the teaching we are providing. It is only through doing this and practising the skills that they have learned that children will be able to take ownership of their learning and be able to apply it in different situations. These ratios are of course flexible, depending on practitioner judgement and the individual needs of each child. Practical ideas More from Optimus Find out more